Dec. 11: GRAMMY®-nominated Sandbox Percussion Gives the World Premiere Performance of BLOOM by GRAMMY®-nominated Composer Michael Torke

The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama
Presents

GRAMMY®-nominated Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion

In the World Premiere Performance of BLOOM
by GRAMMY®-nominated Composer Michael Torke

Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with Registration

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts

For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 7:30 p.m., The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, presents GRAMMY®-nominated Ensemble-in Residence Sandbox Percussion, in the world premiere performance of BLOOM by GRAMMY®-nominated composer Michael Torke. The concert is free and open to the public with registration. Space is limited. This is the live premiere of BLOOM. Sandbox Percussion’s recording of the work was released on Ecstatic Records on August 30, 2024.

Sandbox Percussion, a Brooklyn-based percussion ensemble of established leaders in contemporary art music, has teamed up with the acclaimed composer Michael Torke for BLOOM, a new piece composed for the ensemble. "I have been a big fan of Michael Torke's music since his wonderful 1997 album Overnight Mail. We are thrilled to present the world premiere performance of Torke's BLOOM, written for and performed by our Ensemble-in-Residence, Sandbox Percussion. The combination of Torke's brilliant music and the gifted abilities of Sandbox Percussion are wildly compelling. We hope many people see and hear this groundbreaking and beautiful music," says Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.

“Michael uses rhythm in his music in an intrinsic way,” says Ian Rosenbaum, who previously recorded percussion parts for Torke’s albums PSALMS AND CANTICLES, TIME, and UNSEEN, which led to the collaboration with the full group. “Almost as soon as I started playing his music, I had the feeling that Michael and Sandbox would be a good match,” Rosenbaum adds. “Rhythms are the building blocks of the structure of many of his pieces, driving forward the emotion and the energy. It’s inspiring to find a composer who uses rhythm in a new and innovative way; we learned a lot from Michael and from this piece about how to ‘melodicize’ a rhythm. He also challenged us technically: In some of the more complicated parts, Michael asks us each to create a composite melody that is split between our keyboard percussion instruments and drums — that’s a particular challenge we had never encountered before.”

Although Torke usually includes a colorful array of percussion instruments in his orchestral and chamber works — tambourine, claves, cymbals, tubular bells, glockenspiel, xylophone, and vibraphone, among many others — and in 2001 composed a percussion concerto, Rapture, BLOOM is his first piece for percussion quartet alone. Sandbox Percussion first saw the work in progress in November 2023, and by May 2024 had learned and recorded the completed piece.

BLOOM uses a series of interlocking rhythms that create a groove when played together, using each player’s drums (non-pitched instruments), and vibraphone and marimbas (pitched). “Just as shoots of plants push through dirt erupting in blooms, the vibes and marimbas burst forth from the drums,” writes Torke in his program notes. “In other words, this music has an organic profile, unlike other recent pieces of mine.” BLOOM is structured in three sets — Bloom 1, Bloom 2, and Bloom 3 — each divided into three movements: “morning,” “noon,” and “night.” Two slower movements, Stem 1 and Stem 2, are interspersed between the Bloom sets. The drums represent the earth out of which the shoots grow, which in turn are represented by the mallet instruments. Much of Torke’s music has a rhythmic profile, a physical pulse through which he takes classic minimalism to new expressive spheres, also influenced by neoclassicism and a strong sense of color.

“No group I’ve worked with is as committed, both to their artistry in general and to the specific project at hand, as Sandbox Percussion,” says Torke. “It turns out that the kind of music I write is the kind of music they do very well, so it is an optimal match.” “My endeavor is to carve out a place in the musical real estate — to find an expression that is unique enough to take up space in the repertory,” Torke adds. “Whether I succeed, time will be the judge.”

Watch the music video for “Bloom 2, morning”

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The College of Performing Arts at The New School, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for the greater New York community and beyond. Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

Additional Upcoming Events featuring Sandbox Percussion

April 11 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall with Sandbox Percussion & Violinist Stefan Jackiw
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Event Information

The Mannes Orchestra, led by conductor David Hayes, brings a program featuring Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion performing Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al, to Alice Tully Hall. The piece, which is dedicated to Sandbox Percussion, is inspired by renewable energy initiatives. Cuong writes, “Re(new)al is a percussion quartet concerto that is similarly devoted to finding unexpected ways to breathe new life into traditional ideas, and the solo quartet therefore performs on several ‘found’ instruments, including crystal glasses and compressed air cans. And while the piece also features more traditional instruments, such as snare drum and vibraphone, I looked for ways to either alter their sounds or find new ways to play them. For instance, a single snare drum is played by all four members of the quartet, and certain notes of the vibraphone are prepared with aluminum foil to recreate sounds found in electronic music. The entire piece was conceived in this way.” The concert also features John Zorn’s violin concerto, Contes de Fées, performed by Stefan Jackiw. Composed in 1999 at the turn of the millennium, Contes de Fées is one of Zorn’s classical masterworks. Building on this season’s theme of exploring the radical orchestra – unusual orchestrations and non-standard symphonic structures – the program includes Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia, which includes eight amplified singers embedded within the orchestra.

About Sandbox Percussion

Described as “exhilarating” by The New York Times and “utterly mesmerizing” by The Guardian, the GRAMMY® -nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion champions living composers through its unwavering dedication to contemporary chamber music. In 2011, Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Terry Sweeney were brought together by their love of chamber music and the simple joy of playing together; they have since captivated audiences with performances that are both visually and aurally stunning. In 2024, Sandbox Percussion became the first percussion ensemble to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

The 2021 album Seven Pillars, featuring Andy Akiho’s title piece, was nominated for two GRAMMY® awards. Following performances throughout the United States and Europe, Sandbox Percussion performs Seven Pillars in October at the Beijing Music Festival. They will also perform the piece at select dates throughout the 2024-25 season.

This season, Sandbox Percussion and the Tyshawn Sorey Trio collaborate on a special Max Roach tribute with live performances that include the 92nd Street Y and the Library of Congress. Together, the two groups explore the extraordinary legacy of jazz pioneer Max Roach, who was born 100 years ago.

Sandbox Percussion recently teamed up with composer Michael Torke, who created the hourlong piece BLOOM for the group. The world premiere of BLOOM will take place in December at Tishman Auditorium, at The New School, New York City, following the album release in August, via Ecstatic Records.

In October, Sandbox Percussion performs at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, collaborating with the London-based Gandini Juggling. Over the season, Sandbox Percussion will also perform music by Viet Cuong, Julius Eastman, Gabriel Kahane, Gabriella Smith, Paola Prestini, and Doug Cuomo.

Sandbox Percussion recently recorded percussion music for its first feature film: The Wild Robot (DreamWorks, 2024), an animated science fiction survival film with music by Kris Bowers. The first recording of Lifeline, a vibrant percussion quartet composed by Ellis Ludwig-Leone for Sandbox Percussion, will be released on the album Past Life / Lifeline in December, on Better Company Records. A new album celebrating the group’s long-standing collaboration with Christopher Cerrone will be released in February on PENTATONE Records, including the piece Ode To Joy, co-commissioned by the group in 2023.

Sandbox Percussion holds the positions of ensemble-in-residence and percussion faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and The New School’s College of Performing Arts. Starting in 2024-25, Sandbox Percussion will also be on faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

About Michael Torke

Composer Michael Torke’s work has been described as “some of the most optimistic, joyful and thoroughly uplifting music to appear in recent years” (Gramophone). He has been hailed as a “vitally inventive composer” (Financial Times), and “a master orchestrator whose shimmering timbral palette makes him the Ravel of his generation” (New York Times). He has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre; his recent piece SKY, for violinist Tessa Lark, was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for a GRAMMY® award for “best classical instrument solo.” Torke has been commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, National Ballet of Canada, Metropolitan Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, English National Opera, the London Sinfonietta, Lontano, De Volharding, and the Smith, Ying, and Amstel quartets, among other prestigious orchestras, ballet companies, and ensembles. He has worked with conductors Simon Rattle, Kurt Mazur, Edo de Waart, and David Zinman; choreographers Christopher Wheeldon, James Kudelka, and Juri Kilian; librettists A. R. Gurney, Michael Korie, and Mark Campbell; and directors Des McAnuff, Bart Sher, and Michael Greif, among others.

Torke has been commissioned by entities as diverse as the Walt Disney Company and Absolute Vodka; worked with soloists such as Tessa Lark, Christopher O'Reilly, and Joyce Castle; and written incidental music for The Public Theater, The Old Globe Theater, and Classic Stage Company, among others. He has also been composer-in-residence with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Beginning his career with exclusive contracts with Boosey and Hawkes, and Decca Records, Torke now controls his own copyrights and masters through his publishing company, Adjustable Music, and record company, Ecstatic Records. Find out more at michaeltorke.com

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

Dec. 9: Mannes Orchestra Premieres Ndemara by Adolphus Hailstork and Long-Awaited Symphony by Marion Bauer at Lincoln Center

The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama
Presents the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall
Conducted by David Hayes

Featuring the U.S. Premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara,
the N.Y.C. Premiere of Marion Bauer's Symphony No. 1,
and David Diamond's Symphony No. 2

Monday, December 9, 2024 at 7:30pm
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Tickets and Information

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts

For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – On Monday, December 9, 2024, 7:30pm, The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, presents the Mannes Orchestra led by conductor David Hayes, at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Tickets for the performance are available now.

For its return to Alice Tully Hall, the Mannes Orchestra presents an evening of pioneering American composers, including the New York City premiere of Marion Bauer’s rarely performed Symphony No. 1, which was composed between 1947 and 1950 but was never performed during the composer’s lifetime; the U.S. premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara; and David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2 – widely praised as a mid-twentieth century masterwork; it was composed in the midst of World War II and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1944. Ndemara is the second work by Hailstork to be premiered by the Mannes Orchestra – the group presented the world premiere of his lauded work, Survive (Symphony No. 4) in March 2023 at Alice Tully Hall.

“A few years ago we made a commitment that the most high profile performances of the Mannes Orchestra would be curated by prioritizing works that we love, were either a world, U.S. or New York premiere, were written by under-recognized composers, and would benefit from a recorded performance. This Tully Hall program, a distinctly American one, animates this commitment in a beautiful and powerful manner, giving life to a work by Marion Bauer that had been waiting to be heard for almost 75 years, as well as the U.S. premiere of a favorite Mannes composer, Adolphus Hailstork. Rounding out this program is a work by David Diamond that rarely appears on programs anymore. As dean, I am proud of this work and hope lots of people will come to hear it,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.

Composed shortly before her death, Marion Bauer’s Symphony No. 1 was originally scheduled to premiere in 1950. However, due to significant issues on the part of the transcribers while working on Bauer’s score, the piece was not completed in time for its originally scheduled premiere date. The work was nearly forgotten until The Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy (WPA) meticulously prepared an edited score, which they presented to conductor Heather Buchman. Symphony No. 1, structured in three movements, finally received its long-awaited world premiere in 2022. “It caught my eye because it had a note attached, ‘has never been performed,’ even though it was composed in 1947-1950,” Buchman said. “Marion Bauer was a significant presence in American classical music in the first half of the 20th century…so the fact that her symphony was never performed seemed an egregious neglect of someone who should be celebrated.”

Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara is a single-movement nocturne inspired by the star for which it is named – a prominent star in the summer night sky. Scored for two oboes, two horns, and strings, Ndemara weaves a delicate tapestry of timbres, capturing the serenity of a starlit night and the bittersweet nature of parting. Hailstork says of Ndemara, “In 2016 I was commissioned to write a piece for 2 horns, and 2 oboes and strings to be premiered by a French chamber orchestra. The piece was premiered in Paris in 2017 and then, a few weeks later, in Milan. I was commissioned to write a piece that incorporated an idea related to Africa and the cosmos. All lands or nations have their own interpretation of the stars. That led to my choosing one of the stars interpreted by at least three African tribes as a warning to lovers of the need to end a romantic moment. The bright star Fomalhaut lies in a rather star-poor region and is prominent in the summer sky. It is called Ndemara, ‘The Sweetheart Star,’ by the Shona. The visibility of this star was supposed to indicate the time for lovers to part before their parents discovered them.”

David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2 was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky on October 22, 1944. The symphony unfolds over four movements, each rich in emotional depth and musical innovation. The first movement juxtaposes a sense of tragedy with moments of refined elegance, establishing a compelling emotional landscape. The second movement, a brief scherzo, features what Diamond described as, “a rhythmic figure mockingly tossed back and forth between the cellos and a bassoon,” imbuing it with a playful, almost whimsical character. The third movement revisits the emotional tone of the opening, weaving themes of introspection and resonance. The finale surges forward with a triumphant and exhilarating energy, bringing the symphony to a stirring conclusion.

Each of the composers on this program are esteemed in their own rights, but they also share bonds across time. Marion Bauer is known as Nadia Boulanger’s first American student. Bauer taught Nadia Boulanger English, and Boulanger gave Bauer lessons in harmony until Bauer returned to the United States in 1907. Bauer composed and published orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental music. She was well-regarded as an educator and served on the faculties at New York University and the Juilliard School of Music.

Adolphus Hailstork received his Ph.D. in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music, under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and at Howard University with Mark Fax. ​Dr. Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera.

Born in 1915 in Rochester, New York, David Diamond earned numerous accolades for his compositions, including three Guggenheim Fellowships, the William Schuman Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986, the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1991, and a GRAMMY® nomination for his String Quartet No. 4 from 1951. Diamond was a versatile, adventurous, and prolific composer, writing a total of 20 orchestral works, 29 chamber works, 14 piano works, five vocal works, two wind ensembles and nine concerto works. Beginning in 1973, Diamond was a professor of composition at The Juilliard School for 25 years.About the Composers:

Renowned composer Adolphus Hailstork has firmly established himself as one of America’s foremost composers, with his works celebrated in performances by prestigious orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His collaborations with distinguished conductors such as James DePreist, Paul Freeman, Daniel Barenboim, and Kurt Masur have further enriched his storied career. Most recently, in March, Thomas Wilkins conducted Hailstork’s An American Port of Call with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Hailstork’s prolific body of work spans a diverse range of ensembles, from choral and vocal solo to instrumental chamber, band, orchestral, and operatic compositions. Among his early works are Celebration (1976), Out of the Depths (1977), American

Guernica (1983), Consort Piece (1995), and Joshua’s Boots (1999). More recent compositions include Rise for Freedom (2017), Set Me on a Rock (2008), The Gift of the Magi (2009), Zora, We’re Calling You (2011), and Speak of Peace (2013). In addition to his compositional achievements, Dr. Hailstork is highly respected as an educator. His teaching career began with graduate assistantships at Michigan State University (1969-1971), followed by professorships at Youngstown State University in Ohio (1971-1977) and Norfolk State University in Virginia (1977-2000). He currently serves as an Eminent Scholar and Professor of Music at Old Dominion University in Virginia (2000-present), where his contributions continue to inspire the next generation of musicians.

Marion Eugénie Bauer was an influential American composer, educator, writer, and music critic whose work helped shape American music in the early 20th century. A contemporary of Aaron Copland, Bauer was deeply engaged in defining a distinct American musical identity through both her compositions and advocacy. Bauer composed in many different genres, including works for piano, chamber ensembles, symphonic orchestra, solo voice, and vocal ensembles. Her music reflects a rich harmonic language, characterized by dissonance and extended tertian, quartal, and quintal harmonies, though she generally remained within an extended tonal framework, apart from a brief period experimenting with serialism in the 1940s. Bauer’s works were widely performed during her lifetime, with highlights including the New York Philharmonic’s 1947 premiere of Sun Splendor conducted by Leopold Stokowski and a dedicated 1951 concert at New York’s Town Hall. In addition to her compositional achievements, she was a passionate teacher. Her academic career spanned 25 years on the faculty of New York University, where she taught music history and composition from 1926 to 1951. She was also a guest lecturer at Juilliard from 1940 until her passing in 1955. Bauer was a vigorous supporter of new music beyond her own compositions. She co-founded the American Music Guild, the American Music Center, and the American Composer’s Alliance, where she served as a board member. Additionally, she held leadership roles within the League of Composers and the Society for the Publication of American Music, often as the sole woman in these positions.

Awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1995 and the Juilliard Medal at the Juilliard School’s 100th commencement, David Diamond is celebrated as a leading 20th-century American composer. His prolific contributions began in the 1940s with notable works such as Concerto for Two Solo Pianos (1942), String Quartet No.2 (1943), Symphony No. 3 (1945), and Chaconne for Violin and Piano (1948). Diamond also composed the iconic theme for CBS Radio Network’s Hear It Now (1950-51) and See It Now (1951-58). From 1951 to 1965, Diamond taught in Europe as a Fulbright Professor. Soon after returning to the United States in 1965, the New York Philharmonic performed his Symphony No.5 under Leonard Bernstein and his Piano Concerto, which Diamond himself conducted. Diamond taught at the Manhattan School of Music (1965-67), earning the Rheta Sosland Chamber Music Prize for his String Quartet No. 8. In 1973, he joined The Juilliard School’s faculty, dedicating 25 years to teaching composition. His achievements were further recognized with awards such as the William Schuman Lifetime Achievement Award, the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Edward MacDowell Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement. In celebration of its 150th anniversary, the New York Philharmonic performed his Symphony No.11, affirming Diamond’s enduring impact on American music.

Led by maestro David Hayes, the Mannes Orchestra is the premiere large ensemble at The New School College of Performing Arts. The orchestra strives to foster the highest level of musicianship by engaging with a wide range of repertoire in a focused, dynamic, and supportive environment that mirrors the culture and practices of professional orchestras. Known for its bold and adventurous programming, the Mannes Orchestra has been hailed by The New York Times as an orchestra whose quality is “a revelation,” and for its “intensity of focus.” The orchestra performs a multitude of concerts each season at venues including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, John L. Tishman Auditorium at The New School, and appearances with the Mannes Opera at the Bank Street Theater and the Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center.

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1 and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The College of Performing Arts at The New School, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for the greater New York community and beyond. Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

Additional Upcoming Events featuring The Mannes Orchestra

November 1 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra & The New York Choral Society in Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light with Silent Film The Passion of Joan of Arc
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Information

The New York Choral Society presents Voices of Light, a work by New York native Richard Einhorn, for orchestra, soloists, and chorus. This compelling piece will be paired with the legendary silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, which chronicles the trial and torment of Joan of Arc. Starring the famous Comédie Française actress Renée Falconetti, this recently restored 1928 film offers a unique opportunity for both film and music lovers to experience the movie on a large screen at Alice Tully Hall, in partnership with the Mannes Orchestra.

February 5 at 7:00pm: Final Round of The George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition
Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Final Round of The George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition for the 2024-2025 academic year is open to the public. The finalists will perform their entire pieces, and the winners will be announced live by the panel of judges. In addition to a public performance with the Mannes Orchestra on Friday, February 28, the first-prize winner will receive a financial award of $4,000. The two runners-up alternates will also be announced, each receiving $500.

February 28 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra Spring Season Opener
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Mannes Orchestra, conducted by Mannes alumnae Mina Kim and Laura Gentile, gives the world premiere performances of two recent Martinů Prize composers and Mannes alumni – JL Marlor’s Saltwater Lung (2023 winner) and Alex Glass’s The World Inside (2024 winner). The Martinů Prize is given annually in honor of the distinguished composer and former Mannes faculty member Bohuslav Martinů. Sibelius’s rarely performed tone poem The Wood Nymph, Op. 15 completes the program. Premiered in 1895, it subsequently fell into obscurity with few performances in the 20th century, before finally being published in 2006.

April 11 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall with Sandbox Percussion & Violinist Stefan Jackiw
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Event Information

The Mannes Orchestra, led by conductor David Hayes, brings a program featuring Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion performing Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al, to Alice Tully Hall. The piece, which is dedicated to Sandbox Percussion, is inspired by renewable energy initiatives. Cuong writes, “Re(new)al is a percussion quartet concerto that is similarly devoted to finding unexpected ways to breathe new life into traditional ideas, and the solo quartet therefore performs on several ‘found’ instruments, including crystal glasses and compressed air cans. And while the piece also features more traditional instruments, such as snare drum and vibraphone, I looked for ways to either alter their sounds or find new ways to play them. For instance, a single snare drum is played by all four members of the quartet, and certain notes of the vibraphone are prepared with aluminum foil to recreate sounds found in electronic music. The entire piece was conceived in this way.” The concert also features John Zorn’s violin concerto, Contes de Fées, performed by Stefan Jackiw. Composed in 1999 at the turn of the millennium, Contes de Fées is one of Zorn’s classical masterworks. Building on this season’s theme of exploring the radical orchestra – unusual orchestrations and non-standard symphonic structures – the program includes Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia, which includes eight amplified singers embedded within the orchestra.

May 7 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra Conductors’ Recital
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Mannes Orchestra showcases and celebrates graduating conductors William Cabison and Hae Lee, who curated this program featuring Kodály’s Hungarian folk dance-inspired Dances of Galánta, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34, based on Spanish folks melodies, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7, Op. 131.

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

Nov. 25 - MACE: Mannes American Composers Ensemble Fall 2024 Concert – Works by Several Living Composers and a World Premiere – Led by Ensemble Director David Fulmer

(Clockwise) George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Matthew Ricketts, Ryan Brideau, MACE logo, Pierre Boulez, Carola Bauckholt

The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama
Presents MACE: Mannes American Composers Ensemble Fall 2024 Concert

Featuring the World Premiere of Short Story No. 1
by Mannes Student Ryan Brideau plus works by Carola Bauckholt, Augusta Read Thomas, Matthew Ricketts, and George Lewis
Led by Ensemble Director David Fulmer

Monday, November 25, 2024, 7:30pm
The Auditorium at 12th Street at The New School
66 West 12th Street | New York 10011
Free with Registration

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts

For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – On Monday, November 25, 2024, 7:30pm, the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE) of the The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, begins its 2024-2025 season with its fall 2024 concert, led by MACE Ensemble director, composer, and curator David Fulmer. For its first performance of the season, MACE gives the world premiere of Short Story No. 1 – a new work by Mannes student Ryan Brideau, alongside Treibstoff by Carola Bauckholt, Of Being is a Bird by Augusta Read Thomas, Enclosed Position by Matthew Ricketts, Shadowgraph 5 (for sextet) by George Lewis, and Dérive by Pierre Boulez. This event is open to the public and free with registration.

Founded in 2012 by composer Lowell Liebermann, MACE presents works by iconic American composers, such as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, as well as works by young, and up-and-coming composers. Conductor and composer David Fulmer has been directing the Ensemble since 2016, presenting a kaleidoscopic lens of different aesthetics and styles, while exploring diverse musical programs of established 20th and 21st century masterpieces, together with presentations of newly commissioned works and premieres.

