“effervescent, genre-busting"

— NPR All Things Considered

 Announcing Our 20th Season:

Communities

NOW Ensemble is embarking on a project that celebrates community, developing deeper partnerships in places where members of the ensemble live and have close community ties.

The flute and double bass players are in front of a dark wood wall, playing their instruments and focusing on their music.

We will collaborate with composers and institutions based in the communities we visit through performance, community engagement, and educational opportunities.

Throughout the season, NOW Ensemble is emphasizing collaborative projects that touch local populations, especially those traditionally underserved by live music-making opportunities.

Communities Project
“NOW... imports a catchy inflection to classical forms... Striking a balance between the old and the new has rarely sounded this good.”
— Newsweek

NOW Ensemble + Sean Friar

 
 

Before and After: Out Now on New Amsterdam Records

“ Before and After is a rumination on the lifespan of civilizations, on our own small place in the larger rhythm of the world. Each section touches these themes—growth and progress run amok, our nostalgia for an often-fictitious golden age, our idealized notions about the beginnings of civilization, and our feeling that, perhaps, humans have crossed some threshold we really shouldn’t have. ”
— Sean Friar
“Beautifully Crafted”
— the whole note, Toronto

On November 12, 2021, New Amsterdam Records released Before and After, the much-anticipated new album from NOW Ensemble, a group of composers and performers creating “effervescent, genre-busting” (NPR All Things Considered) chamber music for the 21st century.

Before and After—NOW’s seventh album with New Amsterdam—is devoted to the “refreshingly new and solidly mature” (Slate) work of Rome Prize-winning composer Sean Friar. Featuring flute, clarinet, double bass, piano, and electric guitar, NOW’s compositions each have “a distinct voice but a shared ethos” (The Washington Post). Friar’s acclaimed piece “Velvet Hammer” appeared on NOW’s equally acclaimed 2011 album, Awake; now, a decade later, the composer and ensemble reunite on Before and After.

 
A black and white image of the flute, double bass, and clarinet players sitting in a semi-circle while playing their instruments. There is a piano to one side and a large window behind them.

...the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality.

-Time Out New York

Meet NOW Ensemble