The International Contemporary Ensemble, led by George Lewis, introduces four composers and performers from The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) onstage for Composing While Black. With partners Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson, Thurman Barker, and Reggie Nicholson, the production will be rich with influence from many facets of the music industry, specifically jazz and improvisational practices.
RELATED EVENTS
RELATED EVENTS
- Sat Mar 22, 2025
Composing While Black: ICE collaborates with AACM members Thurman Barker, Adegoke Steve Colson, Iqua Colson and Reggie Nicholson
- Skirball Presents
OFFICE HOURS
OFFICE HOURS
Revisit a conversation with George Lewis and Leila Adu Gilmore.
GET INTO IT
GET INTO IT
GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY
GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY
Recommended readings to get you in gear for the show.
- George Lewis, A Power Stronger than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (2008)
- George Lewis and Harald Kisiedu, Composing While Black: Afrodiasporic Music Today (2023)
- Fred Moten, In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition (2003)
- Monique Roelofs and Michael Kelly, editors. Black Art and Aesthetics: Relationalities, Interiorities, Reckonings (2024)
- Burke Stanton, Musicking in the Borders toward Decolonizing Methodologies (2018)
READ ALL ABOUT IT
READ ALL ABOUT IT
‘Composing While Black’ Rethinks Music in Time and Space
“The contemporary music world has predicated itself upon the ‘absence of Blackness.’”
Outspoken Composer to Lead International Contemporary Ensemble
“Lewis is an influential voice in the effort to “decolonize” classical music, at a time when the field is reckoning with questions about racial injustice and a legacy of exclusion.”
Hearing Voices: A Conversation with George Lewis
“I have found curation to be a crucial site for fostering the kind of change I want to see in the various creative communities I’ve been part of over the years.”
A Pioneering Ensemble Enriches its Path
“We seek nothing less than a new consciousness for new music.”
EXTRA CREDIT
EXTRA CREDIT
International Contemporary Ensemble’s Artistic Director, George Lewis’ recent works, with texts “by some of the most audacious literary figures of our time – Fred Moten, Lyn Hejinian, and Sylvia Wynter – are part of the composer’s ongoing exploration of what decolonization might sound like.”
George Lewis: Hearing Voices
“These recent works by George Lewis for solo instrument, small ensembles and voice, with texts by some of the most audacious literary figures of our time – Fred Moten, Lyn Hejinian, and Sylvia Wynter – are part of the composer’s ongoing exploration of what decolonization might sound like. Performed by International Contemporary Ensemble.”
