Ensemble Bio

Since 2004, Either/Or has been at the forefront of New York's contemporary music scene, programming new and recent works for unconventional ensembles or soloists that are rarely heard elsewhere.  Equally informed in American experimentalism and in the European avant-garde, Either/Or collaborates with emerging and established artists from a broad aesthetic spectrum.  Performances throughout the Northeast, including Philadelphia Museum of Art, ICA Boston, Miller Theatre, The Kitchen, and venues across NYC, including frequent appearances at experimental music venues such as The Stone, Roulette, and Issue Project Room. 

Programs have included numerous world, U.S., and New York premieres (over 100 this season alone); these range from major works of American experimental music to rarely heard classics from the dynamic margins of the European avant-garde. In addition to ongoing collaborations with emerging artists, Either/Or has brought distinguished composers such as Helmut Lachenmann (2008), Paolo Aralla (2009), Chaya Czernowin (2010, 2011), Karin Rehnqvist (2012), and Rebecca Saunders (2013) to New York for portrait concerts and lectures through E/O's Composer's Atelier series. 

Either/Or released its first two CDs in 2011, on Starkland and on New World Records. Additionally, Either/Or and its directors have been Artists in Residence at  MIT (2014), SUNY-Buffalo (2013), Eugene Lang College of the New School for Social Research (2010) and New York University Faculty of Arts & Sciences (2008-9). Educational activities have included lectures, workshops, open rehearsals, and premieres of student works. 

Artistic Directors

Richard Carrick

Described as “charming, with exoticism and sheer infectiousness” by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times, Richard Carrick's music has been performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Japan by the New York Philharmonic (Ensemble Series), Vienna’s Konzerthaus, ISCM World Music Days, Darmstadt Summer Festival, the Nieuw Ensemble, the JACK Quartet, Magnus Andersson, Rohan de Saraam and others.    Recent works include The Flow Cycle for Strings (commercially released on New World Records in 2011), Harmonixity for Saxophone Quartet, Adagios for String Orchestra, and Find the Devil’s Lead.  He also writes large-scale multi-media works such as Cosmicomics (based on stories by Italo Calvino) combining video, electronics and live musicians. As a pianist and conductor he regularly premieres new works, working with composers Lachenmann, Czernowin, Radulescu, Greenwood and others. He teaches composition at Columbia University and New York University.   He has taught and guest lectured about his music in Japan, South Korea, Sweden, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the US.

David Shively

David Shively performs concert and installation works in media ranging from traditional percussion to Hungarian cimbalom to analog electronics and feedback systems. Solo appearances at Dia:Beacon, EMPAC, Miller Theatre, Performa 09, SONiC Festival, the American Academy in Rome, Other Minds 13, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Wittner Tage für neue Kammermusik, Münchener Biennale… Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, he has been co-artistic director of Either/Or since 2004, curating its programming and festivals in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. Recordings for Starkland, New World, Tzadik, Mode, Quecksilber, and other labels in addition to works for film, sound installation, and radio broadcast…