Nov 15: Ethan Iverson Releases New Album Playfair Sonatas - Six Sonatas for Six Different Instruments and Piano

Cover art by Roz Chast

Ethan Iverson Announces New Album Playfair Sonatas

With Miranda Cuckson, violin; Makoto Nakura, marimba; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Mike Lormand, trombone; Taimur Sullivan, saxophone; and Tim Leopold, trumpet

Release Date on Urlicht AudioVisual: November 15, 2024

CDs and press downloads available upon request. 

https://iverson.substack.com | www.urlicht-av.com

Pianist, composer, and writer Ethan Iverson will release his next album Playfair Sonatas digitally and as a 2-CD set on November 15, 2024 via the Urlicht AudioVisual label. Playfair Sonatas features six sonatas composed by Iverson for six different instruments and piano, and recorded by Iverson with some of today’s most vibrant classical performers – Miranda Cuckson, violin; Makoto Nakura, marimba; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Mike Lormand, trombone; Taimur Sullivan, saxophone; and Tim Leopold, trumpet. The album is bookended by a Fanfare and Recessional performed by the whole ensemble.

Playfair Sonatas was born in 2020 during the pandemic, when Iverson met curator, producer, and frequent commissioner of new work Piers Playfair for a summertime outdoor dinner. Like most musicians that year, Iverson had downsized and was concerned about making a baseline income. He had recently moved and rented a smaller, cheaper studio, and when Playfair asked if there was anything he could help with, Iverson replied, “Yeah, I’d love to cover the studio rent for a few months.” The two agreed that in exchange for six months of rent, Iverson would write six sonatas, and that Playfair would be allowed to choose the instrumentation.

Writing these Playfair Sonatas led Iverson to composing larger works, including his Piano Sonata, recently recorded as part of his album Technically Acceptable on the Blue Note label. Seth Colter Walls wrote of the piece in The New York Times, “Classical in conception... it also contains traces of crunchy harmonic modernism and the bumptious sounds of vintage American jazz styles.”

Iverson’s Playfair Sonatas similarly showcase this signature approach. The sonatas intertwine 21st-century jazz gestures with the formal structures of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. While the outer movements are titled with traditional tempo indications (Allegro, Rondo, Scherzo, and similar), the middle movements of each work are dedicated to an artist whose work blended jazz and classical.

"These dedications came about late in the game," says Iverson. "I had scrapped a previous Adagio for clarinet, and wrote a new middle movement I really liked. However, was this ‘oom-pah' rhythm too much like one of Carla Bley's amusing ‘music hall’ pieces? Well, what if I dedicated the movement to her? That would fix the issue of appropriation. As it turned out, Carla passed away the same day I finished ‘Music Hall’ and devised the ‘dedications’ stratagem. The other five salutations to Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Paul Desmond, Joe Wilder, and Roswell Rudd came easily, for they had been in the back of my mind the whole time."

Piers Playfair adds, “It’s cool that out of a Covid dinner we were able to put a project together that so encapsulates one of our joint core beliefs, that the divisions that divide music, such as jazz, classical, blues etc, into neat little boxes are really just names that people put on them and shouldn’t define the artists."

“Ethan and Piers assembled an absolute dream team of soloists, each of who brought their A game to Oktaven Audio for two days of amazing and inspiring music-making,” says producer Gene Gaudette. “The recording sessions were spirited, crackling with energy, and seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye. The Playfair Sonatas are such terrific music – engaging, witty, and still fresh even after multiple hearings. They will no doubt find not only a wide listening audience via this recording but surely be embraced by players looking for new, challenging, genre-crossing repertoire.”

Read Ethan Iverson’s notes on each of the Playfair Sonatas, including the dedication movements, here. 

Alongside the album, Iverson will publish the scores for all of the Playfair Sonatas, making them available to interested musicians free of charge. 

Listen to Movement II, “Music Hall (for Carla Bley)” from the Clarinet Sonata and follow along with the score:

https://youtu.be/6WjyyiuDJ2A?si=suSporFPhI1oIhYo

Playfair Sonatas are commissioned by Piers Playfair and 23Arts Initiative.
The album is released worldwide on Gene Gaudette’s Ulricht AudioVisual label.

About Ethan Iverson:

Pianist, composer, and writer Ethan Iverson was a founding member of The Bad Plus, a game-changing collective with Reid Anderson and David King. The New York Times called TBP “Better than anyone at melding the sensibilities of post-60’s jazz and indie rock.” During his 17-year tenure, TBP performed in venues as diverse as the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, and Bonnaroo; collaborated with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and the Mark Morris Dance Group; and created a faithful arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a radical reinvention of Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction.

Since leaving TBP, Iverson has released critically-acclaimed jazz albums on ECM and Blue Note, often accompanied by bonafide jazz stars such as Tom Harrell or Jack DeJohnette. Downbeat has called Iverson “A master of melody” while Hot House recently raved, "Known for his intellectual depth and adventurous musical spirit, Ethan Iverson has traversed the boundaries of jazz tradition while leaving an indelible mark on its evolution.” After witnessing a 2024 concert of standards spontaneously chosen by the audience, Stereophile wrote, “Iverson is a natural, consistent crowd-pleaser. For his entire career, he has been finding ways to be accessible while pushing the envelope. 

Iverson holds down the piano chair in the critically acclaimed Billy Hart quartet and has recorded with other elder statesmen like Albert “Tootie” Heath and Ron Carter. In terms of performing classical music, Iverson has accompanied Mark Padmore in Schubert’s Winterreise and Johnny Gandelsman in the three Brahms Violin Sonatas.

On top of his activities as a pianist and composer, Iverson has an active career as a writer, publishing significant criticism in The Nation, JazzTimes, The New York Times, and the Culture Desk of The New Yorker. He also posts frequently on his Substack, Transitional Technology.

About the Instrumentalists: 

Miranda Cuckson, violin: www.mirandacuckson.com 
Makoto Nakura, marimba: www.makotonakura.com 
Carol McGonnell, clarinet: www.carolmcgonnell.com 
Mike Lormand, trombone: www.deviantseptet.com/mike-lormand  
Taimur Sullivan, saxophone: www.taimursullivan.com 
Tim Leopold, trumpet: www.mostlymodernfestival.org/tim-leopold-trumpet

Track List:

Playfair Sonatas
Music by Ethan Iverson

Ethan Iverson, piano; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Makoto Nakura, marimba; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Mike Lormand, trombone; Taimur Sullivan, saxophone; and Tim Leopold, trumpet

Ulricht AudioVisual | Release Date: November 15, 2024

CD 1

1 Fanfare [1:54]
The Full Ensemble
2 Violin Sonata: I. Andante – Allegro moderato [7:14]
3 Violin Sonata: II. Blues (for Ornette Coleman) [3:50]
4  Violin Sonata: III. Rondo. Allegro [5:25]
Miranda Cuckson, violin • Ethan Iverson, piano
5 Marimba Sonata: I. Allegro [5:13]
6 Marimba Sonata: II. Blues (for Eric Dolphy) [2:10]
7 Marimba Sonata: III. Cadenza [3:13]
8 Marimba Sonata: IV. Rondo. Presto [3:04]
Makoto Nakura, marimba • Ethan Iverson, piano
9 Clarinet Sonata: I. Allegro [5:22]
10 Clarinet Sonata: II. Music Hall (for Carla Bley) [3:06]
11 Clarinet Sonata: III. Scherzo – Minuet [2:25]
12 Clarinet Sonata: IV. Rondo. Allegro moderato [3:45]
Carol McGonnell, clarinet • Ethan Iverson, piano

CD 2 

1 Trombone Sonata: I. Allegro moderato [4:32]
2 Trombone Sonata: II. Hymn (for Roswell Rudd) [4:14]
3 Trombone Sonata: III. Rondo [5:30]
Mike Lormand, trombone • Ethan Iverson, piano
4 Alto Saxophone Sonata: I. Allegro [5:44]
5 Alto Saxophone Sonata: II. Melody (for Paul Desmond) [5:16]
6 Alto Saxophone Sonata: III. Allegro [5:17]
Taimur Sullivan, alto saxophone • Ethan Iverson, piano
7 Trumpet Sonata: I. Allegro [5:56]
8 Trumpet Sonata: II. Theme (for Joe Wilder) [4:30]
9  Trumpet Sonata: III. Rondo [4:34]
Tim Leopold, trumpet • Ethan Iverson, piano
10 Recessional [1:16]
The Full Ensemble 

Recorded December 2 & 3, 2023 at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY
Recording engineer: Ryan Streber
Piano technician: Shane Hoshino
Edited by Ryan Streber and Gene Gaudette
Produced by Gene Gaudette
Executive producer: Piers Playfair
Cover art: Roz Chast

Dec 8 & 14: Newport Classical Celebrates the Holiday Season with Four December Concerts

L-R Photo of Cantus by Nate Ryan; Photo of Frisson by Dorothy Shi. Available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Celebrates the Holiday Season with Four December Concerts

Cantus at the Mansion: Songs of the Season
Featuring Cantus with The Choir School of Newport County
Sunday, December 8, 2024 | 1pm and 3:30pm
Rosecliff | 548 Bellevue Ave. | Newport, RI 

Classical Christmas
Featuring Frisson
Saturday, December 14, 2024 | 1pm and 3:30pm
Emmanuel Church | 42 Dearborn St. | Newport, RI

Tickets On Sale October 7: www.newportclassical.org

Newport, RI – Newport Classical celebrates the holiday season with two weekends of festive programs in December – Cantus at the Mansion: Songs of the Season featuring Cantus with The Choir School of Newport County in two performances on Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 1pm and 3:30pm at Rosecliff (548 Bellevue Ave.), and Classical Christmas featuring Frisson on Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 1pm and 3:30pm at Emmanuel Church (42 Dearborn St.). Tickets will go on sale on Monday, October 7, 2024 at www.newportclassical.org. 

On December 8, Newport Classical presents a modern twist on a timeless Christmas tradition with Cantus’s Songs of the Season in the gilded opulence of Rosecliff Mansion. The acclaimed low-voice ensemble, known for their “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” (Washington Post), returns to Newport after their enchanting, sold-out performance in 2023. Cantus is joined by the Professional Choristers of The Choir School of Newport County, led by Peter Berton. In a performance perfect for families and classical music aficionados alike, the hour-long concert blends poetry with sacred and secular music by reimagining the beloved Nine Lessons and Carols format made famous by the Choir of King’s College at the University of Cambridge. This concert is made possible through Cynthia Sinclair’s generous philanthropic support of The Choir School of Newport County. The fan-favorite Messiah at the Mansion will return to Newport in 2025.

Newport Classical’s community holiday celebration, Classical Christmas, returns to the English Gothic Revival architecture of Emmanuel Church on December 14 with two spirited afternoon concerts of classical chamber music. The dynamic ensemble Frisson, featuring young master musicians led by oboist Thomas Gallant, will perform seasonal favorites including the Nutcracker Suite, Vivaldi's "Winter," Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Carol of the Bells, a Christmas Jazz Suite, and traditional carols. Following the concert, ring in the holidays with a festive reception graciously hosted by the Vestry of Emmanuel Church.

Up next on October 6, Newport Classical welcomes the globe-trotting musical duo Bridge & Wolak for a free, family-friendly Community Concert at Newport Classical Recital Hall. On October 8 and 9, GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax will make his Newport Classical debut in two special concerts featuring a solo recital program of Beethoven and Schumann, entitled Fantasies. Newport Classical’s Chamber Series at Newport Classical Recital Hall continues on October 18 when Finnish-Cuban pianist Anton Mejias gives the US premiere of Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory by composer Philip Lasser, performed alongside Book II of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Lasser’s new work is co-commissioned by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Newport Classical. Join Lasser for a conversation about his new work at 6:30 pm. On November 1, baritone Markel Reed, known for his appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, performs the music of Brahms, Margaret Bonds, Terence Blanchard, and more. Cellist Seth Parker Woods, celebrated by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace,” explores three centuries of music with Bach’s contemplative Sarabandes as a point of departure and return in his solo cello concert on November 15. 

The Chamber Series kicks off 2025 with a performance by the Telegraph Quartet, described as “powerfully adept, with a combination of brilliance and subtlety” by the San Francisco Chronicle, in music rarely experienced by its creators, the composers Rebecca Clarke, Beethoven, and Smetana, on January 24. Boyd Meets Girl comes to Newport for a performance on Valentine’s Day, February 14 – the impressive husband-and-wife guitar and cello duo has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé. On February 28, the acclaimed Trio Karénine, which has established itself in recent years as a key group on the French and international stage, pairs Schubert’s second piano trio with Dvořák’s rarely programmed second piano trio, filled with color, warmth, lively dance, and Slavic folk elements. Oboist James Austin Smith, hailed by The New York Times as “virtuosic,” and for his “dazzling” and “brilliant” performances, joins forces with acclaimed pianist Gloria Chien in music by William Grant Still, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, and more, on March 21. On April 25, Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova, who has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (The New York Times) presents the music of Bach and Messiaen, alongside works by Grieg and Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, with pianist Anna Polonsky. Pianist Orion Weiss, known for his “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post) returns to Newport for a solo recital of Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations on May 16. On June 13, the GRAMMY®-nominated Norwegian Trio Mediaeval, who captivate audiences with their crystalline voices, closes the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Chamber Series with an enchanting evening of Norwegian and Swedish traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, and ballads.

The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-22, 2025.

For Newport Classical’s complete concert calendar, visit www.newportclassical.org/concerts.

About Newport Classical:

Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.

Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 55 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of music on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.

Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”

In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, and Clarice Assad.

Oct. 31: Pianist Sarah Cahill Presented by The Mansion at Strathmore in Phantom – An Evening of Dramatic and Haunting Music Fit for Halloween

Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Phantom
Presented by Strathmore

A Dramatic and Haunting Concert featuring Music by 
Deirdre Gribbin, Frederic Rzewski, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Henry Cowell, Aida Shirazi, Amy Beach, Samuel Adams,
and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 7:30pm
The Mansion at Strathmore | 10701 Rockville Pike | North Bethesda, MD
Tickets and More Information

“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music” – NPR Music

Sarah Cahill: www.sarahcahill.com

North Bethesda, MD – On Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 7:30pm pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, will perform at The Mansion at Strathmore (10701 Rockville Pike). For this concert, Sarah Cahill gives a performance befitting Halloween. Cahill will perform a wide array of stylistically diverse works in a program she has titled Phantom.

