Feb. 20: Pianist and Composer Olivia Belli Releases Her First Piano Concerto Daimon on Sony Classical – New Single The Departure Out Now
Feb. 20: Pianist and Composer Olivia Belli Releases Her First Piano Concerto Daimon on Sony Classical – New Single The Departure Out Now
Pianist and Composer Olivia Belli
Releases Her First Piano Concerto Daimon on Sony Classical
New Single: The Departure
Out Now | Watch Music Video Here
Album Release Date: February 20, 2026
Pre-Save | Listen Here
Whether Johann Sebastian Bach, Frédéric Chopin, Philip Glass or Arvo Part– the works of these composers have inspired Olivia Belli, one of the most captivating voices in the neoclassical scene. Equally, art and literature open new worlds for her, fueling her creativity as a composer. The starting point for her Sony Classical album Daimon –– to be released on February 20, 2026 –– was Homer’s Odyssey. “It was Odysseus’ fate to return to his homeland Ithaca,” says Olivia Belli. “That’s where his wife and son were – everything that defined him.” New single, The Departure is out now. Watch the accompanying music video here.
The idea that every life is essentially a journey, one that inevitably leads us toward our true purpose, deeply fascinated the Italian artist from the picturesque Marche region. From this concept emerged the piano concerto Daimon – recorded with a string orchestra and inspired by Italian Baroque music. It consists of three movements: The Departure, The Journey, and The Return. The second movement, The Journey, stands out in particular. It reflects the trials, hardships, and suffering faced not only by Odysseus but also by Olivia Belli herself on her path to catharsis. These emotional highs and lows unfold in strikingly epic soundscapes.
Olivia Belli consciously wove her own biography into the concerto. Daimon spans her life from adolescence to the present. As the daughter of a bank manager, she moved frequently as a child. Despite discovering exciting cities, she always felt something was missing – though she couldn’t quite name it.
That changed at age 14, when an accident left her bedridden for several months. “During that time, I was thrown back on myself. With no distractions, I realized what I truly needed: music and nature.” She had reached the point Socrates once described: “You must know who you are before you go out into the world.” In other words, Olivia Belli had found what the Greek term daimon expresses – her calling. Since then, she has never lost sight of her purpose.
Olivia Belli studied with distinguished pianists and pedagogues including Alexander Lonquich, Jörg Demus, Franco Scala, and Piero Rattalino, and also pursued composition studies, enriching her artistic identity. She has performed at acclaimed events such as the Piano Nights in Amsterdam, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Steinway & Sons Piano Series at the Royal Albert Hall (Elgar Room). Olivia Belli has also composed works for various artists, including Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen, French cellist Gautier Capuçon, and British organist Anna Lapwood. Above all, she has continually embarked on sonic explorations for her own recordings – often inspired by nature or Greek mythology. Her latest creative phase, especially with the piano concerto Daimon, has produced something truly exceptional for a neoclassical artist. Rather than relying on force and orchestral grandeur, this work calls for sensitivity – expressed in Olivia Belli’s unmistakable musical language. She favors gentleness, nuanced emotion, and pastel tonal colors.
Following Daimon, her recording continues with the Ithaca Suite, another musical journey into ancient Greece. This piece portrays the characters Odysseus encounters upon his return – including his father Laertes and his son Telemachus. In these Rencontres, cellist Raphaela Gromes, violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing, and saxophonist Jess Gillam shine as guest musicians. Olivia Belli not only contributes her musical signature but also embraces the collaborative spirit with her fellow artists. Her openness to shared creative processes and her refined sense for musical dialogue make her a sought-after partner – both as a pianist and composer. This artistic connection is also reflected in Olivia Belli’s own compositions, where she interweaves personal themes with universal emotions.
Odysseus’ wife Penelope is honored by Olivia Belli with a piano solo at the heart of the Ithaca Suite, its melody gently oscillating between melancholy and hope. “There is no Odysseus without Penelope,” the musician reflects. “Knowing you’re not alone is essential. We exist above all thanks to the people by our side.”
The album concludes with a sonata that openly reveals its unpretentious beauty: the Sonatina for Nausicaa. Nausicaa was the daughter of the Phaeacian king. She did not shy away when she found the shipwrecked Odysseus on the shore, but instead offered him clothes and food. “Nowadays, few would invite a homeless person into their home,” Olivia Belli observes. “For many, a person’s worth is measured primarily by success or money. Yet we all have our own unique calling.”
Daimon: Piano Concerto, Ithaca Suite & Sonatina for Nausicaa
Release Date: February 20, 2025
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra Daimon
1 I. The Departure
2 II. The Journey
3 III. The Return
Ithaca Suite
4 I. Proci
5 II. Telemachus
6 III. Eumaeus
7 IV. Penelopeia
8 V. Eurycleia
9 VI. Laertes
10 VII. Pax Athenae
Sonatina for Nausicaa
11 I. Semplice
12 II. Andantino
13 III. Allegretto
Olivia Belli & Eldbjørg Hemsing – Telemachus (Official Music Video)
# # #
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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.
Out Now: Sony Classical Releases 2026 New Year’s Concert with The Vienna Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Out Now: Sony Classical Releases 2026 New Year’s Concert with The Vienna Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Sony Classical Releases The 2026 New Year’s Concert
with The Vienna Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Album Release Dates:
Digital: Out Now
CD: Out Today
DVD and Blu-Ray: January 30, 2026
Available Now
The most famous event in the world of classical music will be available on Sony Classical in a digital format, on 2 CDs, on vinyl, on DVD and on Blu-ray
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the concert for the very first time.
On January 1, 2026, Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert from the world-famous Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. It was his first appearance at this event. There are few concerts in the world that are awaited with as much excitement as the New Year’s Concert from Vienna, which is broadcast to over 150 countries and watched by more than 50 million viewers.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is the music director of both the Metropolitan Opera in New York and of the Philadelphia Orchestra, can look back on a long association with the Vienna Philharmonic. His program for the 2026 New Year’s Concert included not only popular pieces such as Roses from the South and the Fledermaus Quadrille but also five rarities, all of which were heard for the first time in this setting. Among them are works by the Black American composer Florence Price (1887–1953) and by Josephine Weinlich (1848–87), who founded the first all-women’s orchestra in Europe.
The annual New Year’s Concert has been a major event in the musical calendar for more than eight decades. Starting in 1939, it is now broadcast on television and on the radio and reaches millions of viewers and listeners all over the world. Among the internationally acclaimed conductors who have appeared on the podium at this event have been Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Franz Welser-Möst and Gustavo Dudamel. As Austria’s musical ambassadors, the members of the Vienna Philharmonic extend their New Year greetings to the whole world in a spirit of hope, friendship and peace by performing lively, carefree and at the same time nostalgic and more serious music by members of the Strauß family and their contemporaries.
Program of the 2026 New Year’s Concert
Johann Strauss II Overture to the operetta Indigo and the Forty Thieves
Carl Michael Ziehrer Legends of the Danube. Waltz op. 446*
Joseph Lanner Malapou Galops op. 148/1*
Eduard Strauss Brausteufelchen. Polka schnell op. 154*
Johann Strauss II Fledermaus Quadrille op. 363
Johann Strauss I The Carnival of Paris. Galop op. 100
Franz von Suppè Overture to the operetta The Fair Galatea
Josephine Weinlich Siren Songs. Polka mazur op. 13 (arr. W. Dörner)*
Josef Strauss Women’s Dignity Waltz op. 277
Johann Strauss II Diplomats’ Polka. Polka française op. 448
Florence Price Rainbow Waltz (arr. W. Dörner)*
Hans Christian Lumbye Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop
Johann Strauss II Roses from the South. Waltz op. 388
Johann Strauss II Egyptian March op. 335
Josef Strauss Olive Branch Waltz, op. 207
Encores:
Philipp Fahrbach Circus, Quick Polka, Op. 110
Johann Strauss II The Blue Danube, Waltz, Op. 314
Johann Strauss I Radetzky March, Op. 228
* for the first time at a New Year’s Concert
New Single from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward Into Light Out Today - Full Album Out February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
New Single from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward Into Light Out Today - Full Album Out February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
Album art and photos available here.
New Single from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward Into Light Out Today
Full Album Featuring Four Orchestral Works to be Released
February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
Recorded by Metropolis Ensemble
Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director/Conductor
New Single Out Today:
Eye of Mnemosyne: III. Mori: “Memory of the Dead”
Listen Now
Watch the Official Video
Review CDs and downloads available upon request.
A new single from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s fifth full-length LP, an all-orchestral album titled Forward Into Light, is out today alongside an official video created for the track by multimedia artist and visual designer Deborah Johnson/CandyStations. The new single, Mori: “Memory of the Dead,” is the third movement of Snider’s multimedia orchestral work Eye of Mnemosyne, a piece exploring memory, innovation, and culture as refracted through the lens of photography, commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic. The video incorporates photos from George Eastman’s groundbreaking Kodak campaigns to reframe American cultural identity as well as references to Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory. Produced by multi-GRAMMY-winning producer Silas Brown and recorded by GRAMMY-nominated Metropolis Ensemble led by artistic director/conductor Andrew Cyr, Forward Into Light will be co-released by Nonesuch Records and the label that Snider co-founded, New Amsterdam Records, on February 27, 2026.
In addition to Eye of Mnemosyne, the new album features three more orchestral works by Snider: Forward Into Light, a commission for the New York Philharmonic inspired by the American women’s suffrage movement; the string orchestra and harp (Noël Wan) version of Drink the Wild Ayre, a reimagining of the string quartet Snider wrote for the Emerson String Quartet as the ensemble’s final commission; and Something for the Dark, a meditation on resilience, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra after Snider won its Lebenbom Competition in 2014.
Snider, deemed “one of new music’s leading names” (Gramophone), writes music of direct expression and dramatic narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (New York Times), “groundbreaking” (Boston Globe), and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). With an attention to detail that is “as intricate and exquisite as a spider’s web” (BBC Music Magazine), her music synthesizes diverse influences to render a nuanced command of immersive storytelling.
“I chose to create an album of these four works because they share themes of perseverance, alliance, and evolution through dark and light – concepts that have been at the forefront of my mind in recent years,” Sarah Kirkland Snider says. “Beyond that, there are musical connections: three of the works feature certain motivic ideas that have haunted me over the past few years, appearing in different guises across projects.”
The album has been recorded with 21st century listeners in mind. Snider states:
“Some of my most vivid memories of feeling awake and alive – whether walking city streets as an adult or lying in the dark on the floor in my childhood bedroom – have been inspired by listening to orchestral music recordings on headphones. In some ways, I’ve loved listening this way even more than live, because it feels private and personal – like a dream you can revisit in any way, at any time. Since childhood, I’ve longed to be on the other side of that alchemical exchange, creating sonic journeys that a listener can personalize in even the most mundane settings.
When I began thinking about recording my own orchestral music, I knew I wanted a sonically immersive, dynamic, and intricate listening experience – one in which the subtlest orchestration details and tempo changes could be fully realized. To that end, Metropolis and I recorded this music with intentionally idiosyncratic approaches to isolation and tempo mapping, maximizing control over individual lines without sacrificing musicality or expressivity. With that freedom, the mix became painstakingly detailed – but also deeply gratifying.”
Andrew Cyr, Metropolis Ensemble's artistic director and conductor, shares this vision for the recording process. He says, “At Metropolis, the studio is another stage, and recording is its own artistic medium. What draws me to it is the potential for a different kind of closeness: an intensely shared attentiveness between performer and listener. On one end, the composer, musicians, and engineers shape every breath and balance; on the other, technology carries that intention directly to the ear. For this album, we lived with the music for eight months – playing, listening, refining. From tracking to post-production, we worked with a panoramic syntax, engineered for Atmos and modern playback, letting depth, focus, and perspective carry Sarah’s orchestration and vision.”
The new album joins Sarah Kirkland Snider’s previous full-length LPs – The Blue Hour (New Amsterdam/Nonesuch, 2022), Mass for the Endangered (New Amsterdam/Nonesuch, 2020), Unremembered (New Amsterdam, 2015), and Penelope (New Amsterdam, 2010) – which have garnered year-end nods and critical acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Gramophone Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Music Magazine, The Nation, and many others.
About Sarah Kirkland Snider: Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music has been commissioned and/or performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Cleveland Orchestra; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra; New York Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; Philharmonia Orchestra; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Residentie Orkest; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Emerson String Quartet; Renée Fleming and Will Liverman; Deutsche Grammophon for mezzo Emily D’Angelo; percussionist Colin Currie; eighth blackbird; A Far Cry; and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. In addition to the music on this album, Snider’s recent works include Mass for the Endangered, a Trinity Wall Street-commissioned prayer for the environment for choir and ensemble, programmed by dozens of choirs the world over; and Embrace, an orchestral ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Highlights of Snider’s 2025-2026 concert season include the milestone premieres of three major new works – her first opera, HILDEGARD, for which she also wrote the libretto, co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and the Aspen Music Festival and School and presented in rolling world premieres by Los Angeles Opera (November 5-9, 2025) and PROTOTYPE Festival in New York (January 9-17, 2026), with subsequent performances at the Aspen Music Festival and School (Summer 2026); a new work for dance for the New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet (April 17-19, 2026); and the professional world premiere performances of Snider’s latest orchestral work Marmoris by the Monterey Symphony (May 16-17, 2026). Her music will be performed around the world this season in cities including Paris, France; Offenbach, Germany; Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia; and Antwerp, Belgium; as well as across the United States from Brooklyn, New York and Baltimore, Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Berkeley, California.
