Alarm Will Sound, which the New York Times has called "one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American scene," begins two important components of its 2013–14 concert season this week: its "St. Louis season" and its season-long residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The 20-member ensemble, led by artistic director and conductor Alan Pierson, renews its commitment to the US Midwest with a concerts at The Sheldon in St. Louis, Missouri, tonight, kicking off its second St. Louis season. On the program are works by Wagner, Ives, Ligeti, Thomas Adès, and Aphex Twin. A second concert will take place at The Sheldon in February. In addition to its concert performances, the group will partner with Webster University's Community Music School in an effort to integrate contemporary music into the young students’ lives through workshops, side-by-side performances, and more.

This Friday, October 11, Alarm Will Sound kicks off its 2013–14 residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the first of four concerts this season, titled The Permanent Collection, performing all but the Aphex Twin piece on tonight's program. Next month, for the second concert in the residency, the group will give the New York premiere of Steve Reich's new piece, Radio Rewrite, on an all-Reich program November 16; also on the program are Clapping Music, Four Genesis Settings, New York Counterpoint, City Life, and Piano Counterpoint. Both performances will stream live from the Met via metmuseum.org and Q2 Music at q2music.org.

The Met residency also includes a site-specific performance created for the museum's Charles Engelhard Court, called Twinned, on February 20, 2014, in which Alarm Will Sound and Dance Heginbotham pair movement with the music of Tyondai Braxton, Aphex Twin, and Edgard Varèse; and a new music theater work by composer Kate Soper and director/librettist Nigel Maister called I Was Here I Was I, to take place at the Met's Temple of Dendur on June 20.

In conjunction with these performances, members of Alarm Will Sound have assembled a Museum itinerary based on musical inspirations and connections between the pieces they will perform and works in the Met's permanent collection. You can take a virtual tour here. And read an interview with Alan Pierson about the residency in the Now at the Met blog.

For more on the Met's 2013–14 performance season, including a performance of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), of which pianist Timo Andres is a member; a day-long, museum-wide celebration of John Zorn's 60th birthday; and much more, visit metmuseum.org.

For additional details on Alarm Will Sound's concert season and ticket links, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of the group's Nonesuch debut album, a/rhythmia, as well as its recording of Steve Reich's Music for Large Ensemble, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include a download of the complete albums at checkout.