This season's artistic curation and programming includes four innovative initiatives for the Ensemble; a two-year composer-in-focus workshop, collaboration and integration with the Vocal Performance Department, student composer commissioning projects, and collaborations with some of the world's most renowned and trailblazing composers and performers. In MACE, students work closely with composers, developing an understanding of their style and aesthetic.Through the examination of a composer's catalog, they learn the microscopy of their notation, their musical symbols, and their sonic design. This special student-composer process creates the rare opportunity for students to engage in close collaboration and commissioning, which will be a hallmark of their professional careers.

Ryan Brideau's new work, Short Story No. 1, opens the concert. Scored for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, this new quartet marks a new direction in Brideau's work. Pierre Boulez' iconic Derive, has been a recurring theme within Fulmer's curation. MACE dives into Boulez while exploring the intricate colors and timbres of this important work. Carola Bauckholt's Treibstoff marks the first work by this composer that will kickoff a two-year exploration of Bauckholt's work. This motoric, highly energized piece is sure to stun audiences in its brilliance and unique sound world. The music of George Lewis returns to MACE in this highly anticipated performance of Shadowgraph 5. Matthew Rickett's Enclosed Position is built on fine lines, gorgeously homogenous textures, and extraordinary detail of phrase structure. The program will end with Augusta Read Thomas' Of Being is a Bird (Emily Dickinson Settings), featuring soprano Brooke Jones. This exquisite score is as detailed as all other of Thomas' work, bringing the listener to a heightened sense of structural and formal awareness, while carving intensely dramatic phrases and polyphonic gestures.

Fulmer says of MACE and its programming, "I'm intrigued by diverse programs that represent a wide-ranging collection of musical ideas and stylistic innovation. As an ensemble, we embrace a broad view of the vital landscape of American contemporary music, and contemporary music of the world abroad. As artists, we are responsible for, and should take care of the musical trends of tomorrow – we need to share this unique work as if the ink on the page has been dried for several hundred years...to craft, assemble, and refine a performance so that the canon continues in exponential dimensions. Each performance is malleable, and should chart new territory of performance practice and artistic expression. This is what we do here in MACE."

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The College of Performing Arts at The New School, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for the greater New York community and beyond. Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

Additional Upcoming Events featuring The Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE)

April 2 at 7:30pm: MACE – Mannes American Composers Ensemble
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Founded in 2012 by composer Lowell Liebermann, MACE represents works by iconic American composers such as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, as well as works by young, and up-and-coming composers. Composer and conductor David Fulmer has been directing the Ensemble since 2016, and has presented a kaleidoscopic lens of different aesthetics and styles, while exploring diverse musical programs of established 20th and 21st century masterpieces, together with presentations of newly commissioned works and premieres. On April 2, MACE gives the world premiere of a student work TBA, alongside music by Matthias Pintscher, Pierre Boulez, Augusta Read Thomas, and Gyorgy Ligeti.

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

Dec. 5: Celebrate the Holidays with a Performance of Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite and Oliver Nelson’s Arrangement of Peter and the Wolf

The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama

Presents Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite and
Oliver Nelson’s Arrangement of Peter and the Wolf 

Performed by the New School Studio Orchestra led by Keller Coker 

Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 7:30pm
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts

For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama will celebrate the holidays on Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 7:30pm, with special performances of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s The Nutcracker Suite and Oliver Nelson’s arrangement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf by the New School Studio Orchestra (NSSO) featuring guest artists including Nick Marchione, led by Keller Coker, Dean, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. This event is open to the public and free with registration.

Ellington and Strayhorn’s The Nutcracker Suite features jazz interpretations of themes from Tchaikovsky’s beloved 1892 ballet score. The Smithsonian writes, “Ellington and Strayhorn did not simply place jazz rhythms over Tchaikovsky's music. Instead, they picked up the notes, recast the beats, communed with the themes, and recreated the work, turning it into something that was at once completely their own and completely Tchaikovsky's. In doing so, they showed that while music may be the universal language, it is spoken with many accents (and therein lies the fun).”

Of the 1966 Peter and the Wolf recording of Oliver Nelson’s arrangement of Sergei Prokofiev’s iconic work, AllMusic writes “Oliver Nelson arranged a variety of themes from Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf into a swinging suite featuring the great organist Jimmy Smith. Although there is no verbal narrative on this LP, Nelson's liner notes tell the story, which can actually be followed through the music, and Smith pays respect to the original melodies while making strong statements of his own. [It’s] a classic of its kind.”

The College of Performing Arts’ newest large ensemble, the New School Studio Orchestra (NSSO), is composed of students from the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Mannes School of Music, and performs music from a wide variety of genres including jazz, soul, pop, and improvised music. The NSSO kicked off its three-concert season on October 24, 2024 with an evening dedicated to the compositions and arrangements by the great jazz trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer. On May 2, 2025, the U.S. premiere of Carla Bley’s rarely performed but hugely influential Escalator Over the Hill, described by Rolling Stone as “an international musical encounter of the first order,” will be the epic close to this season’s series, led by GRAMMY®-winning composer, pianist, and conductor, Arturo O'Farrill and Keller Coker. 

"This is an exciting season for the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music,” says Keller Coker, Dean, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Associate Dean, College of Performing Arts. “The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of Carla Bley's rarely performed Escalator Over the Hill in May and starts off the fall in a big way with music by Bob Brookmeyer in October and Ellington's beloved Nutcracker Suite in December – I can't wait for people to hear this group. We have a boygenius Ensemble for the first time, and our Fall Ensemble Festival features Reggie Workman's John Coltrane Ensemble, the Carla Bley Ensemble directed by Arturo O'Farrill, and the Waterfalls 90s R&B Ensemble directed by Marlon Saunders, as well as groups helmed by Immanuel Wilkins, Jane Ira Bloom, Joel Ross, Mary Halvorson and more. Folks should come get in the room with these talented musicians."

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.  

The College presents approximately 900 performances each year, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, creating an incredible performing arts resource for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

Additional Upcoming Events from The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music

November 3-December 12: The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Fall Ensemble Festival

Jazz Performance Space at The New School | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Walk-up/First come, first-served seating
Event Schedule 

Featuring ensembles led by Reggie Workman, Immanuel Wilkens, Joel Ross, Mary Halvorson, Jane Ira Bloom, Arturo O'Farrill, and many more. Don't miss these artist led ensembles featuring the musicians of now and tomorrow, in the intimate setting of the Jazz Performance Space at The New School. 

May 2 at 7:30pm: The New School Studio Orchestra – Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

On May 2, the NSSO led by Arturo O'Farrill and Keller Coker, presents the U.S. premiere performance of Carla Bley’s landmark 1971 album, Escalator Over the Hill. J.D. Considine captures the essence of Bley’s iconic work, writing in TIDAL magazine, “Whenever the topic of Great Albums of the 1970s crops up, certain titles invariably recur. There’s Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. But while reading through the recent tributes to the great jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley, who died on Oct. 17, [2023] at age 87, I was reminded of the masterwork that’s always missing from those lists: Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill…Escalator Over the Hill goes well beyond the usual boundaries of genre. In addition to bracing bursts of free jazz, there are cabaret songs, snatches of country music, deep dives into jazz fusion, an excursion into Hindustani pop, elements of ambient music and nods to New York minimalism.”

For a complete overview of performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music is renowned across the globe as a center for progressive, innovative artists. Considered the most innovative school of its kind, it offers students an artist-as-mentor approach to learning. The world’s leading contemporary and jazz musicians, like Matt Wilson, Mary Halvorson, Linda May Han Oh, Jane Ira Bloom, and more, work with students to hone their craft and create groundbreaking music. This is a rare place where students can pursue what makes you a unique contemporary musician. We encourage students to explore their own talents and reach across disciplines to construct new rhythms, inventive compositions, and original means of expression. There are nearly 80 ensembles students can play in each semester. Outside the classroom, New York City becomes a performance hall. Play in clubs, concert halls, and venues throughout New York and in festivals and exchange programs around the world. Start your professional performance career now through our Gig Office; we have the largest music internship program in New York. You can work with producers, editors, and recording artists of the highest caliber. Students will be immersed not only in the newest music but also in the nuances of how the music industry runs. Our curriculum allows students to infuse their music education with elements of design, literature, history, journalism and more. You can take courses offered at the Mannes School of Music, Parsons School of Design, and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. In addition, we have created a number of project-based interdisciplinary classes, such as an exploration of sound-image relationships in early 20th-century multimedia art, offered by Parsons and Jazz. The results of this university-wide interconnectivity can be seen in the success of our alumni in a range of genres and categories of creative work, both in and outside of music.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence. 

Nov 8 & 9: Opera Double Bill features One-Act Operas by David T. Little (NYC Premiere) and Kamala Sankaram

Mannes Opera at The New School’s College of Performing Arts 

Presents N.Y.C. Premiere of David T. Little’s Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera,
and Kamala Sankaram’s The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace 

An Opera in Concert Double Bill on November 8 & 9
Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera - N.Y.C. Premiere
Music by David T. Little, Libretto by Royce Vavrek 

The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace
Music by Kamala Sankaram, Libretto by Rob Handel
Commissioned by Opera Ithaca

Friday, November 8 at 7:30pm and Saturday, November 9 at 2:00pm
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts
For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – Mannes Opera at The New School’s College of Performing Arts announces a duo of one-act operas by Mannes faculty members and prolific composers David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram. The Opera in Concert Double Bill features the New York City premiere of David T. Little’s complete Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera with libretto by Royce Vavrek, and Kamala Sankaram’s The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace with libretto by Rob Handel, directed by New School Drama alumna Alison Pogorelc and conducted by Christopher Allen, on Friday, November 8 at 7:30pm and Saturday, November 9 at 2:00pm, at the John L. Tishman Auditorium (63 Fifth Ave.). This event is open to the public and free with registration. 

Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (2010/2018), composed by David T. Little on a libretto by Royce Vavrek, receives its New York City premiere of the complete work in these performances. Vinkensport is a bitter-sweet comedy in one act, which explores obsession, desire, and the need to win, through the frame of an obscure Flemish folk sport, “finch-sitting.” Trained finches race to sing the most “susk-e-wiets” over the course of an hour. As they compete, the joys, sorrows, delusions and all-too-stark realities of their trainers are revealed. The New York Times reports, “Vinkensport has an exuberant, rhythmically vibrant score by David T. Little with an infectious opening chorus,” while Opera Magazine writes, “Vavrek’s interweaving of the human characters is extremely touching and allows for nice musical counterpoint. Little’s music is tuneful but sophisticated and original. . .”

The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace (2019), composed by Kamala Sankaram with a libretto by Rob Handel, follows Ada, Countess of Lovelace and Lord Byron's daughter, who has been asked to help Charles Babbage with his work on the Difference Engine. She struggles between her work in mathematics and upholding her reputation as a wife, mother, and public figure. The revolutionary concepts that she put forth in her notes about the potential ability of the Engine to carry out an algorithm led Ada to be considered the world’s first computer programmer. ArtsKnoxville writes, “Sankaram's deliciously tonal score is loaded with poise and charm that feigns minimalism to suggest binary math, but wanders through some intriguing stylistic territory that has flavors and textures of jazz, blues, classical, and 19th century romanticism, among others.” The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace was commissioned by Opera Ithaca and is presented through special arrangement with UIA Talent Agency and Just a Theory Press.

“In 1916 David Mannes hired Ernest Bloch to be the very first composition faculty member at the brand new Mannes School of Music. Fast forward to today, with this program of works by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram and one cannot miss how the tradition of world class composers teaching and studying at Mannes is stronger than ever. I cannot wait to attend this double bill, with two brilliant composers and colleagues who are a big part of the rapid evolution of opera in the United States,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.