A founding Co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based non-profit New Amsterdam Records, Sarah Kirkland Snider has an M.M.and Artist’s Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. The winner of the 2014 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Lebenbom Competition, Snider was a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University in fall 2023. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. For more information about Sarah Kirkland Snider: www.sarahkirklandsnider.com/bio
About Metropolis Ensemble: Metropolis Ensemble is a GRAMMY-nominated, New York City-based orchestral collective and non-profit production house shaping today’s musical landscape. Founded in 2006 by GRAMMY-nominated conductor-producer Andrew Cyr, Metropolis champions exceptional composers and performers at pivotal moments – turning ideas into premieres, site-specific experiences, and definitive recordings. Metropolis provides the scaffolding artists need – bespoke ensembles, creative productions, multi-genre collaborations, and direct on-ramps to global stages – launching careers and inspiring new audiences. The ensemble has been presented by BAM’s Next Wave, The Met, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New Victory Theater, and Prototype. Cross-genre collaborators include Questlove & The Roots, Wye Oak, Deerhoof, Emily Wells, Caroline Rose, and the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, with stages from the Hollywood Bowl and Brooklyn Steel to Sounds from a Safe Harbour and Eaux Claires Hiver. Its recordings have earned wide acclaim – including Canada’s JUNO Award for Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto (2013 Best Contemporary Composition) and GRAMMY recognitions for Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto (2010 Best Solo Instrumental Performance), Timo Andres’s Home Stretch (part of David Frost’s 2013 Producer of the Year), and Timo Andres: The Blind Banister (2025 Best Engineered Album, Classical), which also landed on year-end lists from The New York Times, NPR Music, and Gramophone. Recognized as one of New York City’s most prolific incubators of new talent, Metropolis is a national model for artist-driven innovation. For more information about Metropolis: www.metropolisensemble.org
ALBUM TRACK LISTING:
Forward Into Light
Sarah Kirkland Snider | Metropolis Ensemble | Andrew Cyr
New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records | Release Date: February 27, 2026
All Music by Sarah Kirkland Snider
1. Forward Into Light [15:04]
2. Drink the Wild Ayre [12:45]
Noël Wan, harp
Eye of Mnemosyne
3. Prelude: Eye of Mnemosyne [2:28]
4. Mnemonic: Wheel of the Muses [1:41]
5. Mori: Memory of the Dead [1:43]
6. Vivere: Power of the Snapshot [3:21]
7. Memento: Defense Against Time [3:17]
8. Nostos: War Story [2:57]
9. Ephemera: Fragmented Memory Psyche [1:36]
10. (Epilogue): Lens of Nostalgia [4:13]
Something for the Dark
11. The Promise [6:28]
12. Of Rise and Renewal [5:36]
Total time: 61:09
Produced by Silas Brown and Andrew Cyr
Engineered by Silas Brown, Wellington Gordon, Charles Mueller, Mike Tierney, Doron Schachter, and Ryan Streber
Mixed by Silas Brown; Silas Brown and Mike Tierney (Drink the Wild Ayre)
Mastered by Silas Brown/Legacy Sound
Recorded at Drew University, FSU College of Music, Field Notes, Sandbox Percussion, Oktaven Audio (January-June, 2025)
Graphic Design by David (DM) Stith
Photography by Anja Schütz
March 1 & 4: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Two Concerts in Westerville and Visits Otterbein University for Artist Residency
March 1 & 4: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Two Concerts in Westerville and Visits Otterbein University for Artist Residency
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Two Concerts in Westerville
and Visits Otterbein University for Artist Residency
Lou Harrison’s Piano Concerto with the Westerville Symphony
Conducted by Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson
Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 5pm
Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall | 30 S. Grove St. | Westerville, OH
Tickets and More Information
The Woods So Wild – A Concert Inspired by Nature at Otterbein University
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 7:30pm
Riley Auditorium in Battelle Fine Arts Center | 170 W. Park Street | Westerville, OH
Free and Open to the Public | More Information
Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert
Westerville, OH – Bay Area-based pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, comes to Westerville in March for two performances and a residency at Otterbein University. On Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 5pm, she will be the featured soloist with the Westerville Symphony conducted by Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson, performing Lou Harrison’s Piano Concerto at Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall (30 S. Grove St.). On Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 7:30pm, she will perform her solo program The Woods So Wild in a free concert at the Battelle Fine Arts Center in Riley Auditorium (170 W. Park Street), presented by Otterbein University. In addition, while at Otterbein University, she will lead a masterclass and a lecture titled Reframing the Classical Canon focused on the inclusion of more works by women composers.
Sarah Cahill worked with prolific American composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003), a figure who greatly influenced the character of music in the 20th century, on several of his scores and is a staunch advocate of his music. Harrison was celebrated for his embrace of alternative tunings, musical traditions from around the world, and unconventional instruments. His Piano Concerto was composed for jazz/classical pianist Keith Jarrett from 1983 to 1985, and is unique in that the piano is retuned using an entirely different system – the black keys are tuned to a medieval system of exact intervals of fourths and fifths, and the white keys are tuned in a system common in the Renaissance and Baroque. Cahill has been performing this monumental concerto for the last twenty years. Watch her give an overview of the piece and perform selections from it here.
Cahill’s solo concert program The Woods So Wild features expressive works reflective of nature’s beauty. Forests, oceans, desert, mountains, flowers, grasslands, wilderness – throughout music’s history, composers have celebrated nature and the great outdoors. As humanity urgently strives to preserve this precious environment, reflecting on nature through music heightens society’s attention to its great wonders. In this concert, beginning with William Byrd’s The Woods So Wild from 1590, Sarah Cahill takes listeners on a wondrous journey through musical portraits of the natural world including Forest Scenes by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, A Morning in the Woods by Leo Ornstein, Murmur of the Wheat from Au sein de la nature by Leokadiya Kashperova, Hermit Thrush at Eve by Amy Beach, Patterns of Plants by Mamoru Fujieda, and The Mysterious Forest by Erkki Melartin.
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, Metropolitan Museum, 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, performs as a featured soloist with the Westerville Symphony, conducted by Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson, on March 1, 2026 at 5pm. Cahill will perform Lou Harrison’s Piano Concerto. The evening’s program will also include Gustav Holst’s Japanese Suite, and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 in C Major.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Westerville Symphony, Conducted by Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson
What: Lou Harrsion’s Piano Concerto, Gustav Holst’s Japanese Suite, and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 in C Major
When: Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 5pm
Where: Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall, 30 S Grove St, Westerville, OH 43081
More information: westervillesymphony.org/event-details/masterworks-ii
Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as a “keen and captivating pianist” by The Washington Post, brings her program The Woods So Wild, an array of expressive works that reflect the beauty of nature, to Otterbein University. The concert will include works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Mamoru Fujieda, William Byrd, Errki Melartin, Amy Beach, Leo Ornstein and Leokadiya Kashperova. The performance is free and open to the public.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill in The Woods So Wild
Presented by Otterbein University
What: Music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Mamoru Fujieda, William Byrd, Errki Melartin, Amy Beach, Leo Ornstein and Leokadiya Kashperova.
When: Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Riley Auditorium in Battelle Fine Arts Center, 170 W. Park Street, Westerville, OH 43081
Free and Open to the Public
More information: www.otterbein.edu/music/events/#spring
Feb. 24: Composer & Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi Releases PERSEVERANTIA Executive Produced by John Zorn for Tzadik – Album Release Concert at Roulette in Brooklyn
Feb. 24: Composer & Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi Releases PERSEVERANTIA Executive Produced by John Zorn for Tzadik – Album Release Concert at Roulette in Brooklyn
Composer and Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi
Releases New Album PERSEVERANTIA
A Suite for Piano and String Trio in 11 Movements with Ysaÿe String Trio
Executive Produced by John Zorn for Tzadik
New Single & Video Out Today: March Passacaglia
Listen Now | Watch Now
Album Release Concert at Roulette
Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 8pm
509 Atlantic Ave. | Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tickets and More Information
Livestream
Worldwide Release Dates
Digital: February 24, 2026
CD: February 27, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now
“Neselovskyi is a rare mix of classically trained pianist and brilliant jazz improviser, a musical omnivore for whom different sounds have always flowed together.” – PBS Newshour
“Vadim Neselovskyi’s third-stream pianism shares the qualities of a sculpture carved in ice: finely wrought detail, sharply traced; glinting elegance; coolness to the touch; refractions of light. His right and left hands converse with each other in eager, enchanted dialogue. “
– The New York Times
“I truly believe that [Vadim Neselovskyi] is one of the greatest pianist / composers out there right now.” – Jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch
Downloads, Press Photos, and CDs available to press on request
VadimNeselovskyi.com | Tzadik.com
Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-based Vadim Neselovskyi – composer, pianist, and Professor of Jazz Piano at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA – announces his new album PERSEVERANTIA, executive produced by John Zorn for Tzadik. Neselovskyi’s latest recording is an original suite for piano and string trio in 11 movements, performed together with the Netherlands-based Ysaÿe String Trio (Rada Ovcharova, violin; Emlyn Stam, viola and Willem Stam, cello). The album is scheduled for release on February 24, 2026, commemorating the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
Neselovskyi will be presented at Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave.) for an album release concert on Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 8pm. Neselovskyi will be joined by violinist Pauline Kim Harris, violist Celia Hatton, and cellist Andrew Janss. A livestream will be available at 8pm on the day of the performance and available for future viewing.
A new single from PERSEVERANTIA, titled March Passacaglia, is out today, alongside an accompanying video release. Built on a calm, meditative flow, March Passacaglia unfolds as a ritual of mourning and hope. Written in the early months of the war in Ukraine, it channels collective grief into luminous harmony—a meditation on loss and the strength to endure.
As a young composer and pianist growing up in Odesa, Ukraine, Neselovskyi discovered that his calling was not to follow any one stylistic path but to become a "creator of music.” He has long since fulfilled that early promise in myriad ways both inventive and unexpected: as a composer whose vision is expansive enough to spark inspired interpretations from jazz trio and symphony orchestra alike; as an improviser carving surprising pathways through the straightahead, the avant-garde, and the indefinable; and as a collaborator valued by peers, mentors and fellow innovators.
Known for his collaborations with Gary Burton, John Zorn, and Fred Hersch, in 2022, Neselovskiy paid tribute to his hometown with ODESA (Sunnyside Records) – a ruminative and poetic solo piano album featuring compositions inspired by Ukrainian landmarks like the Odesa Railway Station, Potemkin Stairs, and Odesa Conservatory. The New York Times described how throughout the album, Neselovskyi “takes care to depict each given scene or concept with a sure compositional hand.” The album was also featured by NPR’s Morning Edition, WNYC's All of It, PBS Newshour, The Boston Globe, and more.
Three years later, both Neselovskyi’s compositional instincts and his sense of resilience have only grown, paving the way for PERSEVERANTIA – an album that tells a story of compassion, empathy, willpower, resistance, sincerity, falsehood, freedom, and the arduous path to it.
Neselovskyi says, “Stylistically, PERSEVERANTIA weaves together the many strands of my life, as a post-classical composer, world-touring jazz musician, and individual inextricably connected to my Ukrainian and Jewish roots, ultimately converging toward a single cohesive artistic statement.”
As a Ukrainian, Neselovskyi is deeply connected to current events. However, this suite is not only about the devastating war; it speaks to everyone, reflecting on timeless human challenges and the best aspects of human nature. Placing exhilarating piano improvisations in the context of gorgeous compositions for classical string trio, PERSEVERANTIA evokes a cornucopia of emotions and striking scenes, encouraging unhurried consideration from beginning to end.
“Composing PERSEVERANTIA was my way of processing everything that has happened in my home country since February 2022,” says Neselovskyi. “Music, particularly instrumental music devoid of lyrics, is a universal language. And while I did not intend for this work to be an easy listening experience, I hope that its message of resilience, empathy, and hope reaches those who choose to listen.”
PERSEVERANTIA is Vadim Neselovskyi’s seventh-length album following his most recent work – 2022’s critically acclaimed ODESA – an emotionally vivid and personal reflection on Neselovskyi’s Ukrainian birthplace and its connection to the composer’s multifaceted life.
