Metropolis Ensemble Two-Night Stand at LPR Reviewed in NYT

The mixing of acoustic instruments and electronic sounds was not always as easy and natural as it can seem nowadays. Certainly, adventurous composers were drawn to the limitless palette of sounds made possible by recording technology and computers. But not until digital sampling and the versatile laptop computer arrived did it become relatively easy to exploit all the unusual timbres and unnatural juxtapositions promised by electronics.

On Thursday night the Metropolis Ensemble, a resourceful pocket orchestra led by Andrew Cyr, presented “Hallucinations,” a program devoted to works in which acoustics and electronics shared roughly equal status. Smart promotion and novel music — and probably the ensemble’s recent Grammy Award nomination — helped to pack the house at Le Poisson Rouge for an evening consisting almost entirely of previously unheard works.

Read the complete Steve Smith review of the Metropolis Ensemble's two-night performance at LPR here.

The Portland Press Herald on Metropolis Ensemble

The Portland Press Herald did an extensive feature on Andrew Cyr, the director of Metropolis Ensemble.

The Metropolis Ensemble is a professional chamber orchestra based in New York City. Cyr, 36, founded it four years ago as a vehicle for talented emerging composers and performers. Many, like Andres, are recent graduates of music conservatories eager to make their way in the world of classical music.

They are accustomed to running into roadblocks and rejections. But Cyr offers them a green light to proceed.

For performers, the Metropolis provides an opportunity to live and perform in New York while building a resume and honing skills that will make them appealing to larger orchestras when they get older.

For composers, it gives them the chance to write music that will be performed for an audience eager to hear it. In four years, the Metropolis Ensemble has commissioned 30 pieces of new music, resulting in money in the pockets of the composers who wrote it and the musicians who performed it.

"The opportunity that Andrew has created is the most important thing a composer can have," says [Timothy] Andres, 24. "You can write the best music, and that's all well and good. But if no one can hear it, what's the point?"

Read the rest here.


Metropolis Ensemble have put on many great shows at LPR in the past, and there are more to come. To find out about shows once they are announced, follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/lprnyc) or become a fan of LPR on Facebook (facebook.com/lprnyc)!

Metropolis Ensemble Valentine's Day Concert Raises $6,000 for Haiti Relief

The quickly put together Metropolis Ensemble performance on Sunday Night raised nearly $6,000 for Haiti relief on Valentine's Day. The concert was a huge success and was reviewed in the New York Times by writer Allan Kozinn. Playing an eclectic mix of 26 pieces the expansive Metropolis Ensemble played a beautiful concert and made a huge impact for relief efforts.

From the New York Times:

All told, 26 works of various lengths were performed, most contemporary and eclectic, with standard repertory pieces cropping up on occasion. Some of those were among the evening’s highlights. A short set by the Avenue 9 Trio and its members included a sweetly singing account of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” by the group’s cellist, Dane Johansen, and a breathtakingly beautiful reading of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” by its violinist, Sean Lee, both accompanied by Edvinas Minkstimas the ensemble’s pianist. Mr. Lee returned later to play Massenet’s “Meditation” from “Thaïs” with the harpist Bridget Kibbey.