ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Andrew Cyr Artistic Director and Conductor

Cyr successfully attracts diverse audiences for classical music through passionate performances, innovative programming, and community-building education initiatives. Cyr commissions, premieres and records new works from the freshest voices in classical composition, including Timothy Andres, David Bruce, Anna Clyne, Jakub Ciupinski, Avner Dorman, Ryan Francis, Vivian Fung, Ryan Gallagher, Raymond Lustig, Ricardo Romaneiro, David Schiff, Adam Schoenberg, Cristina Spinei, and Michael Ward-Bergeman. Cyr's Metropolis Ensemble comprises some of the nest chamber musicians and soloists in New York City. A versatile musician, he has collaborated as conductor, trumpeter, chorister, and organist with the L'Orchestre National Grammy-nominated conductor Andrew Cyr is a leader in the rapidly growing contemporary classical music scene. His enthusiasm for connecting musicians and composers of the next generation to today's audiences led him to create Metropolis Ensemble in 2006. His work as conductor has been described by Esa-Pekka Salonen as "...precise, rhythmically incisive and uid. He made complex new pieces sound natural and organic. What a pleasure it is to hear new music played with the same kind of panache and bravura we usually experience only in performances of standard repertoire." Cyr is a native of Fort Kent, Maine, and holds music degrees from Bates College, the French National Conservatory (Etudes Suprieures), and Westminster Choir College. His primary musical mentors include Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt, Kenneth Kiesler, Pierre Grandmaison, and Kynan Johns. Cyr has appeared in performances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge, and, in 2008, debuted with the acclaimed Wordless Music Series, conducting a remix of The Rite of Spring for a live audience of 10,000 people. Cyr's work leading Metropolis Ensemble in their rst studio album, which featured Avner Dorman's Concertos, earned him a classical nomination in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, along with Avi Avital (soloist) and Metropolis Ensemble for Avner Dorman's Mandolin Concerto. The album was released on the NAXOS label and was made in collaboration with Grammywinner "Classical Producer of the Year" David Frost. A native of Maine and resident of New York City, Cyr studied trumpet with Jules Modat at the French National Conservatory (Etudes Suprieures), organ with Dr. Marion Anderson at Bates College, Pierre Grandmaison of the Basilique de Notre-Dame, Montreal, Stefan Engels of the Hochschule fur Musik and Theater, and Harvey Burgett, St. Thomas More Church, choral conducting with Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt and Dr. Andrew Megill of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ, and orchestral conducting with Kynan Johns of Rutgers University and Kenneth Kiesler of the University of Michigan. He has served as lecturer in conducting at Rutgers University and as Assistant Organist for the Church of St. Thomas More, New York City and the Basilique de Notre-Dame, Montreal, and is currently the Titular Organist at Our Lady of Grace Church and a member of the adjunct music faculty at St. David's School, a distinguished private school in Manhattan. Des Pays de la Loire, France, D'Angers-Nantes Opera, The New York Philharmonic, The Royal Concergebouw Orchestra, Masterworks Chorus, Westminster Symphonic Choir, and Rutgers University Opera, among others. Cyr has performed at such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall, as well unique alternative platforms like (Le) Poisson Rouge, The Times Center, and The Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, and the Prospect Park bandshell. In addition, Cyr has collaborated with a number of major artists who defy classication, including sopranos Kiera Duffy and Hila Plitmann, saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, accordionist Michael WardBergeman, DJ THREE, Deerhoof, and Groanbox Boys, a U.K. based roots-trio.