Vadim Neselovskyi
PERSEVERANTIA: A Suite for Piano and String Trio
Release Date: February 24, 2026 | Tzadik
Recorded October 16-17, 2024 in Bethlehemkerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tracklist:
[1] Before 24 [8:02]
[2] Tanks Near Kyiv [5:44]
[3] March Passacaglia [8:14]
[4] I Don’t Need a Ride [5:18]
[5] Orwell [6:27]
[6] Refugees [6:38]
[7] Dancing As If Nothing Ever Happened [5:59]
[8] Chorale [5:35]
[9] Lviv Funeral [2:56]
[10] Perseverantia [8:26]
[11] After 24 [7:54]
[Total Time: 71:13]
Vadim Neselovskyi, Piano
Rada Ovcharova, Violin
Emlyn Stam, Viola
Willem Stam, Cello
Executive Producer: John Zorn
Engineered by Joeri Saal
Mixed by Christian Heck
Edited by Lukas Lohner
Pre-Mastered by Christoph Stickel
Mastered by Scott Hull
Album Front Cover Photos by Alexander Yakimchuk
Album Back Cover Photos by Arkady Mitnik
Album Design by Heung Heung Chin
About Vadim Neselovskyi: The Los Angeles Times has praised Vadim Neselovskyi’s “extraordinary playing” while The Guardian (UK) called him “the most promising of the young improvisers." Whether as a pianist, composer, improviser, soloist or bandleader, Neselovskyi creates music that is truly inspired and wholly unique. His work has been played by jazz greats like Randy Brecker, Antonio Sanchez, Julian Lage, and Gary Burton, as well as classical artists (Daniel Gauthier, whose recording of Neselovskyi’s “San Felio” won an ECHO Classical Award) and symphony orchestras in the United States and Europe.
Those diverse talents have attracted the attention of revered artists crossing the boundaries of genre, including legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton, who famously enlisted Neselovskyi for his acclaimed Generations Quintet; the prestigious Graz Philharmoniker, which performed his composition “Prelude for Vibes” on their New Year’s program; iconoclastic composer/saxophonist John Zorn, who invited Neselovskyi to contribute to The Book Beriah,the final installment of his Masada project; and French horn/alphorn pioneer Arkady Shilkloper, a profound influence with whom the pianist now shares a longstanding duo collaboration. In the summer of 2022, an orchestral version of *Winter in Odesa*— one of the movements from the *Odesa Suite* — was premiered at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, featuring classical saxophone star Asya Fateyeva and Ensemble Reflektor as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. The concert was recorded and broadcast by ARTE TV.
About the Ysaÿe Trio: Founded in 2006 by Rada Ovcharova (violin), Emlyn Stam (viola) and Willem Stam (cello) the Ysaÿe Trio performs regularly at the leading festivals and concert halls throughout the Netherlands as well as abroad. “The Ysaÿe Trio performs with conviction, craftsmanship and love. Superb!” Haarlems Dagblad (Haarlem, Netherlands)
Feb. 13-14: Violinist Kristin Lee is Soloist with Nu-Deco Ensemble in A Reimagined Vivaldi Four Seasons – Conducted by Music Director Jacomo Bairos Presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Feb. 13-14: Violinist Kristin Lee is Soloist with Nu-Deco Ensemble in A Reimagined Vivaldi Four Seasons – Conducted by Music Director Jacomo Bairos Presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Photo by Lauren Desberg available in hi-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/kristin-lee
Violinist Kristin Lee
is Featured Soloist with the Nu-Deco Ensemble
Conducted by Nu-Deco Music Director Jacomo Bairos
Presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
in A Reimagined Vivaldi Four Seasons
Arranged by Sam Hyken
Friday, February 13, 2026 at 8pm
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
1212 Cathedral St. | Baltimore, MD
Tickets & Information
Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 8pm
The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Ln. | North Bethesda, MD
Tickets & Information
Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com
Baltimore, MD – Violinist Kristin Lee – praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy” – is presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in two performances on Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14, 2026 with the Miami, FL based Nu-Deco Ensemble, conducted by Nu-Deco Founder and Music Director Jacomo Bairos. Lee is the featured soloist in A Reimagined Vivaldi Four Seasons, arranged by Sam Hyken. The concert program, which is part of the BSO’s Fusion Series, also includes Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein, Umoja Unbound by Valerie Coleman, and an Earth, Wind, and Fire Suite by various artists.
A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Kristin Lee enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.”
Through both her work as a classical soloist, and her role as the Artistic Director of Emerald City Music –– 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 –– Lee has embraced works that showcase diversity of styles, composers, and time periods. Her adventurousness with programming and curation make this performance of a contemporary reimagining of Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons a perfect fit to highlight Lee’s appreciation of the traditional classical canon and music from other styles and traditions. The work blends the past and the present in a beloved piece of music, performed in celebration of its 300th anniversary (1725–2025).
“I am thrilled to make my debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, especially in this unique arrangement of one of the most cherished works ever written for the violin, marking the 300th anniversary of its publication this season,” says Lee. “Sam Hyken’s arrangement beautifully honors the past while bringing fresh life to the music, and I feel truly grateful to be part of this special performance.”
Performing on a violin crafted in Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano, in addition to her solo appearances, Kristin Lee tours throughout the world as a member of New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including in Italy, Croatia, Germany, Taiwan, and across the U.S. Always up for adventure, at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, Lee has performed in such unexpected places as rafting down the Colorado River, in a natural rock grotto, and in the magical landscape of the red rock canyons of the area.
Other highlights of Lee’s 2025-2026 season include her Carnegie Hall recital debut performing American Sketches, a program curated by Lee as a celebration of the diversity of styles and cultures found in American music, as well as a symbol of Lee’s appreciation of and pride in the U.S., which she has long called her home. Lee will also perform with GRAMMY®-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion in the world premiere of a new work by Vivan Fung, which is part of a special all-premiere concert presented by Emerald City Music as part of its 10th Anniversary Season. She will also perform as the featured soloist with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra in Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons by Max Richter, in another performance highlighting the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s timeless work.
Kristin Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches – released in summer 2024 on the First Hand Records – embraces the beauty of cultural diversity in the U.S. The album 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 repertoire for the album that would express her pride in the country she now calls her own. She has recorded works by American composers including Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Theolonius Monk, Scott Joplin, and more, that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.
As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. In 2026, she makes her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall performing her program American Sketches with pianist John Novacek. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly in New York at Lincoln Center and on tour. In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is a devoted educator. She has served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and 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 also 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.
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.
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.
For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” will be the featured soloist in two performances with the Miami, FL based Nu-Deco Ensemble, presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Both performances will be conducted by Nu-Deco Founder and Music Director, Jacomo Bairos. Lee will perform A Reimagined Vivaldi Four Seasons (arr. by Sam Hyken). The program also includes Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein, Umoja Unbound by Valerie Coleman, and an Earth, Wind, and Fire Suite by various artists.
Concert details:
Who: Violinist Kristin Lee
Soloist with Nu-Deco Ensemble
Presented by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Nu-Deco Founder and Music Director Jacomo Bairos
What: Reimagined: Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Music by Antonio Vivaldi, Leonard Bernstein, Valerie Coleman, and various artists performing an Earth, Wind and Fire Suite
When: Friday, February 13, 2026 at 8pm and Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 8pm
Where: (Friday): Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore, MD 21201
(Saturday) The Music Center at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Ln, North Bethesda, MD 20852
Tickets and information: https://my.bsomusic.org/overview/19778
GatherNYC Presents Sunday Concerts at 11AM - Up Next: Empire Wild, Renaissance Ensemble Sonnambula, Viola Duo Tallā Rouge, and Boyd Meets Girl (Featuring Several World Premieres)
GatherNYC Presents Sunday Concerts - Up Next: Empire Wild, Renaissance Ensemble Sonnambula, Viola Duo Tallā Rouge, and Boyd Meets Girl (Featuring Several World Premieres)
Clockwise: Sonnambula, Empire Wild, Boyd Meets Girl, Tallā Rouge
GatherNYC Continues Expanded 2025-2026 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
31 Concerts – Now Held Weekly, Every Sunday Morning at 11AM through May 31, 2026
Up Next:
February 1: Empire Wild (Cello + Piano)
February 8: Sonnambula (Renaissance Instruments)
February 15: Tallā Rouge (Viola Duo)
February 22: Boyd Meets Girl (Guitar + Cello)
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee – The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series” – The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its expanded 2025-2026 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle). For the first time, GatherNYC is offering weekly concerts, held every Sunday morning at 11am, in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free. The series presents an astonishing thirty-one concerts between October 2025 and May 2026.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be offering 31 concerts throughout our expanded 2025-2026 season, by far our largest lineup yet. In these challenging times, we feel it’s essential to provide our community with a gathering place each week where we can enjoy world-class artists together in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment. We look forward to welcoming new and old friends week after week.”
Up Next – All Concerts Take Place on Sundays at 11AM:
February 1: Empire Wild
Empire Wild, founded by Juilliard-trained cellists Mitchell Lyon and Ken Kubota, joins forces with acclaimed jazz pianist Addison Frei for a genre-bending program that fuses pop, folk, jazz, and classical traditions into an electrifying, original sound. Honored with the Concert Artists Guild Ambassador Prize, the ensemble captivates audiences with inventive compositions, reimagined classics, and the limitless possibilities of cross-genre collaboration.
February 8: Sonnambula
Praised as “remarkable” and “superb” by the New Yorker, Sonnambula is a historically-informed ensemble that brings to light unknown music for various combinations of early instruments with the lush sound of the viol at the core. The ensemble is currently the 2025-26 ensemble in residence at The Frick Collection, and will share music from their recently-released and critically-acclaimed album Passing Fancy: Beauty in a Moment of Chaos. Do not miss the chance to hear these rare and beautiful instruments up close!
February 15: Tallā Rouge
Tallā Rouge's brings selections from their debut album, Shapes in Collective Space, to GatherNYC, weaving together a narrative of love, loss, childlike glee, and reflection. Featuring diverse and genre-defying compositions by inti figgis-vizueta, Kian Ravaei, Karl Mitze, and Leilehua Lanzilotti, Tallā Rouge sonically explores the raw emotions that shape our collective humanity — beckoning us to embrace and cherish the impermanence of life.
February 22: Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC’s own artistic directors, cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, take the stage to share several world premieres for the unique combination of cello and guitar by Stephen Goss, Reinaldo Moya and more, as well as works from their upcoming third album release.
2026 GatherNYC Schedule:March 1: Exponential Ensemble
Exponential Ensemble, led by clarinetist Pascal Archer, is one of the most innovative ensembles on the NYC music scene. Exponential Ensemble’s mission includes commissioning and premiering works by living composers that are inspired by math, science and literacy, and their GatherNYC debut showcases the woodwind players from the Ensemble performing works by French and American composers, including “Wild Birds” by Brad Balliett inspired by wild birds living in New York City’s Central Park!
March 8: Inbal Segev, cello
Inbal Segev, a formidable cello soloist who stands out not only for her captivating sound and stage presence, but also for her curiosity and creativity. She has commissioned and premiered numerous concertos for cello and orchestra, and for this intimate solo performance she invites us into her compelling sound world, playing both her own compositions and music of Anna Clyne, Missy Mazzolli and more.
March 15: Palaver Strings
GatherNYC is proud to present this masterful and creative Portland, ME- based string chamber orchestra. Their program “The Apple of Their Eyes” explores the African-American experience in classical music, through the eyes of Black composers. It begins with William Grant Still’s lush and lyrical Mother and Child, and continues with Perry’s understated Prelude for Piano, arranged for strings. At the heart of the program is Edmund Thornton Jenkins Romance and Reverie Phantasy for Violin and String Orchestra, restored, edited, and arranged by Tuffus Zimbabwe, featuring Palaver violinist Maïthéna Girault. The Apple of their Eyes encapsulates the African-American experience, and celebrates the richness and depth of Black classical music.
March 22: The Knights – An Interactive Family Concert
Following their wildly successful family concert in November 2024, The Knights return to GatherNYC with a new program, also designed for the whole family. “Toy Bricks” is an interactive family concert that highlights playful interactions between stringed instruments, both large and small! Musical games and friendly competition bring friends together in a range of repertoire, culminating in a performance of Paul Wiancko’s Toy Bricks for violin, two cellos, and bass. This program is created and hosted by Knights cellist Caitlin Sullivan.
March 29: String Trios – Miranda Cuckson, violin + Jessica Meyer, viola + Laura Metcalf, cello
This program brings together four electrifying contemporary string trios by living female composers: Jessica Meyer, Missy Mazzolli, Nina C. Young, and Dobrinka Tabakova. These powerful works push the boundaries of what is possible on three stringed instruments.
April 5: Rachell Ellen Wong, violin + David Belkovski, harpsichord
Following their much-loved performance at GatherNYC in 2023 as part of the early music collective Twelfth Night, Wong and Belkovski return to the stage for a charming and intimate recital featuring impeccably performed Baroque gems.
April 12: Boyd Meets Girl and Friends play Clarice Assad & Osvoldo Golijov
This exciting program for flute, guitar and string quartet pair works by two superstar Latin-American composers whose styles contrast and compliment each other. Golijov’s achingly beautiful Tenebrae is juxtaposed with Clarice Assad’s exhilarating Sephardic Suite. Boyd Meets Girl is joined by violinists David Felberg and Jennifer Choi and violist En-Chi Cheng.
April 19: Kebra-Seyoun Charles, bass + composer
Kebra-Seyoun Charles is a distinguished double bass soloist and composer lauded for their counter-classical musical language and their ability to aptly communicate complex ideas and emotions to audiences. For their GatherNYC debut, they will perform a new work entitled “Shango” for bass and percussion duo, interspersed with virtuosic double bass solos.
April 26: Poeisis Quartet
Fresh off their win at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition (arguably the most important competition of its kind in the world), this fast-rising young string quartet will treat audiences to its vital and energetic approach to music-making and programming.
