Alarm Will Sound has staked out a unique space within the field of new music, sometimes called contemporary classical.
A given concert could include the group’s arrangement of a song by electronic artist Aphex Twin, pieces written by its own members and an interpretation of work by leading new music composers like Steve Reich.
A 25th anniversary concert on Tuesday at the Grandel will feature music that reflects many of the artistic twists and turns Alarm Will Sound has taken.
The chamber orchestra is an artist-led ensemble that has stuck together for 25 years, with roots that go back even further to its founders’ time at the Eastman School of Music.
The group no longer works on the fringes of popular culture: Its multimedia piece “Paper Pianos” was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and Alarm Will Sound won its first Grammy Award this year, for “Land of Winter,” its album-length collaboration with composer Donnacha Dennehy.
Alarm Will Sound also has longstanding Missouri ties. The ensemble’s participation has been central to the Mizzou International Composers Festival since that annual event began in 2010, and two founding members — Stefan Freund and Bill Kalinkos — are faculty with the university’s school of music. The 2026 composers’ festival opens on July 23.
St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin spoke with composer and Executive Director Gavin Chuck and Alan Pierson, the ensemble’s artistic director and conductor, about Alarm Will Sound’s thirst for new musical experiences.
Jeremy D. Goodwin: How would you describe Alarm Will Sound to someone who isn’t familiar with new music?
Alan Pierson: We’re sort of between an orchestra and a band. Everyone in the group has a classical background, and we met at the Eastman School of Music. But we have players with experience in all different kinds of music — jazz, electronica.
Sometimes it’s a little bit hard to talk about exactly what we sound like, but that’s actually a feature of the group. We pride ourselves on being able to tackle the widest range of exciting music being written today. What we sound like changes wildly depending on who we’re working with and whose music we’re playing. There are brilliant composers who come from the kinds of conservatory backgrounds that we do, making thrilling music in our tradition. But there also are people who are making really extraordinary music from completely different backgrounds, who may not work in notation at all.
Gavin Chuck: For me, new music is curiosity and discovery. Sometimes that discovery comes from working with composers who are inventing new sounds and new rhythms and new harmonies. We’ve worked with composers over the last 25 years who have really been on the cutting edge of innovation within classical music.
So in other words, it sounds nothing like old music of Beethoven, [even though] when you look at us, you might think, “Oh, those are classical musicians. It’s going to sound like that.” The first thing I let people know is that these really are new sounds that we are discovering alongside them.
Goodwin: Within the world of new music, what is different about Alarm Will Sound?
Chuck: Something that is in our DNA is collaboration. One thing Alarm Will Sound does differently is that we dedicate a lot of time to workshopping. We have always prioritized making time to really work with composers and other creators so that everybody can discover together. As executive director, that’s one thing that I see my job as being — making the time and the space for really deep and meaningful collaboration.
Pierson: I’ll add another side to that story, which is that I think something that’s really special about Alarm Will Sound is that it’s a family. Often, groups that do the kind of work we do will change instrumentation from one project to another.
But [with us] it’s always the same folks. We’re an artist-led ensemble. Everyone in the group, every member, has a say in the work we do and who we work with and how we approach it. Part of my role as the conductor and artistic director is to lead those conversations in the group.
Chuck: I think the fact that we’re a family and we’ve known each other for 25 years means we’re comfortable taking artistic risks with each other. That history means that we are more adventurous.
Pierson: Over half of us are original members. The average length of time with Alarm Will Sound is 18 years.
Goodwin: How does the anniversary concert tell the story of your career?
Pierson: The theme for the program is family. A lot of what you’ll hear is actually music by members of the ensemble. Alarm Will Sound includes a bunch of composers, so you’re going to hear music by our pianist, John Orfe; our cellist, Stefan Freund; one of our percussionists, Chris Thompson; as well as an arrangement by founding member Matt Marks, who was our horn player, who passed away a few years ago.
All of those pieces reflect the ways that people have grown in this family over 25 years. You’ll hear the group change sound and change character as we move from one kind of project to another. That show is really a reflection on the last 25 years and all the different kinds of music making and projects that we’ve been tackling.
Goodwin: The concert program also includes your arrangement of a song by the electronic artist Aphex Twin. Tell me a bit about that relationship and how it has affected the creative and commercial life of the group.
Chuck: In 2001, the idea came up in the group to arrange the music of Aphex Twin. And I remember at the time, there was a faction of us that thought that was a great idea and a faction of us that thought it was a terrible idea. Here was music that was created in a machine, not meant for human beings to play. People who were advocating for it said: “It’s music we love. We should play it.”
It turned out to be a success. I was one of the people that thought, “This is a terrible idea,” and I’m glad I was overruled, because it turned out to really make an impact. It has become a kind of calling card for Alarm Will Sound. Aphex Twin is working at the cutting edge of electronica and we are on the cutting edge of acoustic music. And somehow in the multidimensional space, the avant-garde of electronic music and the avant-garde of classical performance somehow actually end up being close enough that we can make a contact point between them.
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