Under the leadership of Managing Artistic Director Emma Griffin, Mannes Opera is a dynamic training program for operatic artists, marked by a curiosity for new and a devotion to craft. The program utilizes opera as a medium for exploration, improvisation, and creation, providing students with extensive performance opportunities and practice.

Mannes Opera’s season opens on October 18 and 19 with a jewel box production of W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, arranged by Danyal Dhondy, realized by Griffin and Mannes faculty member Cris Frisco at a crisp 100 minutes. Additional highlights include SCENEWORKS FALL24 on December 6 and 7 at the Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street, offering a delightful serving of operatic scenes; program to be announced. On March 7 and 8, Mannes Opera presents Handel’s Alcina at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater, directed by Sam Helfrich and conducted by Mannes alumnus Geoffrey MacDonald. On May 9, Mannes Opera gives an invite-only workshop presentation of Hildegard, a new opera by Sarah Kirkland Snider, in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The College of Performing Arts at The New School, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for the greater New York community and beyond. Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, bold experimentation, innovative education, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for radically progressive music education, anchored in foundational excellence and dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

The New School's College of Performing Arts Announces School of Drama 2024-2025 Highlights

The New School's College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama
Announces School of Drama 2024-2025 Highlights

September 2024 – April 2025: Naked Angels 1st Mondays at The New School
September 30, December 9, February 3, March 17, and April 21 at 7:00pm
Free, No Advance Registration 

October 31, November 1, November 2 at 7:30pm & November 2, 2024 at 2:00pm
World Premiere of The Ruminants
Written by Dipti Bramhandkar | Directed by Ana Margineanu
Bank Street Theater | 151 Bank St., NYC
Free, Registration Required 

Monday, November 4, 2024 at 7:30pm: Guest Artist Series – Ping Chong and Company
The Glassbox Theater | 55 W. 13th St., NYC
Free, Registration Required  

November 21, 22 and 23 at 7:30pm & November 23, 2024 at 2:00pm: Orestes
Written by Euripides | Translated by Anne Carson | Directed by Ashley Kelly Tata
Bank Street Theater | 151 Bank St., NYC
Free, Registration Required  

April 25-26 & May 2-3: APEX Festival
Weekend 1: April 25-26 at 7:30pm; April 26 at 2:00pm
Weekend 2: May 2-3 at 7:30pm & May 3 at 2:00pm
Final program and venues to be announced

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts

New York, NY – The College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, a progressive creative center at the heart of The New School, announces 2024-2025 highlights for the School of Drama. The School of Drama is the creative home to a dynamic group of actors, directors, writers, creative technologists, and multi-disciplinary theater artists. With a focus on authenticity of expression, the school’s curriculum confronts today's most pressing societal issues through the making of theater, film, and emerging media.

Season highlights for the School of Drama include the world premiere of The Ruminants from October 31-November 2; the premiere of a devised piece curated by the artistic leaders of Ping Chong and Company as part of the MFA Guest Artist Series on November 4; Euripides’ Orestes translated by Anne Carson from November 21-23; the APEX Festival on April 25-26 and May 2-3; and the ongoing Naked Angels 1st Mondays at The New School series running from September 2024 through April 2025. 

From Thursday, October 31 through Saturday, November 2, the School of Drama presents the world premiere of The Ruminants at Bank Street Theater (151 Bank St.), directed by faculty member Ana Margineanu. Admission is free but registration is required. The Ruminants is a new play that explores protest, privilege, and the lasting effects of one's actions. With only weeks left in her senior year, Bekka wonders if she has done enough to impact animal rights at her university. As the president of Animal Rights Now (ARN), she has organized numerous protests, but nothing seems to change. Determined to leave her mark, she plans a bold action that no one can ignore. But what will the cost be for those who join her and the animals she tries to help? The Ruminants was developed as part of the 2023-2024 Farm Theater College Collaboration Project with three universities: Austin Peay State, Shenandoah, and Middle Tennessee State. 

Each year, the School of Drama invites regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized guest artists to share their artistic, collaborative, and philosophical approaches to theater-making with students in its groundbreaking MFA in Contemporary Theatre and Performance program. This year marks the return of members of Ping Chong and Company (PCC), longtime collaborators with the School of Drama and the College of Performing Arts, on Monday, November 4 at 7:30pm at The Glassbox Theater (55 W. 13th St.). Admission is free but registration is required. Rooted in the company's mission to “create[s] theater and art that reveal beauty, invention, precision, and a commitment to social justice,” PCC engaged students in their “Undesirable Elements” series, an ongoing practice of creating interview-based theater works that explore culture, identity, and belonging in specific communities. This production – an original student-devised ensemble-based piece centered on creative producing and community-engaged practice – culminates PCC’s residency.

From Thursday, November 21 through Saturday, November 23 at Bank Street Theater (151 Bank St.), the School of Drama presents Euripides' Orestes. Admission is free but registration is required. In this exciting reimagining of Orestes, the poet, translator, and essayist Anne Carson gives birth to a wholly new experience of the classic Greek triumvirate of vengeance. Anne Carson’s watershed translation of a death-dance of vengeance and passion is not to be missed, combining contemporary language with the traditional structures and rhetoric of Greek tragedy. “I’m interested in having the chorus members step out from the chorus into any of the roles to focus on the communal in the performance of this work and explore the idea that any member of a community can be the protagonist of the narrative,” says Ashley Kelly Tata, director. “Ultimately, Orestes should serve what I think is so urgent about the piece right now: these are young people playing out the story of a history of violence that they have inherited from the generations before them.”

The APEX Festival is a collective, artistic activation of the Bank Street Theater and surrounding spaces by graduating MFA Contemporary Theatre and Performance students, which this year will take place on Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 and Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3. Eight distinct projects serve as each student's capstone offering as well as a public introduction to their work as it exists at this stage in their development. In celebration, the School of Drama invites audiences to experience a collection of performative artworks that push the boundaries of discipline and form. Anticipated performances include A TIME (June Seo); the starry-eyed (Lars Montanaro); Lacuna(e) (Catalina Cofone Polack); Unsay (Moira Zhang); Guanahani (Neka Knowles); Ernestine (Jasmine Kiah); Ameliaorated (Alina Burke); and Eros Without Love (working title, Anamaría Willars). Specific dates and times to be announced.

The School of Drama also continues its dynamic partnership with Naked Angels, a prominent figure in New York City’s theater community. The esteemed 1st Mondays at The New School series, is a vital platform for emerging playwrights from Naked Angels’ Tuesdays@9 community to showcase their work and for School of Drama students to interact with and learn from these emerging talents, gain insights into the process of creating and workshopping new plays, and forge meaningful connections within the industry. The 1st Mondays at The New School series will run through the 2024-25 season and include in-person readings of full-length plays on December 9, February 3, March 17, and April 21.

“The diversity of works this season includes a new translation of classic Greek texts, a world premiere play that resonates deeply with and speaks to the present moment, collaborations with leading arts organizations in New York City, and a festival of new and exciting multidisciplinary works from our third-year MFA  cohort,” says Jermaine Hill, Dean, School Of Drama and Associate Dean, College of Performing Arts. “These offerings demonstrate the depth and breadth of artistic exploration at the School of Drama and exemplify our commitment to being a destination that celebrates and epitomizes the best of student artistry in a variety of genres, mediums, and forms. We welcome you to join us for this bold and exciting production season.” 

Established in the fall of 2015, the College brings together Mannes School of Music, the iconic 100-year-old conservatory; the legendary School of Jazz and Contemporary Music (SJCM); and the innovative and groundbreaking School of Drama. The College of Performing Arts creates opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration, innovative education, and world-class performances, encouraging students to work across traditions to become a force of new artistry. With an enrollment of over 900 students taught by 630 full- and part-time faculty, the College presents approximately 750 performances each year, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, creating an incredible performing arts resource for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights for the College this season include (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM on December 11; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

About The College of Performing Arts at The New School 

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

The School of Drama is the most recent incarnation of theater education at The New School that goes back to the programs once led by the Group Theater, Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop, and The Actor’s Studio, and is a creative home to a dynamic group of actors, directors, writers, creative technologists, and multi-disciplinary theater artists. With a focus on authenticity of expression, the school’s curriculum confronts today's most pressing societal issues through the making of theater, film, and emerging media. The School of Drama’s faculty is made up of award-winning actors, playwrights, and directors who bring a currency of professional experience, artistic training, and project-based learning into the classroom. The multidisciplinary MFA and BFA degree programs bring together rigor, creativity, and collaborative learning to create work marked by professionalism, imagination, and civic awareness. The school takes inspiration from the greats who walked its halls in the past, including Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte, Shelley Winters, and Vinnette Carroll, as well as more recent graduates, like Adrienne C. Moore, Bradley Cooper, Jordan E. Cooper, and Jason Kim.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

Oct 25-26: Two Free Performances of the Music of Philip Glass by Dennis Russell Davies, Maki Namekawa, Michael Riesman, and Orange Road Quartet at The New School College of Performing Arts

The Mannes School of Music at The New School College of Performing Arts

Presents A Weekend of Glass
Two Performances Featuring the Music of Philip Glass
Both Free and Open to the Public

Including the U.S. Premiere of Philip Glass’s Elergy for the Present

Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7:30pm: (Un)Silent Film – Dracula
Orange Road Quartet Performs Philip Glass’s Score Live to Tod Browning’s Classic Film
Conducted by Michael Riesman
Part of the (Un)Silent Film Series
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., NYC
Free, Registration Required

Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 7:30pm: Pianographique
Performed by Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies with Live Visuals by Cori O’Lan
Featuring the U.S. Premiere of Philip Glass’s Elergy for the Present
With Music by Steve Reich and Laurie Anderson
Presented by Mannes School of Music at The New School College of Performing Arts
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., NYC
Free, Registration Required

Information: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts
For press tickets, contact Christina Jensen: christina@jensenartists.com

New York, NY – The Mannes School of Music at The New School College of Performing Arts announces A Weekend of Glass, performances on October 25 and 26 featuring the music of iconic American composer Philip Glass, as part of its 2024-2025 season. This special weekend includes the U.S. premiere of Glass’s Elergy for the Present performed by the Namekawa-Davies Duo – Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies – and the Philip Glass score to Tod Browning’s 1931 classic film Dracula, performed live to film by the Orange Road Quartet, conducted from the piano by Michael Riesman. Both concerts are open to the public and free with registration.

On Friday, October 25 at 7:30pm, perfectly timed for Halloween, the (Un)Silent Film series presents Dracula, featuring the Orange Road Quartet (Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Mannes) and two pianists, in Glass’s acclaimed score performed live with Tod Browning’s 1931 classic film starring Bela Lugosi, at the John L. Tishman Auditorium (63 Fifth Ave.). The performance will be conducted from the piano by Michael Riesman, music arranger and music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble and a Mannes School of Music alumnus. Glass was commissioned by Universal Studios Home Entertainment to write the score for Dracula for the re-release of the film in 1998, and it was premiered by the Kronos Quartet and Michael Riesman. “I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century – for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective,” Glass wrote. “I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With Kronos we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film.” Orange Road Quartet cellist Jordan Bartow says, "We view new music as the future, the ‘orange road’ on the horizon, and we are thrilled to continue on that road and share our vision here at The New School and beyond.”