Says Poeisis of their program: “In collaboration with five emerging QTPOC (Queer/Trans People of Color) composers from our alma mater, Oberlin College & Conservatory, the Oberlin Commission Project expands the string quartet canon with approaches to music-making that are too often unheard. This initiative brings underrepresented voices, genres, and influences to the forefront, and also serves as an act of resistance and perseverance. Composer Zola Saadi-Klein's composition is rooted in the Persian Dastgāh music tradition, and through their work they are "acknowledging our queer and ancestral identities can freely coexist beyond the binaries of classical music and societal expectations." As queer musicians and as Oberlin graduates, this project serves as our way of giving back to the communities who raised us and brought us together.”
May 3: Thomas Mesa, cello + JP Jofre, bandoneon
Two of the most exciting soloists working today, Mesa and Jofre come together for a morning of tango and tango-inspired works that spotlight the unusual combination of their instruments, cello and bandoneon, while allowing each performer to shine.
May 10: Curtis Stewart, violin + composer
GatherNYC favorite, Curtis Stewart, returns to the stage with a preview of his much-anticipated project “24 American Caprices.” The 24 American Caprices are inspired by a kaleidoscope of recorded American music, with some honorary American additions...musical aspects of each inspiration are abstracted and imbued with challenging violin techniques emulating the sounds and styles of their origin. In the full meaning of caprice, these violin fragments dance and sing lightly from inspiration to ornamentation, both with flights of fantasy and fastidious settings of referenced material, creating playful musical dialogue around American lineage and individual perspective in Classical music.
May 17: Catalyst Quartet
The GRAMMY-winning Catalyst Quartet, known for their masterful, comprehensive recordings of music by Black composers throughout history, bring their signature polish and style back to GatherNYC for the second time.
May 24: Aeolus Quartet
The acclaimed Aeolus Quartet presents a touching and thoughtful program for their first performance at GatherNYC. From a Bach chorale composed to unite the voices of church congregations to the expansive Overture and Chorale by Andrea Casarrubios inspired by it; from the textural celebration of Montgomery's Strum to the bubbling virtuosity of Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 3 composed in the new world that arose from the ashes of WWII. In this program, storytelling and silence give way to the tender slow movement of Price’s G Major Quartet rooted in the tradition of Black spirituals.
May 31: Season Finale – Musicians from the NY Phil with Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd once again team up with members of the New York Philharmonic, including returning violist Leah Ferguson, violinist Alina Kobialka and more, to craft an exhilarating program centered around Aaron Jay Kernis’ tour de force for guitar and string quartet, “100 Greatest Dance Hits.” Dance into the summer and celebrate the conclusion of another wonderful season of GatherNYC!
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Feb. 8: Telegraph Quartet Performs “From the Heart” – Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
Feb. 8: Telegraph Quartet Performs “From the Heart” – Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution here.
Telegraph Quartet Performing From the Heart
Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn,
Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm
Constellations Music Salon | 8817 Belmart Rd. | Potomac, MD
Tickets and More Information
Telegraph Quartet’s New Album
20th Century Vantage Points Vol. 2: Edge of the Storm Out Now
Review downloads & CDs available upon request.
"precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication" – The Strad
Potomac, MD – On Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group The New York Times describes as “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in concert by Constellations Chamber Concerts (8817 Belmart Rd.).
Known for technical prowess and an appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet brings its fluid synchronicity and refined artistry to a program showcasing an array of musical styles, titled From the Heart, featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1 –– for which the Telegraph Quartet will be joined by pianist and Constellations Artistic Director Ellen Hwangbo –– and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
“This program, From the Heart, features works from each composer that taps into the deeply heartfelt expression possible through the intimacy of the string quartet. The first, by Haydn, while overtly optimistic in both the first and third movements, plumbs deep sorrow in its second movement and transcendence in the ruminations of the unconventionally slow fourth movement. Grażyna Bacewicz finds herself coming into her voice with the Piano Quintet, a period where she is reconnecting with how music can represent emotion deeply, contrary to her previously held beliefs. We end with a deeply personal work by George Rochberg that followed the premature death of his teenage son. In order to fully express the breadth of emotion he felt was needed after this traumatic event, Rochberg found himself turning away from the calculating serialism of his earlier days, and opening up his palette to the styles of Late Beethoven and Mahler as a vessel to fully express his feelings, an act that was both brave and heretical at the time of its composition.“
The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, the first in a trilogy of recordings on Azica Records exploring the string quartets of the first half of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. Divergent Paths features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. The Quartet’s new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm is out now on Azica Records. Read the press release online here. This second volume of the trilogy examines music from the turbulent war years of 1941-1951 and features a thoughtfully curated program of works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
More about Telegraph Quartet: The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
When: Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm
Where: Constellations Music Salon, 8817 Belmart Rd, Potomac, MD 20854, USA
Tickets and information: constellationsmusic.org/event-details/telegraph-quartet
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group the San Francisco Chronicle describes as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail,” is presented in concert by Constellations Chamber Concerts. The ensemble will perform a program showcasing an array of musical styles titled, From the Heart, featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1 – for which they will be joined by pianist and Constellations Artistic Director Ellen Hwangbo – and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
Jan 16: ECM New Series Releases con slancio from Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach
Jan 16: ECM New Series Releases con slancio from Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach
ECM New Series Releases
con slancio
Heinz Holliger, oboe, English horn; Marie-Lise Schüpbach, English horn
Music by Heinz Holliger, Toshio Hosokawa, Jürg Wyttenbach, Jacques Wildberger, György Kurtág, Rudolf Kelterborn and Robert Suter
ECM New Series 2807
Release: January 16, 2026
Pre-Save: https://ecm.lnk.to/ConSlancio
Press downloads available upon request.
The release of con slancio, with premier recordings of music written by Swiss composer and nonpareil oboist Heinz Holliger, marks 40 years of collaboration with ECM New Series. Threaded throughout the album are strongly contrasting pieces dedicated to Holliger over the years by fellow composers. A spirit of vigor and enthusiasm animates both new pieces and tributes.
The Holliger compositions, written between 2018 and 2020, are con slancio for oboe solo, Ständchen für Rosemarie for English horn, and several duets for oboe and English horn: Spiegel – LIED, Lied mit Gegenüber (contr’air), Gangis (fang mich), and à deux – Adieu.
“Since I began playing in duo with Marie-Lise Schüpbach, I’ve been fascinated by the way our two instruments expand each other’s range and palette of tone colours,” says Heinz Holliger. “New sound paths have opened up for me.” He adds that the newest compositions almost completely forego the use of idiosyncratic “extended techniques” of which he has been a pioneer. The freshness of the Holliger/Schüpbach duo sound has been noted in reviews of their earlier release Zwiegesprespäche (2019) where Holliger’s music was interspersed with pieces by his friend and contemporary György Kurtág. “These performances, by Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach, are simply astonishing in their fluency,” declared UK magazine Gramophone.
In an interview in the CD booklet Holliger suggests that while the oboe cannot ‘vocalize’ in ways that the flute can, the sound of the instrument can – as in Bach’s arias - be a substitute for the male voice that breaks in adolescence. “In my own case, too, since I had sung as a solo soprano before my voice changed.” In these late works, the oboe is singing more purely than ever.
Of the pieces written for Holliger here, the earliest are Jürg Wyttenbach’s Sonate (1961) and Jacques Wildberger’s Rondeau (1962), and the most recent are György Kurtág’s aphoristic con slancio, largamente and Toshio Hosokawa’s evocative Musubi (Knots), both written to celebrate Holliger’s 80th birthday in 2019.
Hosokawa says that the title of his piece, “was inspired by the Yin and Yang principle, the central concept of the creation of the universe in the East. Polar opposite elements such as man and woman, high and low, light and shadow coexist and complement each other, becoming intertwined without eradicating each other, whilst gradually shaping the harmony of the universe. In this music, the oboe and the English horn, both of which have a distinctive characteristic tone, become entwined and gradually knotted together through arabesque-like appoggiaturas.”
Rudolf Kelterborn’s Duett für Oboe and Englishhorn (2017) was one of the last pieces written by the Basel-born composer, who died in 2021. Holliger: “What impressed about Kelterborn is how much more daring he became in old age.” The piece poses some challenges: “At the opening, the English horn intones a deeply pathos-laden recitative, while the oboe responds with a plaintive lament in its most extreme register.”
The album closes with Robert Suter’s Oh Boe (1999) which calls for Sprechstimme as well as oboe,
juxtaposing vocal and instrumental utterances. “The text is really sharply phrased. It captures me quite well. The oboe attempts to declaim the same words…”
*
Heinz Holliger was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, in 1939. He pursued studies in composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez, and in parallel developed the gifts which would see him recognized as one of the world’s most outstanding oboists. Many composers have written works for him, including Frank Martin, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Isang Yun. Holliger has also played a key role in the rediscovery of the music of neglected 18th-century masters such as Jan Zelenka.
Recordings with Heinz Holliger’s music on ECM include Scarnadelli-Zyklus (released 1993), Beiseit/Alb-Chehr (1995), Lieder ohne Worte (1997), Schneewittchen (2001), Violinkonzert ‘Hommage à Louis Soutter’ (2009), Romancendres (2009), Robert Schumann/Heinz Holliger (2011), Induuchlen (2011), Beethoven/Bruckner/Hartmann/Holliger (2013), Aschenmusik (2014), Machaut-Transkiptionen (2015), Zwiegespräche (2019), and Lunea (2022).
Albums with Holliger as performer include Jan Dismas Zelenka: Trio Sonatas (1999), Elliott Carter/Isang Yun: Lauds and Lamentations (2003), Jörg Widmann: Elegie (2011, with Holliger in debut as pianist on Fünf Bruchstücke), Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis – Konzerte und Sinfonien für Oboe (2011), and an album of French music, Éventail, with compositions by Messiaen, Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Milhaud and more (2023). Holliger also conducts Camerata Bern in music of Sandor Veress (1995), and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann on Canto di speranza (2008).
Heinz Holliger has received many awards and prizes, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Award and the Robert Schumann-Preis für Dichtung und Musik for his lifetime achievement in 2022.
*
Marie-Lise Schüpbach was born in Zurich. She studied oboe with Heinz Holliger in Freiburg im Breisgau, where she graduated with honor. Her orchestral career began at the Cologne Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester. From 1979 to 2017, she held the position of solo English horn at the BR symphony orchestra in Munich. Schüpbach was a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for many years. In 2008, together with colleagues of the BR-Symphony Orchestra, she founded the chamber music festival erstKlassik am Sarnersee.
The CD booklet for con slancio includes an extensive interview with Heinz Holliger by Michael Kunkel, in German and English.
Feb. 5: Telegraph Quartet Performing From the Heart – Presented by Kerrytown Concert House
Feb. 5: Telegraph Quartet Performing From the Heart – Presented by Kerrytown Concert House
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution here.
Telegraph Quartet Performing From the Heart
Presented by Kerrytown Concert House
Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn,
Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7:30pm
Kerrytown Concert House | 415 N 4th Ave. | Ann Arbor, MI
Tickets and More Information
Telegraph Quartet’s New Album
20th Century Vantage Points Vol. 2: Edge of the Storm Out Now
Review downloads & CDs available upon request.
"precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication" – The Strad
Ann Arbor, MI – On Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7:30pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group The New York Times describes as “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in concert, performing their program, From the Heart, at Kerrytown Concert House (415 N 4th Ave.)
Known for technical prowess and an appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet brings its fluid synchronicity and refined artistry to a program that showcases an array musical styles, featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1; and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
The Telegraph Quartet says:
“This program, From the Heart, features works from each composer that taps into the deeply heartfelt expression possible through the intimacy of the string quartet. The first, by Haydn, while overtly optimistic in both the first and third movements, plumbs deep sorrow in its second movement and transcendence in the ruminations of the unconventionally slow fourth movement. Grazyna Bacewicz finds herself coming into her voice with the Piano Quintet, a period where she is reconnecting with how music can represent emotion deeply, contrary to her previously held beliefs. We end with a deeply personal work by George Rochberg that followed the premature death of his teenage son. In order to fully express the breadth of emotion he felt was needed after this traumatic event Rochberg, found himself turning away from the calculating serialism of his earlier days, and opening up his palette to the styles of Late Beethoven and Mahler as a vessel to fully express his feelings, an act that was both brave and heretical at the time of its composition.”
From the Heart brings together three works that reveal how music can speak with deep sincerity, each composer opening a private emotional world for us to overhear.
Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2 invites us into a realm of elegance tinged with unpredictability. Beneath its poised surfaces lie sudden shifts of color, moments of suspended stillness, and a slow movement that glows with quiet devotion. Haydn’s imagination feels unusually intimate here—playful, searching, and finally leaving us in mid-air with a closing gesture as mysterious as it is heartfelt.
In Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1, heart and fire coexist. The music bursts forward with rhythmic brilliance and muscular energy, yet within its drive are passages of luminous tenderness. Bacewicz writes with a voice that is clear and courageous—one that carries both the resilience of her era and a fiercely personal lyricism. The quintet moves with the pulse of someone determined to carve beauty out of turbulence.
George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3 is a work born of profound loss and a longing for meaning. Breaking from the strict modernism of his earlier language, Rochberg rebuilds his musical world using memory—echoes of past styles, fragments of familiar gestures—woven into something newly vulnerable. The result is a quartet that feels like a raw confession: grief spoken plainly, beauty reclaimed slowly, the heart laid bare.
