Formed in 2005, the New York-based contemporary chamber collective known as the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, or ACME, maintains an elastic and everchanging roster while pursuing an exploratory ethos under the leadership of Brooklyn cellist Clarice Jensen. Its varied programs range from intricate and exhilarating works to quieter, introspective pieces, and the group both creates and commissions boundary-pushing material while collaborating with figures such as Max Richter on the 2015 Sleep project and Jóhann Jóhannsson on 2016’s Orphée and 2022’s Drone Mass. ACME has also joined forces with alternative-rock acts including Low, Grizzly Bear, and Micachu & the Shapes.
In its first years the ensemble concentrated on performances near its New York home, presenting music by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, John Adams, and Philip Glass during 2007 and 2008. By 2009 the group had begun featuring original works from members Timo Andres and Caleb Burhans. Early 2010 brought concerts farther from home in New Mexico, Texas, and Vermont, and that August saw the world premieres of William Brittelle’s electro-acoustic Future Shock and Andres’ Thrive on Routine. A packed schedule continued into 2011, closing with a national tour alongside Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie’s A Winged Victory for the Sullen.
ACME’s debut recording, 2012’s Loving the Chambered Nautilus, appeared on Brittelle’s New Amsterdam label. The following year the ensemble tackled previously unrecorded scores by Fluxus artist and Yoko Ono contemporary Joseph Byrd on NYC 1960–1963. May 2014’s On in Love revisited earlier live repertoire, capturing slow-building vocal pieces for another New Amsterdam release. A pivotal development came with the group’s participation in Max Richter’s eight-and-a-half-hour Sleep, which surpassed 500 million streams within five years and has since been performed by ACME in Hamburg, Sydney, and Auckland. Their ongoing association with Deutsche Grammophon produced the widely heard 2016 recording of Jóhannsson’s Orphée. Momentum continued with 2017’s Thrive on Routine, which centered on the ensemble’s own material, followed by collaborative albums Agency (2019) with David T. Little and 12th Chamber (2020) with Mick Barr. As a tribute to Jóhannsson, who died in 2018, ACME issued the premiere recording of Drone Mass—a choral work it had commissioned from the Icelandic composer in 2015—in early 2022.