On Saturday, October 26 at 7:30, the Mannes School of Music presents the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass (U.S. Premiere), Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, at The Auditorium on 12th Street (66 West 12th St.). The concert features Steve Reich’s iconic Piano Phase (1967), two pieces by Laurie Anderson including Song for Bob, and a second half comprised of works by Philip Glass, including the U.S. premiere of Elergy for the Present (2020), music from The Truman Show, and Four Pieces for Two Pianos which Glass composed for the Namekawa-Davies Duo. All of Cori O'Lan's graphic elements will be derived directly from the acoustic material – the sound of the music – created live in response to frequency, pitch, dynamics, and other elements of the performance. 

“The influence of Philip Glass on music cannot be overstated. As such, it is an honor for us to present a Weekend of Glass, featuring the U.S. premiere of Elergy for the Present alongside Philip’s bringing Dracula to life through his brilliant score to the 1931 classic horror film. Michael Riesman, Mannes alumnus and Philip’s longtime bandmate in the Philip Glass Ensemble will conduct Dracula. The students, faculty, and staff all hope you will join us for this very special weekend devoted to the great Philip Glass,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music. 

Performances by students and faculty at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Additional highlights this season include performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season, including Sandbox Percussion’s world premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM in Concert on December 11; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; and multiple performances of the Mannes Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, including Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc with The New York Choral Society on November 1, the U.S. premiere of Augustus Hailstork’s Ndemera on December 9, and Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al paired with John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées performed by Stefan Jackiw on April 11. The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

For a complete overview of performances at The College of Performing Arts at The New School, read the 2024-2025 season press release here.

Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for the greater New York community and beyond. Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for radically progressive music education, anchored in foundational excellence and dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Dedicated to the performance of new works and modern classics, the Orange Road Quartet creates unique listener-centered musical experiences for curious audiences. The programs they develop in collaboration with composers connect art and audiences beyond the traditional elite-dominated concert hall, and leave people from all backgrounds with a transformative experience. In recent years, Orange Road has been featured twice as an ensemble in residence at The Cortona Sessions for New Music, bringing cutting edge programs of premieres and modern masterpieces from Xenakis to John Luther Adams to audiences in Italy and the Netherlands. Orange Road is currently in the midst of their 2024-2025 concert season, which has included performances in New York City and Europe, with more on the horizon at The Southern Exposure Series at the University of South Carolina and residencies at the University of Florida and University of California, Davis, with more than 15 premieres to take place over the next few months. Orange Road began as The New Sounds Quartet in residence at the University of South Carolina in 2021, where they have enjoyed the mentorship of Ari Streisfeld, co-founding member of the JACK quartet. The current members are Miguel Calleja and Holly Workman, violins, Nicky Moore on viola, and Jordan Bartow on cello. Orange Road's members enjoy robust and varied careers as International soloists, interdisciplinary artists, and hold multiple chairs in regional orchestras. Orange Road is especially honored to join The New School as the Cuker and Stern Quartet in Residence, where they will be mentored by the current members of the JACK quartet, carrying on the seed of inspiration that began with their cherished mentor, Ari. As the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet, Orange Road will have unique performance opportunities, including appearances at the Mannes Sounds Festival; workshops and readings of new works by Composition faculty and students; masterclasses at Mannes Prep; collaborations with The Mannes Orchestra, Mannes American Composers Ensemble, and Mannes Opera; as well as performances at special events.

The (Un)Silent Film series has been critical in advancing the resurgence of film screenings with live music and has been hosted by Matthew Broderick, Bill Irwin, Rob Bartlett, Ed Rothstein, and Michael Bacon. (Un)Silent Film nights have presented the world premieres of works composed for The Birds and The Immigrant (by Nathan Kamal and Alexis Cuadrado respectively), a New York premiere of a score by Hollywood composer Craig Marks for the film Sherlock, Jr., and Charlie Chaplin's original scores for Gold Rush and other Chaplin classics. The most recent (Un)Silent presented the world premiere of a new score to the iconic film, METROPOLIS, composed by Mannes student, Amir Sanjari.

The College of Performing Arts at The New School Announces 2024-2025 Performance Season

The College of Performing Arts - Mannes, Jazz, Drama at The New School
Announces 2024-2025 Performance Season

Highlights Include:

 September 30: Mannes Orchestra in World Premiere of New Work by Jihwan Yoon, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, with Mannes Violist Yuchen Lu as Soloist in Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher 

October 14: The Westerlies, School of Jazz & Contemporary Music Ensemble-in-Residence, perform Frisell, Holcomb, Horvitz

October 18-19: Mannes Opera Season Opener features a newly realized version of Don Giovanni

October 24: The New School Studio Orchestra performs the Music of Bob Brookmeyer

October 25: (Un)Silent Film - Orange Road Quartet performs Philip Glass score live to Tod Browning’s classic film, Dracula, with pianist and conductor Michael Riesman

October 26: Pianographique featuring Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies with Live Visuals by Cori O’Lan
 Music by Philip Glass (U.S. Premiere), Steve Reich, and Laurie Anderson

November 1: Mannes Orchestra & The New York Choral Society in Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light with Silent Film The Passion of Joan of Arc at Alice Tully Hall 

October 31-November 2: School of Drama presents World Premiere of The Ruminants 

November 8-9: Mannes Opera Presents
Vinkensport, or the Finch Opera – Composed by David T. Little, Libretto by Royce Vavrek (N.Y.C. Premiere)
The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace – Composed by Kamala Sankaram, Libretto by Rob Handel

November 14: JACK Quartet, Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence
Modern Medieval: Music by Taylor Brook, Vincente Atria, Austin Wulliman, Johnny MacMillan, and Juri Seo 

November 21-23: School of Drama presents Anne Carson's Translation of Euripides' Orestes 

November 25: Mannes American Composers Ensemble led by David Fulmer
Music by Carola Bauckholt, Augusta Read Thomas, Matthew Ricketts, George Lewis, and Pierre Boulez, plus Mannes student Ryan Brideau 

December 5: The New School Studio Orchestra presents Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite 

December 9: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in the U.S. Premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara, the N.Y.C. Premiere of Marion Bauer’s Rarely Performed Symphony No. 1, and David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2 

December 11: Sandbox Percussion, Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence, presents World Premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM in Concert 

February 28: Mannes Orchestra gives the World Premieres of JL Marlor’s Saltwater Lung and Alex Glass’s The World Inside, both winners of the Martinů Prize, with Sibelius’s The Wood Nymph 

March 7 & 8: Mannes Opera presents Handel’s Alcina
Directed by Sam Helfrich and Conducted by Geoffrey MacDonald 

March 31-April 1: Mannes Sounds presents The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds; a Chamber Opera by Ofer Ben-Amots, Based on the Play by S. Ansky

April 2: Mannes American Composers Ensemble led by David Fulmer
Music by Matthias Pintscher, Pierre Boulez, Augusta Read Thomas, and Gyorgy Ligeti, plus a Mannes student work TBA 

April 11: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al featuring Sandbox Percussion
Plus John Zorn’s Contes de Fées featuring Violinist Stefan Jackiw and Berio’s Sinfonia 

May 2: The New School Studio Orchestra presents U.S. Premiere of Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill

September-May: Residencies at The Stone at The New School

Featured Artists include Craig Taborn, Raven Chacon, Cyro Baptista, Zeena Parkins, Thurston Moore, Ikue Mori, Uri Caine, Theo Bleckmann, Annie Gosfield, Fred Frith, Mary Halvorson, and many more 

Complete Performance Calendar: www.newschool.edu/performing-arts/performance-calendar

For Complete Program Descriptions, See the End of this Press Release.

For Press Tickets Contact: Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com

New York, N.Y. – The College of Performing Arts - Mannes, Jazz, Drama at The New School announces performance highlights for its 2024-2025 season. The College of Performing Arts – the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama – is a hub for vigorous training, bold experimentation, innovative education, cross-disciplinary collaboration and world-class performances. Students are mentored by the legendary faculty, artists and professional performing partners within New York City's vibrant artistic community, gaining hands-on experience performing across the city and around the world. Presenting approximately 900 performances each year by students, faculty and guest artists, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, the Mannes, Jazz, Drama season provides an incredible performing arts resource for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

“It’s hard to imagine that the founders of our performing arts schools could have foreseen a season of performances like this. From our world renowned ensembles in residence, the long overdue United States premiere of Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill, Philip Glass’s score with the legendary 1931 film Dracula, or one act operas by our composition faculty members David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram, this season of works by our wonderful students, faculty, and guest artists will offer something special no matter what genre or style you are interested in. We are incredibly excited to bring this season to audiences through the metro New York region,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.

Performances by students, faculty and guest artists at the College of Performing Arts break new ground, pushing the boundaries of convention and reinventing traditional forms. Highlights this season include the (Un)Silent Film series presenting Tod Browning’s classic film Dracula with Philip Glass’s score performed by Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, with pianist and guest conductor Michael Riesman on October 25; the Namekawa-Davies Duo (Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies) in Pianographique featuring music by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan, on October 26; performances by celebrated Mannes/School of Jazz Ensembles-in-Residence The Westerlies, Sandbox Percussion, and JACK Quartet throughout the season; the world premiere of The Ruminants directed by School of Drama faculty member Ana Margineanu from October 31 through November 2; Mannes Opera’s double bill featuring one-act operas by David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram on November 8 and 9; the New School Studio Orchestra performing Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 5; the Mannes Orchestra performing at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in a concert featuring Sandbox Percussion in Viet Cuong’s percussion concerto Re(new)al and John Zorn’s violin concerto with Stefan Jackiw on April 11; and the New School Studio Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of jazz great Carla Bley’s rarely heard landmark album Escalator Over the Hill on May 2.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. Distinguished Mannes alumni include the 20th-century songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, the great pianists Michel Camilo, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans, acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel, beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, as well as the great opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra.

Led by conductor David Hayes and known for its bold and adventurous programming, the Mannes Orchestra has been hailed by The New York Times as an orchestra whose quality is “a revelation,” and for its “intensity of focus.” Exploring the concept of the “radical orchestra” during the 2024-2025 season and seeking to amplify the work of underrepresented composers, this year’s programming features composers who went beyond traditional orchestral structures to explore new ground in sound and structure. The Mannes Orchestra’s season opens on September 30 with a concert featuring two prizewinning students – composer Jihwan Yoon, winner of the Martinů Prize and violist Yuchen Lu, winner of the 2024 George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition – plus Berlioz’s epic Symphonie Fantastique. As part of its ongoing partnership with the New York Choral Society, the orchestra will perform Voices of Light, a work by Richard Einhorn paired with legendary silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on November 1. The orchestra returns to Alice Tully on December 9 to give the U.S. premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara, the New York City premiere of Marion Bauer’s rarely performed Symphony No. 1, and David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2. The orchestra’s spring season opens on February 28 with the world premieres of Mannes alumni JL Marlor’s Saltwater Lung, winner of the Martinů Prize in 2023, and The World Inside by Alex Glass, winner of the 2024 Martinů prize, presented with Sibelius’s rarely performed The Wood Nymph, Op. 15. On April 11 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Mannes Orchestra performs Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al with Sandbox Percussion, Berio’s Sinfonia, and John Zorn’s violin concerto Contes de Fées featuring Stefan Jackiw. 