Heard together, these three pieces chart a journey across centuries but united by a single thread: the courage to speak directly through sound. From the Heart invites listeners into music shaped not just by craft, but by the full weight and warmth of human feeling.
The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, the first in a trilogy of recordings on Azica Records exploring the string quartets of the first half of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. Divergent Paths features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. The Quartet’s new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm is out now on Azica Records. Read the press release online here. This second volume of the trilogy examines music from the turbulent war years of 1941-1951 and features a thoughtfully curated program of works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
More about Telegraph Quartet: The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by Kerrytown Concert House
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
When: Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N 4th Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Tickets and information: https://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/event/telegraph-quartet-from-the-heart/
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group the San Francisco Chronicle describes as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail,” is presented in concert by Kerrytown Concert House. The ensemble will perform a program showcasing an array musical styles from throughout history – even in work written during the late 20th century. The program will include Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2, Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1; and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
Feb. 26: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Launches Thursday Night Music with Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians
Feb. 26: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Launches Thursday Night Music with Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians
Press photos available here.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Announces Thursday Night Music
A New Series of Concerts Held on Thursday Nights at Calderwood Hall
February 26: Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians
Performed by Ensemble Signal led by Brad Lubman
Tickets On Sale Today
Information & Tickets: gardnermuseum.org/about/music
BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announces a bold new concert series, Thursday Night Music, curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel and held on select Thursday evenings. Thursday Night Music brings a different energy to the concert hall than the afternoon performances of the Museum’s Weekend Concert Series, featuring edgier, more experimental work. With no intermissions, open seating, and a relaxed atmosphere, these single-set performances offer immersive and adventurous listening experiences. All concerts will take place in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intimate and intense acoustic environment.
The inaugural Thursday Night Music concert on February 26, 2026 features Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians performed by Ensemble Signal conducted by Co-Artistic Director Brad Lubman. This is likely the first time that this landmark minimalist work will be performed by a professional ensemble in Boston. Reich, a music pioneer and living legend, celebrates his 90th birthday in 2026. He has been called “the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New Yorker) and “among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times).
Massively ambitious, the hour-long Music for 18 Musicians features four grand pianos, three full-size marimbas, two xylophones, three singers, clarinet, violin, and cello. In this work, Reich drew influences from a wide variety of sources including Balinese gamelan, plainchant, and jazz. It premiered 50 years ago in 1976 and continues to loom large in today’s musical landscape.
The 1998 recording of Music for 18 Musicians on Nonesuch won a GRAMMY Award, and David Bowie named it among his 25 favorite vinyl albums. Ensemble Signal recorded the piece for Harmonia Mundi in 2015. Their album was praised by Reich himself who said, “Signal has made an extraordinary recording of Music for 18 Musicians. Fast moving, spot on and emotionally charged. Take a listen.” The New York Times raved, “Ensemble Signal joyously melds rhythmic precision and transparency of sound with a startling ability to shade colors. It’s like hearing a ritual unfold and made radical once more.”
“Music for 18 Musicians may be the most influential piece of American music written in the last half century, and we’re thrilled to present what is likely its first professional ensemble performance in Boston,” George Steel says. “Bringing Ensemble Signal to the Gardner to perform this hour-long masterwork as we celebrate Steve Reich’s 90th birthday feels like the epitome of what Thursday Night Music is all about: bold, immersive, and unforgettable."
Ensemble Signal was founded by Co-Artistic/Executive Director Lauren Radnofsky and Co-Artistic Director/Conductor Brad Lubman in 2008. Described by The New York Times as “one of the most vital groups of its kind,” Signal regularly performs with Lubman and features a supergroup of independent artists from the modern music scene. The ensemble has appeared at concert halls and international festivals including Lincoln Center Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, BIG EARS Festival, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center, Washington Performing Arts, Cal Performances, Tanglewood Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, the Guggenheim Museum (NY), NPR Tiny Desk Concerts, and the Bang on a Can Marathon.
Listen to Ensemble Signal’s Recording of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians: https://lnkfi.re/Musicfor18MusiciansReichSignal
Ticketing Information
Tickets for Music for 18 Musicians on February 26, 2026 will be released in waves on January 8, January 29, and February 12.
Tickets are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. For additional information including about accessibility, please contact boxoffice@isgm.org.
Performances take place in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).
The next Thursday Night Music concert will take place on May 28, 2026 and will be announced in early April, with the series continuing in the fall.
About Music at the Gardner
George Steel’s music programming for the Museum continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds.
About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers a singular invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, unforgettable galleries surround a luminous Courtyard and are home to masters such as Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Whistler, and Sargent. The Renzo Piano Wing provides a platform for contemporary artists, musicians, and scholars and serves as an innovative venue where creativity is celebrated in all of its forms.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115 • Hours: Open Weekends from 10 am to 5 pm, Weekdays from 11am to 5 pm and Thursdays until 9 pm. Closed Tuesdays. • Admission: Adults $22; Seniors $20; Students $15; Free for members, children under 18, everyone on their birthday, and all named “Isabella” • $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ticket • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org
Thursday Night Music at the Gardner is sponsored by Barbara and Amos Hostetter.
Jan. 18: Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series – Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt
Jan. 18: Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series – Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt
Photo of Charlotte Hu by Dario Acosta available in high resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/charlotte-hu
Pianist Charlotte Hu
Presented by Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series
Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin,
Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2pm
Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church | 87 Narragansett Ave. | Jamestown, RI
More Information
“first class talent... superb pianist” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Jamestown, RI – Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu will be presented in concert by the Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2pm. The performance will be held in Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church (87 Narragansett Ave.). Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) has been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for her dazzling virtuosity, captivating musicianship, and magnetic stage presence. Hu will perform a program dedicated to the music of virtuosos of the Romantic era: Frédéric Chopin, Segei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt.
With a fierce dedication to making classical music more accessible, Hu presents captivating programs that tell human stories inclusive of gender and race. By juxtaposing audience favorites with underperformed treasures and newly commissioned works, Charlotte Hu’s recitals consistently offer musical and narrative contrasts that encourage people to listen deeply and discover anew the work of even the most well-known composers.
Chopin has played an integral part in Hu’s career as a performing artist. The esteemed Polish pianist and composer was the primary inspiration behind her debut solo album Chopin, released on ArchiMusic in 2011. The recording was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan's prestigious Golden Melody Award. For this concert, Hu will perform these works by Choin: Berceuse, Barcarolle, Polonaise “Heroic”
Rachmaninoff’s powerful and evocative nine Etudes-tableaux, Op. 39 were composed between 1916 and 1917 and were the final works Rachmaninov completed before leaving Russia. Though seeming simple for their miniature status, these works follow in the footsteps of Chopin and Liszt’s concert etudes: challenging technical demands are presented as emotive character pieces. Hu will perform Etudes-tableaux, Op. 39, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5.
Charlotte revisits another meaningful chapter with the music of Liszt, performing his Five Lieder Transcriptions as part of the concert program. Hu’s 2024 PENTATONE album, Liszt: Metamorphosis is devoted to the work of the Hungarian composer and Hu embraced works that showcased Liszt’s ability to transform the music of composers he deeply admired.
“I’m looking forward to visiting Jamestown for this wonderful concert program of music by virtuosic composer-pianists,” says Hu. “It includes some of the most well known and beloved works by Liszt, Chopin and Rachmaninoff, music that speaks to the heart.”
More about Charlotte Hu: As a soloist, Charlotte Hu has astounded audiences across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing sold-out concerts at many of the world’s most prestigious venues — including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Osaka’s Symphony Hall. She is a frequent guest at music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ruhr-Klavier Festival, and Oregon Bach Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Taiwan Philharmonic, among others. Recent and upcoming highlights for Charlotte Hu include performances presented by Newport Classical, the Mansion at Strathmore, the Gilmore Piano Festival, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Taipei Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Center, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Taichung Opera House.
An active recording artist, Charlotte Hu’s debut album of Chopin works on ArchiMusic was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Melody Award, and recordings released on Naxos/CAG Records and BMOP/sound with Boston Modern Orchestra Project have received overwhelming critical acclaim. Her Rachmaninoff album on Centaur/Naxos received a five-star review by the U.K.’s Pianist magazine, which called it “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.” Her latest album, Liszt Metamorphosis, was released by PENTATONE in July 2024. In June 2026, Charlotte will release her next album on PENTATONE, which will feature Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite in its entirety.
Charlotte Hu is the founder of two piano festivals across two continents: the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei and the PYPA Piano Festival in Philadelphia. Now in its 13th year, PYPA has become an important fixture in the classical music world, cultivating a deeper appreciation for classical music and serving as a cultural bridge between East and West.
At the heart of Charlotte’s success is a story of strength, dedication, and resilience that has powered her dream of becoming a world-class artist. Moving to the United States from Taiwan at age 14 without her parents to begin studies at The Juilliard School was the first of many challenges Charlotte has overcome in building her illustrious career — one that’s included winning top prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, performing on classical music’s biggest stages, and fostering the next generation of musicians as an advocate for classical music through entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives. A tireless advocate for humanity, Charlotte raised $27,000 for youth education charities through a Hope Charity Concert live-streamed on her Facebook page in June 2020. The online concert reached more than 140,000 people across the globe.
A Steinway Artist, Charlotte Hu serves as an associate professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and as an artist in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, in addition to her busy performance schedule. She is a frequent guest artist, leading master classes and artist residencies at universities and music festivals worldwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Germany’s Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media, where she studied with Herbert Stessin, Sergei Babayan, and Karl-Heinz Kammerling, respectively.
For more information, visit www.charlottehu.com
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu, for whom “praises follow her all around the world” (International Piano) is presented in concert as part of the Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series. Hu will perform a program of vibrant and expressive music by virtuosos of the Romantic era, featuring works by Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Charlotte Hu
Presented by Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series
What: Music by Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Franz Liszt
When: Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2pm
Where: Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church, 87 Narragansett Ave, Jamestown, RI 02835
More Information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Jamestown.Community.Piano
Jan. 23 & Feb. 9: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light in Two San Francisco Concerts
Jan. 23 & Feb. 9: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light in Two San Francisco Concerts
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at
jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light
in Two San Francisco Concerts
Featuring the Music of Samuel Adams, Maurice Ravel, Robert Helps,
Zenobia Powell Perry, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, and Danny Clay
Old First Concerts
Friday, January 23, 2026 at 8pm
Old First Church | 1751 Sacramento Street | San Francisco, CA
Tickets and More Information
Livestream - Watch Here
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Monday, February 9, 2026 at 7:30pm
Barbro Osher Recital Hall | 200 Van Ness Ave. | San Francisco, CA
Tickets and More Information
“As tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of”
– San Francisco Chronicle
Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert
San Francisco, CA – Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, will start the new year with two performances in San Francisco, presented by Old First Concerts on Friday, January 23, 2026 at 8pm in the Old First Church (1751 Sacramento Street) and by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as part of its Faculty Artist Series, on Monday, February 9, 2026 at 7:30pm in Barbro Osher Recital Hall (200 Van Ness Ave.). The performance with Old First Concerts will also be livestreamed - watch here.
At both concerts, Cahill will perform a new program titled No Ordinary Light, a new project on the theme of homage and loss, combining classical and 20th century compositions with new commissioned works. Both performances will feature the music of Samuel Adams, Maurice Ravel, Robert Helps, Danny Clay, Zenobia Powell Perry, Lou Harrison, and Maggi Payne.
“The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light.”
– Jawaharlal Nehru on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
“As this year comes to a close, I've been thinking a lot about loss, with the deaths of a few close friends, and also the ongoing profound loss we feel collectively under the current regime in this country,” says Cahill. “Music, as always, brings us together, and these works resonate with celebration, grief, and homage.”
About the Music on the Program
Robert Helps composed Hommage à Fauré as part of Trois Hommages (1972), a trilogy of works and one of his most popular and often recorded works. The first two pieces, which include à Fauré and à Rachmaninoff, expand upon the opulent pianism and poignant harmonies that are hallmarks of the composers to which each piece pays tribute.
Commissioned by Cahill, Samuel Adams’ solo piano work, Prelude (Hammer the Sky Bright), is a tribute to composer Ingram Marshall (1942–2022). A former resident of the San Francisco Bay area, Ingram Marshall’s work greatly influenced a number of composers and musicians from the area, including Adams – who studied with Marshall and considered him his mentor – and Cahill, who frequently performs Marshall's music and commissioned several works from him. Adams says of the work: “Prelude: Hammer the Sky Bright pays tribute to Ingram’s free-form, unpredictable sense of structure and highly impressionistic, almost ambient musical surfaces. His music often embraced the idea that form can be gradual and elusive—like late Sibelius—with the secrets of a piece only occasionally appearing close to its surface, like sunken cathedrals.”
Maurice Ravel composed Le Tombeau de Couperin between 1914 and 1917, during and after World War I – a devastating conflict in which Ravel took direct part as a truck driver in the French Army, thus feeling the impact of the war first hand. The music is not only a memorialization of Francois Couperin but the suite is also dedicated to six dear friends of Ravel lost at the cost of the war. Each of the six movements is dedicated to one of those friends and the lives they lived.
