The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), although only about a decade old, is one of the most distinguished new music groups around today. Pioneering a model for how the 21st century chamber musician should function and find their way in today's artistic scene, ICE has set the standard for many modern, multi-faceted musicians with a taste for contemporary music. In this April 27 concert, ICE performs music of John Zorn, Dai Fukijura and Du Yun, led by conductor Matthias Pintscher in a performance at (Le) Poisson Rouge.

Join Q2 Saturday, September 11 for a 24-hour retrospective of Arvo Pärt, the contemporary Estonian composer known for his austere and mystical works. The all-day event not only marks Pärt's 75th birthday but also provides a poignant soundtrack to the anniversary of 9/11.

The realtor's mantra -- location, location, location -- appears to ring true in this successful installment of the Mannes College's Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance. While previously housed entirely at the College's auditorium, this year Mannes chose to move some concerts to the trendy and amplified club, (Le) Poisson Rouge, resulting in an electrifying atmosphere at this TimeTable Percussion performance on June 20.

In celebration of their second Sony Classical release, New Worlds, The Knights perform at (Le) Poisson Rouge in this May 3 concert, with a program including the contemporary sounds of Ljova and Erik Satie, coupled with the traditional harmonies of Antonin Dvořák and Franz Schubert.

Starting Monday, August 30, Q2 turns over the internet airwaves to the vibrant young composer Paola Prestini in the latest installation of our Composer Introductions series. Listen at the top of every hour Monday as Prestini introduces her own work and get a free download of Labyrinth.

In this June 29 performance, the long-standing and famously accomplished International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) joins forces with the explosive and progressive JACK Quartet as a send-off to their performances at the the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. The two new music giants perform works by Earl Brown, Caleb Burhans, Jason Eckhardt and Yoshiaki Onishi.

Leonard Bernstein was a man of supreme charisma and fantastic talent. A conductor, composer and educator, Bernstein was an undying advocate for composers, new works, new ideas, and the concept of music as a living art in the modern world. For all of these reasons, Bernstein seems a sort of spiritual antecedent to Q2.

Today, Q2 offers 24 straight hours of music composed by the 30 remaining Project 440 artists. With the field about to be narrowed for a second time, it's an opportunity to hear pieces -- including broadcast premieres -- from composers shaping the canon of tomorrow.

SIC inC (Student Independent-Classical Interdisciplinary Collective)--also known as Yale College New Music--is a collective of chamber musicians with the raw talent and creativity that only young college students can muster. In this February 3 concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge, we hear original music by the ensemble's award-winning student composers Stephen Feigenbaum and Ellis Ludwig-Leone.

On Friday, the 13th, Q2 asked New York's community of adventurous music lovers to react to and document, via Q2's Facebook and Twitter accounts, a visceral and cerebral performance that took place at the Whitney's Christian Marclay: Festival. The concert was led by the seminal downtown guitarist/composer/saxophonist Elliott Sharp, who performed and conducted Marclay's Graffiti Composition with the electric guitar quartet, Dither.

The Chiara Quartet proves that they know what chamber music is all about by respecting its roots. As a part of their own back-to-basics series, Chamber Music in any Chamber, the Chiaras performed at (Le) Poisson Rouge, bolstering a program that bypasses concert hall for clubs and galleries, returning chamber music to its rightful birthplace in intimate settings.

This Sunday, August 15 at 7 p.m., join Q2 for 5 consecutive hours of mind-bending, internationally-flavored sounds from this most quintessential New York New Music happening: the Bang on a Can Marathon from the World Financial Center Winter Garden.