"Not all young composers have a yen for pop; many still engage in the venerable avant-garde pursuit [...] thus striking an attitude of resistance to mainstream culture. Composer-led groups such as ... the Red Light New Music Ensemble are active at the noisier end of the spectrum, although they don't rule out sweeter sounds."

Alex Ross, The New Yorker

"...these sure-handed players brought out the enigmatic beauty of Mr. Furrer's wiry constructions."

The New York Times

Red Light New Music is a New York-based ensemble, concert series, and composers collective dedicated to presenting exciting and original contemporary music from musicians around the world. We perform, present, and compose works that are both avant-garde and visceral, challenging and edifying -- we strive to present works which both expand and enrich what the word music means.

Inspired by generations of American composers -- from Ives to Copland to Cage to Reich -- who knew that their best performances were ones that they made, we began in 2005 presenting concerts of works by composers who we believed in -- Gérard Grisey, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Beat Furrer, as well as our own works. Our earliest concerts were in churches and schools -- from there we set out and expanded to art spaces, galleries, universities, and cultural centers all over the world, from The Stone, Galapagos Art Space, and the Italian Academy at Columbia University in New York to the Hochschule für Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin to Louisville Public Radio; we have been lucky enough to share our music with audiences from all over.

Our core performers, the Red Light Ensemble, are some of New York's finest young musicians. In addition, Red Light often features guest soloists and ensembles in order to present the widest possible range of new music.

Starting in our second season, Red Light inaugurated our first season devoted almost entirely to composers under the age of 35 and commissioned new works from 8 composers throughout the world.

Our third season brought exciting new premieres, concerts at the Italian Academy of Columbia University, The Tank, the Hungarian Cultural Center of New York, as well as mini tour of Louisville, Charleston, and New York.

The fourth season began in collaboration with the Beaten Path Percussion Duo with a concert of new works for the duo. In December, the Red Light Ensemble performed holiday classics reimagined by the Red Light community at a holiday gala.

Our current season has featured weeklong residencies at the University of California, San Deigo and the Usinesonore Festival in Malleray-Belivard, Switzerland, and performances in New York City at Symphony Space, The Tank, and The Stone.

For information about our new season, please visit the concerts section.


Red Light Ensemble
Ted Hearne, conductor
Natacha Diels, flutes
Eileen Mack, clarinets
Kevin Sims, percussion
Yegor Shevtsov, piano
Caroline Shaw, violin
Erin Wight, viola
John Popham, cello

Vincent Raikhel, artistic director
Scott Wollschleger, artistic director
Christopher Cerrone, artistic director
Liam Robinson, artistic director
Kyle Hillbrand, webmaster

Red Light Board of Directors
Christopher Cerrone
Dax Monta
John Popham (2010 Red Light Ensemble Board of Directors Chair)
Vincent Raikhel
Liam Robinson
Nils Vigeland
Scott Wollschleger


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Click here to download Red Light's Repertoire List.