Danny Clay says of Circle Songs, which is dedicated to Terry Riley: I don’t know Terry personally, and yet I owe him a tremendous debt musically – his sounds, his ideas, and the warmth of his music have seeped into my subconscious (and, when lucky, my music) in ways that I am just now beginning to unravel. I think what I’ve ended up writing is ultimately a set of love songs. The more I think about it, the more I feel like there may not be any other kind of tune worth writing. The sheer act of composing is about falling in love, after all – whether it be with a sound, an idea, or a feeling of indescribable warmth. That's ultimately what I thank Terry and Sarah for the most – bringing to the world of music a seemingly endless wealth of all these things, especially love.”
Zenobia Powell Perry was a composer, professor, and civil rights activist of African American and Creek Indian heritage.. She composed Homage in 1990. The work utilizes a variety of different textures and techniques, including octaves, dense chords, and chromaticism. Homage is dedicated to Perry's former teacher William Dawson for his ninetieth birthday, and is based on the spiritual “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned.”
In addition to being an adventurous composer and skilled percussionist, Lou Harrison was fond of writing music in honor of his colleagues, friends, and fellow musicians he admired. Homage to Milhaud is inspired by Darius Milhaud, who, like Harrison, was a longtime teacher at Mills College in Oakland. Meanwhile, Harrison wrote his Fugue to David Tudor at Black Mountain College while he was teaching there. Harrison often worked with David Tudor, who was himself a pioneering pianist-composer.
Cahill commissioned Maggi Payne’s Holding Pattern in 2001 to honor the centennial birth year of pioneering composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Of Holding Pattern, Payne says: “When Sarah Cahill approached me with the prospect of composing a work for piano in tribute to Ruth Crawford Seeger, particularly in reference to the Nine Preludes which Sarah had just recorded, I was intrigued. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s interest in timbre, particularly as represented in Prelude 6 and 9, spurred this brief work. This delicate timbral exploration’s last sustained notes are those that begin Prelude 6. The Mystico marking of Prelude 6 and the Tranquillo of Prelude 9 are reflected in the character of Holding Pattern.”
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, Metropolitan Museum, 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, performs No Ordinary Light, a new commissioning project devoted to the theme of homage. The program will feature music by Samuel Adams, Maurice Ravel, Robert Helps, Danny Clay, Zenobia Powell Perry, Lou Harrison, and Maggi Payne.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Old First Concerts
What: No Ordinary Light - Featuring the Music of Samuel Adams, Maurice Ravel, Robert Helps, Zenobia Powell Perry, Lou Harrison, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, and Danny Clay
When: Friday, January 23, 2026 at 8pm
Where: Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Tickets and More information: www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performance/sarah-cahill-friday-january-23-at-8-pm
Livestream: www.youtube.com/live/HAOV-mDufkU?feature=share
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by San Francisco Conservatory of Music
What: No Ordinary Light - Featuring the Music of Samuel Adams, Maurice Ravel, Robert Helps, Zenobia Powell Perry, Lou Harrison, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, and Danny Clay
When: Monday, February 9, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102
Tickets and More information: sfcm.edu/experience/performances/fas-sarah-cahill-piano/20260209
Feb. 13: Pianist Charlotte Hu with Violinist Saul Bitran and Cellist Andrew Mark Presented by Boston Conservatory at Berklee – Performing Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat Major
Feb. 13: Pianist Charlotte Hu with Violinist Saul Bitran and Cellist Andrew Mark Presented by Boston Conservatory at Berklee – Performing Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat Major
L-R Cellist Andrew Mark, Pianist Charlotte Hu, and Violinist Saul Bitran
Photo of Charlotte Hu by Dario Acosta available in high resolution here
Pianist Charlotte Hu
with Violinist Saul Bitran and Cellist Andrew Mark
Presented by Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Performing Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat Major
Friday, February 13, 2026 at 8pm
Seully Hall
Boston Conservatory at Berklee
8 Fenway, Floor 4 | Boston, MA
More Information
Free - Livestream Here
“first class talent... superb pianist” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Boston, MA – Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu will be presented in concert by Boston Conservatory at Berklee on Friday, February 13, 2026 at 8pm. Hu will perform with fellow Boston Conservatory faculty,violinist Saul Bitran and cellist Andrew Mark, in Franz Schubert’s expansive Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat major. Additional works on the concert program are to be announced. The concert will be held at Seully Hall on the fourth floor of 8 Fenway, with a livestream option available. The performance is part of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Artistry in Action series, celebrating exceptional artists and initiatives that exemplify the conservatory’s core values of excellence, innovation, and community engagement. Artistry in Action is part of the Music Division; a full schedule is available here.
Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) has been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for her dazzling virtuosity, captivating musicianship, and magnetic stage presence. With a fierce dedication to making classical music more accessible, Hu presents captivating programs that tell human stories inclusive of gender and race. By juxtaposing audience favorites with underperformed treasures and newly commissioned works, Charlotte Hu’s recitals consistently offer musical and narrative contrasts that encourage people to listen deeply and discover anew the work of even the most well-known composers.
"I am truly looking forward to collaborating with Saul Bitran and Andrew Mark in the Schubert Piano Trio,” says Hu. “This will be my first chamber music concert at Boston Conservatory, and I am excited to bring my artistry and energy to this meaningful collaboration with such wonderful colleagues."
More about Charlotte Hu: As a soloist, Charlotte Hu has astounded audiences across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing sold-out concerts at many of the world’s most prestigious venues — including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Osaka’s Symphony Hall. She is a frequent guest at music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ruhr-Klavier Festival, and Oregon Bach Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Taiwan Philharmonic, among others. Recent and upcoming highlights for Charlotte Hu include performances presented by Newport Classical, the Mansion at Strathmore, the Gilmore Piano Festival, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Taipei Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Center, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Taichung Opera House.
An active recording artist, Charlotte Hu’s debut album of Chopin works on ArchiMusic was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Melody Award, and recordings released on Naxos/CAG Records and BMOP/sound with Boston Modern Orchestra Project have received overwhelming critical acclaim. Her Rachmaninoff album on Centaur/Naxos received a five-star review by the U.K.’s Pianist magazine, which called it “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.” Her latest album, Liszt Metamorphosis, was released by PENTATONE in July 2024. In June 2026, Charlotte will release her next album on PENTATONE, which will feature Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite in its entirety.
Charlotte Hu is the founder of two piano festivals across two continents: the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei and the PYPA Piano Festival in Philadelphia. Now in its 13th year, PYPA has become an important fixture in the classical music world, cultivating a deeper appreciation for classical music and serving as a cultural bridge between East and West.
At the heart of Charlotte’s success is a story of strength, dedication, and resilience that has powered her dream of becoming a world-class artist. Moving to the United States from Taiwan at age 14 without her parents to begin studies at The Juilliard School was the first of many challenges Charlotte has overcome in building her illustrious career — one that’s included winning top prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, performing on classical music’s biggest stages, and fostering the next generation of musicians as an advocate for classical music through entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives. A tireless advocate for humanity, Charlotte raised $27,000 for youth education charities through a Hope Charity Concert live-streamed on her Facebook page in June 2020. The online concert reached more than 140,000 people across the globe.
A Steinway Artist, Charlotte Hu serves as an associate professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and as an artist in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, in addition to her busy performance schedule. She is a frequent guest artist, leading master classes and artist residencies at universities and music festivals worldwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Germany’s Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media, where she studied with Herbert Stessin, Sergei Babayan, and Karl-Heinz Kammerling, respectively.
For more information, visit www.charlottehu.com
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu, for whom “praises follow her all around the world” (International Piano) is presented in concert with fellow Boston Conservatory professors, violinist Saul Bitran and cellist Andrew Mark, in a faculty recital, which is part of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Artistry in Action series, celebrating exceptional artists and initiatives that exemplify the conservatory’s core values of excellence, innovation, and community engagement. Hu, Bitran, and Mark will come together to perform Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat major.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Charlotte Hu with Violinist Saul Bitran and Cellist Andrew Mark
Presented by Boston Conservatory at Berklee
What: Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99 in B-flat major
When: Friday, February 13, 2026 at 8pm
Where: Seully Hall, Floor 4, 8 Fenway, Boston, MA 02215
More information: https://bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/events/artistry-in-action-faculty-chamber-series-3
Free - Livestream Here
GatherNYC Presents Sunday Concerts at 11AM - Up Next: Mezzo-Soprano Devony Smith + Baritone Jesse Blumberg with Boyd Meets Girl, Guitarist Yasmin Williams, Ember, and Viola + Comedy with Isabel Hagen
GatherNYC Presents Sunday Concerts at 11AM - Up Next: Mezzo-Soprano Devony Smith + Baritone Jesse Blumberg with Boyd Meets Girl, Guitarist Yasmin Williams, Ember, and Viola + Comedy with Isabel Hagen
Clockwise: Boyd Meets Girl, Yasmin Williams, Isabel Hagen, Jesse Blumberg, Ember, Devony Smith
GatherNYC Continues Expanded 2025-2026 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
31 Concerts – Now Held Weekly, Every Sunday Morning at 11AM through May 31, 2026
Up Next:
January 4: Devony Smith, Mezzo-Soprano + Jesse Blumberg, Baritone
with Boyd Meets Girl
January 11: Yasmin Williams, Guitar
January 18: Ember (Violin + Cello + Harp)
January 25: Isabel Hagen, Viola + Comedy
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee – The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series” – The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its expanded 2025-2026 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle). For the first time, GatherNYC is offering weekly concerts, held every Sunday morning at 11am, in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free. The series will present an astonishing thirty-one concerts between October 2025 and May 2026.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be offering 31 concerts throughout our expanded 2025-2026 season, by far our largest lineup yet. In these challenging times, we feel it’s essential to provide our community with a gathering place each week where we can enjoy world-class artists together in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment. We look forward to welcoming new and old friends week after week.”
Up Next – All Concerts Take Place on Sundays at 11AM:
January 4: Devony Smith, mezzo-soprano + Jesse Blumberg, baritone with Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC rings in the new year with a pair of powerhouse vocalists known for their creativity and curiosity. Mezzo-soprano Devony Smith and baritone Jesse Blumberg join GatherNYC artistic directors Rupet Boyd and Laura Metcalf for an eclectic program of music by Schubert, Mazzolli, Falla and more.
January 11: Yasmin Williams, guitar
Yasmin Williams, a young guitar and plucked string virtuoso who is taking the world by storm with her captivating performances, will present a solo performance of her own original compositions, including her distinct and innovative approach to playing the guitar, in a unique blend of folk, blues, classical and Appalachian influences.
January 18: Ember (violin + cello + harp)
GatherNYC is proud to present this newly-formed ensemble consisting of harpist Emily Levin, violinist Julia Choi and cellist Christine Lamprea, in a concert featuring repertoire from their debut album Birds of Paradise, released in fall 2025 to great critical acclaim. With this release, the ensemble challenges the role of the harp as an instrument of femininity and domesticity, centering it in a position of power and strength.
January 25: Isabel Hagen, viola + comedy
Isabel Hagen is a stand-up comedian and classically trained violist. As a stand-up, she has been featured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon multiple times, and as a New Face of Comedy at the prestigious Just for Laughs festival in Montréal. Isabel started stand-up immediately after earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance from the Juilliard School. As a violist, she has played in the orchestra of many Broadway shows, and worked with artists such as Vampire Weekend, Bjork, Max Richter, and Steve Reich. You might be wondering if Isabel ever combines comedy and viola. The answer: sometimes!
2026 GatherNYC Schedule:
February 1: Empire Wild
Empire Wild, founded by Juilliard-trained cellists Mitchell Lyon and Ken Kubota, joins forces with acclaimed jazz pianist Addison Frei for a genre-bending program that fuses pop, folk, jazz, and classical traditions into an electrifying, original sound. Honored with the Concert Artists Guild Ambassador Prize, the ensemble captivates audiences with inventive compositions, reimagined classics, and the limitless possibilities of cross-genre collaboration.
February 8: Sonnambula
Praised as “remarkable” and “superb” by the New Yorker, Sonnambula is a historically-informed ensemble that brings to light unknown music for various combinations of early instruments with the lush sound of the viol at the core. The ensemble is currently the 2025-26 ensemble in residence at The Frick Collection, and will share music from their recently-released and critically-acclaimed album Passing Fancy: Beauty in a Moment of Chaos. Do not miss the chance to hear these rare and beautiful instruments up close!
February 15: Tallā Rouge
Tallā Rouge's brings selections from their debut album, Shapes in Collective Space, to GatherNYC, weaving together a narrative of love, loss, childlike glee, and reflection. Featuring diverse and genre-defying compositions by inti figgis-vizueta, Kian Ravaei, Karl Mitze, and Leilehua Lanzilotti, Tallā Rouge sonically explores the raw emotions that shape our collective humanity — beckoning us to embrace and cherish the impermanence of life.
February 22: Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC’s own artistic directors, cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, take the stage to share several world premieres for the unique combination of cello and guitar by Stephen Goss, Reinaldo Moya and more, as well as works from their upcoming third album release.