The concert will feature performances of: Unseen by Deirdre Gribbin; Forest Scenes by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; Humanitas by Frederic Rzewski; April Preludes by Vítězslava Kaprálová; The Banshee by Henry Cowell; Albumblatt by Aida Shirazi The Mysterious Forest by Erkki Melartin; and Shade Studies by Samuel Adams.

Phantom presents uncanny and spectral works centered around Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s remarkable and rarely-played Forest Scenes, which depicts a romantic encounter between a forest maiden and a phantom. Frederic Rzewski composed his extraordinary Humanitas for Sarah in 2020, which includes texts written by Catullus, Plautus, and other Classical poets, as well as texts by radical feminist writer Audre Lourde selected by Sarah. Finnish composer Erkki Melartin's The Mysterious Forest, in six short movements, immerses us in an atmosphere of witches, trolls, and supernatural beings.

Henry Cowell’s The Banshee is his musical interpretation of the Gaelic folktale. According to Cowell, “A Banshee is a fairy woman who comes at the time of a death to take the soul back into the Inner World.” Cowell evokes the Banshee’s legendary wail by instructing the performer to manipulate the inner strings of piano. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi is a founding member of the Iranian Female Composers Association. Her piece Albumblatt uses a number of techniques inside the piano, like strumming and plucking the strings, finger muting, and creating harmonics on the nodes of the strings.

In his program note, Samuel Adams says of Shade Studies: “I wrote Shade Studies in the fall of 2014 as part of Sarah Cahill's commissioning project in honor of minimalist pioneer Terry Riley's 80th birthday. The work examines the counterpoint between the acoustic resonance of the piano and sine waves. The music rests in a very narrow dynamic field and is built of cadences, silences, and repeated gestures. As the work unfolds, the two resonance systems engage through masking and illumination, creating a brief exploration of musical ‘shade’.”

Vítězslava Kaprálová was one of the most brilliant young Czech composers to emerge between the two world wars. Before her death at age 25, she composed prolifically, and was the first woman to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Her April Preludes were composed for the pianist Rudolph Firkusny. Born in Belfast and now living in London, Deirdre Gribbin describes her work Unseen as an homage to lives lost in the Grenfell Tower fire as well as large numbers of unhoused people in London. She composed the piece in 2017.

Cahill says of the music on this program and performing at The Mansion at Strathmore:

“It's such a great pleasure to be returning to the gorgeous Mansion at Strathmore. Many of us love Halloween but are too old for trick or treating, so this is a way to gather together to celebrate our connection to the supernatural world and how composers have conjured up spirits and phantoms.”

About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).

Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.

Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 6 to 8pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, is presented by Strathmore Mansion in Phantom. Cahill will perform an extensive program of melodically dramatic music, featuring an array of uncanny and spectral works centered around Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s remarkable and rarely-played Forest Scenes.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Strathmore 
What: Music by Deirdre Gribbin, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Frederic Rzewski, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Henry Cowell, Aida Shirazi, Erkki Melartin, and Samuel Adams
When: Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: The Mansion at Strathmore, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD 20852
Tickets and information: www.strathmore.org/events-tickets/what-s-on-in-the-mansion/sarah-cahill/

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.

Dec. 13: Sony Classical to Release Charles Ives – The RCA and Columbia Album Anthology in Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of American Composer

Sony Classical to Release
Charles Ives – The RCA and Columbia Album Anthology

In Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of
American Composer Charles Ives

Iconic Albums from the RCA and Columbia catalogs recorded in the analog era 1945–76 with 83 works for the first time on CD

Album Release Date: December 13, 2024
Reviewer Rate: $30.01

Pre-Order Available Now

In celebration of the Ives 150th anniversary year, Sony Classical proudly presents two of the most authoritative collections ever released of works by this eccentric, prophetic American genius. The 22-CD box set Charles Ives – The Anthology 1945–1976, which will be released on November 29, 2024, brings together the entire discography amassed over three decades by Columbia Masterworks, the label that dedicated itself with unmatched zeal to bringing his visionary works to public attention. The important albums made by RCA Victor during those years are also included in this, the largest and most comprehensive Ives compilation ever issued.

In January 1939 – twelve years after Ives had stopped composing new works altogether – John Kirkpatrick, the pianist who would become the composer’s friend and leading collaborator, played his Second Sonata (1916–1919), subtitled “Concord, Mass., 1840–1860” at New York’s Town Hall. It was the first public performance of Ives’s ferociously demanding masterpiece, and it garnered the first review of his music by a prominent, mainstream critic, who hailed the work as “the greatest music composed by an American”.

This was the turning point: “the artist and the work that launched the Ives revolution”, as it came to be known. In 1945, Kirkpatrick recorded the “Concord” Sonata for Columbia, which released it on 78s in 1948 and on vinyl a year later. Two decades later, the pianist made the celebrated stereo LP version of his painstakingly revised edition. Both of these still definitive recordings are in Sony’s new Ives “Anthology”.

In 1949, another outstanding interpreter of American music, William Masselos, gave another long overdue première, Ives’s remarkable First Piano Sonata (1909–21). A year later Masselos recorded it for Columbia, then he remade it in stereo for RCA Victor in 1966. Once again, a single artist’s two benchmarks, though in this case quite different, readings – the later one rather less reverential, more rhapsodic – are included in the new set.

Ives’s breakthrough as an orchestral composer finally came in 1946, when his Third Symphony “The Camp Meeting” (1901–12) was played in New York – the first time he had ever heard any of his symphonies performed complete. The next year it won him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. In 1951, his Second Symphony (1907–09) had its première, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. It was the first time that Ives, by then 77 years old, heard one of his major orchestral compositions played to his own satisfaction. Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic recorded the symphony in 1958, Columbia released it in 1960 along with an invaluable 13-minute bonus record of Bernstein talking about Ives and the symphony’s musical quotations.

During the 1960s, when the posthumous “Ives Revolution” was in full swing, Bernstein recorded the Third Symphony and the symphony of “New England Holidays”. In 1965, Ives’s profoundly searching Fourth Symphony, which Aaron Copland termed “an astonishing conception in every way”, had its première in 1965, with Leopold Stokowski conducting the American Symphony – a Grammy-winning milestone in American music history. In the same year, Morton Gould, conducting the Chicago Symphony for RCA, made the first recording of Ives’s First Symphony, begun when he was a student at Yale and still clearly in the European tradition. It also won a Grammy.

Not to be outdone, Eugene Ormandy jumped on the Ives bandwagon in Philadelphia, recording the first three symphonies, the “Holidays” and the beloved orchestral set Three Places in New England (the last-named work twice!) between 1964 and 1974. In that year, in London, José Serebrier, a co-conductor with Stokowski of the hugely complex Fourth’s première, recorded a version edited for a single conductor. The New York Times called the performance “stunning” and praised it for “extraordinary control and textural clarity”. Every one of these classic performances by Ormandy, Bernstein, Stokowski and Serebrier can be found in the Sony Ives “Anthology”.

Ives’s more than 150 songs rank among his finest achievements. 24 were recorded in 1969 by soprano Evelyn Lear and baritone Thomas Stewart, with Ives specialist Alan Mandel at the piano. This is the album’s first outing on CD. The greatest of the songs is the stirring General William Booth Enters into Heaven, now more familiar in the arrangement for bass, chorus and chamber orchestra. That version was part of the Gregg Smith Singers’ acclaimed 1966 album of Ives’s choral works, reissued in this set. Of his many chamber works, probably the best known are Ives’s two String Quartets, included here in the Juilliard String Quartet’s unsurpassed 1967 recording. The Second of his four Violin Sonatas is heard in a historic recording from 1950, never before issued on CD. The violin prodigy Patricia Travers was joined by pianist Otto Herz.

There are numerous other landmark recordings gathered in this epoch-making set, exploring works from every corner of Ives’s vast output, many of them also appearing for the first time on CD. One is a wildly entertaining album entitled Old Songs Deranged, played by the Yale Theater Orchestra and never reissued after its original Columbia release a half century ago. Edited and conducted by leading Ives authority James Sinclair, it inspired this wholehearted endorsement in a recent MusicWeb International Ives survey urgently calling for its re-release: “It sounds great! The marches are high-stepping, toe-tapping, swaggering romps. The sound of the orchestra is … completely idiomatic. This recording does such a good job of evoking Ives’ description of a ‘marching band with wings’ that it practically smells like Ives. The other works are wonderful too. Pieces like ‘Mists’ and ‘Evening’ conjure Victorian salon music filtered through the nostalgia of intervening years.” In short, Sinclair’s disc is a welcome addition to Sony Classical’s “Anthology 1945–76”, without doubt the essential Ives collection.

SET CONTENTS

Disc 1:
ML 4250
Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840-60”
MM-749
Ives: Piano Sonata No.1: IIb. In The Inn: Allegro-Chorus

Disc 2:
ML 4490 Modern American Music Series
Ives: Piano Sonata No. 1
ML 2169
Ives: Sonata No.2 for Violin and Piano

Disc 3:
KS 6155
Ives: Symphony No. 2
Leonard Bernstein discusses Charles Ives

Disc 4:
MS 6775
Ives: Symphony No. 4
MS 7015
Ives: Robert Browning Overture

Disc 5:
MS 6843
Ives: Symphony No. 3 “The Camp Meeting”
Ives: Central Park in the Dark
Ives: Decoration Day
Ives: The Unanswered Question
MS 6161
Ives: Variations on “America”

Disc 6:
LSC-2893
Ives: Variations on “America”
Ives: Symphony No 1 in D Minor
Ives: The Unanswered Question

Disc 7:
MS 6921 Music for Chorus
Ives: General William Booth Enters into Heaven
Ives: Serenity
Ives: The Circus Band
Ives: December
Ives: The New River
Ives: Three Harvest Home Chorales
Ives: Psalm 100
Ives: Psalm 67
Ives: Psalm 24
Ives: Psalm 90
Ives: Psalm 150

Disc 8:
LSC-2941
Ives: Piano Sonata No.1

Disc 9:
LSC-2959
Ives: Orchestral Set No 2
Ives: Three Places in New England: II. Putnam's Camp
Ives: Robert Browning Overture

Disc 10:
MS 7027
Ives: String Quartet No. 1 “From the Salvation Army”
Ives: String Quartet No. 2

Disc 11:
MS 7111
Ives: Symphony No. 1
Ives: Three Places in New England
MS 7289
Ives (arr. William Schuman): Variations on “America”

Disc 12:
MS 7147
Ives: A Symphony, New England Holidays
M3X 31068 (M 31071)
Ives: The Gong on the Hook and Ladder
Ives: The Circus Band. March

Disc 13:
MS 7192
Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840-60”

Disc 14:
MS 7321: New Music of Charles Ives
Ives: Processional “Let There Be Light”
Ives: Psalm 14
Ives: Psalm 54
Ives: Psalm 25
Ives: Psalm 135
Ives: Walt Whitman
Ives: 2 Slants (Christian and Pagan)
Ives: Duty
Ives: Vita
Ives: On the Antipodes
Ives: The Last Reader
Ives: Luck and Work
Ives: Like a Sick Eagle
Ives: A Lecture (Tolerance)
Ives: from the "Incantation"
Ives: The Pond
Ives: At Sea
Ives: The Children’s Hour
Ives: The Rainbow

Disc 15:
MS 7318 Calcium Light Night
Ives: Orchestral Set No. 1
Ives: Tone Roads No. 1
Ives: Orchestral Set No. 3
Ives: From the Steeples and the Mountains
Ives: The Rainbow
Ives: Ann Street
Ives: Scherzo: Over the Pavements
Ives: Orchestral Set No. 2 - Selections
Ives: Tone Roads No. 3
Ives: The Pond
Ives: Scherzo: All the Way Around and Back
Ives: Chromâtimelôdtune
M 33513
Ives: Omega Lambda Chi
Ives: March Intercollegiate

Disc 16:
M 30230 Chamber Music
Ives: Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano
Ives: A Set of Three Short Pieces
Ives: In re con moto et al
Ives: Largo for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Ives: Largo risoluto No. 1
Ives: Hallowe'en
Ives: Largo risoluto No. 2
Ives: Largo for Violin and Piano

Disc 17:
M 30229 American Scenes - American Poets
Ives: The Things Our Fathers Loved
Ives: Walking
Ives: Autumn
Ives: Maple Leaves
Ives: At the River
Ives: Circus Band
Ives: The Side Show
Ives: Charlie Rutlage
Ives: Tom Sails Away
Ives: They are There!
Ives: In Flanders Field
Ives: Two Little Flowers
Ives: The Greatest Man
Ives: There is a Lane
Ives: The Last Reader
Ives: The Children’s Hour
Ives: Walt Whitman
Ives: The Light that is Felt
Ives: Serenity
Ives: Thoreau
Ives: Duty
Ives: Afterglow
Ives: The Housatonic at Stockbridge
Ives: Grantchester

Disc 18:
M 32969 Old Songs Deranged - Music for Theater Orchestra
Ives: Country Band March
Ives: The Swimmers
Ives: Mists
Ives: Charlie Rutlage
Ives: Evening
Ives: March II
Ives: March III
Ives: Overture and March 1776"
Ives: An Old Song Deranged
Ives: Gyp the Blood or Hearst? Which is Worst?
Ives: Remembrance
Ives: Fugue in Four Keys on The Shining Shore"
Ives: Chromatimelodtune
Ives: Holiday Quickstep
MG 33728 (2) Spirit Of '76
C. Ives (arr. William Schumann): Variations on “America”

Disc 19:
ARL1-0589
Ives: Symphony No. 4

Disc 20:
ARL1-0663
Ives: Symphony No. 2
LSC-3060
Ives: Symphony No. 3 “The Camp Meeting”

Disc 21:
ARL1-1249
Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays
ARL1-1682
Ives: Three Places in New England

Disc 22:
ARL1-1599
Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11
Ives: String Quartet No. 2
Ives: Scherzo for String Quartet

Nov 2-3: California Symphony Led by Artistic & Music Director Donato Cabrera Continues 2024-2025 Season with BRAHMS ODYSSEY

Photo of Donato Cabrera by Stefan Cohen; high resolution photos available here.

