![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/files\/2012\/02\/Cyr1.jpg\")
<\/a>Metropolis Ensemble founder and artistic director Andrew Cyr '96 is at the apex of Manhattan's bustling new-music scene. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.<\/p><\/div>\n
Cyr sheepishly rises for a handshake and an awkward hug. He apologizes for choosing a restaurant that\u2019s straight out of Sex and the City<\/em>. \u201cI asked at a board meeting this morning where I should meet for lunch, and two women recommended Bergdorf Goodman: \u2018They have the best sandwiches.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, the choice works. Cyr has much to celebrate these days, and this modish spot on Fifth Avenue seems the place to catch his breath, relax, and allow himself to be fawned over. He orders a glass of water with lemon and a bowl of split pea soup, and saves room for dessert.<\/p>\n Newly honored with a Grammy Award nomination, Cyr finds himself at the apex of Manhattan\u2019s bustling new-music scene. At age 37, he is succeeding at what music directors at orchestras around the country have been trying to figure out for years: How to make contemporary classical music hip and accessible to a range of listeners, especially young people.<\/p>\n \u201cThey listen to classical music. It\u2019s on their iPods. But they don\u2019t go to Carnegie Hall.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cyr is founder and artistic director of Metropolis Ensemble, a chamber orchestra and ensemble that commissions and performs new music for eager and enthusiastic audiences in nontraditional venues around Manhattan.<\/p>\n Performing about once a month, Metropolis seeks venues that promote interaction and community among musicians and the audience. One month\u2019s venue might be a bar, while the next might be Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, where Metropolis performed Chinese composer Tan Dun\u2019s Martial Arts Trilogy<\/em> in August \u2014 \u201ca splashy multimedia event\u201d performed with \u201cskill and exuberance,\u201d The New York Times<\/em> noted.<\/p>\n The loose-knit group of a few dozen composers and musicians is clearly getting noticed in the city, and national exposure came last year with Metropolis\u2019 multiple Grammy nominations. Cyr didn\u2019t win, but had a blast at the ceremony in Los Angeles in February.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an orgy in self-congratulations. We were all telling each other how great we are,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Cyr received a nomination as best conductor, and mandolinist Avi Avital as best soloist, for their work on Avner Dorman\u2019s Concertos<\/em>, the first studio album from Metropolis Ensemble. David Frost, who produced the disc, won the 2011 Grammy for Producer of the Year.<\/p>\n For Cyr, the best part is that people are responding. The audiences are fervent, and growing. The evening before our lunch, Metropolis Ensemble raised four times its financial goal at a benefit event, its first major public event since the Grammys. Cyr was flabbergasted. \u201cIt\u2019s a big moment for us, a real endorsement from the people who support us,\u201d he said over lunch. \u201cWe just tripled our budget overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n