The University of Texas New Music Ensemble is widely regarded as one of the best student ensembles of its kind in the United States. Featuring solo, chamber and large ensemble works by living composers and those of the recent past, the ensemble presents five concerts each season, with a focus on music from the past twenty years.
Since the inception of the Visiting Composers Series in 1995, the ensemble has featured works of world-class guest composers who also present an open forum on their works and give master classes to students in the composition division.
The New Music Ensemble has been called "the best hidden treasure in Austin's classical music scene" (Austin Chronicle), and performances by the ensemble have won "Best Performance of a New Work" awards from the Austin Critics' Table on several occasions.
Join
New Music Ensemble consists of sixteen core members made up primarily of the most proficient students in the Butler School. It is open to qualified students university-wide by audition.
Strings
Audition Information
Requirements and Schedule
All auditions will take place in the Orchestra Room 2.118.
Click on your instrument below for repertoire requirements. Students should prepare one movement of a concerto or a solo work of equal difficulty in addition to all of the excerpts for your instrument.
Students should show up at least 10 minutes before scheduled audition time with music prepared and instrument tuned.
Cello
Sunday, August 24
Double Bass
Sunday, August 24
Violin
Saturday, August 23
Viola
Saturday, August 23
Sign-Up
Register for an audition and sign up for an audition slot by August 15. Please note that we reserve the right to adjust the schedule as needed so students should monitor their email in case a change is made.
Any questions about the audition process should be directed to the Graduate TAs at utorchestras@utexas.edu and Prof. Khudyev at Farkhad.Khudyev@austin.utexas.edu. Please contact us if there are no audition slots remaining for your instrument.
Winds & Percussion
Audition Information
Requirements
All music majors auditioning for ensembles are required to take the rotation audition. Non-majors also have the option of taking the rotation audition, however they are not required to. Non-majors wishing to audition only for Symphony Band can find more information in the Symphony Band section.
All auditions will take place in Bates Recital Hall.
Schedule
Click on your instrument below to view the required audition excerpt.
Sunday, August 24
Percussion | 12-3pm
Bass Trombone / Tenor Trombone | 3:10-5:10pm
Harp | 5:20-6:20pm
Monday, August 25
Horn | 12-2:10pm (excerpt updated on Aug 14)
Clarinet | 2:20-4:20pm
Saxophone | 4:30-6:30pm
Tuesday, August 26
Bassoon | 12-2pm
Trumpet | 2:05-4:05pm
Flute | 4:15-6:15pm
Wednesday, August 27
Oboe | 12-2pm
Euphonium / Tuba | 2:10-4:10pm
Sign-Up
Register for an audition by Friday, August 22.
Watch
"Into Thin Air" from Oblivion
Nathan Lincoln De Cusatis
Ryan Kelly, conductor
Bates Recital Hall
Austin, TX
New Music Ensemble collaborates with the Butler School composition division to regularly present world premieres of outstanding student compositions.
Recent visiting composers
Andy Akiho
Viet Cuong
Michael Daugherty
David Del Tredici
Annie Gosfield
Augusta Read Thomas
Joan Tower
Chen Yi
Upcoming Performances
Marc Sosnowchik, conductor
Hila Plitmann, soprano
Bobby Ge
Of a Feather
Bastien David
Vendre le ciel aux ténèbres
Micah Rosenstein
Up at the Stars
+ more...
Marc Sosnowchik, conductor
Andrew Parker, oboe
Bora Yoon, visiting composer
Kirsten Townander
Bicycle Face
Bora Yoon
Casual Miracles
Fausto Romitelli
Green, Yellow and Blue
+ more...
Marc Sosnowchik, conductor
Page Stephens, mezzo soprano
Noah Hudson-Camack
Ten Seconds to Midnight
Nina C. Young
Traced Upon Cinders
Claude Vivier
Bouchara
+ more...
Marc Sosnowchik, conductor
Donnie Ray Albert, narrator
Katherine Balch
Chamber Music
Arturo Márquez
Danzón No. 8 (chamber version)
Nina Šenk
Twenty in Five for narrator and ensemble
+ more...
Previous Performances
Explore previous events & repertoire from recent seasons
Featuring composers of the Gabriela Lena Frank
Creative Academy of Music
Program curated by Frank
With the Experimental and Electronic Music Studio
Daniel Moreira | Countdowns
Ian Whillock | Interpretations
Geli Li | Breath IV
Januibe Tejera | Flashforward III
Brandon Scott Rumsey | The Sparrows
Jessie Montgomery | Starburst
Takuma Itoh | Adaptation Variations
+more...
Nicole Paiement, guest conductor
Ian Dicke
Grand Central
Tōru Takemitsu
Tree Line
Carla Lucero
Revolt
+ more...
Michael Daugherty, visiting Composer
Page Stephens, mezzo soprano
Donnie Ray Albert, baritone
Daugherty
This Land Sings
+ more...
Frazier
blackportrait
Prueger
Scream and Light Up the Sky
+ more...
Missy Mazzoli, visiting composer
Ellen Sirower, piano
Mazzoli
Ecstatic Science
Still Life with Avalanche
+ more...
Raven Chacon, visiting composer & 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner
Dana
The Fried Room
Chacon
Voiceless Mass
+ more...
Marcos Balter, visiting composer
Sean Riley, violin
Marcos Balter
Bladed Stance
Violin Concerto
Angélica Negrón
Lanzarse from Sonidos del Avistamiento
James Takashi Tabata
Rokkō Gaze
Marc Sosnowchik, director
Clarice Assad, visiting composer
Clarice Assad
Sephardic Suite
Russell Podgorsek
Septet
+ more...
Marc Sosnowchik, director
Drew Dickey, guest conductor
T.j. Anderson, guest conductor
Ania Vu
feathered beings
Jennifer Higdon
Zaka
Reena Esmail
Testament from Vishwas
Butler Opera Center
Music by Tan Dun
Libretto by Tan Dun & Xu Ying
Minjeong Kim, director
Douglas Kinney Frost, conductor
New Music Ensemble
Sung in English.
Marc Sosnowchik, director
Lindsay Kesselman, soprano
James Diaz
About Mirrors
Mary Kouyoumdjian
Paper Pianos: “You are Not a Kid”
+more...
Marc Sosnowchik, director
Page Stephens, mezzo soprano
Donald Grantham
Love Songs Sweet and Sour
Music for the Blanton
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
aequilibria
+ more...