California Symphony Continues its 2024-2025 Season with BRAHMS ODYSSEY

Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director

In Concert November 2 at 7:30pm & November 3 at 4:00pm
At Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts 

Featuring Mason Bates’s GRAMMY Award-Winning Concerto for Orchestra & Animated Film Philharmonia Fantastique
Watch a Preview 

California Symphony’s 2024-2025 Season Showcases the Crowning Achievements of Composers at the Peak of Their Powers 
Watch Donato Cabrera’s Introduction

Tickets & Information: www.californiasymphony.org

WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera continue the 2024-2025 season, showcasing the crowning achievements of composers at the peak of their powers, with BRAHMS ODYSSEY – two thrilling concerts that will take audience members on an odyssey through the orchestra on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 4:00pm at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek).

The concerts open with Benjamin Britten’s lively Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, which uses a memorable theme to introduce different instruments in the orchestra, taking listeners on a journey through the strings, woodwinds, percussion, brass, and more. Next, former California Symphony Resident Composer Mason Bates invokes the spirit of Disney’s classic Fantasia in his GRAMMY-winning concerto for orchestra and animated film, Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra, guided by a mischievous sprite. The performances close with Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 – a deeply emotional, poignant masterpiece which was the eminent composer’s last symphony. Even though Brahms lived for more than a decade after its premiere, it was the final symphony he wrote, with many considering it to be the pinnacle of his career.

Following these concerts, on Monday, November 4, the California Symphony launches its first Education Concerts held during the school day, welcoming 1500 fourth grade students from local Title I schools in Contra Costa County to two performances at the Lesher Center. In advance of the performances, California Symphony Teaching Artists will visit classrooms to provide pre-concert music education, and the in-classroom learning will give students a deeper understanding and appreciation of music and lay the groundwork for a fun, productive, and memorable field trip.

“Over the course of my tenure with the California Symphony, the music of Johannes Brahms has figured prominently in our concerts. So, not only does performing his final symphony fit within the theme of our season, it brings to a close our survey of his symphonic output,” says Donato Cabrera. “When it came to pairing works with Brahms’s fourth symphony, I was reminded of the old phrase, ‘The Three B’s of classical music: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms,’ and thought that it would be fun (and high time) to update it! In choosing Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique, a piece that Mason describes as a ‘concerto for orchestra and animated film,’ we will be performing two works that belong to a long tradition of works composed to showcase and introduce the incredibly powerful and unique sounds that only the instruments of the orchestra can produce.”

Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra was commissioned in 1945 for a British documentary film, Instruments of the Orchestra, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. “Britten’s Guide is meticulously structured, exquisitely paced, and magnificently orchestrated,” writes California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong. “After a grand statement of the theme in full orchestra, Britten takes us through 13 variations, each highlighting specific instruments.”

Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra is a 25-minute multi-media concerto from former California Symphony Resident Composer Mason Bates and award-winning filmmakers Gary Rydstrom (Jurassic Park, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan) and Jim Capobianco (The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Inside Out). Philharmonia Fantastique, like Britten’s Guide, is also a tour through the orchestra – this time paired with an animated film guided by a magical character, Sprite. The imaginative piece won a GRAMMY in 2023. “With uncanny synchronicity, [Philharmonia Fantastique] transposes the composer’s sweeping score into a charming chronicle of a wide-eyed young listener – a ‘Sprite’ – whose curiosity leads to a vibrantly colorful dive into not just the makings of an orchestra, but also the inner workings of its instruments,” reports The Washington Post.

Johannes Brahms’s final symphony, Symphony No. 4, was premiered in 1885 and declared to be, “New and original and yet authentic Brahms from A to Z,” by the composer Richard Strauss. Brahms wrote the piece over the summers of 1884 and 1885 in the Austrian Alps, while reading a translation of Sophocles. While the symphony is lyrical and immediately captivating, it is also poignantly tragic. Scott Foglesong describes the Symphony as, “incomparably rich, sweeping and majestic,” while Brahms’s contemporary, Austrian music critic Eduard Hanslick wrote that it is, “like a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back.”

Illustrating California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers, the 2024-2025 season features the iconic final symphonies of titans of classical music Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the unfinished masterpieces of Anton Bruckner and Franz Schubert; a Grammy-winning Disney Fantasia-esque concerto for film and orchestra by Bay Area composer Mason Bates paired with Benjamin Britten’s lively introduction to the ensemble; a world premiere by the orchestra’s 2023-2026 Young American Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad; a recent work by Grammy-nominated composer and Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon; Joaquin Rodrigo’s famous tour-de-force guitar concerto Concierto de Aranjuez; and rarely performed music by 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc and 20th-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Donato Cabrera since 2013. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area. California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.

Three-concert subscriptions start at $120 and are available now. Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. A 30-minute pre-concert talk by lecturer Scott Foglesong will begin one hour before each performance. More information is available at CaliforniaSymphony.org.

FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT: California Symphony presents Brahms Odyssey

This November, California Symphony, conducted by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera, takes audience members on an odyssey through the orchestra. Benjamin Britten’s lively Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra uses a memorable theme to introduce different instruments in the orchestra, making it a great way to learn about the symphony. Former California Symphony Resident Composer Mason Bates invokes the spirit of Disney’s classic Fantasia in his Grammy-winning concerto for orchestra and animated film guided by a mischievous sprite, Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra. We wrap up the performance with Brahms's Symphony No. 4. His final symphony is a deeply emotional, poignant masterpiece. Even though Brahms lived for more than a decade after its premiere, it was the last symphony he wrote, with many considering it to be the pinnacle of his career. 

California Symphony takes the stuffiness out of the concert experience: Take selfies at the photo booth, order a signature cocktail, and sip at your seat. Tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, starting one hour before the show.

WHEN: Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 7:30pm   
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 4:00pm

WHERE: Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek

CONCERT:

BRAHMS ODYSSEY
7:30pm, Saturday, November 2
4:00pm, Sunday, November 3

Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony

PROGRAM:

Benjamin Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Mason Bates: Philharmonia Fantastique – The Making of the Orchestra
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No.4, Op. 98, E minor

TICKETS: Three-concert subscriptions start at $120 and are available now. Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under.

INFO: For more information or to purchase tickets, the public may visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, noon to 6pm).

PHOTOS: Available here.

About the California Symphony:

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera since 2013. It is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area.

California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.

Since 1991, California Symphony's three-year Young American Composer-in-Residence program has provided a composer with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the orchestra over three consecutive years to create, rehearse, premiere, and record three major orchestra compositions, one each season. Every Composer-in-Residence has gone on to win top honors and accolades in the field, including the Rome Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and more.

The orchestra's nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds impacts students' trajectories by providing instruction for violin or cello and musicianship skills. Sound Minds has proven to contribute directly to improved reading and math proficiencies and character development, as students set and achieve goals, learn communication and problem-solving skills, and gain self-confidence. Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, the program is offered completely free of charge to the students and families of Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, California.

Through its innovative adult education program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, California Symphony provides lifelong learners a fun-filled introduction to the orchestra and classical music. Led by celebrated educator and California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong, these live classes are held over four weeks in the summer annually and are available to stream online year-round.

In 2017, California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. Its website is available in both Spanish and English.

Reaching far beyond the performance hall, since 2020 the orchestra's concerts have been broadcast nationally on multiple radio series through Classical California (KUSC/KDFC) and the WFMT Radio Network, reaching over 1.5 million listeners across the country.

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

California Symphony’s 2024-25 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.

Oct. 18-19: The Birch Festival is Back in the Berkshires for Fall – Featured Performance: Bold Beginnings with Cellist Amit Peled, Pianist Roman Rabinovich, & Violinist Yevgeny Kutik

Announcing The Birch Festival Fall Edition: October 18-19, 2024

Yevgeny Kutik, Artistic Director & Rachel Barker, Executive Director

Featured Performance: October 19, 2024 at 4pm
Church on the Hill, Lenox

Bold Beginnings: First Works by Brahms, Beethoven, and More

Cellist Amit Peled, Pianist Roman Rabinovich, & Violinist Yevgeny Kutik

Tickets and Registration Information: www.thebirchfestival.org

Lenox, MA — The Birch Festival is back for the fall season from October 18-19, 2024. Returning just in time to embrace the Berkshires’ beautiful autumn foliage, this year’s festivities include an evening of wine, music, and community camaraderie with a musician meet-and-greet; the return of the “Don’t Tap on the Glass” open rehearsal; and a feature performance with cellist Amit Peled, pianist Roman Rabinovich, and violinist and Birch Festival Artistic Director and Co-Founder Yevgeny Kutik.

The Birch Festival was founded in 2022 by Lenox-based husband-and-wife team Yevgeny Kutik, an internationally renowned violinist who serves as Artistic Director, and writer/educator Rachel Barker, who is the non-profit organization’s Executive Director.

The Birch Festival’s mission is to bring world-leading musicians for artist residencies in Berkshire County schools, and work in tandem with local business and cultural partnerships. Kutik, a Belarusian-Jewish refugee resettled in Pittsfield by the Jewish Federation in the 1990s, named the festival for his grandmother Sima Berezkina, whose last name means “birch tree.” With significance in many global cultures, birch trees symbolize growth, resilience, and adaptability – qualities that Sima embodied.

On Friday, October 18, 2024 from 6-7:30pm, The Birch Festival will present a free meet-and-greet event at the newly opened Doctor Sax House in Lenox, MA (35 Walker St). Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Kutik, Peled, and Rabinovich while enjoying a wine tasting provided by Dare Bottleshop and Provisions. Space will be limited. Registration is required. On Saturday, October 19 at 10:30am, the public is welcome to join the festival’s “Don’t Tap on the Glass” open rehearsal at the Church on the Hill in Lenox (55 Main St). No registration required.

Concluding the festival on Saturday, October 19 at 4pm, cellist Amit Peled, pianist Roman Rabinovich, and violinist Yevgeny Kutik will perform together in a program entitled Bold Beginnings. The concert will include performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 3, Gaspar Cassadò’s Requiebros in D Major, Sergey Rachmaninov’s Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 and Johannes Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8. The performance will be held at the Church on the Hill in Lenox (55 Main St) and at 3:30pm there will be a pre-concert talk open to all ticket holders. Berkshire County Students and a guardian may attend for free. Tickets are available at www.thebirchfestival.org.  

“For the third edition of The Birch Festival, we’re excited to be going bold by featuring works that Beethoven and Brahms wrote very early in their careers, works that foreshadow great music to come,” says Kutike. ”We love the Berkshires in the fall and are excited to celebrate with great music and artists.”  

The Birch Festival promotes and propels distinct voices in music, whether through new composition or creative interpretation of old favorites. The Festival offers leading musicians a chance to play and establish relationships in the Berkshires, while recognizing the importance of their work by offering compensation that sustains and values their efforts in this industry.

The Birch Festival’s Spring Events 

Artist Meet-and-Greet & Wine Tasting
Friday, October 18, 2024 from 6-7:30pm
Doctor Sax House
35 Walker St. Lenox, MA
Registration Required: www.thebirchfestival.org

Wine and music! Meet the Musicians of the Birch Festival at the newly opened Doctor Sax House while enjoying a wine tasting provided by Dare Bottleshop and Provisions. Space is limited, registration is required.

“Don’t Tap on the Glass” Open Rehearsal
Saturday, October 19 at 10:30am
Church on the Hill
55 Main St., Lenox, MA
Free and open to the public.

The Birch Festival welcomes the community of the Berkshires to enjoy some morning music at its “Don’t Tap on the Glass” open rehearsal at the Church on the Hill in Lenox. No registration required.

The Birch Festival Feature Performance – Bold Beginnings: First Works by Brahms, Beethoven, and More
Sunday, October 19, 2024 at 4pm
Church on the Hill
55 Main St., Lenox, MA

Tickets: www.thebirchfestival.org

Cellist Amit Peled, pianist Roman Rabinovich, and violinist Yevgeny Kutik will give a collaborative performance in a program entitled Bold Beginnings. The concert will feature Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Requiebros in D Major by Gaspar Cassadò, Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 by Sergey Rachmaninov, and Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8 by Johannes Brahms. Tickets are required. Berkshire County students and a guardian may attend for free. A pre-concert talk will be held at 3:30pm in the Church on the Hill.

For The Birch Festival’s Complete Fall Schedule, Event Registration, and More Details visit: www.thebirchfestival.org/events

About Yevgeny Kutik: With a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique” (The New York Times), violinist Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is also lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of both standard works and newly composed repertoire. 

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Kutik began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and immigrated to the US with his family at the age of five. An advocate for the Jewish Federations of North America, the organization that assisted his family in coming to the US, he regularly speaks and performs across the country to promote the assistance of refugees from around the world. Kutik’s discography, all on Marquis Classics, includes The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021), Meditations on Family (Marquis Classics 2019), Words Fail (2016), Music from the Suitcase (2014), and Sounds of Defiance (2012). 

In August 2022, Kutik gave the world premiere of Cântico, a work for solo violin by Andreia Pinto Correia, at the Tanglewood Music Festival. The work was co-commissioned for Kutik by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Yevgeny Kutik was a featured soloist in Joseph Schwantner’s The Poet’s Hour – Soliloquy for Violin on episode six of Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra, a made-for-television classical music concert series released on DVD by Naxos and broadcast nationally on PBS. In 2021, Kutik made his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin, performing the world premiere of Schwantner’s Violin Concerto, an expansion of The Poet’s Hour written specifically for Kutik. In 2019, he made his debuts at the Kennedy Center, presented by Washington Performing Arts, and at the Ravinia Festival. Kutik made his major orchestral debut in 2003 with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops as the First Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. In 2006, he was awarded the Salon de Virtuosi Grant as well as the Tanglewood Music Center Jules Reiner Violin Prize. 

Kutik holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and currently resides in Boston. Kutik’s violin was crafted in Italy in 1915 by Stefano Scarampella. 

For more information, please visit www.yevgenykutik.com. 

About Rachel Barker: Rachel Barker is an educator and writer with over a decade of experience working in public and international schools and currently writes about science and engineering for Harvard University.

Barker has been awarded spots in writers workshops for both nonfiction and fiction, including the Key West Literary Seminar, the Aspen Institute's Aspen Summer Words, and multiple residencies with Write On, Door County. She has consulted and presented for a number of organizations throughout the country, including the Yale Council for African Studies, Flint Institute of Music, Boston University's African Studies Center, Primary Source, and the Wayland/Weston Interfaith Council on Teaching Religion in Schools.

Rachel Barker’s MEd. is from Boston College, where she graduated with a focus on social justice and teaching English language learners. Her undergraduate degree in Anthropology is from Boston University, and she currently studies Religion at Harvard University.

Follow The Birch Festival on Social Media

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebirchfestival
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-birch-festival/

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.