March 1: Exponential Ensemble
Exponential Ensemble, led by clarinetist Pascal Archer, is one of the most innovative ensembles on the NYC music scene. Exponential Ensemble’s mission includes commissioning and premiering works by living composers that are inspired by math, science and literacy, and their GatherNYC debut showcases the woodwind players from the Ensemble performing works by French and American composers, including “Wild Birds” by Brad Balliett inspired by wild birds living in New York City’s Central Park!
March 8: Inbal Segev, cello
Inbal Segev, a formidable cello soloist who stands out not only for her captivating sound and stage presence, but also for her curiosity and creativity. She has commissioned and premiered numerous concertos for cello and orchestra, and for this intimate solo performance she invites us into her compelling sound world, playing both her own compositions and music of Anna Clyne, Missy Mazzolli and more.
March 15: Palaver Strings
GatherNYC is proud to present this masterful and creative Portland, ME- based string chamber orchestra. Their program “The Apple of Their Eyes” explores the African-American experience in classical music, through the eyes of Black composers. It begins with William Grant Still’s lush and lyrical Mother and Child, and continues with Perry’s understated Prelude for Piano, arranged for strings. At the heart of the program is Edmund Thornton Jenkins Romance and Reverie Phantasy for Violin and String Orchestra, restored, edited, and arranged by Tuffus Zimbabwe, featuring Palaver violinist Maïthéna Girault. The Apple of their Eyes encapsulates the African-American experience, and celebrates the richness and depth of Black classical music.
March 22: The Knights – An Interactive Family Concert
Following their wildly successful family concert in November 2024, The Knights return to GatherNYC with a new program, also designed for the whole family. “Toy Bricks” is an interactive family concert that highlights playful interactions between stringed instruments, both large and small! Musical games and friendly competition bring friends together in a range of repertoire, culminating in a performance of Paul Wiancko’s Toy Bricks for violin, two cellos, and bass. This program is created and hosted by Knights cellist Caitlin Sullivan.
March 29: String Trios – Miranda Cuckson, violin + Jessica Meyer, viola + Laura Metcalf, cello
This program brings together four electrifying contemporary string trios by living female composers: Jessica Meyer, Missy Mazzolli, Nina C. Young, and Dobrinka Tabakova. These powerful works push the boundaries of what is possible on three stringed instruments.
April 5: Rachell Ellen Wong, violin + David Belkovski, harpsichord
Following their much-loved performance at GatherNYC in 2023 as part of the early music collective Twelfth Night, Wong and Belkovski return to the stage for a charming and intimate recital featuring impeccably performed Baroque gems.
April 12: Boyd Meets Girl and Friends play Clarice Assad & Osvoldo Golijov
This exciting program for flute, guitar and string quartet pair works by two superstar Latin-American composers whose styles contrast and compliment each other. Golijov’s achingly beautiful Tenebrae is juxtaposed with Clarice Assad’s exhilarating Sephardic Suite. Boyd Meets Girl is joined by violinists David Felberg and Jennifer Choi and violist En-Chi Cheng.
April 19: Kebra-Seyoun Charles, bass + composer
Kebra-Seyoun Charles is a distinguished double bass soloist and composer lauded for their counter-classical musical language and their ability to aptly communicate complex ideas and emotions to audiences. For their GatherNYC debut, they will perform a new work entitled “Shango” for bass and percussion duo, interspersed with virtuosic double bass solos.
April 26: Poeisis Quartet
Fresh off their win at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition (arguably the most important competition of its kind in the world), this fast-rising young string quartet will treat audiences to its vital and energetic approach to music-making and programming.
Says Poeisis of their program: “In collaboration with five emerging QTPOC (Queer/Trans People of Color) composers from our alma mater, Oberlin College & Conservatory, the Oberlin Commission Project expands the string quartet canon with approaches to music-making that are too often unheard. This initiative brings underrepresented voices, genres, and influences to the forefront, and also serves as an act of resistance and perseverance. Composer Zola Saadi-Klein's composition is rooted in the Persian Dastgāh music tradition, and through their work they are "acknowledging our queer and ancestral identities can freely coexist beyond the binaries of classical music and societal expectations." As queer musicians and as Oberlin graduates, this project serves as our way of giving back to the communities who raised us and brought us together.”
May 3: Thomas Mesa, cello + JP Jofre, bandoneon
Two of the most exciting soloists working today, Mesa and Jofre come together for a morning of tango and tango-inspired works that spotlight the unusual combination of their instruments, cello and bandoneon, while allowing each performer to shine.
May 10: Curtis Stewart, violin + composer
GatherNYC favorite, Curtis Stewart, returns to the stage with a preview of his much-anticipated project “24 American Caprices.” The 24 American Caprices are inspired by a kaleidoscope of recorded American music, with some honorary American additions...musical aspects of each inspiration are abstracted and imbued with challenging violin techniques emulating the sounds and styles of their origin. In the full meaning of caprice, these violin fragments dance and sing lightly from inspiration to ornamentation, both with flights of fantasy and fastidious settings of referenced material, creating playful musical dialogue around American lineage and individual perspective in Classical music.
May 17: Catalyst Quartet
The GRAMMY-winning Catalyst Quartet, known for their masterful, comprehensive recordings of music by Black composers throughout history, bring their signature polish and style back to GatherNYC for the second time.
May 24: Aeolus Quartet
The acclaimed Aeolus Quartet presents a touching and thoughtful program for their first performance at GatherNYC. From a Bach chorale composed to unite the voices of church congregations to the expansive Overture and Chorale by Andrea Casarrubios inspired by it; from the textural celebration of Montgomery's Strum to the bubbling virtuosity of Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 3 composed in the new world that arose from the ashes of WWII. In this program, storytelling and silence give way to the tender slow movement of Price’s G Major Quartet rooted in the tradition of Black spirituals.
May 31: Season Finale – Musicians from the NY Phil with Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd once again team up with members of the New York Philharmonic, including returning violist Leah Ferguson, violinist Alina Kobialka and more, to craft an exhilarating program centered around Aaron Jay Kernis’ tour de force for guitar and string quartet, “100 Greatest Dance Hits.” Dance into the summer and celebrate the conclusion of another wonderful season of GatherNYC!
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Newport Classical Announces Oliver Inteeworn as Executive Director
Newport Classical Announces Oliver Inteeworn as Executive Director
Oliver Inteeworn by Daniel Phillips, above photo and additional photos available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Announces Oliver Inteeworn as Executive Director
Seasoned Arts Leader to Guide Organization into Next Era of Growth
Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org
Newport, RI – December 17, 2025 – Newport Classical, the most active year-round performing arts organization on Aquidneck Island, announces the appointment of Oliver Inteeworn as its new Executive Director, effective January 5, 2026. Inteeworn brings 25 years of leadership in the nonprofit performing arts industry and a proven track record of expanding access to classical music while fostering organizational growth. He succeeds Gillian Fox, who served as Executive Director from 2020 to 2025, and Eric Gershman who serves as interim Executive Director until December 31, 2025.
“Oliver is a visionary leader with a global view. His appointment represents a transformative moment for Newport Classical," says Suzanna Laramee, Board President of Newport Classical. “His expertise in strategic planning, audience development, digital innovation, and fundraising will be instrumental as we pursue our strategic goals and work to continue to transform Newport Classical into an internationally recognized destination. I know that he and our Board see the same bright future ahead of us.”
According to Board Vice President Stephen Huttler, “Newport Classical was fortunate to have received an extraordinary number of applications from highly talented arts leaders from around the world. We selected Oliver because we believe he will produce even higher levels of community enjoyment and inspiration through expanded offerings, artistic stars, and presentation of uplifting classical music to diverse audiences across Aquidneck Island and beyond.”
Most recently, Inteeworn served as Executive Director of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in New York City from 2018 to 2025, where he dramatically expanded the orchestra's mission of “great music for everyone.” During his tenure, the ASO presented more than 40 additional free orchestra and chamber concerts since 2020 across a wide range of New York City venues, reaching thousands of new and underserved listeners. Notable achievements include the largest and most diverse audiences in the orchestra’s history, both in-person and through his launch and continued expansion of ASO Online, which delivers free global streaming of performances, operas, chamber music, and original short films.
“I’m genuinely thrilled by Newport Classical’s incredible reputation for artistic excellence and by the magical setting of Newport, combined with the warm welcome and outstanding leadership of a board that has built such a successful, healthy organization,” Inteeworn says. “In just a few conversations, we’ve already established a shared vision for an even more ambitious future, and I see enormous potential for exponential growth on this already exceptional foundation. I look forward to working with the Board, staff, musicians, and the Newport community to bring to fruition Newport Classical’s ambitious 2025-2028 strategic plan and ensure that classical music continues to thrive here.”
Inteeworn will lead the implementation of Newport Classical’s newly adopted strategic plan, which focuses on four key pillars: expanding national awareness and establishing global recognition, engaging the people of Newport, generating new revenue streams, and maintaining organizational health. The plan represents a roadmap for responsible growth that focuses on increasing meaningful engagement and deepening impact, while staying true to the organization’s mission “to celebrate the living art form of classical music in intimate and iconic locations.”
“As Newport Classical embarks on this exciting new chapter, I could not be more thrilled to welcome Oliver Inteeworn as our next Executive Director,” says Trevor Neal, Newport Classical Director of Artistic Planning. “Oliver brings an inspiring combination of vision, collaboration, and a true passion for the transformative power of music. His leadership and creativity will be invaluable as we partner, to deepen our artistic impact, expand our reach, and create meaningful experiences for our audiences and community. I look forward to working closely with him to shape a vibrant future for Newport Classical.”
Prior to his role as Executive Director, Inteeworn served as General Manager of the American Symphony Orchestra (2007-2018), founding Managing Director of The Orchestra Now at Bard College (2015-2018), and held artistic planning and production positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, collaborating with hundreds of the world’s leading ensembles and soloists.
A trained musician with studies in Germany, Oliver Inteeworn holds a Diploma in Music Education (equivalent to a master’s degree) from the University of Music Saarbrücken and a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Columbia University.
Newport Classical’s international executive search was led by a search committee chaired by members of the Board and attracted applicants worldwide
Upcoming Newport Classical Performances
Newport Classical’s Chamber Series continues in 2026 with cellist Jonathan Swensen making his highly anticipated return on January 23 following his memorable 2024 debut as a Festival Artist. Honored with the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and joint First Prize at the 2024 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Swensen is described as "a musician of charisma and thrilling physicality" (BBC Music Magazine). The Verona Quartet, celebrated by The New York Times as an "outstanding ensemble... cohesive yet full of temperament," makes their Newport Classical debut on February 20 with a program tracing a vivid stylistic arc from Scarlatti to Beethoven. On March 13, baritone Benjamin Appl, whose voice “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and whose artistry has been described as “unbearably moving” (The Times), presents Schubert's hauntingly beautiful Die Winterreise with his frequent collaborator, pianist James Baillieu. Ars Poetica, an ensemble of acclaimed instrumentalists and vocalists with a passion for historical music, explores "Dance and Transfiguration" on March 27 with their colorful array of Baroque instruments. Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, praised for his "dark-hued and razor-sharp technique" (The New York Times), makes his Newport Classical debut on April 10 alongside returning pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner in works by Debussy, Prokofiev, and Grieg. Rising-star pianist James Zijian Wei, first-prize winner at the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition, makes his highly anticipated Newport debut on May 8 with a program featuring Ravel, Liszt, and more. The Chamber Series concludes on June 5 with flutist Amir Hoshang Farsi and pianist Chelsea Wang, both Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect alumni, presenting a program of sparkling impressionism featuring works by Fauré, Lili Boulanger, and contemporary composers Reena Esmail, Ian Clarke, and Yuko Uebayashi.
The 2026 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 2-19, 2026.
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 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts 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 Enrichment and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools and community organizations 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, Clarice Assad, and Cris Derksen.
After a year-long community-driven process, and rooted in the organization’s mission “to celebrate the living art form of classical music in intimate and iconic locations,” Newport Classical released its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, presenting a clear roadmap to become a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant organization that enhances its programs and community engagement, promotes responsible financial growth and sustainability, and centers artistic excellence in every decision, as the organization aspires to open its doors even wider.
Jan 9-14: Sarah Kirkland Snider’s First Opera HILDEGARD Continues Rolling World Premiere in NYC at PROTOTYPE
Jan 9-14: Sarah Kirkland Snider’s First Opera HILDEGARD Continues Rolling World Premiere in NYC at PROTOTYPE
Photo by Angel Origgi. Production photos available in high resolution upon request.
Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s First Opera HILDEGARD
Continues Rolling World Premiere in NYC at PROTOTYPE
Friday, January 9, 2026 at 7:30pm | Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, January 11, 2026 at 5pm | Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 7:30pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College | 524 W. 59th St. | New York, NY
Tickets & Information: www.prototypefestival.org/shows/hildegard
Co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects & Aspen Music Festival and School
“A rapture…its characters and music so easily traverse a millennium’s distance that the High Middle Ages might be the day before yesterday.” – The Los Angeles Times
“A marvel of abundant grace, a work of unforced, almost overwhelming resonance” – The New York Times
“One of Snider's greatest assets is her natural facility in writing vocal music” – NPR
Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, deemed “one of new music’s leading names” (Gramophone), writes music of direct expression and dramatic narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times) and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). Snider’s highly anticipated first opera, HILDEGARD, for which she also wrote the libretto, continues its rolling world premiere in New York City at the PROTOTYPE Festival with four performances on January 9 (7:30pm), January 10 (7:30pm), January 11 (5pm) and January 14, 2026 (7:30pm) at Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 W. 59th St.). A talkback with the creative team will follow the Saturday, January 10, 7:30pm performance.
