Today we’d like to introduce you to Ensemble Vim. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Ensemble Vim was formed in 2019 by four women musicians with the goal of making high-level performances of contemporary classical music by living southeastern composers accessible to the greater Atlanta community. Two of the founding musicians, Choo Choo Hu (piano) and Nicole Frankel (flute) were recent transplants from other large metropolitan areas (Baltimore and Chicago, respectively), where they had both performed in thriving new music scenes and thus wished to help nourish the new music culture in their new city of Atlanta. They quickly connected with Laura Usiskin, a Birmingham-based cellist, and Emily Koh, an Atlanta-based composer and double bassist. These four like-minded women comprise both the core performing musicians of ensemble vim as well as the administrative team that runs the ensemble.
The mission of ensemble vim is to highlight the works of underrepresented artists, especially those with strong ties to the southeastern US. With initiatives that include educational outreach programs and multidisciplinary collaborations, vim is on a mission to foster and elevate new music in Atlanta. As a new music collective, ensemble vim keeps a diverse roster of Atlanta musicians to employ a model of flexible instrumentation for the various repertoire we perform, including local freelancers as well as Atlanta Symphony musicians.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Though our first concert in the fall of 2019 was a huge success, our inaugural season was cut short by the covid-19 pandemic. However, we were able to pivot to digital initiatives which included our “vimmunity” series, in which we interviewed artists and leaders in the community, as well as “unFOUNDed,” a virtual “field trip” exploring the music of BIPOC composers paired with the work of a local visual artist. In the spring of 2021, we held a hybrid residency at the University of Georgia Dancz Center for New Music in which we workshopped virtually with student composers, eventually leading to creating professional recordings of each of their pieces. Finally, we were excited to present a fully in-person/live 2021-2022 season, which included world premiere performances of our co-commissioned work with ensembleNEWsrq, “VOID,” by New Renaissance Artist The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, “(p)neumes” by Peter Van Zandt Lane, and “Menagerie of Endangered Species: Georgia Aves” by Luke Blackburn. Next season, we will be working with Ryne Siesky as he composes a piece for ensemble vim which will be for flute, cello, electronics, and live painter in a work intended to represent the Asian-American experience.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What sets ensemble vim apart from other new music ensembles is that we are an all women-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we highlight the work of underrepresented artists from the southeast, and we love to take the traditional concert experience and flip it on its head by performing at unconventional venues and collaborating with artists of other disciplines in performance. Our mission involves three distinct pillars:
1. Commitment to bringing free access to contemporary classical concerts of the highest artistic excellence to the greater Atlanta area and beyond.
2. Presentation of interdisciplinary programs featuring underrepresented creators.
3. Development of educational partnerships and programs to ensure that the next generation has a chance to pursue the arts, regardless of socioeconomic restrictions.
Our past educational outreach programs have included interactive performances for children at the Atlanta Autism Center and at refugee centers including New American Pathways and Inspire: Shalom. Next season, we will be partnering with Atlanta Public Schools to bring a series of educational concerts to Title I schools in our community. We will also be performing an educational outreach program in Montgomery, Alabama this fall in partnership with the nonprofit organization, ClefWorks.
Our interdisciplinary performances have included working with Atlanta-based spoken word poet Ashlee Haze on multiple programs between 2019-2022, as well as commissioning the immersive modular chamber work, ‘VOID” by the Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, which paired live music with electronics as well as hand-painted graphic scores and visual projections. Most recently, we performed a program at the Museum of Design Atlanta in conjunction with their exhibition, “Full Circle: Design Without End,” showcasing work that designers are doing to restore ecosystems and fight climate change. Next season, we plan to pair a mainstage concert performance with live dancers.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
We would like to give a shout-out to our fantastic board members, who provide resources and support ensemble vim in numerous ways to help make our concerts possible. We would also like to thank the wonderful individuals we have worked with at various venues where we have had the pleasure of performing these past three seasons. Thank you to our amazing Atlanta community of freelancers for playing with us and dedicating their artistic talents in performance. And finally, thank you to our incredible Atlanta audience members who have been extremely supportive in showing up to concerts everywhere from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to St. Luke’s in downtown Atlanta, even to out-of-state performances this past season in Birmingham and Sarasota. We would not be where we are today without their continuous support!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ensemblevim.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ensemblevim
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ensemblevim
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDB0FdgNnGrjZpMJFDp8uzQ
- Other: https://linktr.ee/ensemblevim
Image Credits:
Alvin Finney (@mrlouisstudios)
