Alarm Will Sound

The two-act performance features music, video and staging to tell the story of great composers and musicians—John Lennon, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Leonard Bernstein and Luciano Berio—striving through music for a new world in the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s.

A 20-member ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, and recording of today's music, Alarm Will Sound has established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic skill. The group was founded in 2001 by former students of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and since then has performed regularly throughout the United States and in Europe.

The New York Times says Alarm Will Sound is “the future of classical music” and “the very model of a modern music chamber band.” ASCAP recognized their contributions to new music with a 2006 Concert Music Award for “the virtuosity, passion and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century.”

The group’s performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance and virtuosity” by the London Financial Times and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The performances represent a wide range of styles and innovative experiences that led Time Out New York to declare that Alarm Will Sound are “not just extraordinary musicians but also next-generation thinkers.”