ADORNO

About ADORNO Ensemble

Named after Theodor Adorno, the German sociologist and philosopher of aesthetics, cultural awareness, and musicology, ADORNO creates fresh and profound perceptions of art and culture through live music. From interactive concerts in museums and galleries to online composition workshops, the group believes in diverse levels of audience participation.

In 2006, ADORNO launched a sophisticated, cutting-edge podcast series the Gallery Sessions Radio Show, an ongoing live-recorded series of contemporary music concerts and artist talks held in San Francisco art galleries (ADORNO’s podcasts can be heard on adornoensemble.org). The series earned ADORNO first place in the 2007 ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award. Richard Scheinin of the San Jose Mercury News hailed a concert as, “…a beautiful, blazing performance by the ADORNO Ensemble, a crackerjack new music band that plays with conviction and vitality and blows the dust off classical music.” From the San Francisco Classical Voice, “ADORNO once again played with dedication and passion. Its direct understanding and fearless approach to contemporary music is exemplary.” The group is featured on the independent music website fingeronthepulse.com as “Best Classical Group 2006”, and has garnered favorable mention from the New Yorker’s Alex Ross. ADORNO is the New Music Ensemble-in-residence at San Francisco State University beginning in the fall of 2008.

Continuing its mission to create innovative programming that effectively promotes new music, in 2007, ADORNO launched an educational program for young musicians, ScoreXchange. An online composer workshop, students through ScoreXchange submit works for ADORNO to perform via videocast, and then work-shopped and discussed by participating guest composers and artists. Visit adornoensemble.org to view ScoreXchange.

ADORNO has been awarded grants from the prestigious Copland Fund for Performing Ensembles and from the Barlow Foundation for Music Composition. The group has also been generously supported by the LEF Foundation, the Bernard Osher Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the ASCAP Foundation, Meet the Composer Creative Connections, Clarence E. Heller Foundation, and the Argosy Foundation.

Visit adornoensemble.org for more information on ADORNO Ensemble.