Nov 8: ECM New Series Releases Alexander Lonquich's recording of Beethoven Piano Concertos

ECM New Series Releases

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Piano Concertos 

Alexander Lonquich
Münchener Kammerorchester

Alexander Lonquich, piano
Münchener Kammerorchester
Daniel Giglberger, concertmaster 

Release Date: November 8, 2024
ECM New Series 2753-55
CD: 0289 487 6904 9

Press downloads available upon request.

Alexander Lonquich, one of the foremost performers in chamber music and as a soloist, has said that “every encounter with a work of art is at the same time an exploration of one's own existential position. This is the only way to make music today.” The New York Times has called him “an original at the piano who features both orderliness and suppleness”, and his musical authority has brought him to some of the most prestigious festivals and stages across the world and led to collaborations with renowned orchestras and musicians alike. After a first appearance on ECM’s New Series with premiere recordings of Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn’s works on Odradek (2002), two subsequent solo recitals plus a duo programme with violinist Caroline Widmann (2012), here pianist Alexander Lonquich, alongside the Münchener Kammerorchester, rises to a more extensive challenge, in performing the entirety of Beethoven’s piano concertos, programmed in chronological order. Beethoven’s five completed piano concertos – the C major op. 15, the B flat op. 19, the C minor op. 37, the G major op. 58 and the “Emperor”, in E flat major, op 73 – were composed between about 1793 to 1809, documenting the composer’s development over two decades.

In his detailed liner note, the German pianist calls these recordings a “very special experience, for performers and listeners alike. The usually common placement of the individual works in the context of a symphony concert all too often runs the risk of confirming and reinforcing what is already traditional, while this chronological order draws attention to stylistic leaps in the compositions and allows the listener to experience Beethoven's development as the author of these outward-looking creations that illustrate his pianistic virtuosity between 1790 and 1809.” 

Almost no other genre in Beethoven’s body of work was created within as condensed a time-span as his piano concertos – his quartets, symphonies and piano sonatas for instance he wrote over the entire span of his artistic life. Accordingly, his rapid stylistic evolution, from a deeply Mozart-inspired thinker to the utterly independent and influential composer he is known to be, can be traced in detail over the course of these concertos.

Lonquich talks about this evolution in his liner note, also addressing the always technically challenging qualities of Beethoven’s works: “The one aspect of the concertos he performed himself that cannot be ignored is a tendency towards virtuosity: the cadenzas of the first movements written down by him give an impression of his exuberant playing, while in elaborations written years later, such as in the 1809 C major concerto's candenza, he certainly did not shy away from stylistic breaks; we also know, in contrast to his interpretative demands concerning the piano sonatas, that even the final versions were little more for him than templates for spontaneous or prepared variation – the audience had to be surprised time and again. With op. 37, the period of orientation towards the past definitely comes to an end; what follows is itself a model.”

The concertos were captured at the Rathausprunksaal, Landshut in January 2022.

Oct 18: Newport Classical Presents Pianist Anton Mejias in Chamber Series Concert - Music by J.S. Bach and Philip Lasser

Photo by Jiyang Chen, available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Presents Pianist Anton Mejias in October Chamber Series Concert

Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information

Newport, RI – Newport Classical continues its fourth full-season Chamber Series, featuring twelve concerts held on select Fridays at 7:30pm at the organization’s home venue Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.), with a performance by Finnish-Cuban pianist Anton Mejias on Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm. Mejias will give the US premiere of Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory by composer Philip Lasser, alongside Book II of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Lasser’s new work is co-commissioned by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Newport Classical.

Born in 2001, Anton Mejias was fascinated by the music of Bach from a very young age. He made his recital debut at the age of eight, and by ten, he had already learned the entire Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I. In August 2023, he made his US debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He has won top prizes from the Viotti International Piano Competition and the Nordic Piano Competition, and performs around the world. Legendary pianist Gary Graffman has described him as, “one of the great Bach players of our time.”

In Newport, Anton Mejias will perform a new work written for him by renowned composer Philip Lasser, created in response to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II. Lasser, a distinguished member of The Juilliard School faculty, is known for creating a unique sound world that blends the colorful harmonies of French Impressionist sonorities with the dynamic rhythms and characteristics of American music. Lasser writes of his work The Art of Memory, a set of twelve preludes, “Descending chromatically from E to F, these Preludes are in homage to J.S. Bach and designed to be played either alone or in conjunction with the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II. They are a study in memory. As they evolve, each Prelude collects more and more from the past until, at last, we reach the twelfth, which is entirely made up of memory.”

Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series, newly expanded to twelve concerts held between September and June, reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with a complimentary glass of wine from Greenvale Vineyards and homemade treats by Newport Classical volunteers. 

As part of Newport Classical’s desire to create connections between classical music, the artists who perform it, and the Newport community, all musicians performing on the Chamber Series also go into the Newport-area public schools to perform for and speak with students, through Newport Classical’s Music Education and Engagement Initiative. 

Up next on the Newport Classical Chamber Series, the fiery Ariel Quartet performs a concert of catharsis featuring music by composers Mendelssohn, Lera Auerbach, and Britten on September 27. On October 6, Newport Classical welcomes the globe-trotting musical duo Bridge & Wolak for a free, family-friendly Community Concert. On October 8 and 9, GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax will make his Newport Classical debut in two special concerts featuring a solo recital program of Beethoven and Schumann, entitled Fantasies. The Chamber Series will continue on November 1 with a performance by baritone Markel Reed, known for his appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, featuring the music of Brahms, Margaret Bonds, Terence Blanchard, and more. Cellist Seth Parker Woods, celebrated by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace,” explores three centuries of music with Bach’s contemplative Sarabandes as a point of departure and return in his solo cello concert on November 15.

The Newport Classical Chamber Series kicks off 2025 with a performance by the Telegraph Quartet, described as “powerfully adept, with a combination of brilliance and subtlety” by the San Francisco Chronicle, in music rarely experienced by its creators, the composers Rebecca Clarke, Beethoven, and Smetana, on January 24. Boyd Meets Girl comes to Newport for a performance on Valentine’s Day, February 14 – the impressive husband-and-wife guitar and cello duo has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé. On February 28, the acclaimed Trio Karénine, which has established itself in recent years as a key group on the French and international stage, pairs Schubert’s second piano trio with Dvořák’s rarely programmed second piano trio, filled with color, warmth, lively dance, and Slavic folk elements. Oboist James Austin Smith, hailed by The New York Times as “virtuosic,” and for his “dazzling” and “brilliant” performances, joins forces with acclaimed pianist Gloria Chien in music by William Grant Still, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, and more, on March 21. On April 25, Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova, who has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (The New York Times) presents the music of Bach and Messiaen, alongside works by Grieg and Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, with pianist Anna Polonsky. Pianist Orion Weiss, known for his “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post) returns to Newport for a solo recital of Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations on May 16. On June 13, the GRAMMY-nominated Norwegian Trio Mediaeval, who captivate audiences with their crystalline voices, closes the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Chamber Series with an enchanting evening of Norwegian and Swedish traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, and ballads.

Newport Classical will also present two holiday programs in December, which will be announced later this fall. The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-22, 2025.

Single tickets for Chamber Series concerts start at $45 and packages are available starting at $200 for five concerts. AARP members and their guests receive discounts on fall Chamber Series tickets and packages, graciously provided by AARP of Rhode Island through their supporting sponsorship of the fall concerts, and thanks to a generous grant from the Gruben Charitable Foundation, a limited number of free student tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

About Newport Classical

Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.

Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 55 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of music on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.

Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”

In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, and Clarice Assad.

Oct. 19: GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is Soloist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Conducted by Rory Macdonald

Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution at: https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/simone-dinnerstein

GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
is Soloist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic

Performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467
Conducted by Rory Macdonald

Saturday, October 19 at 7:30pm & Sunday, October 20 at 2:30pm
ENT Center for the Arts | 5225 N Nevada Ave | Colorado Springs, CO

Tickets and More Information:
www.csphilharmonic.org/event/mozart-beethoven

“lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance” – The New Yorker

Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com

Colorado Springs, CO – GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who is described by The Washington Post as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity,” will be the featured soloist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic conducted by Rory Macdonald, in two performances on Saturday, October 19 at 7:30pm and on Sunday, October 20 at 2:30pm. Dinnerstein, an American pianist who is heralded for her distinctive musical voice and commitment to sharing classical music with everyone, will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. The program also includes Lachrimae antiquae by John Dowland, Within Her Arms by Anna Clyne, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

The Washington Post has called Simone Dinnerstein “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity.” She first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” As a musician who embraces collaboration and inclusiveness with her artistry and performances, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 holds particular significance for Dinnerstein. Not only is the piece included on her 2017 album, Mozart in Havana, but the concerto served as a point of artistic connection between Dinnerstein and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, with which she performed the piece while visiting Cuba in 2015, at the invitation of her teacher and esteemed pianist, Solomon Mikowsky. Gramophone describes Dinnerstein’s performance of the C Major K 467 concerto as having “heartfelt directness, purity of line.”

Of the personal significance behind Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major and her priceless memories performing the work, Dinnerstein says:

“This Mozart concerto has been one of my favorites since I was a child. I’ve had many memorable experiences performing it, from the thrilling experience of performing it in Vienna, where Mozart lived, to recording it in Havana with the extraordinary Havana Lyceum Orchestra and subsequently touring it with them in the United States. The writing is reminiscent of Mozart’s operatic output, and it is a complete joy to sing on the piano.”

More about Simone Dinnerstein: Simone Dinnerstein has played with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. She has made thirteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts. During the pandemic she recorded three albums which form a trilogy: A Character of Quiet, An American Mosaic, and Undersong. An American Mosaic was nominated for a Grammy.

In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Piano Sonata No. 2. She premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative.

For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.

About Colorado Springs Philharmonic: The Colorado Springs Philharmonic is an independent symphony orchestra whose mission is to offer brilliant musical performances and in-person experiences that draw families, friends, and loved ones together. We honor the rich traditions upon which our art was founded and work tirelessly to see it continues to hold a prominent place in the future of the community. We have great reverence for what we do, and great esteem for all who love and support it—most especially the everyday enthusiast who enjoys music for its own sake.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance” (The New Yorker), is presented in concert with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic led by Rory Macdonald. Dinnerstein will be the featured soloist in a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 – a vibrant orchestral work Dinnerstein brought to wider attention through performance, touring, and recording it alongside the Havana Lyceum Orchestra. The concert will also include Lachrimae antiquae by John Dowland, Within Her Arms by Anna Clyne, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

Concert details:

Who: GRAMMY®-nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Presented by Colorado Springs Philharmonic
Conducted by Rory Macdonald
What: Music by W. A. Mozart, John Dowland, Anna Clyne, and Ludwig van Beethoven
When: Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 2:30pm
Where: ENT Center for the Arts, 5225 N Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Tickets and information: https://www.csphilharmonic.org/event/mozart-beethoven

Oct. 24: Simone Dinnerstein and Awadagin Pratt Presented by Miller Theatre at Columbia University – Performing Works for Solo Piano, Two Pianos, and Piano for Four Hands

L-R Photo of Simone Dinnerstein by Lisa Marie Mazzucco; Photo of Awadagin Pratt by Rob Davidson

Pianists Simone Dinnerstein and Awadagin Pratt
Presented by Miller Theatre at Columbia University

Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:30pm
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street) | New York, NY
Tickets and Information

“an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity”

– The Washington Post

Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com

New York, NY – On Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:30pm, GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who is described by The New Yorker as an artist of “lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance,” and GRAMMY®-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt, whose performances are described by the Washington Post as “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted,” will be presented in concert by Miller Theatre at Columbia University (2960 Broadway, at 116th Street).

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein has a distinctive musical voice and remains steadfast in her commitment to sharing classical music with everyone. Dinnerstein first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” Dinnerstein has performed with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. Her performances have been presented in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. Thus far in her career Dinnerstein has made thirteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts.

Beyond their mutual passion for and prestige with the piano, Dinnerstein and Pratt share a long time friendship and appreciation for collaborative performance. The two musicians have performed together many times over their respective careers, cultivating a deep respect and admiration for one another’s artistry. For this concert, Dinnerstein and Pratt will collaborate on a program that includes several selections for piano: two pianos, piano with four hands, and solo selections for piano, including: Castillo Interior by Pēteris Vasks, performed by Pratt; Philip Glass’s Etude No. 6, performed by Dinnerstein; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 performed by Dinnerstein and Pratt; and Ludwig van Beethoven’s stately Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 “Pastoral” –– as arranged by Selmar Bagge –– performed by Dinnerstein and Pratt together at a single piano.

Of performing this program with Awadagin Pratt, Dinnerstein says:

“There is an intimacy to the two-piano repertoire that makes a concert hall feel like a living room. This repertoire was meant to be played at home. Historically, symphonies were arranged for two-piano as a way of becoming familiar to music lovers long before the days of recording, and when live orchestral performances were few and far between. Orchestral transcriptions require so much imagination, and also reveal elements of the counterpoint that may be different than what one’s impressions are from hearing the fully orchestrated version. I’m anticipating that this concert will have a friendly and more informal feel to it as a result of this quality in the music itself.”

More about Simone Dinnerstein: In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Piano Sonata No. 2. She premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative.

For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.

About Awadigan Pratt: Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras.

Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of 16 he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas – piano, violin and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins as well as an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University after delivering the commencement address in 2012.

For more information, please visit: www.awadagin.com

About Miller Theatre: Miller Theatre at Columbia University is the leading presenter of new music in New York City and a vital force for innovative programming. In partnership with Columbia University School of the Arts, Miller is dedicated to producing and presenting unique events, with a focus on contemporary and early music, jazz, opera, and multimedia performances. Founded in 1988, Miller Theatre has helped launch the careers of myriad composers and ensembles over the years, serving as an incubator for emerging artists and a champion of those not yet well known in the United States. A four-time recipient of the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming, Miller Theatre continues to meet the high expectations set forth by its founders—to present innovative programs, support the development of new work, and connect creative artists with adventurous audiences.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The Washington Post as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity,” and GRAMMY®-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt, are presented in concert by Miller Theatre at Columbia University. Dinnerstein and Pratt will perform a program featuring music written for two pianos, piano with four hands, as well as solo selections. The concert will include music by Pēteris Vasks, Philip Glass, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven/Selmar Bagge.