Under the leadership of Managing Artistic Director Emma Griffin, Mannes Opera is a dynamic training program for operatic artists, marked by a curiosity for new and a devotion to craft. The program utilizes opera as a medium for exploration, improvisation, and creation, providing students with extensive performance opportunities and practice. Mannes Opera’s season opens on October 18 and 19 with a jewel box production of W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, arranged by Danyal Dhondy, realized by Griffin and Mannes faculty member Cris Frisco at a crisp 100 minutes. The Opera in Concert double bill on November 8 and 9 features a duo of one-act operas by Mannes faculty members and prolific composers, David T. Little (Vinkensport, or the Finch Opera with libretto by Royce Vavrek, New York City premiere) and Kamala Sankaram (The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace with libretto by Rob Handel), directed by New School Drama alum Alison Pogorelc. SCENEWORKS FALL24 on December 6 and 7 at the Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street offers a delightful serving of operatic scenes; program to be announced. On March 7 and 8, Mannes Opera presents Handel’s Alcina at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater, directed by Sam Helfrich and conducted by Mannes alumnus Geoffrey MacDonald. On May 9, Mannes Opera gives an invite-only workshop presentation of Hildegard, a new opera by Sarah Kirkland Snider, in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.

The 2024-2025 season at the Mannes School of Music also includes performances that are part of the Mannes Sounds Festival, founded in 1999 by piano chair Pavlina Dokovska, which presents more than 20 concerts by Mannes students, faculty and guest artists annually at venues and institutions across New York City; such as The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds, a chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots based on the play by S. Ansky, presented on March 31 and April 1 at the Center for Jewish History in partnership with the American Society of Jewish Music and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried, and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts. In addition, chamber music students’ achievements each semester will be highlighted in two Mannes Chamber Music Festivals in fall (November 7-14) and spring (April 8-15). The season also features fall (November 25) and spring (April 2) performances by the Mannes American Composers Ensemble – founded in 2012 by Lowell Liebermann and now led by David Fulmer, representing works by iconic American and new and upcoming composers. This season's artistic curation and programming includes four innovative initiatives for the Ensemble; a two-year composer-in-focus workshop, collaboration and integration with the Vocal Performance Department, student composer commissioning projects, and collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble and JACK Quartet.

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music is renowned across the globe as the most innovative school of its kind, offering students an artist-as-mentor approach to learning. The world’s leading contemporary and jazz musicians, like Reggie Workman, Mary Halvorson, Arturo O’Farrill, Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkens, Jane Ira Bloom, and more, work with students to hone their craft and create groundbreaking music. At the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, students are immersed in the creative epicenter of New York City and are supported by a faculty of renowned professionals who challenge them to expand the boundaries of their art form, experiment with sound, and use creative voice for change. The school’s approach is unique, allowing students to choose their own teachers and create their own ensembles. This education with agency provides students with the tools and experience needed to navigate and thrive as performing arts professionals. All groups rehearse, record, and perform live (with livestream) every semester.

The College of Performing Arts' newest large ensemble, the New School Studio Orchestra (NSSO), is composed of students from the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Mannes School of Music, performing music from a wide variety of genres including jazz, soul, pop, and improvised music. The NSSO kicks off its three-concert season on October 24 with an evening dedicated to the compositions and arrangements by the great jazz trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer. Ellington and Strayhorn’s beloved The Nutcracker Suite will be presented during the holiday season on December 5. The U.S. premiere of Carla Bley’s rarely performed but hugely influential Escalator Over the Hill, described by Rolling Stone as “an international musical encounter of the first order,” is the epic close to this season’s series, led by Arturo O'Farrill on May 2, 2025.

"This is an exciting season for the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music,” says Keller Coker, Dean, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Associate Dean, College of Performing Arts. “The New School Studio Orchestra presents the U.S. Premiere of Carla Bley's rarely performed Escalator Over the Hill in May and starts off the fall in a big way with music by Bob Brookmeyer in October and Ellington's beloved Nutcracker Suite in December – I can't wait for people to hear this group. We have a boygenius Ensemble for the first time, and our Fall Ensemble Festival features Reggie Workman's John Coltrane Ensemble, the Carla Bley Ensemble directed by Arturo O'Farrill, and the Waterfalls 90s R&B Ensemble directed by Marlon Saunders, as well as groups helmed by Immanuel Wilkins, Jane Ira Bloom, Joel Ross, Mary Halvorson and more. Folks should come get in the room with these talented musicians."

The (Un)Silent Film series has been critical in advancing the resurgence of film screenings with live music and has been hosted by Matthew Broderick, Bill Irwin, Rob Bartlett, Ed Rothstein, and Michael Bacon. (Un)Silent Film nights have presented the world premieres of works composed for The Birds and The Immigrant (by Nathan Kamal and Alexis Cuadrado respectively), a New York premiere of a score by Hollywood composer Craig Marks for the film Sherlock, Jr., and Charlie Chaplin's original scores for Gold Rush and other Chaplin classics. This season, in addition to Dracula on October 25, the series presents Safety Last!, an American silent romantic-comedy film from 1923 starring Harold Lloyd and produced by Hal Roach, and Kid Auto Races [at Venice], also known as The Pest, a 1914 American film starring Charlie Chaplin with music by Carl Davis performed by Mannes' (Un)Silent Orchestra, conducted by David Fulmer on April 25.

The Stone at The New School, named by Time Out New York as one of the best jazz clubs in New York City, serves as an artist-centric community for experimental and avant-garde artists. With concerts every Wednesday through Saturday evening, The Stone at The New School continues the tradition of the landmark non-profit performance space founded in 2005 by Artistic Director John Zorn, within a greatly improved space. The 2024-2025 season features a varied roster of artists from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore to renowned concert and new music violinist Jennifer Choi. This season showcases notable New School faculty members such as MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Mary Halvorson; Cyro Baptista, who has shared the stage with the likes of Paul Simon and David Byrne; and Fay Victor, praised in The New York Times for inventing “her own hybrid of song and spoken word, a scat style for today’s avant-garde.” The 2024-2025 season also marks the premiere of the Students at The Stone series featuring performances by current New School students, where audiences can hear the future of the experimental music scene.

The School of Drama is the creative home to a dynamic group of actors, directors, writers, creative technologists, and multi-disciplinary theater artists. With a focus on authenticity of expression, the school’s curriculum confronts today's most pressing societal issues through the making of theater, film, and emerging media. From October 31-November 2, the School of Drama presents the world premiere of The Ruminants at Bank Street Theater, directed by faculty member Ana Margineanu. The Ruminants is a new play that explores protest, privilege, and the lasting effects of one's actions, which was developed as part of the 2023-2024 Farm Theater College Collaboration Project. Each year, the School of Drama invites regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized guest artists to share their artistic, collaborative, and philosophical approaches to theater-making with students in its groundbreaking MFA in Contemporary Theatre and Performance program. This year marks the return of members of Ping Chong and Company (PCC), longtime collaborators with the School of Drama and the College of Performing Arts, on November 4. Rooted in the company's mission to “create[s] theater and art that reveal beauty, invention, precision, and a commitment to social justice,” PCC engaged students in their “Undesirable Elements” series, an ongoing practice of creating interview-based theater works that explore culture, identity, and belonging in specific communities. From November 21-23 at Bank Street Theater, the School of Drama presents an innovative rendition of Euripides' Orestes, translated by poet, translator, and essayist Anne Carson and directed by Ashley Kelly Tata. The APEX Festival will take place over two weekends at Bank Street Theater, April 25-26 and May 2-3, and will spotlight eight projects serving as graduating MFA Contemporary Theatre and Performance students' capstone offerings. The School of Drama also continues its dynamic partnership with Naked Angels, a prominent figure in New York City’s theater community. The esteemed 1st Mondays at The New School series, entering its second year, is a vital platform for emerging playwrights from Naked Angels’ Tuesdays@9 community to showcase their work and for School of Drama students to interact with and learn from these emerging talents, gain insights into the process of creating and workshopping new plays, and forge meaningful connections within the industry.

“The diversity of works this season includes a new translation of a classic Greek text, a world premiere play that resonates deeply with the present moment, collaborations with leading arts organizations in New York City, and a festival of new and exciting multidisciplinary works from our graduate student cohort,” says Jermaine Hill, Dean, School Of Drama and Associate Dean, College of Performing Arts. “These offerings demonstrate the depth and breadth of artistic exploration at the School of Drama and exemplify our commitment to being a destination that celebrates and epitomizes the best of our student artists in a variety of genres, mediums, and forms. We welcome you to join us for this bold and exciting production season.”

Performances at The New School’s College of Performing Arts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Some events require advance registration. View the full calendar of performances at the College of Performing Arts – including Mannes School of Music, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and School of Drama – for details on how to attend.

The College of Performing Arts at The New School – 2024-2025 Season Highlights

Cross-College Collaborations 

February 21 at 7:30pm: A Celebration of Black History
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Co-Produced by the College of Performing Arts Committee for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
Free with registration

Artists from across the College of Performing Arts join together to celebrate Black History through music and theatrical performance, in a special gathering of song, dance, theater, oration and community. The evening is curated by Charlotte Small and features special guests and performers from the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, the School of Drama, and special guests. Last year’s inaugural performance featured Dr. Cornel West, Cyrus Chestnut, Arturo O'Farrill, Power Silhouette, The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Gospel Choir, School of Drama actors, and more. This season’s special guests are to be announced.

Mannes School of Music

September 30 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra Fall Season Opener
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Mannes Orchestra, led by conductor David Hayes, opens its season with a concert featuring two prizewinning students plus Berlioz’s epic Symphonie Fantastique. Violist Yuchen Lu, winner of the 2024 George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition, will perform Hindemith’s dramatic Der Schwanendreher. The orchestra gives the world premiere of In the Mirror…for Orchestra by Jihwan Yoon, winner of the Martinů Prize for his unique voice and originality in musical composition for orchestra. The Martinů Prize is named in honor of former Mannes faculty member, distinguished composer Bohuslav Martinů. 

October 3 at 7:30pm: Mannes Wind Symphony performs Adams, Copland, Piazzolla and Rodrigo
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Anchored around John Adams' challenging and seldom performed Grand Pianola Music, this exciting program features works by some of our greatest composers of Latin and American music. With the support of a full wind ensemble throughout, this concert dances between varied Spanish, American, and Latin American styles all originating from the last century. The Spanish/Latin compositions by Rodrigo and Piazzolla center around traditional clave rhythms. Copland's Quiet City works with rhythmic freedom and lush, open chords that support the solo voices of trumpet and English horn.This "American" sound is also evident in the use of Adams' harmonic language, coupled with a minimalistic, yet complex, rhythmic drive. The addition of two harmonious pianos and three voices give new range to the sound of a wind ensemble, making Grand Pianola Music a unique, masterful composition like no other. 

October 18 & 19 at 7:30pm: Mannes Opera presents Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart, arranged by Danyal Dhondy
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

The Mannes Opera season opener is a classic realized anew. This Don Giovanni (1788) (by W.A. Mozart, arranged by Danyal Dhondy), is presented in a crisp 100 minutes, with an ensemble of piano, string trio, and trombone. Featuring the sonorous acoustics of The New School’s art deco auditorium on 12th street, the jewelbox production created by Mannes Opera Managing Artistic Director Emma Griffin and faculty member Cris Frisco serves Mozart’s music and Da Ponte’s storytelling with a twist of horror. 

October 25 at 7:30pm: (Un)Silent Film – Philip Glass’s Dracula in Concert conducted by Michael Riesman
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The acclaimed Philip Glass score to Tod Browning's 1931 film classic, Dracula, originally composed for the Kronos Quartet, will be performed by the Orange Road Quartet, the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence, with pianist, guest conductor and music arranger Michael Riesman, music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble.

