In Bach and Forth, ACME will perform string quartets influenced by the music of J. S. Bach, with a contemporary twist. Bach’s Art of the Fugue will be the point of departure for exploring the possibilities and innovations of the 21st century.  String quartets grounded in the Art of the Fugue written by rising-star composers Ryan Streber and Timothy Andres, a former commissioned specifically for this concert, will be given world premieres.  Ryan Streber’s music has been described as having “harmonic lushness and emotional warmth” by The New York Times.  Timothy Andres, a former Tanglewood fellow, is a composer and pianist whose works and performances have been praised by Alex Ross (The New Yorker) and Anthony Tommasini (The New York Times), and has recently written a piece for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His debut album will be released by Nonesuch in May 2010.
 
ACME players for the concert includes two musicians who were recent fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center in nearby Lenox, Massachusetts – violinist Yuki Numata and violist Nadia Sirota – as well as ACME cellist and artistic director Clarice Jensen and violinist Annaliesa Place.
 
Carl Shuster, the president of the Berkshire Bach Society, says, “The Berkshire Bach Society is delighted to sponsor the presence of these exciting young musicians who have a unique knack for grounding their concert programs in the classics, yet using their extraordinary talents to carry their audiences along with them in their exploration of a contemporary interpretation for a new and enlivening understanding of the time-honored classics.  In the capable hands of these amazing musicians, a new way forward for classical music is being probed, and the results are truly a revelation. They are not to be missed.”
 
Mr. Shuster continued, “While presenting the music of Bach in a nightclub setting represents a departure from Berkshire Bach Society’s normal concert fare, the Society is proud to bring this extraordinary group of talented musicians to the Berkshires.”

About ACME: ACME is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily the work of American composers. Founded in 2004, the ensemble aims to present cutting-edge contemporary literature by living composers alongside the “classics” of the contemporary. A regular guest of (le) Poisson Rouge and the Wordless Music Series, ACME has also performed in New York at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Tenri Cultural Institute, the Noguchi Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the Flea Theater, Galapagos Art Space, and Columbia University's Miller Theatre, among others.
 
ACME does not subscribe to one stylistic movement; its concerts present all genres of contemporary music in the same light and with the same conviction. Time Out New York reports, “[Artistic Director Clarice] Jensen has earned a sterling reputation for her fresh, inclusive mix of minimalists, maximalists, eclectics and newcomers.” ACME’s dedication to presenting new music extends across genres – the ensemble has collaborated with bands and artists including Grizzly Bear (in concert and on their best-selling album, Veckatimest, featuring strings by Nico Muhly); electronica duo Matmos (on The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, with strings by Jefferson Friedman); Craig Wedren (former frontman of the avant-rock band Shudder To Think); prepared-pianist Hauschka; composers/performers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, and Dustin O'Halloran, and Micachu & The Shapes.
 
In addition to a January tour with chart-topping pianist Simone Dinnerstein, 2010 concert highlights include a performance of Gorecki’s String Quartet No. 2 opening for Polish electroacoustic musician Jacaszek in February; a concert of music by John Luther Adams and Kevin Volans in March; the music of Louis Andriessen in April, all at (le) Poisson Rouge; and a performance as part of New Amsterdam Records’ Archipelago series at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space in May. Other recent highlights include ACME’s Carnegie Hall debut performing the world premiere of Timothy Andres’ Senior with the New York Youth Symphony in Stern Auditorium; opening the TriBeCa New Music Festival at the Flea Theater; and a month-long residency at the Whitney Museum presented by the Wordless Music Series, for which ACME tailored a contemporary classical program to complement the indie-rock or electronica performer sharing the concert. For more information, please visit www.acmemusic.org.

Concert at 8:00pm | Dinner at 6:30pm
Tickets: $65 for dinner & concert; $40 for concert & dessert; $30 for concert only, available at (413) 528-9277 or www.berkshirebach.org. A 10% discount is available on tickets purchased by July 25 and on tables for 6 or more.
Crissey Farms | 426 Stockbridge Road (Route 7) | Great Barrington, MA