Concert details:

Who: Pianists Simone Dinnerstein and Awadagin Pratt
Presented by Miller Theatre at Columbia University
What: Music by Pēteris Vasks, Philip Glass, Ludwig van Beethoven (Arranged by Selmar Bagge) and W.A. Mozart
When: Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: Miller Theatre at Columbia University 2960 Broadway (at 116th Street), New York, NY 10027
Tickets and information: www.millertheatre.com/events/simone-dinnerstein-and-awadagin-pratt

Oct. 18-19: Emerald City Music Season 09 Opening Weekend: American Sketches featuring Kristin Lee and Pianist Jun Cho

High resolution photo available here.

Emerald City Music Season 09 Opening Weekend:
American Sketches featuring Kristin Lee and Pianist Jun Cho

Friday, October 18, 2024 at 8pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: https://bit.ly/EmeraldOct2024Seattle

Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: https://bit.ly/EmeraldOct2024Olympia

American Sketches Album Release Date: November 15, 2024 (First Hand Records)

Downloads and CDs available to press on request

www.emeraldcitymusic.org

Seattle & Olympia, WA – Emerald City Music (ECM), led by founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee, opens its Season 09 on a theme of Global Resonance with two performances celebrating Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches, out on November 15 on First Hand Records. The performances, with pianist Jun Cho, take place on Friday, October 18, 2024 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N) and Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd SW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, audiences can enjoy ECM’s flagship “date-night experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.

American Sketches captures the pride that Kristin Lee has for the U.S. as a foreign-born citizen, through tunes that embody a recognizable and spirited sound. “It’s been quite a journey in bringing this album to life, especially since this is my very first curated album. Through recording and creating American Sketches, I’ve gained a voice and better understanding of myself,” she says. “With the courage to share this album with the world, I’ve gained boldness and trust within myself. I’m embracing the changes that this process has bestowed upon me and eagerly anticipating how I will continue to evolve, bringing changes to my musical life.”

Lee and Cho will perform a program highlighting a wide array of stylistically diverse works from the album including Four Southland Sketches by H.T. Burleigh (1916); non-poem 4 (2017) by Jonathan Ragonese; and Romance by Amy Beach (1893); as well as But Not For Me by George Gershwin (1930), Lament by J.J. Johnson (1954), Entertainer by Scott Joplin (1902) arranged by pianist Jeremy Ajani Jordan, who recorded much of the album with Lee. In addition, Lee and Cho will also perform Sonata No. 2, Poeme Mystique by Ernest Bloch (1924) and Fantasy on Themes from Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1935).

“My inspiration for my new album American Sketches lies in the celebration of differences,” says Lee. “It is the differences of people, environment, and encounters that ignite our curiosity, fuel our motivation, and inspire our creativity. By accepting and appreciating these differences, we pave the way for changes to our society. While adopting change is difficult for many people, it is a critical component in our ever-evolving world, particularly within the musical communities. The history of American music is a great example of this notion. From the Indigenous sounds of the Native Americans to the influences of Western Europe and Africa, the American sound merged and evolved into what we know as Ragtime, Appalachian Folk, Jazz, and so much more. The variety of musical styles represents the diverse culture of America, showcasing the beauty of individual expression and the celebration of American history.”

Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.

About Jun Cho

Pianist Jun Cho is a multifaceted artist known for his versatility as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. His performances have captivated audiences in major venues across the United States, South Korea, and Europe. A passionate collaborator, Jun frequently shares the stage with esteemed musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Philippe Quint, Stefan Jackiw, Ray Chen, Clive Greensmith, and Randall Goosby, among others. As a featured pianist with the Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet, a winner of the Latin GRAMMY® Award, Jun brings the rich tradition of tango to life in renowned New York City venues such as The Iridium, Joe’s Pub, and Barbès.

In the past, he served as a faculty member at the Heifetz Institute and taught at the Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Division at Rice University. Currently, he is an artist-faculty member at the Perlman Music Program and serves as the studio pianist for violinist Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School. Additionally, Jun assists Juilliard piano faculty member Julian Martin, demonstrating his commitment to fostering the next generation of musicians. His students and mentees have achieved notable success, from winning regional competitions to securing places in prestigious music programs and embarking on international careers.

About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists

About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee

About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about

Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic

October 18: ECM New Series Releases Anja Lechner's New Album featuring Bach, Abel, Hume - First Single Out Now

ECM New Series Releases

Anja Lechner
Bach, Abel, Hume

Anja Lechner, violoncello 

First Single Hume’s A Question Out Now
Listen: https://ecm.lnk.to/BachAbelHume 

Release Date: October 18, 2024
ECM New Series 2806
CD: 0289 4875881 4

Press downloads and CDs available upon request

For her first solo-violoncello album on ECM’s New Series, Anja Lechner devotes herself to a particularly unique convergence of three composers from vastly different contexts: JS Bach, Carl Friedrich Abel and Tobias Hume. In the past, her extensive discography has captured the cellist as part of the renowned Rosamunde Quartett, as well as alongside seminal artists from both trans-idiomatic sound worlds and the realm of classical music, gracing her with rare musical farsightedness. With her distinct perspective on works composed for both violoncello and viola da gamba, Lechner – “one of the most gifted cellists in the world” (Strings magazine) – sheds a fresh light on music written within a span of two centuries. 

Framing the first two solo suites from the famous group of six Bach wrote for the violoncello are Abel and Hume compositions, originally conceived for viola da gamba, which are given new colour and breadth through Lechner’s interpretation on cello – in parts newly arranged by herself. Connecting all three composers is a certain improvisatory notion within the fabric of their work, second-nature for composers and musicians between the 16th–18th centuries, when these three lived.

Opening the programme are works by Hume, preserved in the very first print edition, namely the collection “The First Part Of Ayres” from 1605. The Scottish composer (and former soldier)’s pieces can be understood as depictions of moods or frames of minds, each of the 116 dances and miniatures in the collection (mostly notated in tablature) corresponding to slightly different temperaments. “A Question”, “An Answer”, “Harke Harke” – a narrative is broached, to be concluded with the final piece on the album, Hume’s tuneful “Touch Me Lightly”. The composer’s lyrical qualities are emphasized in Anja Lechner’s thoughtful interpretation, bringing new, subtle characteristics to the fore.

Of  the 150 years later composer Carl Friedrich Abel, Anja Lechner addresses the Arpeggio and Adagio, each in d minor. Lechner endows the already intense scores with her own expressivity in these fluid performances. It’s a fitting preamble to Bach’s violoncello suites Nos. 1&2 in G major and d minor, where the cellist channels the full range of her deep experience in the genre and delivers powerful readings of this core repertory.

Reviewing a solo recital from 2022, where Lechner likewise performed one of Bach’s violoncello suites, among other works, the German daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung praised cellist’s unique “delivery, which always underlines her precise articulation in a most musical fashion”, noting how her performances are marked by a “sense of longing anchored in deep and serious elegance”. The same dedicated and impassioned sense of abandon can be heard and felt here. And at the end, as Kristina Maidt-Zinke notes in the album-accompanying liner notes, “one marvels at the lightness and inner logic with which three worlds have ever so gently touched one another”.

The album, recorded at the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich, was produced by Manfred Eicher. 

* 

“One of the most gifted cellists in the world, often bridging the gap between contemporary and traditional, east and west, and arranged and improvisational music” – Greg Cahill, Strings, USA

Starting from her deep roots in classic music, Anja Lechner’s musical path has led her to explore a wide range of trans-idiomatic expressions and improvisational traditions, with a discography that embraces a multitude of collaborators from various countries and cultures. 

The violoncellist’s projects for ECM include a long-running artistic collaboration with Argentine bandoneonist-composer Dino Saluzzi (El Encuentro, Navidad de los Andes, Ojos negros and, with the Rosamunde Quartet, Kultrum); music by composer-philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff (Chants, Hymns and Dances), a recording made in partnership Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos which topped the US classical charts and several recordings with the Tarkovsky Quartet. She recorded two albums with the quartet’s pianist François Couturier (Moderato Cantabile, Lontano) as well as the highly acclaimed 2018 duo recording of Schubert works in duo with guitarist Pablo Marquez (Die Nacht) and more. Lechner was the cellist of the Munich-based Rosamunde Quartet, whose acclaimed ECM New Series recordings include music by Mansurian, Schoeck, Larcher, Webern, Shostakovich, Burian, Haydn, and Yoffe.

Jupiter Quartet Perform the World Premiere of Singing Land with the University of Illinois Chamber Singers – Music by Su Lian Tan & Text by Robin Wall Kimmerer

L-R Robin Wall Kimmerer, Photo by Dale Kakkak; Jupiter Quartet, Photo by Todd Rosenberg; Su Lian Tan, Photo courtesy of artist

The Jupiter String Quartet
and the University of Illinois Chamber Singers

Perform the World Premiere of Singing Land
Music by Su Lian Tan & Text by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Commissioned by the Jupiter String Quartet

Presented by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 3:00pm
University of Illinois | Krannert Center | Foellinger Great Hall
500 S Goodwin Ave. | Urbana, IL
Tickets and Information

“an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker

www.jupiterquartet.com

Urbana, IL – The Jupiter String Quartet –– internationally acclaimed winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) –– will open their season at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts with the world premiere of Singing Land, performed with the University of Illinois Chamber Singers, on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 3:00pm in Foellinger Great Hall (500 S. Goodwin Ave). Singing Land, a collaboration with Potawatomi botanist/writer Robin Wall Kimmerer and composer Su Lian Tan, is the latest in a series of Jupiter Quartet-commissioned works celebrating the environment. The program will also feature Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores –– a work written in 2020 specifically for the Jupiter Quartet, which was commissioned by Bay Chamber Concerts in partnership with the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign –– as well as a series of works for chamber choir alone and in collaboration with the quartet. Ms. Kimmerer, author of the profound and popular Braiding Sweetgrass, as well as other works, will also be featured throughout the program. Interactive events will follow in the Krannert Center Stage 5 lobby.

Su Lian Tan and Robin Wall Kimmerer describe Singing Land as, “a new garden of sound, recalling ancient and modern voices and the mysticism of string instruments, voices of bullfrogs, and hawks who cry warnings. The circle of life continues and we create a world that is both spiritual and material. Text becomes music, music weaves the lushness of greenery and the breath exchanging on our planet, perhaps with the required urgency. Are we now in the aubade or the twilight? We can love the earth back to wholeness.”

Of this unique collaborative program, Jupiter Quartet says:

”We are honored to share the stage with two powerfully artistic women, author Robin Wall Kimmerer and composer Su Lian Tan. It will be a joy to explore their work together, and to collaborate with students, faculty, and community members at our home base of the University of Illinois.”

[Based in Urbana, IL and giving concerts all over the country, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet has been performing together since 2001. Exuding an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, the Quartet celebrates every opportunity to bring their close-knit and lively style to audiences. Their connections to each other and the length of time they’ve shared the stage always shine through in their intuitive performances. The Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall, and more.

In addition to performances worldwide, the Jupiter has been in residence at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program. This season, they perform four concerts at the Krannert Center including this season opener on October 20; a concert on November 12, 2024; a program of sextets with two of their Ying Quartet colleagues, violist Phillip Ying and cellist David Ying on February 4, 2025; and a concert of octets including the Mendelssohn Octet with the Aris Quartet on March 13, 2025.

A dedicated flutist, composer, and teacher, Su Lian Tan is a professor of music at Middlebury College who has received accolades and awards from ASCAP, the Academy of Arts and Letters of Québec, the Toulmin and Naumburg Foundations, and the Yaddo and MacDowell arts colonies. Her “wonderfully dramatic music” (Gramophone) is inspired by tonalities, timbres, and themes of her Malaysian Chinese heritage. Previous commissioning collaborators include the Grammy-winning Takács String Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, Vermont Symphony, and author Jamaica Kincaid. The Jupiter Quartet introduced Krannert Center audiences to the music of Su Lian Tan last season (November 2023) in their program “Folk Encounters.”

A mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the author of the award-winning books Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. The 2022 MacArthur Fellow lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of environmental biology and the founder/director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: The Jupiter Quartet, the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which The New Yorker describes as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity,” gives the world premiere of Singing Land, a collaboration with Potawatomi botanist/writer Robin Wall Kimmerer and Malaysian-Chinese composer Su Lian Tan, with the University of Illinois Chamber Singers. Singing Land is the latest in a series of Jupiter Quartet-commissioned works celebrating the environment.

Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet with the University of Illinois Chamber Singers
What: Singing Land – music by Su Lian Tan and text by Robin Wall Kimmerer
When: Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 3:00pm
Where: University of Illinois; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Foellinger Great Hall; 500 S Goodwin Ave.; Urbana, IL
Tickets and information: www.krannertcenter.com/events/jupiter-string-quartet-ui-chamber-singers-and-special-guests-robin-wall-kimmerer-and-su-lian

Oct. 25: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Pianist Kathryn Stott to Release New Album Merci on Sony Classical – A Deeply Personal Expression Of Gratitude

Album Artwork (Download)

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Pianist Kathryn Stott
to Release New Album Merci on Sony Classical

Gabriel Fauré’s Sicilienne, Op. 78
Out Today - Listen Here

Album Release Date: October 25, 2024
Pre-Order Here

A Deeply Personal Expression Of Gratitude; A Celebration Of The Relationships That Keep Music Alive

Album Highlights Include Gabriel Fauré’s Compositions For Strings and Piano, Alongside Works By Composers In His Musical Firmament: Nadia Boulanger, Camille Saint-Saëns, Lili Boulanger, and Pauline Viardot

Yo-Yo Ma and longtime collaborator Kathryn Stott announce their newest album, Merci (Sony Classical), set for release on October 25, 2024 and available for preorder now. Accompanying today’s news is the first track release from the new recording, Gabriel Fauré’s Sicilienne Op. 78 – listen here.

Merci is a deeply personal expression of gratitude, a celebration of the powerful relationships that keep music alive. This effervescent recording is rooted in the compositions of Gabriel Fauré, whom Stott calls her “musical soulmate,” and follows the arcs of his inspiration and influence, from the creations of his teacher Camille Saint-Saëns and his friend and supporter Pauline Viardot to works by his student Nadia Boulanger and her sister, Lili. Merci is testament to the gift of friendship, to the connections among performers, between students and teachers, and across generations that make music magic.

Ma and Stott—both of whom have connections to Fauré through their respective teachers Luise Vosgerchian and Nadia Boulanger—reveal the extent of Fauré’s influence and inspiration through a recording that juxtaposes Fauré’s works for strings and piano with compositions by members of his musical family. Beginning with his Berceuse, Op. 16, Fauré’s works alternate with those of his student (Nadia Boulanger), teacher (Camille Saint-Saëns), and friends and contemporaries (Lili Boulanger, Pauline Viardot), in a tribute to the belief that, in Ma’s words, “we musicians stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and that we can only hope that ours will sustain those who come after.”