October 26 at 7:30pm: Pianographique performed by Maki Namekawa & Dennis Russell Davies with visuals by Cori O’Lan
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Namekawa-Davies Duo present Pianographique, an exciting evening of music featuring works by Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies’ personal friends Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Steve Reich, with real-time visualizations by Cori O’Lan. The concert features Steve Reich’s iconic Piano Phase (1967), two pieces by Laurie Anderson including Song for Bob, and a second half comprised of works by Philip Glass, including the American premiere of Elergy for the Present (2020), music from The Truman Show, and Four Pieces for Two Pianos which Glass composed for the Namekawa-Davies Duo. 

November 1 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra & The New York Choral Society in Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light with Silent Film The Passion of Joan of Arc
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The New York Choral Society presents Voices of Light, a work by New York native Richard Einhorn, for orchestra, soloists, and chorus. This compelling piece will be paired with the legendary silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, which chronicles the trial and torment of Joan of Arc. Starring the famous Comédie Française actress Renée Falconetti, this recently restored 1928 film offers a unique opportunity for both film and music lovers to experience the movie on a large screen at Alice Tully Hall, in partnership with the Mannes Orchestra. 

November 7-14: Fall Mannes Chamber Music Festival
Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

The Chamber Music Festival is a special weeklong series of performances highlighting Mannes students’ accomplishments in chamber music over the course of a semester, showcasing Mannes’ new specialized and diversified chamber music courses, new community partnerships, and performance opportunities. Register once for the week with CHAMBERPASS!

November 8-9: Mannes Opera presents Opera in Concert Double Bill
Vinkensport, or the Finch Opera – composed by David T. Little, libretto by Royce Vavrek (New York City Premiere)
The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace – composed by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel (Commissioned by Opera Ithaca)
November 8 at 7:30pm and November 9 at 2:00pm
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Mannes Opera presents an Opera in Concert double bill featuring the works of Mannes faculty members and prolific composers David T. Little and Kamala Sankaram, directed by New School Drama alum Alison Pogorelc, offering an operatic lens into the strange world of human experience. Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (2010/2018), composed by David T. Little on a libretto by Royce Vavrek, receives its New York City premiere. Vinkensport is a bitter-sweet comedy in one act, which explores obsession, desire, and the need to win, through the frame of an obscure Flemish folk sport, “finch-sitting.” Trained finches race to sing the most “susk-e-wiets” over the course of an hour. As they compete, the joys, sorrows, delusions and all-too-stark realities of their trainers are revealed.

The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace (2019), composed by Kamala Sankaram with a libretto by Rob Handel, follows Ada, Countess of Lovelace and Lord Byron's daughter, who has been asked to help Charles Babbage with his work on the Difference Engine. She struggles between her work in mathematics and upholding her reputation as a wife, mother, and public figure. The revolutionary concepts that she put forth in her notes about the potential ability of the Engine to carry out an algorithm led Ada to be considered the world’s first computer programmer. The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace is presented through special arrangement with UIA Talent Agency and Just a Theory Press. 

November 14 at 7:30pm: JACK Quartet, Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence presents Modern Medieval
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

JACK Quartet's Modern Medieval program explores the connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of music today, featuring works by JACK members Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, as well as Vicente Atria (JACK Studio Commission), Taylor Brook, Johnny MacMillan, and Juri Seo (JACK Studio Commission). 

November 25: MACE – Mannes American Composers Ensemble
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Founded in 2012 by composer Lowell Liebermann, MACE represents works by iconic American composers such as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, as well as works by young, and up-and-coming composers. Composer and conductor David Fulmer has been directing the Ensemble since 2016 and has presented a kaleidoscopic lens of different aesthetics and styles, while exploring diverse musical programs of established 20th and 21st century masterpieces, together with presentations of newly commissioned works and premieres. On November 25, MACE gives the world premiere of a new work by Mannes student Ryan Brideau, alongside music by Carola Bauckholt, Augusta Read Thomas, Matthew Ricketts, George Lewis, and Pierre Boulez.

December 6 & 7: Mannes Opera presents SCENEWORKS FALL24
The Auditorium on 12th Street | Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Under the leadership of Managing Artistic Director Emma Griffin, Mannes Opera is a dynamic training program for operatic artists, marked by a curiosity for new and a devotion to craft. The program utilizes opera as a medium for exploration, improvisation, and creation, providing students with extensive performance opportunities and practice. On December 6 and 7, Mannes Opera presents a delightful serving of operatic scenes; program to be announced.

December 9 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Tickets

The Mannes Orchestra, led by conductor David Hayes, presents an evening of pioneering American composers. The program includes the N.Y.C. Premiere of Marion Bauer’s rarely performed Symphony No. 1, which was composed between 1947 and 1950 but was never performed during the composer’s lifetime. It finally had its world premiere performance in 2022 in Syracuse, NY. The concert features the U.S. premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara for two horns, two oboes, and strings, which was premiered in Paris in 2017. The piece is inspired by a bright star, prominent in the summer sky, called Ndemara or “The Sweetheart Star” by the Shona, and Ntshuna or “The Kiss Me Star” by the Tswana – its appearance is said to indicate when lovers should part ways, before being discovered by their parents. David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2 completes the program – widely lauded as a mid-twentieth century masterwork; it was composed in the midst of World War II and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1944.

December 11 at 7:30pm: Sandbox Percussion, Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence, performs World Premiere of Michael Torke’s BLOOM
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion, a Brooklyn-based percussion ensemble of established leaders in contemporary art music, has teamed up with the acclaimed composer Michael Torke for BLOOM, a new piece composed for the group, which they will premiere at The New School. Sandbox's recording of BLOOM was released on Ecstatic Records on August 30, 2024. BLOOM uses a series of interlocking rhythms that create a groove when played together, using each player’s drums (non-pitched instruments), and vibraphone and marimbas (pitched). “Just as shoots of plants push through dirt erupting in blooms, the vibes and marimbas burst forth from the drums,” writes Torke in his program notes. Michael Torke’s work has been described as "some of the most optimistic, joyful and thoroughly uplifting music to appear in recent years" (Gramophone).

February 5 at 7:00pm: Final Round of The George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition
Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

The Final Round of The George and Elizabeth Gregory Concerto Competition for the 2024-2025 academic year is open to the public. The finalists will perform their entire pieces, and the winners will be announced live by the panel of judges. In addition to a public performance with the Mannes Orchestra on Friday, February 28, the first-prize winner will receive a financial award of $4,000. The two runners-up alternates will also be announced, each receiving $500. 

February 28 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra Spring Season Opener
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Mannes Orchestra, conducted by Mannes alumnae Mina Kim and Laura Gentile, gives the world premiere performances of two recent Martinů Prize composers and Mannes alumni – JL Marlor’s Saltwater Lung (2023 winner) and Alex Glass’s The World Inside (2024 winner). The Martinů Prize is given annually in honor of the distinguished composer and former Mannes faculty member Bohuslav Martinů. Sibelius’s rarely performed tone poem The Wood Nymph, Op. 15 completes the program. Premiered in 1895, it subsequently fell into obscurity with few performances in the 20th century, before finally being published in 2006.

March 7 & 8 at 7:30pm: Mannes Opera presents Handel’s Alcina
The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues), New York, N.Y
Event Information

Witchcraft, transformation, love-sick fools, magic rings – all taking place on an island. Alcina (1773) is one of Handel’s three operas based on Ludovico Ariosto’s epic work, Orlando Furioso (1516). The opera is a wild, messy story of love and deception – a fairy tale with magic that accurately describes the pain and exaltation of falling in love. Mannes Opera is thrilled to work with director Sam Helfrich, and to welcome back esteemed Mannes alumnus Geoffrey MacDonald as conductor with the Mannes Opera Orchestra.

March 31-April 1: Mannes Sounds presents The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds; a Chamber Opera by Ofer Ben-Amots, Based on the Play by S. Ansky
Center for Jewish History | 15 West 16th St., NYC
Event Information

Through his haunting and evocative score, Ofer Ben-Amots offers an operatic retelling of S. Ansky’s masterpiece of the Yiddish theatrical canon. Wracked with grief for her beloved, Leah, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, recounts her love of a young scholar who died on learning of her betrothal to another man. On the day of the wedding, she becomes possessed by an evil spirit, known in Jewish folklore as a dybbuk. In order to exorcize the spirit and save Leah’s soul, the village must learn the spirit’s true origin. A partnership with the American Society of Jewish Music and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts, The Dybbuk is certain to excite your spirits.

The Mannes Sounds Festival, founded in 1999 by Pavlina Dokovska, chair of the piano department, presents more than 20 concerts annually performed by Mannes’ talented students, as well as master classes and lectures by distinguished faculty members and renowned guest artists. The events are held at prestigious venues and institutions across New York City.

April 2 at 7:30pm: MACE – Mannes American Composers Ensemble
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

Founded in 2012 by composer Lowell Liebermann, MACE represents works by iconic American composers such as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, as well as works by young, and up-and-coming composers. Composer and conductor David Fulmer has been directing the Ensemble since 2016, and has presented a kaleidoscopic lens of different aesthetics and styles, while exploring diverse musical programs of established 20th and 21st century masterpieces, together with presentations of newly commissioned works and premieres. On April 2, MACE gives the world premiere of a student work TBA, alongside music by Matthias Pintscher, Pierre Boulez, Augusta Read Thomas, and Gyorgy Ligeti. 

April 8-15: Spring Mannes Chamber Music Festival
Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The Chamber Music Festival is a special weeklong series of performances highlighting Mannes students’ accomplishments in chamber music over the course of a semester, showcasing Mannes’ new specialized and diversified chamber music courses, new community partnerships, and performance opportunities. Register once for the week with CHAMBERPASS! 

April 11 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall with Sandbox Percussion & Violinist Stefan Jackiw
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, N.Y.C.
Event Information

The Mannes Orchestra, led by conductor David Hayes, brings a program featuring Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion performing Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al, to Alice Tully Hall. The piece, which is dedicated to Sandbox Percussion, is inspired by renewable energy initiatives. Cuong writes, “Re(new)al is a percussion quartet concerto that is similarly devoted to finding unexpected ways to breathe new life into traditional ideas, and the solo quartet therefore performs on several ‘found’ instruments, including crystal glasses and compressed air cans. And while the piece also features more traditional instruments, such as snare drum and vibraphone, I looked for ways to either alter their sounds or find new ways to play them. For instance, a single snare drum is played by all four members of the quartet, and certain notes of the vibraphone are prepared with aluminum foil to recreate sounds found in electronic music. The entire piece was conceived in this way.” The concert also features John Zorn’s violin concerto, Contes de Fées, performed by Stefan Jackiw. Composed in 1999 at the turn of the millennium, Contes de Fées is one of Zorn’s classical masterworks. Building on this season’s theme of exploring the radical orchestra – unusual orchestrations and non-standard symphonic structures – the program includes Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia, which includes eight amplified singers embedded within the orchestra. 

April 25 at 7:30pm: (Un)Silent Film – Safety Last! & Kid Auto Races
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

(Un)Silent Film presents Safety Last!, an American silent romantic-comedy film from 1923 starring Harold Lloyd and produced by Hal Roach, and Kid Auto Races [at Venice], also known as The Pest, a 1914 American film starring Charlie Chaplin. See the iconic shot of Lloyd hanging from the clock (Safety Last!), and the pivotal moment in cinema where the camera breaks the fourth wall as Chaplin plays spectator at a "pushcar" race in Venice (Kid Auto Races). Mannes' (Un)Silent Orchestra conducted by David Fulmer brings these scores to life in live performances. With extra attention paid to phrase structure, articulation, and temporal coordination, the scores by long-time friend of The New School Carl Davis will leap off the page.

