Vimbayi Kaziboni leads the American Composers Orchestra at Zankel Hall in Manhattan on November 10. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
In Friday’s (11/10) New York Times, Seth Colter Walls writes, “The focus of the American Composers Orchestra is right there in its name: Its website specifies an intention to spotlight ‘the infinite variety of American orchestral music, reflecting gender, racial, ethnic, geographic, stylistic and age diversity.’ On Thursday night at Zankel Hall in Manhattan, the orchestra did its mission proud. There was a significant amount of music from veterans of the American experimental scene: Augusta Read Thomas’s ‘Sun Dance—In memoriam Oliver Knussen’ and George E. Lewis’s Weathering. Pieces by the younger composers Nina C. Young and Jack Hughes offered distinct ways of engaging the tradition of tonal writing, and Guillermo Klein’s ‘The Kingdom’ offered some of the poised polystylism familiar from his work as a pianist and bandleader. With the exception of Thomas’s work, a local premiere, every piece on Thursday was being given its world premiere…. Led by Vimbayi Kaziboni, the American Composers Orchestra gave an impressive account of the varied works … Kaziboni and the players were skilled champions of the music. And the focused attention of a robust crowd of listeners was an indication that this group’s necessary interventions have a ready, supportive local audience.”