“The inspiration for this project stretches back to my very early years as a child at the Menuhin School, where teachers often visited from Paris,” Stott writes in the recording’s liner notes. “One of those was Nadia Boulanger. Nadia had been a student of Gabriel Fauré, and when I was 10, I had the great privilege to play Fauré’s fourth Barcarolle for her; from that moment, Fauré’s music never left my side. At the age of 10, I had found my musical soulmate.”

Gabriel Fauré lies at the heart of a musical family tree so thoroughly ingrained in the history of western music that it extends, through direct teacher-mentor lineage, as far back as Johann Sebastian Bach. The forward-looking reach of Fauré’s influence is no less impressive: artists who can trace a direct connection to Fauré through teachers or mentors include Quincy Jones, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and Leonard Bernstein.

Surrounding the album release, Ma and Stott will perform a recital tour in Europe, including stops in Reykjavík (October 26), London (November 2), Stockholm (November 3), Berlin (November 5), Munich (November 7), and Paris (November 9). Programmed works include compositions by Fauré and Nadia Boulanger, alongside Antonin Dvořák, Sérgio Assad, Dmitri Shostakovich, Arvo Pärt, and César Franck.

Ma and Stott’s recording partnership began in 1985, and includes Soul of the Tango and Obrigado Brazil, each of which garnered a GRAMMY® Award for “Best Classical Crossover Album.” In recent years, they have collaborated on the 2020 release Songs of Comfort and Hope—inspired by the recorded-at-home musical offerings that Ma began sharing under the hashtag #SongsofComfort in the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States—and the critically-acclaimed 2015 release Songs from the Arc of Life. Of the former, Gramophone wrote, “Ma and his frequent duo partner Kathryn Stott have managed to corral a collection of wide-ranging miniatures into something that feels closer to a recital than a compilation.”

Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott
Merci
Release Date: October 25, 2024

Tracklist:

Berceuse, Op. 16 - Gabriel Fauré
Nocturne - Lili Boulanger
Andante, Op. 75 - Gabriel Fauré
Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix from Samson et Dalila - Camille Saint-Saëns
Cantique - Nadia Boulanger
Papillon, Op. 77 - Gabriel Fauré
Hai Luli! - Pauline Viardot
Sicilienne, Op. 78 - Gabriel Fauré
D’un soir triste - Lili Boulanger
Morceau de lecture - Gabriel Fauré
La mer - Nadia Boulanger
Romance, Op. 69 - Gabriel Fauré
Aimez-moi from Six Chansons du XVI Siècle - Pauline Viardot
Élégie, Op. 24 - Gabriel Fauré
Sérénade, Op. 98 - Gabriel Fauré
Romance, Op. 36 - Camille Saint-Saëns
Romance, Op. 28 - Gabriel Fauré

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.

CONNECT WITH THE ARTISTS

YO-YO MA

WEBSITE: www.yo-yoma.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/YoYoMa
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/yoyoma
TWITTER: twitter.com/yoyo_ma
TIKTOK: www.tiktok.com/@yoyoma.official
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/user/YoYoMaVEVO

KATHRYN STOTT

WEBSITE: www.kathrynstott.com
TWITTER: twitter.com/kathystott
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/stott.kathryn

Dec. 6: Sony Classical to Release Monumental Michael Tilson Thomas Box Set – The Complete CBS, RCA, and Sony Classical Recordings

Sony Classical to Release
Monumental Michael Tilson Thomas Box Set

The Complete CBS, RCA, and Sony Classical Recordings

Sony Classical Celebrates the 80th Birthday of Conductor and Pianist Michael Tilson Thomas with his Complete Recordings in an 80-CD Edition Created in Collaboration with the Artist

Album Release Date: December 6, 2024
Reviewer Rate Upon Request
Pre-Order Available Now

He was Leonard Bernstein’s most famous protégé, and it’s convenient to draw parallels between two prodigiously gifted pianists, composers and charismatic explicators who became the leading American conductor of their respective generations. Like his mentor from the East Coast, Michael Tilson Thomas, born and bred on the West Coast, has been an eloquent champion of Mahler, Gershwin, Ives and Copland; he is also equally at home in the standard European repertoire, Broadway musicals and jazz; and he is a passionate, eloquent teacher – in the 1970s he took over Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts. MTT – as he is affectionately known almost everywhere by now – has become one of the world’s best-loved musical figures and most successful recording artists, with a dozen GRAMMYs to his credit. Sony Classical’s 80-CD box set now, for the first time, collects the entire discography he amassed for RCA, CBS and Sony Classical between 1973 and 2005. The set will be released on December 6, 2024.

Born into an artistic family in Los Angeles in 1944 – his paternal grandparents Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky were founding members of the Yiddish Theatre in America – by the age of 19 he was already conducting premières of works by Boulez, Copland, Stockhausen and Stravinsky. He assisted Boulez at the Ojai Festival in California, in 1969 was appointed assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony under William Steinberg, was music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971 to 1979 and principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981 to 1985. He founded and directed the Miami-based New World Symphony, which gave its first concert in 1988, and that year, he became principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. In 1995, he assumed the career-defining post of music director of the San Francisco Symphony, turning an already top-class ensemble into America’s most boldly adventurous orchestra. “If Leonard Bernstein was 20th-century American music’s greatest missionary,” wrote Gramophone, “then Michael Tilson Thomas is its 21st-century acolyte.”

Right from the start, MTT’s recordings for CBS showed off his dedication to the music of his homeland. 1974 brought Stanley Silverman’s “multi-media pop-opera extravaganza” Elephant Steps: A Fearful Radio Show – New York Times: “[It] earned rave reviews, and so did its actor-conductor. Michael Tilson Thomas found himself a hero in East Coast contemporary music circles” – and John McLaughlin’s Apocalypse with the Mahavishnu and London Symphony Orchestras, whose producer George Martin, of Beatles fame, regarded it as “one of the best records I have ever made”. Along with recordings of Orff’s Carmina burana (“A terrifically exciting performance … aided by playing of characteristic brilliance and transparency from the Cleveland Orchestra” – ClassicsToday; Grammy winner for “Best Choral Performance” and nominee for “Album of the Year”); and, with the LSO and Ambrosian Singers, seldom performed late choral music by Beethoven (“On all counts very well worth adding to your collection” – Gramophone), the 1970s also saw his pioneering recordings of the complete works of Carl Ruggles, with the Buffalo Philharmonic (“For collectors of 20th-century American music … a landmark from the moment that CBS Masterworks released it in 1980” – New York Times).

Talking about George Gershwin in an interview, MTT disclosed that he “has occupied a vitally important place in my life. From my childhood, his music, interpretations, wise-cracks and wise-words were transmitted to me by my father…a piano student of Gershwin and by my uncle Harry who played and wrote music with him in his early years.” In 1976, Thomas stood the musical world on its head by recording Rhapsody in Blue with the composer as soloist (via a 1924 piano roll) matched to his conducting of the Columbia Jazz Band: “Nobody who is concerned with Gershwin’s music will be able to do without this record” (Gramophone). Dating from the same time is an album of Broadway overtures: “Thomas and the Buffalo Philharmonic have put together a group of stunning performances that are almost perfectly recorded and fill a real gap in the catalogue” (Gramophone).

In the 1980s with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, there was a live concert of Gershwin songs with Sarah Vaughan (“Sparkle and joyous spontaneity” – MusicWeb International) and an album of works with piano with MTT conducting from the keyboard; and in New York, he recorded two Gershwin musicals, Of Thee I Sing and Let ‘em Eat Cake: “Michael Tilson Thomas drives both scores along with total conviction … Aiding and abetting him is a splendid chorus … and three leads who are steeped in the performing tradition of the musical theatre” (Gramophone). And in 1997 a Gramophone reviewer proclaimed: “Michael Tilson Thomas and George Gershwin go together like bread and cheese … In the mini-avalanche of Gershwin centenary recordings this [San Francisco Symphony] set stands out … [with] an exquisitely poised understanding of the jazz influences on the opera [Porgy and Bess] … Tilson Thomas himself attacks the Second Rhapsody with glittering, humorous style … A piece as familiar as An American in Paris sounds freshly exciting.”

Similarly with Charles Ives: “If anyone has a hot-line to the cortex of Ives’s imagination, it’s Michael Tilson Thomas” (Gramophone Classical Music Guide). In the 1980s and 90s, he made acclaimed CBS recordings of Ives’s symphonies with the Chicago Symphony and Concertgebouw orchestras. With the San Francisco Symphony for RCA in 1999, he created “Charles Ives: An American Journey”, which the BBC’s reviewer called “a totally satisfying overview of Ives’s genius on one 65-minute CD. Songs, symphonies, psalms and tone poems … imaginatively sequenced as an organic whole.”

And Aaron Copland: MTT was still in his teens when he met him and began performing and premiering his music. He has said: “I have a very clear idea of him and his personality and his musical desires.” Of the numerous, diverse Copland recordings in this set, the most recent, and perhaps most indispensable, are two RCA albums with the San Francisco Symphony. “Copland the Modernist”, released in 1996, includes the Piano Concerto (with Garrick Ohlsson), Orchestral Variations, Short Symphony and Symphonic Ode: “A young man’s America, alternately monolithic and toughly contrapuntal … The performance knows just how good it is. Deep-set, blockbusting recording. A winner” (Gramophone). “Copland the Populist” (2000) features the composer’s “Big Three”: Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo “in performances of tremendous power and panache … Boasting some handsomely opulent, exhilaratingly expansive sonics, this is one corker of a release” (Gramophone).

Just a few further samplings of the countless riches in this set. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony “easily withstands comparison to any of the great versions of the past … and it sounds better than any of them” (ClassicsToday). Debussy’s complete incidental music for Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien with the London Symphony Orchestra for Sony in 1997 “is as near an ideal performance as could be imagined” (Penguin Guide). Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell and the Berlin Philharmonic for Sony in 2005: “No matter how many other recordings you possess or may have heard [this one] is a must” (ClassicsToday). Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 with the London Symphony Orchestra for RCA in 1997 is “among the very finest to have come along in years” (ClassicsToday). Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (excerpts) with the San Francisco Symphony for RCA in 1995 is “stunningly good … For many listeners this hugely enjoyable disc will be the one Romeo & Juliet to have and hold” (ClassicsToday). Stravinsky’s Firebird, Rite of Spring and Perséphone with the San Francisco Symphony for RCA in 1996–98): “Tilson Thomas has long established his credentials as an excellent Stravinsky conductor … Now with his own orchestra (which plays fabulously throughout), he undertakes the ever-popular Firebird and Rite of Spring ballets, and brings them off stunningly” (ClassicsToday).

Finally, two further adventurous albums with the New World Symphony for RCA. New World Jazz (1997), including works by Adams, Antheil, Bernstein, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Milhaud and Hindemith, is “imaginatively programmed and impeccably realized by all involved” (Gramophone). And with music by contemporary American composer Steven Mackey, “Tuck and Roll” (2001) is “free-wheeling, genre-defying fun … [with] sensational playing … Michael Tilson Thomas is in his element in this sort of repertoire as many of his conducting peers are not – and it is good to see him following Leonard Bernstein’s lead in taking up composers younger than himself. I cannot imagine this music better performed or recorded” (Gramophone).

SET CONTENTS

Disc 1:
McLaughlin: Apocalypse | Mahavishnu Orchestra with The London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 2:
Stanley Silverman: Elephant Steps: A Fearful Radio Show

Disc 3:
Orff: Carmina Burana | The Cleveland Orchestra

Disc 4:
Beethoven: König Stephan, Op. 117 | London Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven: Elegischer Gesang, Op. 118 | London Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven: Opferlied, Op. 121b | London Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven: Bundeslied, Op. 122 "In allen guten Stunden" | London Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 112 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 5:
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue | Columbia Jazz Band
Gershwin: An American in Paris | New York Philharmonic

Disc 6:
Dvořák: The American Flag, Op. 102 | Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dvořák: Suite in A Major, Op. 98a, B. 190 "American" | Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Disc 7:
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Oh, Kay!: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Funny Face: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Girl Crazy: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Strike Up the Band: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Of Thee I Sing: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Don Rose: Let 'Em Eat Cake: Overture | Buffalo Philharmonic

Disc 8:
Ruggles: Toys
Ruggles: Vôx Clamans in Deserto (For Chamber Orchestra and Mezzo Soprano) | Speculum Musicae
Ruggles: Men | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Angels (Original Trumpet Version) | Brass Ensemble
Ruggles: Men and Mountains | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Angels (Trumpet/Trombone Version) | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Sun-Treader

Disc 9:

Ruggles: Portals (For String Orchestra) | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Evocations (Original Piano Version) | John Kirkpatrick, piano
Ruggles: Evocations | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Organum | Buffalo Philharmonic
Ruggles: Exaltation (For Brass, Chorus And Organ)

Disc 10:
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G Major, Op. 55 | Los Angeles Philharmonic

Disc 11:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 12:
Respighi: Feste Romane | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Respighi: Fountains of Rome | Los Angeles Philharmonic

Disc 13:

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony in B minor, Op. 58 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 14:
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 2 in C Major for Orchestra, Op. 53 | The Philharmonia Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 61, "Mozartiana" | The Philharmonia Orchestra

Disc 15:
Stravinsky: Petroushka (Revised 1947 Version) | The Philharmonia Orchestra
Stravinsky: Scherzo à la russe | The Philharmonia Orchestra
Stravinsky: Petrouchka (1947 version) | Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano

Disc 16:
Gershwin: Medley: Porgy and Bess | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin, arr. Paich, MTT: But Not for Me / Love Is Here to Stay / Embraceable You / Someone to Watch Over Me | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: Sweet and Low-Down (From "Tip-Toes") | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: Fascinating Rhythm (From "Lady, Be Good")
Gershwin: Do It Again (From "The French Doll") | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: My Man's Gone Now (From "Porgy and Bess") | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: The Man I Love (From "Strike Up the Band") | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: Nice Work If You Can Get It / They Can't Take That Away from Me / 'S Wonderful / Swanee / Strike Up the Band | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: Encore: I've Got a Crush on You - A Foggy Day

Disc 17:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60 | English Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven: Ah! Perfido, Op. 65 | English Chamber Orchestra | Eva Marton, soprano

