New Music Ensemble

About the Program

Program notes by Mark Bilyeu except where noted

Bobby Ge
Of a Feather
Born 1996
Composed 2023
Premiered 2023, Bang on a Can Festival 
Duration 7 minutes

I love watching ensembles play. There’s always so much happening at any given moment: all this cuing and tuning and listening and watching. The complicated group dynamics going on can be dizzying to keep track of, and within larger chamber ensembles, there can be such an intricate web of communication that it feels like a miracle that pieces hold together at all. This kind of intimate group communication happens all the time in nature, and one of the most familiar is the flock. Flocks of birds have often been written about in a near-mythological manner — the massive patterns they form and their hypnotic motion have inspired studies and superstitions alike. They can grow to be tens of thousands strong, but despite all their apparent organization, flocks do not have a solitary leader. Instead, individuals hone in on the signals of their seven closest neighbors, and they move about together. Since each neighbor will have its own seven neighbors and so on, a signal from one end of the flock eventually ripples all the way to the other. Of a Feather is inspired by the whirling coordination of flocks. Gestures are imitated and scattered throughout the group a la flock communication, and much of the vocabulary of the piece is filled with rushing motion. The piece is mercurial and vibrant, moving rapidly through key areas while freely expanding and contracting its motifs. Ultimately, Of a Feather is a study in ensemble communication, treating its members equally as individuals and parts of a whole.

– Bobby Ge

Bastien David
Vendre le ciel aux ténèbres
Born 1990, Paris, France
Composed 2020
Premiered September 25, 2020, Contemporary Orchestral Ensemble; Bruno Mantovani, conductor, Cziffra Auditorium, France
Duration 13 minutes

Composer Bastien David is deeply fascinated by the diversity of the world and its inhabitants. A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, David was recently named a 2025 recipient of the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.  He views his scores “as social environments in which sounds coexist, communicate, repeat, love, fight, and attract one another.” David crafted Vendre le ciel aux ténèbres (Selling the Sky to Darkness) for 14 instruments during a residency at the Villa Medici. The work addresses the pollution of the sky by thousands of satellites.  By examining the growing occupation of airspace by thousands of satellites, this piece poses a fundamental question: what remains of our intangible resources in the face of human exploitation? Through an artistic approach imbued with critical reflection, the work highlights the challenges of sustainability and ethics in technological innovation.

Micah Rosenstein
Up at the Stars: Overture for chamber ensemble
Born 2001, Sarasota, FL
Composed 2022
World Premiere
Duration 4 minutes

The inspiration for this work came from a time when I was shown the vastness of space through the lens of a newly purchased telescope. Time became irrelevant in this moment. When I placed my gaze into its eyepiece for the first time I immediately felt tugged by the black void above. My vision seemed propelled upwards amongst the stars in spontaneous fashion, as my sight became entranced high up in its great expanse. I simply could not comprehend the sheer magnitude of the universe before me; I quickly panned across the stars and planets multiple times and saw countless scattered stars whipping past my telescope in a hectic display of scurried splendor. I began brainstorming ideas for a new musical composition later that same night, unaware that my drive to create this piece was heavily influenced by this experience with the cosmos. The resulting work was an orchestral exploration depicting life as it exists among the stars, and this overture for chamber ensemble serves as a slight taste of the magnificence that is that piece and the phenomena of space.

— Micah Rosenstein

Pedro Osuna
Tres Lamentos
Born 1997, Granada, Spain
Duration 18 minutes

Born in Granada, Spain, Pedro Osuna has quickly established himself as a force in the film music industry.  In 2019 with his score for Klaus, he became the youngest Berklee student to write music for an Academy Award®-nominated film, and In 2021, he was an orchestrator on Hans Zimmer's score for for No Time To Die, becoming the youngest person to ever orchestrate for a 007 film. In 2022, Osuna scored Santiago Mitre's film Argentina, 1985. The film won the Golden Globe for best foreign picture and an Academy Award® nomination, and the score earned a nomination for best score at the Platino Awards. His concert music is equally sought-after, including commissions ranging from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to soprano Hila Plitmann. Osuna describes the trajectory of his work Tres Lamentos: 

Amira, a Sephardic woman living in late 15th century Granada, finds herself pregnant and on her own after her husband is killed and her loved ones are forced to leave Spain by the Catholics. Prosecuted and marginalized, she hides in the caves of El Sacromonte. The day she gives birth, she leaves her baby unattended to search for milk, for she is too sad to breastfeed. After many struggles and getting arrested, she manages to return, but it's too late. She finds her baby still and cold. Weakened by hunger- the newborn had stopped breathing.

John Corigliano
Forever Young from “Mr Tambourine Man”
Born February 16, 1938, New York City, New York
Composed 2000
Premiered March 15, 2002, Sylvia McNair, soprano, Martin Katz, pianist, Carnegie Hall, New York
Duration 5 minutes

Just before the turn of the millennium, John Corigliano received a request by soprano Sylvia McNair to write a substantial work for her to perform at Carnegie Hall. Her only request? that the poetry be written by an American. Corigliano made the bold choice to set the lyrics of Bob Dylan — nearly twenty years before the iconic troubadour would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. “I had always heard, by reputation, of the high regard accorded the folk-ballad singer/songwriter Bob Dylan,” wrote Corigliano, “But I was so engaged in developing my orchestral technique during the years when Dylan was heard by the rest of the world that I had never heard his songs. So I bought a collection of his texts, and found many of them to be every bit as beautiful and immediate as I had heard — and surprisingly well-suited to my own musical language.” The entire cycle, called Mr. Tambourine Man, includes 7 original songs (not arrangements of Dylan’s works), which Corigliano refused to listen to before his own settings were complete. “I decided to not hear [Dylan’s songs] before the cycle was complete. Just as Schumann or Brahms or Wolf had re-interpreted in their own musical styles of the same Goethe text, I intended to treat the Dylan lyrics as the poems I found them to be.”

