The Bowery Ensemble was formed in 1981 by Nils Vigeland and gave an annual series of concerts in The Great Hall of Cooper Union for eight years. The members of the ensemble and their tenure in the group were:
Barbara Held, flute (1981-89) Leonard Krech, trombone (1981-89) Cheryl Pesdan, soprano (1981-3) Tina Pelikan,violin/viola (1985-88) Michael Pugliese, percussion (1981-1989) Nils Vigeland, piano (1981-89)
Season 1 (1981-82)
October 27,1981
Charles Ives Largo
Charles Ives Sunrise
Morton Feldman Instruments I
Nils Vigeland Summer Music
November 17, 1981
Aaron Copland Violin Sonata
Leo Smit Scena Cambiata
Nils Vigeland Summer Music
Aaron Copland Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson
February 23,1982
Netty Simons The Great Stream Silent Moves
John Newell Lavender Axes
Yvar Mikhashoff Dialogos Y Sobres De Melisande
Lukas Foss Curriculum Vitae with Time Bomb
John Thow Alpha Libri
April 6,1982
John Cage Day
continuous performances from 12 noon
8PM Concert
Etudes Australes
Concert for Piano and Orchestra
Sixteen Dances
Second Season (1982-83)
October 18, 1982
Jon Gibson Untitled
William Hawley Three Japanese Songs
Charles Wuorinen Percussion Duo
Jacob Druckman Animus 1
Frederic Rzewski Les Moutons de Panurge
January 18, 1983
Christian Wolff Duo for Violins
Luciano Berio Sequenza I
Luciano Berio Sequenza VI
Morton Feldman 4 Songs to e.e. cummings
David Del Tredici Three Songs
Henry Brant Headhunt
April 12,1983
Nils Vigeland Evening
Bernadette Speach Moto
Phil Niblock 261.6+ and –
Dane Rudhyar Theurgy
Ruth Crawford Seeger Three Songs
Third Season (1983-84)
November 1, 1983
Music of Lukas Foss
Music for Six
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Solo
Three Pieces for Violin and Piano
Paradigm
January 17,1984
Roscoe Mitchell Nonaah
Dane Rudhyar Nostalgia
Jo Kondo Sight Rhythmics
Jo Kondo Walk
Jo Kondo Strands III
Jo Kondo Forme Semee
Jo Kondo Diptych
March 13, 1984
Iannis Xennakis Psappha
John Cage Ryoanji
Earle Brown Times Five
Malcolm Goldstein Of Star Bright Mushrooms Bursting In My Head
Fourth Season (1984-85)
October 16,1984
Elliot Sharp VX
Chris Newman Symphony
Chris Newman Sad Secrets
Mauricio Kagel 1898
January 15, 1985
Morton Feldman Crippled Symmetry
March 19, 1985
Karlheinz Stockhausen Tierkreis
Roger Reynolds “..From Behind the Unreasoning Mask”
Alvin Singleton Argoru V/b
Nils Vigeland A Loud Piece
Fifth Season (1985-86)
October 8, 1985
Charles Casavant Legacy
Stephen Montague Paramell I
Steve Lacy Cloudy
Nils Vigeland Eleven Pages
Yvar Mikhashoff Night Dances
Conlon Nancarrow Blues/Tango/Sonatina
Poul Ruders Break-Dance
January 21,1986
John Cage Music For 4
Chris Newman Final X
Jo Kondo A Scribe
Christian Wolff Bowery Preludes
March 4, 1986
Frederic Rzewski To the Earth
Joel Chadabe Follow Me Softly
Joel Chadabe Interactions 2
Pauline Oliveros Earth Ears
Sixth Season (1986-87)
October 7, 1986
Luciano Berio Sequenza V
Jih Hi Kim X5
Zoltan Jenéy Variation on a Theme by Christian Wolff
Iannis Xenakis Theraps
Zoltan Jenéy Orpheus’ Garden
Carl Vine Miniature III
January 20,1987
Dorrance Stalvey Three Pairs and Seven
Leo Smit In Woods
Leo Smit Flute of Wonder
Igor Stravinsky Elegy
Nils Vigeland Transparent Things
March 2, 1987
Max Lifchitz Night Voices No. 7
Elias Tanenbaum A Bubble In My Eye
Linda Bouchard Transi-Blanc
Luciano Berio Folksongs
Seventh Season (1987-88)
October 27, 1987
John Cage 75th Birthday Concert
Erik Satie Five Nocturnes
Credo in US
Five Songs for Contralto
Nocturne for Violin and Piano
Sixteen Dances
January 26, 1988
Charles Ives Sonata No. 4
Ushio Torakai Movement
David Felder BoxMan
Charles Ives Largo
Nils Vigeland Transparent Things
March 29, 1988
Iannis Xenakis Psappha
Morton Feldman Why Patterns?
Pauline Oliveros Earth Ears
Eighth Season (1988-89)
October 25, 1988
Olly Wilson Trio
Jon Deak Metaphor
Conlon Nancarrow String Quartet
Michael Gordon Four Kings Fight Five
January 31,1989
Barbara Held, flute
Giacinto Scelsi Hyxos
Jacques Bekaert Song I
Bun-Ching Lam After Spring
Yasunao Tone Aletha:Unconcealment
Yasunao Tone Lyricton
Robert Ashley Superior Seven
April 4, 1989
Merkin Hall
Michael Pugliese, percussion
John Cage Music for 4
Iannis Xennakis Psappha
Morton Feldman The Kind of Denmark
Per Nørgard I Ching
Nils Vigeland Progress
Mancini/Pugliese Peter Gunn