Disc 18:
Ives: Symphony No. 2 | Concertgebouw Orchestra

Disc 19:
Prokofiev: Suite from Lieutenant Kijé, Op. 60 | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Prokofiev: Suite from "The Love for Three Oranges", Op. 33a | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Prokofiev: Overture in B-flat Major, Op. 42 "American Overture" | Los Angeles Philharmonic

Disc 20:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 | English Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven: Egmont Overture, Op. 84 | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 21:
Debussy: La mer, L. 109 | The Philharmonia Orchestra
Debussy: Nocturnes, L. 91 | The Philharmonia Orchestra

Disc 22:
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 | The Philharmonia Orchestra | Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61 | The Philharmonia Orchestra | Cho-Liang Lin, violin

Disc 23:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 24:
Ives: Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting" | Concertgebouw Orchestra
Ives: Orchestral Set No. 2 | Concertgebouw Orchestra

Disc 25:
Bernstein: West Side Story (Excerpts)| Los Angeles Philharmonic | Peter Hofmann, tenor
Bernstein: On the Town (Excerpts) | Los Angeles Philharmonic | Peter Hofmann, tenor
Bernstein: Mass (Excerpts) | Los Angeles Philharmonic | Peter Hofmann, tenor

Disc 26:
Gershwin, arr. Grofé: Rhapsody in Blue | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: 3 Preludes for Piano | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
Gershwin: Short Story | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
Gershwin: Melody No. 40 "Violin Piece" | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
Gershwin: Second Rhapsody | Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gershwin: Melody No. 79 "For Lily Pons" | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
Gershwin: Melody No. 17 "Sleepless Night" | Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
Gershwin: Promenade: Walking the Dog | Los Angeles Philharmonic

Disc 27:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 | English Chamber Orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 28:
Brahms, orch. Schoenberg: Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25 | Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Bach, orch. Schoenberg: Chorale Prelude "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", BWV 654 | Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Bach, orch. Schoenberg: Chorale Prelude "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist", BWV 631 | Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Disc 29:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 30:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 | English Chamber Orchestra

Disc 31:
Copland: Old American Songs | Utah Symphony Orchestra | Don Becker, baritone
Copland: Canticle of Freedom | Utah Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Four Motets | Utah Symphony Orchestra

Disc 32:
Gershwin, arr. See LC: Of Thee I Sing | Studio Cast of Of Thee I Sing (1987)

Disc 33:
George Gershwin: Let 'Em Eat Cake | Studio Cast of Let 'Em Eat Cake (1987

Disc 34:
Ives: A Symphony - New England Holidays | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Unanswered Question (Revised Version) | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Central Park in the Dark | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Unanswered Question (Original Version) | Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Disc 35:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica" | Orchestra of St. Luke's
Beethoven: Twelve Contredanses for Orchestra, WoO 14 | Orchestra of St. Luke's

Disc 36:
Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor | London Symphony Orchestra | Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano

Disc 37:
Mahler: Rückert Lieder

Disc 38:
Weill: Die sieben Todsünden | London Symphony Orchestra
Weill: Kleine Dreigroschenmusik | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 39:
Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye | London Symphony Orchestra
Ravel: Fanfare for ballet L'Eventail de Jeanne | London Symphony Orchestra
Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole | London Symphony Orchestra
Ravel: Piece En Forme De Habanera | London Symphony Orchestra
Ravel: Boléro | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 40:
Strauss, R.: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 | London Symphony Orchestra
Strauss, R.: Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche, Op. 28 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 41:
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-Flat Major, Op. 10 | London Symphony Orchestra | Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16 (1923 Version) | London Symphony Orchestra | Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Prokofiev: 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75: No. 10, Romeo and Juliet Before Parting | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 42:
McLaughlin: The Mediterranean Concerto | London Symphony Orchestra | John McLaughlin, guitar
McLaughlin: 5 Duos for Guitar & Piano | John McLaughlin, guitar; Katia Labeque, piano

Disc 43-44:
Puccini: Tosca | Hungarian State Orchestra

Disc 45:
Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11 | London Symphony Orchestra
Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 | London Symphony Orchestra
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 46:
Ives: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Webster: In the Sweet By and By | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Sweney: Beulah Land | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Zeuner: Ye Christian Heralds | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Marsh: Jesus, Lover of My Soul | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Nearer, My God, to Thee| Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Symphony No. 4 | Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Disc 47:
Strauss, R.: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 | London Symphony Orchestra
Strauss, R.: Don Juan, Op. 20 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 48:
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 49-50:
Adam: Giselle | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 51:
Brahms: Serenade No. 2 in A Major, Op. 16 for Small Orchestra | London Symphony Orchestra
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a (St. Antoni) | London Symphony Orchestra
Brahms: Three Hungarian Dances | London Symphony Orchestra
Brahms, orch. Dvorák: Five Hungarian Dances | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 52:
Janácek: Glagolitic Mass/Slavonic Mass/Festliche Messe | London Symphony Orchestra
Janácek: Sinfonietta | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 53:
Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L. 86 | London Symphony Orchestra
Debussy: La boîte à joujoux, L. 128 | London Symphony Orchestra
Debussy: Jeux, L. 126 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 54:
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 100 | London Symphony Orchestra
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 "Classical Symphony" | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 55:
Debussy: Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 56:
Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 | London Symphony Orchestra | Kyoko Takezawa, violin
Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra | London Symphony Orchestra | Kyoko Takezawa, violin
Bartók: Rhapsody No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra | London Symphony Orchestra | Kyoko Takezawa, violin

Disc 57:
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 | London Symphony Orchestra | Alicia De Larrocha, piano
Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 | London Symphony Orchestra | James Galway, flute

Disc 58:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 | London Symphony Orchestra | Barry Douglas, piano
Saint-Saens: The Carnival of the Animals, R. 125 | Steven Isserlis, cello
Saint-Saens: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 | London Symphony Orchestra | Steven Isserlis, cello
Copland: Clarinet Concerto | London Symphony Orchestra | Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
Jenkins: Goodbye "In Memory of Benny" | London Symphony Orchestra | Richard Stoltzman, clarinet

Disc 59:
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Symphony in C Major | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Symphony in 3 Movement s| London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 60:
Strauss, R.: Sechs Lieder Op. 68 | London Symphony Orchestra | Edita Gruberova, soprano
Strauss, R.: Zueignung Op. 10, No. 1 | London Symphony Orchestra | Karita Mattila, soprano
Strauss, R.: Muttertändelei Op. 43, No. 2 | London Symphony Orchestra | Karita Mattila, soprano
Strauss, R.: Meinem Kinde Op. 37, No. 3 | London Symphony Orchestra | Karita Mattila, soprano
Strauss, R.: Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland Op. 56, No. 6 | London Symphony Orchestra | Karita Mattila, soprano
Strauss, R.: Frühlingsfeier Op. 56, No. 5 | London Symphony Orchestra | Karita Mattila, soprano
Strauss, R.: Vier letzte Lieder | London Symphony Orchestra | Lucia Popp, soprano

Disc 61:
Prokofiev: Romeo et Juliette, Op. 64 (Excerpts) | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 62:
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras Nos. 4, 5, 7 & 9 | New World Symphony

Disc 63:
Copland: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Orchestral Variations | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2) | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Symphonic Ode | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 64:
Stravinsky: The Star-Spangled Banner | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Circus Polka | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Ode | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Scherzo à la russe | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Scènes de ballet | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Concertino for 12 Instruments | Columbia Chamber & Jazz Ensemble
Stravinsky: Agon | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Greeting Prelude| London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Canon | London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 65:
Mahler: Das klagende Lied | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 66:
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 | London Symphony Orchestra
Berlioz: Lélio ou Le Retour à la vie | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 67:
Gershwin: Catfish Row Suite with Scenes from Porgy and Bess | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Gershwin: Second Rhapsody for Orchestra with Piano | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 68:
Gershwin: An American in Paris | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Gershwin: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 69:
Adams: Lollapalooza | New World Symphony
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue | New World Symphony
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue and Riffs | New World Symphony
Milhaud: La Creation du Monde | New World Symphony
Stravinsky: Ebony Concerto | New World Symphony
Hindemith: Ragtime | New World Symphony
Antheil: A Jazz Symphony | New World Symphony
Raksin: The Bad and the Beautiful | New World Symphony

Disc 70-71:
Mahler: Symphony No. 7 | London Symphony Orchestra

Disc 72:
Stravinsky: L'oiseau de feu | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 73:
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 74:
Stravinsky: Perséphone | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 75:
Copland: Billy the Kid | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Appalachian Spring | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Rodeo | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 76:
Mackey: Tuck and Roll | New World Symphony | Steven Mackey, e-guitar
Mackey: Lost and Found | New World Symphony
Mackey: Eating Greens | New World Symphony | Steven Mackey, e-guitar

Disc 77:
Ives: From the Steeples and the Mountains | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Things Our Fathers Loved | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Pond | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: 114 Songs: No. 102, Memories | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Charlie Rutlage | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Circus Band | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Orchestral Set No. 1 - 3 Places in New England | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: In Flanders Fields | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: They are There! | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Tom Sails Away | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Symphony No. 4: III. Fugue | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Psalm 100 | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: Serenity | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: General William Booth Enters into Heaven | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Ives: The Unanswered Question | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Disc 78:
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, TH 59 | Berliner Philharmoniker | Joshua Bell, violin
Tchaikovsky, arr. Glazunov: Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42, TH 116: I. Méditation | Berliner Philharmoniker | Joshua Bell, violin
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20a, TH 219: Russian Dance | Berliner Philharmoniker | Joshua Bell, violin

Disc 79:
Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23 | London Symphony Orchestra | Kazune Shimizu, piano

Disc 80:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 | London Symphony Orchestra | Kazune Shimizu, piano
Liszt: Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra S. 124, R. 458 | London Symphony Orchestra | Kazune Shimizu, piano

Oct. 18 - Robert Sirota's 212: Symphony No. 1 Presented by Manhattan School of Music Performed by the MSM Symphony Orchestra and Conducted by George Manahan

Photo by Ryuhei Shindo available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/robert-sirota

Robert Sirota: 212: Symphony No. 1
Presented by Manhattan School of Music

Performed by the MSM Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by George Manahan

Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm
Neidorff-Karpati Hall | 130 Claremont Avenue | New York, NY
More Information

“[Sirota’s] compositional voice has a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite.”
– The New York Times

www.RobertSirota.com

New York, NY – On Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm, in Neidorff-Karpati Hall (130 Claremont Avenue), Manhattan School of Music (MSM) will present a performance of 212: Symphony No. 1 by composer Robert Sirota, featuring the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by MSM Director of Orchestral Activities George Manahan. The concert will also include Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonía India) by Carlos Chávez and Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D Major by Maurice Ravel. This performance will mark the first return of Sirota’s 212: Symphony No. 1 to MSM’s concert programming since its highly praised debut, which The New York Times described as an “assured, colorful performance,” calling Sirota an “energetic” composer.

Over five decades, composer Robert Sirota, a past president of MSM, has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota’s musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.” Sirota's impressive catalog of composed work evokes a wide range of emotion that touches on several aspects of the human experience, as well as locations and settings that hold personal significance to Sirota and his life experiences.

Manhattan School of Music presented the world premiere of the 212: Symphony No. 1 in 2008, then performed by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony under the direction of conductor Kenneth Kiesler.

In 2007, when beginning his work on what would become the 212: Symphony No. 1, Sirota came to the realization that writing music inspired by the borough of Manhattan required an extended, multi-movement work as the chosen musical form. He states in his program note that “nothing less” would suffice, going on to say, “In framing the four movements of this 25-minute work, I have tried to portray Manhattan as I have experienced it: a place of incomparable majesty, vitality, tragedy, and hope.” The highly emotive work is dedicated to the memory of Sirota’s father, Harry Sirota, whom Robert regards as “a truly great New Yorker.”

Reflecting on 212: Symphony No. 1 and what it means to him in the present, Sirota says:

“This piece holds a special place in my heart. Returning to Manhattan School of Music is a true homecoming for me, and I am honored that Maestro Goerge Manahan will be conducting. We are planning to release this performance of ‘212’ by the MSM Symphony as a commercial recording.”

More about Robert Sirota: Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; Concerts on the Slope; the Chiara, American, Ethel, Elmyr, Blair and Telegraph String Quartets; the Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Recent commissions include Jeffrey Kahane and the Sarasota Music Festival, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Palladium Musicum, American Guild of Organists, the American String Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Naumburg Foundation, and yMusic, Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis, Trinity Episcopal Church (Indianapolis), and Sierra Chamber Society, as well as arrangements for Paul Simon.

Since 2021, Sirota has presented Muzzy Ridge Concerts, an annual series featuring performances by world-class musicians, in his home studio in Searsmont, Maine. Robert Sirota has received grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, NEA, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center. His music is recorded on Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels, and is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Schott, Music Associates of New York, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore. For complete information, visit www.robertsirota.com.

About Manhattan School of Music: Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is recognized for its more than 1,000 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway worlds; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.

The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege Division is a professionally oriented Saturday music program dedicated to the musical and personal growth of talented young musicians ages 5 to 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: On Friday, October 18, 2024, Manhattan School of Music will present a performance of Robert Sirota’s 212: Symphony No. 1 performed by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra and conducted by George Manahan. The Portland Press Herald describes Sirota’s works, which encompass an array of emotions and experiences, as “personal and undogmatic,” with The New York Times describing 212: Symphony No. 1 as music that’s “artfully done.” The concert program will also include performances of Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonía India) by Carlos Chávez and Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D Major by Maurice Ravel.

Concert details:

What: Robert Sirota: 212: Symphony No. 1
Who: Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra
Presented by Manhattan School of Music
When: Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: ​​Neidorff-Karpati Hall, 130 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY 10027
Tickets and Information: www.msmnyc.edu/performances/msm-symphony-orchestra-10-18-2024/

Sept 27: Sono Luminus Releases Limited Edition CD of Alex Sopp’s The Hem & The Haw

Sono Luminus Releases Limited Edition CD of
Alex Sopp’s The Hem & The Haw

Limited Edition CD Release Date: September 27, 2024
Watch the Original Video for The Hem & The Haw 

“Alex Sopp has made an extraordinarily musical, beautifully produced debut album. Alex and I worked together with her sextet yMusic. She is a gifted flautist and her gifts extend to her vocal and songwriting abilities. This is a great beginning.” – Paul Simon

“I’m always looking for music that sets itself apart; music that, although influences may be heard here and there, feels like an original stylistic statement. Alex Sopp’s first album is such a record to me; unique, confident and quite often transcendent- not an easy achievement.” – Bruce Hornsby

www.sonoluminus.com | www.alexsopp.com

CDs and Downloads Available to Press on Request

On September 27, 2024, Sono Luminus will release a limited edition CD featuring flutist, composer, vocalist, and visual artist Alex Sopp’s album The Hem & The Haw, released digitally by New Amsterdam Records in April. Sopp has been praised by The New York Times as “exquisite” and “beautifully nuanced,” and is a founding member of yMusic, The Knights, NOW Ensemble, and the Berlin-based Between Worlds Ensemble.

