Orlando, Florida is like a lot of cities in America, but there is one crucial difference. Well, maybe two. Firstly, they have the glistening geodesic castle of Epcot, and secondly, they have a seriously interesting classical music scene. What’s an interesting classical music scene, you say? Isn’t a "concert hall" that place where my Germanic grandmother went every Friday with all her ladies? Don't "composers" only exist in a mythical hallway filled with busts of angry dead dudes with furrowed brows?  I can’t speak to the former, and as for the latter — well, yeah, but that’s not the whole story.

Classical music is still alive and kicking these days, although you may not recognize it in its contemporary incarnation. Enter the Accidental Music Festival, an event looking to celebrate the culture of new music in Orlando through concerts, discussions, and composition workshops meant for just about anyone. The result?  A vibrant culture of new music composition and performance that will fill the concert halls of today and tomorrow. New music, classical music, electronic music, avant-garde music, unclassified music — whatever you want to call it, it's good music.

Do you spend most of your days further up north? Don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities to hear some transcendent new sounds in the Big Apple, otherwise known as New York City.

yMusic is a chamber ensemble of phenomenal musicians, and chances are, you've already heard them on your favorite indie rock album. For this recording session, they're going front and center to record their debut with new works by the likes of Judd Greenstein and Son Lux. This genre-blurring ensemble is on the edge of new classical music, and if you don't feel compelled to dance along with them, ask someone to give you a Turing test.

If you have an insatiable craving for some strong classical sounds, you can't do much better than Andrew Waggoner's newest album, Terror and Memory, which features performances from several world-renowned ensembles, including his own. You best be careful not to confuse this intensely beautiful offering with your run-of-the-mill through-composed classical fare. Waggoner's music combines written and improvised passages, which add a layer of spontaneity to his works and bridges an important gap between meticulously planned sonorities and completely unfiltered expression. Ya dig?