“America? America!”

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The New England Conservatory Contemporary Improvisation Department presents “America? America!,” a program of music that illuminates the diverse American experience on Monday, November 14, 7:30 p.m. at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston. The performance is free and open to the public. Under the direction of CI co-chair and multi-instrumentalist Eden MacAdam-Somer, Contemporary Improvisation students and faculty take a look at the music that makes the U.S. who we are, in our country of many cultures.

Anthony Coleman leads Survivors Breakfast in Earl Robinson’s Ballad for Americans, the CI Chamber Ensemble presents Charles Ives’s General William Booth Enters Into Heaven, and Nedelka Prescod’s African American Experience Through Music Ensemble shares their version of Mahalia Jackson’s Canaan Land. Also on the program is music by Taylor Swift, the Dixie Chicks, Aaron Copland, Charles Mingus, Billie Holiday, Allen Ginsberg, Randy Newman, Hank Williams, and traditional folk music.  Performers include Farayi Malek, Raf Natan, Sam Jones, Daniel O’Brien, Franzi Seehausen, Sam Fribush, Utsav Lal, Isaiah Johnson, Damon Smith, Adam Tuch, Melissa Weikart, Drew Wesely, and Caroline Kuhn.

Founded in 1972 by musical visionaries Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake, New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Improvisation program is “one of the most versatile in all of music education” (JazzEd).  The program trains composer/performer/improvisers to broaden their musical palettes and develop unique voices.  It is unparalleled in its structured approach to ear training and its emphasis on singing, memorization, harmonic sophistication, aesthetic integrity, and stylistic openness.  Under Blake’s inspired guidance for its first thirty-three years, the program grew considerably and has expanded its offerings under current chair Hankus Netsky and assistant chair Eden MacAdam-Somer. Alumni include Don Byron, John Medeski, Jacqueline Schwab, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz; faculty include Carla Kihlstedt, Blake, Dominique Eade, and Anthony Coleman. “A thriving hub of musical exploration,” (Jeremy Goodwin, Boston Globe), the program currently has over 50 undergrad and graduate students from 17 countries.

For more information, click HERE or call 617-585-1122.