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New York, NY - Composers Concordance continues its 14th Annual CompCord Festival: Comedy with Stand-up / Get Up, an imaginative and genre-defying evening that fuses stand-up comedy with contemporary music.
Blending stand-up and contemporary music, this program features four stand-up comedians performing their routines live, followed by composers presenting newly created works inspired by those routines. These compositions don’t simply accompany the comedy—they reinterpret it, refract it, and expand upon it, translating timing, tone, and narrative into musical form. Jokes may become motifs, punchlines may trigger sonic surprises, and comedic rhythms may evolve into complex musical structures. The result is a playful and inventive dialogue between comedians and composers, where humor and music continuously inform and transform one another.
The evening features music by composers Seth Boustead, Dan Cooper, John Clark, Gene Pritsker, Audrey Morse, Eugene McBride, Roger Tréfousse, and Amy Wurtz, performed by the CompCord Ensemble: John Clark (horn), Lish Lindsey (flutes), Seth Boustead (synthesizer), Audrey Morse (violin), Gene Pritsker (guitar), conducted by Charles Coleman.
The lineup of comedians includes Mike Handelman, Jim Kempner, Matt Kempner, and Maggie Lalley, whose distinct comedic voices provide the creative spark for the musical responses.
Taking place at Jim Kempner Fine Arts in Chelsea, Stand-up / Get Up offers audiences a unique, intimate experience where the boundaries between concert music and comedy blur, collide, and ultimately create something entirely new.
The concert will also be live-streamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.
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Event Details
What: Stand-up / Get Up
When: Friday May 22nd, @7pm
Where: Jim Kempner Fine Arts — 501 W. 23rd St., NYC
Composers
Seth Boustead, Dan Cooper, John Clark, Gene Pritsker, Audrey Morse, Eugene W. McBride,
Roger Tréfousse, and Amy Wurtz
Performers
CompCord Ensemble:
John Clark - horn
Lish Lindsey - flutes
Seth Boustead - synthesizer
Audrey Morse - violin
Gene Pritsker - guitar
Charles Coleman - conductor
Comedians
Mike Handelman, Jim Kempner, Matt Kempner, and Maggie Lalley
TICKETS
$30 at the door, $20 in advance
Facebook
Live Stream
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New York, NY - Composers Concordance presents the 16th Annual Comp-Play-Comp Marathon – Comedy Theme, a signature event of the annual CompCord Festival and one of the organization’s most spirited and unpredictable traditions. This fast-paced marathon gathers more than twenty composers/performers for an evening of freshly created music where humor, theatricality, spontaneity, and adventurous sound take center stage.
At the heart of the Comp-Play-Comp Marathon is a question that inspired the series from the beginning: What do composers write when they themselves must perform the music they create? Do composers write differently for themselves? The marathon explores this idea by inviting composers to be both creator and performer, often revealing highly personal, daring, virtuosic, and unexpected musical statements. The result is a concert format that blurs the line between composition and performance, emphasizing immediacy, experimentation, and artistic personality.
Built around this year’s Comedy festival theme, the marathon invites artists to explore wit, satire, absurdity, irony, and musical mischief through brand-new works conceived in the adventurous Comp-Play-Comp spirit. Audiences can expect an eclectic ride through contemporary music that is playful, surprising, and delightfully unconventional.
Part concert, part creative laboratory, part performance happening, the Comp-Play-Comp Marathon celebrates collaboration in real time, showcasing the inventive energy that has made Composers Concordance a vital force for new music. With rapid-fire premieres and genre-defying performances, the event promises a lively evening where comedy and contemporary music collide.
Featured composer/performers include Violet Barnum, Daniel Blake, Roger Blanc, Seth Boustead, Marco Burmester, Marco Burmester, Alexis Cerise, Sarah Chandler, Vicky Cheng, Artie Dibble, Billy Eric, Evan Francis, Daniel Garbin, Zach Gindi-Chiafullo, Patrick Grant, Franz Hackl,
Elsie Harrington, Dennis Hernandez, Debra Kaye, Will Lyle, Makia Matsumura, Eugene W. McBride, Audrey Morse, Isaac Mukamal, Kurt Nikkanen, Lucas Nikkanen, Gene Pritsker, David Rozenblatt, Steve Sandberg, Juliet Schlefer, Daniel Schnyder, Daniel Thin, Stefan Zeniuk.
Join Composers Concordance for an evening of bold new works, spontaneous invention, and musical comedy at its most imaginative. The 16th Annual Comp-Play-Comp Marathon – Comedy Theme continues a beloved tradition where anything can happen—and usually does.
The concert will also be live-streamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.
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Event Details
What: 16th Annual Comp-Play-Comp Marathon – Comedy Theme
When: Sunday May 24th at 5pm
Where: Loft393 - 393 Broadway (2nd floor), NYC
Composers/Performers
Violet Barnum, Daniel Blake,Roger Blanc, Seth Boustead, Marco Burmester, Marco Burmester, Alexis Cerise, Sarah Chandler, Vicky Cheng, Artie Dibble, Billy Eric, Evan Francis, Daniel Garbin, Zach Gindi-Chiafullo, Patrick Grant, Franz Hackl, Elsie Harrington, Dennis Hernandez, Debra Kaye, Will Lyle, Makia Matsumura, Eugene W. McBride, Audrey Morse, Isaac Mukamal, Kurt Nikkanen, Lucas Nikkanen, Gene Pritsker, David Rozenblatt, Steve Sandberg, Juliet Schlefer,
Daniel Schnyder, Daniel Thin, Stefan Zeniuk.
TICKETS
$30 at the door, $20 in advance
Facebook
Live Stream
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Staying in rotation for 42 years in NYC is a rare feat. In the case of a new music presenting organization, it requires not only diligence and cognizance of achievements of the past but also an ethic of keeping one's ear to the ground for emerging stylistic and technological developments, as well as talented new composers on the scene. Composers Concordance, founded in 1984 by Joseph Pehrson and Patrick Hardish, advised by Otto Luening, strives to present contemporary music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. Directors Gene Pritsker and Dan Cooper co-curate the programs and lead the CompCord Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Big Band. Associate Directors are Milica Paranosic, Peter Jarvis, Debra Kaye, Seth Boustead, and Audrey Morse. Composers Concordance has also created a Naxos-distributed record label: Composers Concordance Records. Composers Concordance's overriding vision is to promote contemporary music, composers, and new works as a rightful and respected part of society. Good music performed and recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.
"Composers Concordance..a veritable New York new music institution of concerts, album production and multiple ensembles under a sweeping, tenacious brand, thriving on the emulsion of contemporary classical, free improv, jazz and rock, overt humor and fearless political statements, all very much in evidence..The ensemble..was masterful throughout.”- John Pietaro, The New York City Jazz Record
"An unwavering force in giving composers exposure through concert bookings and its own record label, the intrepid new-music organization Composers Concordance” - The Brooklyn Rail
"The Composers Concordance folks are unpredictable and at times refreshingly irreverent in a reverent sort of way....ingenious fun" - Classical-Modern Music Review
“Enterprising new music organization” - The New York Times
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