Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble (EDME) present their third annual New Music Festival, a celebration of composed sound works, with a special focus on those that push composition’s boundaries. EDME's executive director, JP Lempke, describes New Music as "a catch-all term for sounds that are composer-driven, encompassing experimental, improvised, electronic, chamber, and symphonic musics. It is contemporary classical, but without the inherent contradiction embedded in that phrase.”

The concerts feature performers from across America on the 4th. On the 5th & 6th, EDME will perform scores from around the world, chosen from over 250 works submitted to the Festival.

These scores explore the visions and sounds of young artists writing music today, compositions profoundly engaged with the world as we live it now, post-pandemic, climate changed, and culturally embattled. “Our concerts feature works designed for the ensemble members’ principal instruments, including everything from quiet sonic landscapes to exploratory performance art,” says Lempke.

EDME’s instrumentation for this year’s NMF is violin, double bass, cello, viola, clarinet, bassoon, piano, guitar, electronics, voice, flute, and percussion. The ensemble will perform in myriad permutations across twenty pieces and two shows.

Firmament by Alex Matterson for Double Bass Duet and Electronics

traces in the earth of our bodies by Dylan Dukat for Voice and Double Bass

Intersections by João Pedro Oliveira for Cello, Percussion, and Electronics

Dialogue by William Bolles-Beaven for Cello

How to Play Mariana by Henry McPherson for Full Ensemble

Three Miniatures for Bowless Violin by Mojgan Misaghi for Violin

Etude Topologique 03: Light by Fani Kosona for Full Ensemble

Marooned by Daniel Townsend for Full Ensemble

Chroma by David Acevedo for Viola and Electronics