Recent highlights include multi-year residencies with the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; eight world premieres in a three-concert ICElab showcase in Mostly Mozart 2013; the premiere of “the whisper opera” by David Lang, with whom ICE will be re-uniting at Carnegie Hall to mentor young composers and ensembles through performances of new commissions; a performance with the Face the Music alt-classical teen ensemble broadcast on WNYC; and coast-to-coast touring in the US and to Japan, Brazil and Europe.

“The restless young virtuosos known as ICE are worth hearing no matter what they undertake. Here, continuing their innovative ICElab series, they perform ‘Aesopica,’ a brash, whimsical song cycle by Marcos Balter based on Aesop’s fables; Peter Tantsits, a tenor both skillful and brave, serves as the narrator and soloist.” The New York Times (Critic’s Pick)

At the culmination of each ICElab incubation residency, ICE performs selections from the music created over the course of the week, and the composer and musicians provide spoken introductions for the audience. Not shown are the lively conversations between composer, musicians and audience afterwards! For ICE, audience members are collaborators in the commissioning process, and these free work-in-progress showings are at the heart of opening up the process of creating and performing new music for the benefit of all.