May 7 at 7:30pm: Mannes Orchestra Conductors’ Recital
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

The Mannes Orchestra showcases and celebrates graduating conductors William Cabison and Hae Lee, who curated this program featuring Kodály’s Hungarian folk dance-inspired Dances of Galánta, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34, based on Spanish folks melodies, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7, Op. 131.

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music 

September 25-27 and November 3-December 12: The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Fall Ensemble Festival
Jazz Performance Space at The New School | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Walk-up/First come, first-served seating
Event schedule

Featuring ensembles led by Reggie Workman, Immanuel Wilkens, Joel Ross, Mary Halvorson, Jane Ira Bloom, Arturo O'Farrill, and many more. Don't miss these artist led ensembles featuring the musicians of now and tomorrow, in the intimate setting of the Jazz Performance Space at The New School. 

October 14 at 7:30pm: The Westerlies, School of Jazz & Contemporary Music Ensemble-in-Residence
Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The origins of The Westerlies go back to the high school bandrooms of Seattle, Washington, where the four original members first met and came of age together. In this program, the ensemble returns to their roots to celebrate music from their hometown, including Wherein Lies the Good, an expansive work by Robin Holcomb originally written for solo piano, as well as works by her contemporaries Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell, and Ron Miles. 

October 24 at 7:30pm: The New School Studio Orchestra – Music of Bob Brookmeyer
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The College of Performing Arts' newest large ensemble, the New School Studio Orchestra (NSSO), is composed of students from the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Mannes School of Music, performing music from a wide variety of genres including jazz, soul, pop, and improvised music. The NSSO kicks off its three-concert series with compositions and arrangements by the great jazz trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer, from across his long career. Nick Marchione, guest artist. Conducted by Keller Coker.

December 5 at 7:30pm: The New School Studio Orchestra – Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

The NSSO celebrates the holidays with music from Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s The Nutcracker Suite, featuring jazz interpretations of themes from Tchaikovsky’s beloved 1892 ballet. The Smithsonian Jazz Program writes of The Nutcracker Suite in an article for the Smithsonian, “Ellington and Strayhorn did not simply place jazz rhythms over Tchaikovsky's music. Instead, they picked up the notes, recast the beats, communed with the themes, and recreated the work, turning it into something that was at once completely their own and completely Tchaikovsky's. In doing so, they showed that while music may be the universal language, it is spoken with many accents (and therein lies the fun).” Featuring guest artists Nick Marchione. Conducted by Keller Coker.

May 2 at 7:30pm: The New School Studio Orchestra – Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill
John L. Tishman Auditorium | 63 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C.
Free with registration

On May 2, the NSSO led by Arturo O'Farrill and Keller Coker, presents the U.S. premiere performance of Carla Bley’s landmark 1971 album, Escalator Over the Hill. J.D. Considine captures the essence of Bley’s iconic work, writing in TIDAL magazine, “Whenever the topic of Great Albums of the 1970s crops up, certain titles invariably recur. There’s Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. But while reading through the recent tributes to the great jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley, who died on Oct. 17, [2023] at age 87, I was reminded of the masterwork that’s always missing from those lists: Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill…Escalator Over the Hill goes well beyond the usual boundaries of genre. In addition to bracing bursts of free jazz, there are cabaret songs, snatches of country music, deep dives into jazz fusion, an excursion into Hindustani pop, elements of ambient music and nods to New York minimalism.”

The Stone at The New School Residencies & Student Concerts

Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8:30pm
The Glassbox Theater | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
$20 at the door, no advance sales
Information 

The Stone at The New School serves as an artist-centric home and community for experimental and avant-garde artists, where they can perform what they want without any interference. With concerts every Wednesday through Saturday evening, The Stone at The New School continues the tradition of the landmark non-profit performance space founded in 2005 by Artistic Director John Zorn, within a greatly improved space.

September 4-7: Trey Spruance
September 11-14: Craig Taborn
September 18-21: Sara Serpa
September 25-28: Peter Evans
October 2-5: Matt Mitchell
October 9-12: Yura Lee
October 15: The Stone Student Concert
October 16-19: Laura Ortman
October 23-26: Yuka C. Honda
October 30-November 2: Cyro Baptista
November 6-9: Raven Chacon
November 12: The Stone Student Concert
November 13-16: Zeena Parkins
November 20-23: Anna Webber
December 4-7: Thurston Moore
December 11-14: Ikue Mori
January 2-4: Marta Sanchez
January 8-11: Mary Halvorson
January 15-18: Ingrid Laubrock
January 22-25: Ches Smith
January 29-February 1: Jorge Roeder
February 5-8: Larry Ochs
February 11: The Stone Student Concert
February 12-15: Uri Caine
February 19-22: Matthew Shipp
February 26-March 1: Wendy Eisenberg
March 4: The Stone Student Concert
March 5-8: Micah Thomas
March 19-22: Theo Bleckmann
March 26-29: Kate Gentile
April 2-5: Zoh Amba
April 8: The Stone Student Concert
April 9-12: Annie Gosfield
April 16-19: William Parker
April 23-26: Jad Atoui
April 30-May 3: Fay Victor
May 7-10: Kweku Sumbry
May 14-17: Ned Rothenberg
May 12-24: Fred Frith
May 28-31: Ben Goldberg 

School of Drama

October 31-November 2: World Premiere of The Ruminants
Bank Street Theater | 151 Bank St., N.Y.C.
October 31, November 1, November 2 at 7:30pm & November 2 at 2:00pm
Free with registration 

Directed by Ana Margineanu, School of Drama faculty
Written by Dipti Bramhandkar

With only weeks left in her senior year, Bekka wonders if she has done enough to impact animal rights at her university. As the president of Animal Rights Now (ARN), she has organized numerous protests, but nothing seems to change. Determined to leave her mark, she plans a bold action that no one can ignore. But what will the cost be for those who join her and the animals she tries to help? The Ruminants is a new play that explores protest, privilege, and the lasting effects of one's actions. The Ruminants was developed as part of the 2023-2024 Farm Theater College Collaboration Project, with three universities: Austin Peay State, Shenandoah, and Middle Tennessee State University. 

November 4 at 7:30pm: Guest Artist Series – Ping Chong and Company
The Glassbox Theater | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
Free with registration 

Each year, the School of Drama invites regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized guest artists to share their artistic, collaborative, and philosophical approaches to theater-making with students in its groundbreaking MFA in Contemporary Theatre and Performance program. This year marks the return of members of Ping Chong and Company, longtime collaborators with the School of Drama and the College of Performing Arts. Rooted in the company's mission to “create[s] theater and art that reveal beauty, invention, precision, and a commitment to social justice,” PCC engaged students in their “Undesirable Elements” series, an ongoing practice of creating interview-based theater works that explore culture, identity, and belonging in specific communities. This production – an original student-devised ensemble-based piece centered on creative producing and community-engaged practice – culminates PCC’s residency.

November 21-23: Orestes
Bank Street Theater | 151 Bank St., N.Y.C.
November 21-23 at 7:30pm & November 23 at 2:00pm
Free with registration 

Written by Euripides
Translated by Anne Carson
Directed by Ashley Kelly Tata, SDC Member 

In this exciting reimagining of Orestes, the poet, translator, and essayist Anne Carson gives birth to a wholly new experience of the classic Greek triumvirate of vengeance. Anne Carson’s watershed translation of a death-dance of vengeance and passion is not to be missed, combining contemporary language with the traditional structures and rhetoric of Greek tragedy. “I’m interested in having the chorus members step out from the chorus into any of the roles to focus on the communal in the performance of this work and explore the idea that any member of a community can be the protagonist of the narrative, says Ashley Kelly Tata, director. “Ultimately, Orestes should serve what I think is so urgent about the piece right now: these are young people playing out the story of a history of violence that they have inherited from the generations before them.”

April 25-26 & May 2-3: APEX Festival
Weekend 1: April 25-26 at 7:30pm; April 26 at 2:00pm
Weekend 2: May 2-3 at 7:30pm & May 3 at 2:00pm
Final programs and venues to be announced

APEX Festival is a collective, artistic activation of the Bank Street Theater and surrounding spaces by graduating MFA Contemporary Theatre and Performance students. Eight distinct projects serve as each student's capstone offering as well as a public introduction to their work as it exists at this stage in their development. In celebration, the School of Drama invites The New School community, communities surrounding The New School, and communities beyond to experience a collection of performative artworks that push the boundaries of discipline and form. 

Anticipated performances include: A TIME (June Seo); the starry-eyed (Lars Montanaro; Lacuna(e) (Catalina Cofone Polack); Unsay (Moira Zhang); Guanahani (Neka Knowles); Ernestine (Jasmine Kiah); Ameliaorated (Alina Burke); Eros Without Love (working title, Anamaría Willars)

September-April: Naked Angels 1st Mondays at The New School
September 30, December 9, February 3, March 17, April 21 at 7:00pm
Walk-up only/No advance registration.
Event Information

The School of Drama continues its dynamic partnership with Naked Angels, a prominent figure in New York City’s theater community. The esteemed 1st Mondays at The New School series, entering its second year, is a vital platform for emerging playwrights from Naked Angels’ Tuesdays@9 community to showcase their work and for School of Drama students to interact with and learn from these emerging talents, gain insights into the process of creating and workshopping new plays, and forge meaningful connections within the industry. The 1st Mondays at The New School series will run through the 2024-25 season and include in-person readings of full-length plays.

September 30: Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
December 9: The Glassbox Theater | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
February 3: Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
March 17: Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.
April 21: Ernst C. Stiefel Hall | Arnhold Hall | 55 W. 13th St., N.Y.C.

About the College of Performing Arts at The New School 

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street. 

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

The School of Drama is the creative home to a dynamic group of actors, directors, writers, creative technologists, and multi-disciplinary theater artists. With a focus on authenticity of expression, the school’s curriculum confronts today's most pressing societal issues through the making of theater, film, and emerging media. The School of Drama’s faculty is made up of award-winning actors, playwrights, and directors who bring a currency of professional experience, artistic training, and project-based learning into the classroom. The multidisciplinary MFA and BFA degree programs bring together rigor, creativity, and collaborative learning to create work marked by professionalism, imagination, and civic awareness. The school takes inspiration from the greats who walked its halls in the past, including Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte, and Vinnette Carroll, as well as more recent graduates, like Adrienne C. Moore, Jordan E. Cooper, and Jason Kim. 

The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music is renowned across the globe as a center for progressive, innovative artists. Considered the most innovative school of its kind, it offers students an artist-as-mentor approach to learning. The world’s leading contemporary and jazz musicians, like Matt Wilson, Mary Halvorson, Linda May Han Oh, Jane Ira Bloom, and more, work with students to hone their craft and create groundbreaking music. This is a rare place where students can pursue what makes you a unique contemporary musician. We encourage students to explore their own talents and reach across disciplines to construct new rhythms, inventive compositions, and original means of expression. There are nearly 80 ensembles students can play in each semester. Outside the classroom, New York City becomes a performance hall. Play in clubs, concert halls, and venues throughout New York and in festivals and exchange programs around the world. Start your professional performance career now through our Gig Office; we have the largest music internship program in New York. You can work with producers, editors, and recording artists of the highest caliber. Students will be immersed not only in the newest music but also in the nuances of how the music industry runs. Our curriculum allows students to infuse their music education with elements of design, literature, history, journalism and more. You can take courses offered at the Mannes School of Music, Parsons School of Design, and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. In addition, we have created a number of project-based interdisciplinary classes, such as an exploration of sound-image relationships in early 20th-century multimedia art, offered by Parsons and Jazz. The results of this university-wide interconnectivity can be seen in the success of our alumni in a range of genres and categories of creative work, both in and outside of music.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.