Upcoming:
Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street, New York
Wednesday, April 16 at 7pm
ARE WE AT THE END?
OR BEGINNING?
LISTENING
HEARING
&
THINKING
The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
and soloists
Petr Kotik, Conductor
With special guest Amina Claudine Myers
Music by
Lejaren Hiller
Amina Claudine Myers
Christian Wolff
Charles Ames
Petr Kotik
Judith Berkson
Watch for details to be announced soon
Recent Events:
S.E.M. Ensemble
Performs
New Scores
by emerging composers
Wednesday, February 12th at 8 pm
Willow Place Auditorium
26 Willow Place, Brooklyn Heights
For almost thirty years, the S.E.M. Ensemble has been organizing Reading-Workshops of new compositions by emerging composers. This yearly program gives each composer the opportunity to work with the Ensemble and conductor Petr Kotik during reading sessions. The Reading-Workshop culminates in a public performance at SEM’s Willow Place Auditorium. Participation in the Reading-Workshop has given an early start to many composers, among them Ian Davis, Alex Mincek, and Anna Heflin to name a few. On occasion, the project has also served as a platform to develop new compositions. Somei Satoh, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill were among those composers.
January 28, 2025 at 7 pm
Švanda Theater Grand Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
The Prague Philharmonia, Contemporary Music Cycle Concert
In collaboration with the S.E.M. Ensemble and Ostrava Center for New Music
Fifty Years of Making Music in New York:
Music by Petr Kotik and Philip Glass
Introduced by Hana Dohnálková in conversation with Petr Kotik
Members of the Prague Philharmonia and guests:
Members of Prague Philharmonic and their guests: Irena Troupová, Elmaz Mrkvičková, voice; Daniel Havel, Petr Kotik, Eliška Bošková, flute; Ladislav Kozderka, Svatopluk Zaal, trumpet; Miroslav Beinhauer, Kamil El-Ahmadieh, piano; Štěpán Hon, percussion; Barbora Kolářová, Kateřina Krejčová, violin; Michal Sedláček, viola; Andrej Gál, Balázs Adorján, cello
Program:Music by Philip Glass:
String Quartet No. 1
Piece in the Shape of a Square
Two Pages
Music by Petr Kotik:
Now Distance
Ariane
Many Many Women Plus
Prague Philharmonia pushed the limits of listening [to classical music] with a four-hour musical marathon…The concert, sold out weeks in advance, was one of the most challenging for both performers and the audience. – Opera Plus Magazine, February 1, 2025
Dec. 18th @ 8:00pm - The Year of Czech Music In Conclusion
Wednesday, December 18th, 2024 @ 8:00 pm
Paula Cooper Gallery
534 W 21st St, New York, NY 10011
Under the artistic direction of Petr Kotik, the S.E.M. Ensemble returns to Paula Cooper Gallery for its traditional December concert.
The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
Petr Kotik, Conductor
performs
John Cage - Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958)
Rudolf Komorous - Olympia (1962)
Anna Heflin - The Man Who Owned the Forest also Owned the Racetrack (2023)
Luboš Mrkvička - Quartet, Part A (2021)
Morton Feldman - Structures (1951)
Petr Kotik - Why Melody? (2024 - premiere)
Advance tickets for $19 available HERE / $25 at door
PREVIEW:
Monday, December 16th, 2024 @ 8:00 pm
Willow Place Auditorium
25 Willow Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Preview of Paula Cooper Gallery concert (same program as above)
Free admission - RSVP HERE
S.E.M. Ensemble: Music of Our Time
Founded by Petr Kotik with Julius Eastman and Jan Williams, the S.E.M. Ensemble is the oldest new music ensemble in the United States today.
On April 15, 1970, a group of musicians under the name S.E.M. Ensemble performed its first concert, music by Cornelius Cardew, John Cage, Petr Kotik, and Rudolf Kamorous. The reviewer of the Buffalo Evening News described it as an "Audience in Retreat": "an audience of 17, including wives and other relatives, remained out of an original 100 attendees, at the conclusion of Wednesday evening's performance of the newly-formed S.E.M. Ensemble."
Since then, the S.E.M. Ensemble have been performing music of our time: new compositions by both established and emerging composers as well as masterpieces from the recent past. In 1992, SEM expanded into a large, 86-piece orchestra, The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, with a concert at Carnegie Hall. There, The SEM Orchestra premiered Atlas Eclipticalis by John Cage in its first complete version, with David Tudor as the pianist in Winter Music. The event attracted audiences and critics from across the United States, Europe, and Japan. Alex Ross wrote about the performance in the New York Times: "highly disciplined and monumental... sonorities shifted, intangible events solidified; collective images began to appear amid shapeless sound... an epiphany rises in the back of the mind."
From small chamber music formations to large orchestral events, SEM has made its mark on contemporary music, not paying much attention to an approval from critics or audiences. From a group of three to a large orchestra - from Morton Feldman's For Philip Guston, to large-scale compositions by Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, Petr Kotik, and others. SEM concerts featured such soloists as Julius Eastman, John Cage, Amina Claudine Myers, David Tudor, Pauline Oliveros, Christian Marclay, Maryanne Amacher, Roscoe Mitchell, to name a few.
After relocating to New York City from Buffalo, NY in 1983, S.E.M. Ensemble, started to present yearly concerts at the Paula Cooper Gallery and in its own space, the Willow Place Auditorium in Brooklyn Heights. It also performs concerts at high-profile New York venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bohemian National Hall, and DiMenna Center for Classical Music, among others.
Composers Julius Eastman, Garret List and Ben Neill were past members of the S.E.M. Ensemble. Among a score of other composers, most of whom created new compositions for the Ensemble while working directly with SEM, are John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Earle Brown, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, as well as many young, emerging composers.
Manifesto
It is a call
Creating music
Someone said
Not gesturing
Or calculating
For success
The flow
Shaping
Sounds and silences
Depth, volume,
Immediacy, space,
Intimacy and directness
Unconditionally changing
Nothing new
A sweeping run
Not a pause
Not an interval
This is the new composition
Even though
After all
We are
As we were
The same place
For centuries
S.E.M. Ensemble, Inc.
25 Columbia Place
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 488-7659
info@semensemble.org
Contact Lola Votruba, coordinator,
at pksem@semensemble.org