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About the Artists

HilA Plitmann

Two-time Grammy Award-winning soprano, songwriter, and actress Hila Plitmann is known for opera, concert, film, and theater performances filled with emotionally-charged fearlessness, unique expressivity, and mesmerizing drama. She rose to prominence after premiering a work by Del Tredici with the New York Philharmonic just one year after graduating from Juilliard — on only two weeks’ notice — and has since become a frequent soloist on major stages across the world. Widely-recognized as one of today’s foremost interpreters of contemporary music, she regularly performs new works by a diverse array of composers, as well as traditional repertoire, and boundary-pushing projects in non-classical genres. With jazz guitarist Shea Welsh and tabla virtuoso Aditya Kalyanpur, she co-founded global music project Renaissance Heart. Her tour-de-force role in Eric Whitacre’s groundbreaking electro-musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wingsat Pasadena’s Boston Court Theatre, involving singing, acting, dancing, and martial arts, won her a nomination as “Best Actress in a Musical” from the Los Angeles Ovation Awards and L.A. Ticketholder Awards. She leads innovative residencies and workshops at campuses across the U.S., bringing diverse pedagogical methods combining technical focus, tools and approaches for connecting, and a sense of inner confidence, mindfulness, centering, and presence.

Micah Rosenstein

Micah Rosenstein (b. 2001) is a composer, multimedia artist, and educator. His creative output spans concert music, musical theater, film scores, fixed media, and stop-motion animation, blending musical storytelling with humor, accessibility, and a strong sense of community. From whimsical pieces like Morning Toast (2024) to narrative-driven works such as Up at the Stars (2025), Micah’s music invites audiences into imaginative, emotionally resonant worlds.

 His debut album, AT HOME (2023), showcases his approach to experimental sound design and accessible storytelling. He has composed and arranged works for various ensembles, including The University of Texas New Music Ensemble, TJC Low Brass Ensemble, The University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) Symphonic Band, and the 323rd Army Band. Micah's professional services in music engraving, arranging, digital media, video editing, and animation have supported numerous organizations such as Opera San Antonio, Alamo Music, the UTSA School of Music, and the Butler School of Music.

Micah is a passionate educator, teaching music theory to grades K through 12th at Clavier-Werke School of Music South. He serves as a graduate teaching assistant in theory and composition at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is completing his M.M. in music composition. Through outreach programs like UTSA’s On-Corps, he has mentored retired veterans in beginning band settings, fostering creative expression in nontraditional learners.

Micah has presented curated research on public music theory teaching strategies "outside-the-classroom" aimed at fostering inclusivity in music education at the Texas Society for Music’s 2023 Annual Conference in Kingsville, TX and the Music Theory Pedagogy Into Practice 2022 Conference in East Lansing, MI. He is currently a member of the Texas Music Teachers Association and the Austin District Music Teachers Association, and studies for his M.M. in composition at The University of Texas at Austin.

Cody Ray

Cody Ray is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts in wind conducting at The University of Texas at Austin where he studies with professor Jerry Junkin and serves as a graduate teaching assistant for University Bands. He received his bachelor of arts in music education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of Dr. Sue Samuels, Dr. Gene Fambrough, Dr. Cara Morantz, and Dr. Sean Murray, and a master of music in wind conducting from Tte University of South Carolina (’24) studying under Dr. Cormac Cannon, Dr. Jay Jacobs, and Dr. Quintus Wrighten. Prior to his graduate studies, Cody served as the assistant director of bands at Cairo High School in Cairo, GA from 2020-2022. Before coming to Cairo, he also served as director of bands at Sipsey Valley High/Middle School from 2019-2020 and director of bands at Sulligent High School from 2018-2019. His professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, and the National Band Association.

Marc Sosnowchik

Dr. Marc Sosnowchik is a conductor, educator, arranger, and clinician based in Austin, Texas. His current duties as assistant director of bands at the University of Texas include conducting the New Music Ensemble and Longhorn concert bands, instructing courses in conducting and wind literature, and teaching the Longhorn Bands. Before his appointment at UT Austin, Sosnowchik served as associate director of bands at the University of South Florida, assistant director of bands at Oklahoma State University, and associate conductor of the Florida Wind Band. Sosnowchik maintains an active schedule as a clinician, conductor, and arranger. He conducts ensembles throughout the U.S., and in the summer teaches at the World Youth and Adult Wind Orchestra Projects as part of the Mid-Europe Festival in Schladming, Austria.  Sosnowchik earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Alabama, and both his master’s and doctor's degrees in conducting from The University of Texas at Austin.

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New Music Ensemble

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Upcoming Events

GREGORY EATON  organ
Sunday, September 28, 3:00 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

CLUTCH
Thursday, October 9, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

JAZZ ORCHESTRAS
Friday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

TRIPLE CORTADO
Album Release Concert
Tuesday, October 14, 7:30 p.m.

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Bora Yoon, visiting composer
Monday, November 17, 7:30 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall

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