The Hem & The Haw is a collection of 10 songs written by Sopp in 2020 during the pandemic. She explains, “This album came to me in a fit of stillness. I had been moving so much and for so long that I forgot that my favorite thing to do is to just sit. Sitting in stillness involves watching, waiting, listening, and observing. . . I have been writing many secret songs for a long time now, always teasing at my inner world without fully letting it see the light of day. Over the years the desire to make my own music has grown alongside the desire to make my own artwork. Like most of the world, the events of 2020 left me with a fresh batch of Time and that is when I wrote this particular group of songs.”

Sopp’s songs on The Hem & The Haw find depth in their playfulness. The vocal work and lyrical expression are beautifully decorated by a wide palette of acoustic and electronic timbres. Ah Said Rosita greets the listener with an evolving vocal wall of sound that grows in intensity with each repetition. The strong sense of grounding in North Pole in Summer melts into an open sonic landscape, where instruments bloom from the central chord progression like a Glassian labyrinth playing out in double time. Like a Vine grows out of a central pulse while myriad synthesizers follow the lyrics down winding and unpredictable paths.

Featuring Sopp’s original music and her performances, and accompanied by her original videos and cover art, the album showcases Sopp’s holistic view of artistic expression. She says, “I think human beings are infinitely full of unrealized worlds of creativity. It’s my biggest motivation to live by this belief and to constantly tap into the always flowing river of creativity that courses from me – be it through flute playing, songwriting, or visual art.” 

Sono Luminus CEO Colin Rae says, “In January 2024 I was sent Alex’s album by a friend who was asking for label recommendations for it. Upon listening, I recognized that this was a very, very special genre-bending album. I sent along my recommendations whilst thinking to myself, ‘I would love to release this on Sono Luminus.’ But I didn’t speak up. Months passed and I saw that New Amsterdam had released the album digitally and with no physical product. I saw this as a sign and I contacted Alex. Now here we are!”

This is Sopp’s first non-classical album featuring her own songs. Of the musical path that led her to this point, she says:

“I’ve been so fortunate to have such a rich musical life. I started singing as a child in the Virgin Islands, and then for a while I transferred my singing voice solely to the flute – the kind of fierce focus one has to have while studying in a conservatory environment at Juilliard. My flute playing took me to play for several years as a guest with the New York Philharmonic, and much to my great luck I grew into my beautiful chamber music family The Knights. Living in New York in the mid-2000s, the music scene was full of curiosity and dialogue between classical musicians and rock bands and singer songwriters. It was during this time the yMusic formed. I started using my voice again with yMusic, when I found myself collaborating with artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Ben Folds, and Paul Simon. I provided backup vocals on several albums and found myself singing more and more in live contexts, performing major roles in theatrical productions requiring musical chameleonhood by composers like Gabriel Kahane and Chris Thile. My confidence grew!

I have learned that I thrive off of being a creative shapeshifter. I’ve been writing songs and making my own music for a while now, but it’s relatively new for me to be putting it out there into the world. The time I had to sit still during 2020 really empowered me to take some of my demos to the next level and I was able to realize my vision and see it through.

It’s the most incredibly fulfilling thing to paint with sounds. I am hooked on song-writing and storytelling. I can’t wait to share more.”

Alex Sopp has played principal flute in the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at venues such as Suntory Hall, the Ojai Festival, and the Lucerne Festival. As a soloist, she has played works written for her by Judd Greenstein, Gabriel Kahane, Nico Muhly, Chris Thile, and Allison Loggins-Hull. She has toured the world with yMusic, including in support of their album with Paul Simon. Her unique visual artwork, ranging from meticulously detailed pen drawings to evocative paintings has been used by musicians such as Joshua Bell and cutting edge organizations like Castle of Our Skins to bring their projects to life. www.alexsopp.com

Track List

Alex Sopp: The Hem & The Haw

Special Edition CD Release Date: September 27, 2024

Sono Luminus 

1. The Hem & The Haw
2. North Pole in Summer
3. Like A Vine
4. Ah Said Rosita
5. Rodin’s Hands
6. Bougainvillea
7. Door
8. Roses
9. Mourning Dove
10. Loon 

Voice, flute, whistles, synths, piano, drum programming: Alex Sopp
Piano, op-1, mellotron, prophet x, percussion, rhodes, floor tom, drum programming: Thomas Bartlett
Vocals: Sam Amidon
Violin: Austin Wulliman
Viola: Nadia Sirota
Flugelhorns: CJ Camerieri
Trombones: Dave Nelson (*additional trombone arrangement for “Door” by Dave Nelson and Thomas Bartlett)
Clarinets: Hideaki Aomori
Horns: Michael P. Atkinson
Bass: Shawn Conley
Electric bass: Shawn Conley
Drums: Michael Caterisano
Percussion: Jason Trueting

All songs written by Alex Sopp
Produced by Thomas Bartlett and Alex Sopp
Mixing by James Yost
Mastered by Fritz Myers at Platitude Music, NYC
Released digitally by New Amsterdam Records on April 19, 2024 

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Nov. 15: Violinist Kristin Lee to Release Debut Solo Album American Sketches on First Hand Records – Performing Music from the Album in Four Concerts Across the U.S.

Violinist Kristin Lee’s Debut Solo Album
American Sketches to be Released on First Hand Records

Worldwide Release: November 15, 2024
Pre-Order Available Now
Watch the Album Trailer

Featuring the Music of Amy Beach, Henry 'Harry' Thacker Burleigh, James Louis ‘J.J.’ Johnson, Scott Joplin, Thelonious Monk, John Novacek,
Kevin Puts, and Jonathan Ragonese

American Sketches Release Performances

Presented by Emerald City Music
October 18-19 2024 | Seattle & Olympia, WA

Presented by Linton Chamber Music Series
February 16, 2025 | Cincinnati, OH

Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
March 20, 2025 | New York, NY

Downloads and CDs available to press on request

“[Kristin Lee] delivered a powerfully constructed and played programme, one of the most satisfying recitals that I’ve heard in years.” – The Strad

www.ViolinistKristinLee.com | www.FirstHandRecords.com

Violinist Kristin Lee announces her highly anticipated debut solo album, American Sketches, which will be released on Friday, November 15, 2024 on First Hand Records. A milestone for the internationally acclaimed soloist, educator, chamber musician, and artistic director, American Sketches is Lee’s debut full-length recording. Pianists Jeremy Ajani Jordan and Jun Cho join Lee on the album, with Jordan also contributing arrangements of selected works. American Sketches reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she has selected.

A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Lee has been praised in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which reports: “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity.” The Strad writes, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.”

American Sketches includes: Four Rags (1999) by John Novacek, Girl Crazy: But Not For Me (1930) (Arr. Jeremy Ajani Jordan, B. 1989) by George Gershwin, Lament (1954) (Arr. J.A. Jordan) by James Louis ‘J.J.’ Johnson, The Entertainer (1902) (Arr. J.A. Jordan) by Scott Joplin; Romance, Op. 23 (1893) by Amy Beach; Southland Sketches (1916) by Henry 'Harry' Thacker Burleigh non-poem 4 (2017) (Arr. for Violin and Piano, 2018) by Jonathan Ragonese Four Airs: IV. Air (Previously Called Aria) (2000) by Kevin Puts; Monk's Mood (1943-44) by Thelonious Monk.

In celebration of the release of American Sketches, Lee will be performing works from the album as part of four concerts during the 2024-2025 season, each in a city that she is strongly connected to. On October 18-19, 2024, she will perform music from the album with pianist Jun Cho as part of the opening weekend concerts for Season 09 of Emerald City Music, of which she is the founding Artistic Director, in Seattle and Olympia, WA. On February 16, 2025, she will join forces with pianist Michael Stephen Brown for a concert presented by Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, OH, where Lee is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Then on March 20, 2025, Lee, again joined by Brown, will be presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, NY, where Lee has been a longtime member.

American Sketches has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select this repertoire to express her pride in the country she now calls her own, and has recorded works by American composers that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.

Of what American Sketches means to her, Kristin Lee says:

“My inspiration for American Sketches lies in the celebration of differences. It is the differences of people, environment, and encounters that ignite our curiosity, fuel our motivation, and inspire our creativity. By accepting and appreciating these differences, we pave the way for changes to our society. Whilst adopting change is difficult for many people, it is a critical component in our ever-evolving world, particularly within the musical communities. The history of American music is a great example of this notion. From the Indigenous sounds of the Native Americans to the influences of Western Europe and Africa, the American sound merged and evolved into what we know as Ragtime, Appalachian Folk, Jazz, and so much more. The variety of musical styles represents the diverse culture of America, showcasing the beauty of individual expression and the celebration of American history.”

Kristin Lee on the Music on American Sketches:

Henry ‘Harry’ Thacker Burleigh introduced the complex but soulful tunes of American Spirituals to the classical realm, and inspired composers like Antonín Dvořák as he was exploring the Americas. In his Southland Sketches, Burleigh embodies a similar approach by applying his own beautiful tunes in the violin with simple but gorgeous harmonies in the piano accompaniment.

American music would not be represented without the innovation of the giants like Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, J.J. Johnson, and Thelonious Monk. Each of these luminaries left a mark on the musical landscape, revolutionizing their respective sounds: Joplin pioneering ragtime, Gershwin applying jazz idioms to classical compositions, Johnson embracing bebop with the trombone, and Monk fearlessly challenging and redefining the jazz traditions.

Four Rags by John Novacek pays homage to Scott Joplin’s iconic style, and non-poem 4 by Jonathan Ragonese represents the jazz idiom through written compositions and improvised sections. These two pieces stand out for their technical intricacy, yet they also offer a vibrant and impassioned musical journey. I have to make note of the fact that Jeremy [Ajani Jordan] improvised through the recording sessions for the arrangements to Gershwin, Joplin, Johnson, and Monk. For those of you who are curious about sheet music for these works, I wish you the very best of luck since it lives in Jeremy’s genius mind!

I also owe it to Jeremy for giving me the courage to record Monk’s Mood. He introduced me to Monk’s music, and although I was instantly drawn to his sound, I was uncertain if I could truly capture Monk’s style on the violin. In this work, my goal was to emulate the vulnerable yet poignant long tones of John Coltrane’s saxophone performance alongside Monk from the iconic 1957 Live from Carnegie Hall recording. Thankfully, the outcome has exceeded my expectations, making this perhaps my favorite track on the album.

The lyrical works on the album are represented by Air by Kevin Puts and Romance, Op. 23 by Amy Beach. I’ve woven these works within the tracks to encapsulate the ultimate essence of music – the emotional connection. Whilst we embrace the diverse sounds and the evolutionary changes, I truly believe that connecting with people on an emotional level remains a constant throughout music history.

About Kristin Lee:

As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and many others.

She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall’s Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. 

An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center after winning The Bowers Program audition and completing the program's three-year residency. Kristin performs at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season. For seven years, she was a principal artist of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. Lee has also appeared in chamber music programs at Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, Moab Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Sedona, Music in the Vineyards, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others.

In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is also a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. She has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute.

Lee is the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Since 2015, she has crafted unconventional and captivating programs that have led to Emerald City Music’s renown for its eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. The series was recently deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts).

An advocate for living composers, Kristin Lee has collaborated with many of today’s prominent composers, including Vivian Fung, Andy Akiho, Patrick Castillo, Jakub Ciupiński, Shobana Raghavan, Steve Coleman, Jeremy Jordan, and more. She made the world premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, written for her, which won a Juno Award and is available on Naxos.

Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. Her performances have been broadcast on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center,” the Kennedy Center Honors, WFMT Chicago’s “Rising Stars” series, WRTI in Philadelphia, and on WQXR in New York. She also appeared on Perlman in Shanghai, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that chronicled a historic cross-cultural exchange between the Perlman Music Program and Shanghai Conservatory.

Born in Seoul, Lee moved to the United States and studied under prestigious teachers including Sonja Foster, Catherine Cho, Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples, Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul & Linda Gridley.

American Sketches | Kristin Lee | First Hand Records
Release Date: November 15, 2024 (Worldwide)

Recorded at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, New York, USA
November 21, 2019 (tracks 5–7, 13–14)
March 5, 2020 (tracks 1–4, 9–12 and 15)
May 15, 2023 (track 8)

American Sketches – Tracklist

John Novacek (B. 1964) Four Rags (1999) * [9:56]
1. No. 1 Intoxication [1:53]
2. No. 2 4th Street Drag [4:01]
3. No. 3 Cockles [2:32]
4. No. 4 Full Stride Ahead [1:30]

George Gershwin (1898-1937)
5. Girl Crazy: But Not For Me (1930) (Arr. Jeremy Ajani Jordan, B. 1989) * [2:24]

James Louis ‘J.J.’ Johnson (1924-2001)
6. Lament (1954) (Arr. J.A. Jordan) * [5:09]

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
7. The Entertainer (1902) (Arr. J.A. Jordan) * [2:22]

Amy Beach (1867-1944)
8. Romance, Op. 23 (1893) ^ [5:53]

Henry 'Harry' Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) Southland Sketches (1916) * [11:06]
9. No. 1 Andante [2:34]
10. No. 2 Adagio Ma Non Troppo [2:28]
11. No. 3 Allegretto Grazioso [3:18]
12. No. 4 Allegro [2:44]

Jonathan Ragonese (B. 1989) [6:29]
13. non-poem 4 (2017) (Arr. For Violin And Piano, 2018) *

Kevin Puts (B. 1972) [4:29]
14. Four Airs: IV. Air (Previously Called Aria) (2000) *

Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) [5:06]
15. Monk's Mood (1943-44) *

Total time: [53:16]

*Jeremy Ajani Jordan, piano
^Jun Cho, piano

Produced by Kristin Lee and Ryan Streber
Recorded by Ryan Streber
Edited and Mastered by Edwin Kenzon Huet and Ryan Streber