Co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and the Aspen Music Festival and School (presenting summer 2026), HILDEGARD is a work of operatic historical fiction about twelfth-century German Benedictine abbess/polymath St. Hildegard von Bingen. November’s capacity run, presented by Los Angeles Opera, was received with overwhelming enthusiasm. The Los Angeles Times called the new opera “[A] rapture…an ecstasy more overpowering than Godly visions” and The New York Times described it as, “a marvel of abundant grace, a work of unforced, almost overwhelming resonance.” Classical Voice of North America praised Snider’s “luminous lines and tangles of gorgeous vocal sound,” while Seen and Heard International raved, “Exquisitely wrought…hypnotic and spiritual… [it] blossoms into high drama, defying expectations and creating real pathos.” Arts Beat LA reported, "Bold, intimate, and deeply poignant, Hildegard proved a triumphant piece and confirms Snider as a major new voice in contemporary opera."
Set in 1147, the opera follows Hildegard as she receives visions from God. While transcribing these visions for Papal evaluation – a process that will decide her prophet or heretic – she enlists the young convalescent Richardis von Stade to illustrate the manuscript. As they develop a transformative collaboration that awakens them in ways both profound and unexpected, the two women must confront the powers that would see them erased from history rather than authoring it. At the same time, Hildegard is haunted by mysterious visions she cannot explain, forcing her to grapple with unacknowledged truths she can no longer deny. Inspired by historical events and the writings of Hildegard von Bingen, HILDEGARD is a meditation on the desire for connection – to spirituality, to humanity, and to our most authentic sense of self – and the conflicts that can compete therein.
For eight years, Snider extensively researched Hildegard's life and work, as well as Benedictine monastic culture and the broader socio-political history of Hildegard’s time. Snider also visited Eibingen Abbey and the ruins of Disibodenberg Monastery, and consulted with renowned Hildegard scholar Barbara Newman. Snider chose to write the libretto herself so that she could develop the text and music simultaneously, and because she had a clear idea of how she wanted to tell Hildegard’s story.
Snider says, “I have chronic migraine, and first learned about Hildegard von Bingen through reading Oliver Sacks’s book Migraine, in which Sacks popularized a theory suggesting that Hildegard’s visions were a result of migraine. I immediately wanted to know more. Thus began a twenty-five-year fascination with Hildegard – her music, visions, and astonishing story. I was awestruck by her triumph over self-doubt, illness, and the otherwise impenetrable social barriers of her time to become the first woman in the history of the Catholic Church to speak and write in the name of God. I wanted to share this story while exploring aspects of her philosophy and the more mysterious realm of her visions, and I thought it would be interesting to do this through the prism of her relationship with fellow nun Richardis von Stade, with whom she shared an impassioned yet complicated love. Opera is an art form that excites me most when it deals with complex, layered emotions. I wanted to explore not only the struggle for intellectual and artistic expression in an oppressive environment, but also what happens when the human desire for connection comes into conflict with socially conditioned notions of right and wrong. Hildegard overcame extraordinary obstacles to lead a self-directed, creatively expansive life. I hope that my treatment of her story will resonate with anyone who has chafed against power structures or societal norms in pursuit of living their authentic truth.”
Beth Morrison is the creative producer of HILDEGARD and Beth Morrison Projects is the producer. The opera is directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer with music director Gabriel Crouch, and stars Nola Richardson (Hildegard von Bingen), Mikaela Bennett (Richardis von Stade), Raha Mirzadegan (Angel), Blythe Gaissert (Margravine von Stade), Roy Hage (Volmar), Patrick Bessenbacher (Mechthild), David Adam Moore (Abbot Cuno), Paul Chwe MinChul An (Otto), and Chloë Engle (Faceless Woman), with NOVUS. The creative team comprises Marsha Ginsberg, scenic designer; Molly Irelan, costume designer; Pablo Santiago, lighting designer; Deborah Johnson, projection designer; Drew Sensue-Weinstein, sound designer; Annie Jin Wang, dramaturg; Laurel Jenkins, movement; and Louise Lessél, video associate.
Of the approach to the production, director Elkhanah Pulitzer says, “The piece is a blend of influences inspired by Medieval religious paintings and iconography, and Hildegards own artwork put through a filter of minimalist, modern design. We emphasize symbolic representation and spirituality while breaking with some of the tropes one carries in mind associated with monastic life in the 12th century. The veil between what is real and what lies in the realm of mystery and metaphor is also celebrated in the work, inspired by Hildegard’s visions.”
With two grants from Opera America, HILDEGARD has been workshopped at Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts Atelier program (2023), Opera Fusion: New Works at Cincinnati Opera (2024), and Mannes College of Music (2025).
Photo by Anja Schutz available in high resolution here.
About Sarah Kirkland Snider:
Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music has been commissioned and/or performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Cleveland Orchestra; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra; New York Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; Philharmonia Orchestra; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Residentie Orkest; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Emerson String Quartet; Renée Fleming and Will Liverman; Deutsche Grammophon for mezzo Emily D’Angelo; percussionist Colin Currie; eighth blackbird; A Far Cry; and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. The winner of the 2014 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Lebenbom Competition, Snider’s recent works include Forward Into Light, an orchestral commission for the New York Philharmonic inspired by American women suffragists; Drink the Wild Ayre, the final commission by the legendary Emerson String Quartet; Mass for the Endangered, a Trinity Wall Street-commissioned prayer for the environment for choir and ensemble, programmed by dozens of choirs the world over; and Embrace, an orchestral ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Snider’s music will be performed around the world during the 2025-2026 season in cities including Paris, France; Offenbach, Germany; Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia; and Antwerp, Belgium; as well as across the United States from Brooklyn, New York and Baltimore, Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Berkeley, California. In addition, in February 2026 Sarah Kirkland Snider will release her fifth full-length LP, a new, all-orchestral album titled Forward Into Light produced by multi-Grammy-winning producer Silas Brown and recorded by Andrew Cyr and the Metropolis Ensemble, which features her work Forward Into Light; the string orchestra version of Drink the Wild Ayre; Eye of Mnemosyne, commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic; and Something for the Dark, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The album will be co-released by the label that Snider co-founded, New Amsterdam Records, and Nonesuch Records.
Snider’s four full-length LPs – The Blue Hour (Nonesuch/NewAmsterdam, 2022), Mass for the Endangered (Nonesuch/NewAmsterdam, 2020), Unremembered (New Amsterdam, 2015), and Penelope (New Amsterdam, 2010) – have garnered year-end nods and critical acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Gramophone Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Music Magazine, The Nation, and many others. A founding Co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based non-profit New Amsterdam Records, Sarah Kirkland Snider has an M.M.and Artist’s Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She was a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University in fall 2023. Her music is published by G. Schirmer.
For more information about Sarah Kirkland Snider: www.sarahkirklandsnider.com/bio
Jan. 23: Telegraph Quartet Presented by the University of Michigan – Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn, Derrick Skye, and Béla Bartók
Jan. 23: Telegraph Quartet Presented by the University of Michigan – Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn, Derrick Skye, and Béla Bartók
Available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet
Telegraph Quartet Presented by the University of Michigan
Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn, Derrick Skye, and Béla Bartók
Friday, January 23, 2026 at 7:30pm
Stamps Auditorium at the Walgreen Drama Center
1226 Murfin Ave. | Ann Arbor, MI
Free and Open to the Public
More Information
Telegraph Quartet’s New Album
20th Century Vantage Points Vol. 2: Edge of the Storm Out Now
Review downloads & CDs available upon request.
“precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication” – The Strad
Mill Valley, CA – On Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 5pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group The New York Times describes as “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in concert by Chamber Music Marin. The performance will take place in Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church (410 Sycamore Ave). Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet bring their fluid synchronicity and refined artistry to a program titled From Countryside to Concert Hall – a concert program that showcases how these three composers adapted, adopted, or fully embodied folk music, bringing the rustic and unassuming spirit of that idiom into the bright light of the concert stage. The program includes Derrick Skye’s American Mirror, Part 1; Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 2; and Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 – the first of his “Razumovsky” quartets, nicknamed for Prince Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to Vienna who commissioned Beethoven to write these pieces.
According to composer Derrick Skye, "American Mirror reflects on the coming together of cultures in our society, which consists of many generations and descendants of refugees, immigrants, and slaves, and how intercultural collaborations are essential to the well-being of American society.” The piece infuses influences from West African, North African, and Eastern European vocal techniques and ornamentations with open harmonies commonly found in Appalachian folk music. Bartók’s second quartet exhibits his immersion into what he called the “purest music” – that of the remote Hungarian countryside – a style he sought to absorb and recreate as a new form of highly complex concert music. The fourth movement of Beethoven's first "Razumovsky" quartet playfully features a theme from his patron's homeland fulfilling the patron’s request – that Beethoven include a Russian theme in each of the Quartets – in a cheeky fashion.
The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
Of bringing this folk-oriented program to Chamber Music Marin, the Telegraph Quartet says:
“We're excited to be sharing three different centuries of classical composers who infused each of their chamber works with folk music. While Beethoven impishly transformed a slow somber Russian folk song into a light-hearted finale, Bartok fully absorbed the Hungarian folk idiom to create an "updated" and truly modernist composition reflecting the apprehension of its WWI context. Derrick Skye's American Mirror is a self-professed reflection of many musical cultures mixing together to create one distinctly new voice that nimbly glides between one and the other.”
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, the first in a trilogy of recordings on Azica Records exploring the string quartets of the first half of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. Divergent Paths features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. The Quartet’s new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm is out now on Azica Records. Read the press release online here. This second volume of the trilogy examines music from the turbulent war years of 1941-1951 and features a thoughtfully curated program of works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
More about Telegraph Quartet: The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet in Countryside to Concert Hall
Presented by Chamber Music Marin
What: Music by Derrick Skye, Béla Bartók, and Ludwig van Beethoven
When: Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 5pm
Where: Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church, 410 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941
Tickets and information: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/millvalleychambermusicsociety/1632606
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group “full of elegance and pinpoint control” (The New York Times), is presented in concert by Chamber Music Marin. The ensemble will perform a lively concert program titled Countryside to Concert Hall, featuring American Mirror: Part I by Derrick Skye, Quartet No. 2 by Béla Bartók, and Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 “Razumovsky” by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Jan. 23: Pianist and Composer Hayato Sumino Releases Chopin Orbit Second Album on Sony Classical – New Single White Keys Out Today
Jan. 23: Pianist and Composer Hayato Sumino Releases Chopin Orbit Second Album on Sony Classical – New Single White Keys Out Today
Album Artwork (Download)
Chopin Orbit
The Eagerly Anticipated Second Album
by Celebrated Japanese Pianist and Composer
Hayato Sumino
New Single White Keys Out Today
Listen Here | Watch Music Video Here
Worldwide Album Release Date: January 23, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now
Sony Classical has announced the forthcoming release of Chopin Orbit, the second album by the acclaimed, multi-faceted New York-based Japanese pianist and composer, Hayato Sumino, set for release on January 23, 2026 and available for pre-order now. A new single from the album, White Keys, is out today, along with an accompanying music video – watch here.
For this new recording, Hayato Sumino has turned his gaze on the composer who possibly means the most to him, namely Chopin (1810-1849). It was indeed Sumino’s sensational performances during the 2021 International Chopin Competition where he was a semi-finalist that first brought this fine young musician to wider international attention.
Hayato Sumino explains his concept for Chopin Orbit: “For me, Chopin has always been like an idol, and his music has remained close to my heart since childhood. As I grew as a musician, I began to realize how naturally his influence found its way into my own creations. At some point I thought—why not create an album with Chopin at its center? That moment became the starting point of this project. My pieces were born out of inspiration from Chopin’s works. Sometimes I quote a motif or weave in a melody, but I never set out simply to write “in the style of Chopin.” What I wanted was to bring together his spirit with my own modern sensibility and creativity.
The title Chopin Orbit reflects this idea. I placed Chopin’s music at the center, and from there different responses and offshoots take shape—as if drawn by his gravity, forming new orbits of their own. In respect for Chopin, each of my pieces is paired with the original that inspired it, so the album presents his works and my responses in alternation. And not only with my own works: I also paired Chopin with composers I admire—including Thomas Adès (b. 1971), Leopold Godowsky (1870–1938), and Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)—showing how the resonance of Chopin’s music continues to expand across time.
I imagine the listener roaming freely between these two closely connected worlds, old and new, whilst keeping in mind the twist that pieces composed in the 19th century were themselves considered new and different in their time to the music that had gone before, highlighting that we inhabit an ever-evolving musical space."
The album includes, among others, Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie op. 61, Nocturne in c-sharp minor, Berceuse and Raindrop Prelude, coupled with Hayato’s own pieces White Keys and Post Rain, Godowsky’s transcription of Chopin's Waltz No. 1 and Janacek’s Good Night! from On an Overgrown Path.
Echoing this imaginative framework, Chopin Orbit showcases Sumino’s distinctive musical style, merging his refined classical sensibilities with his discerning ear as an arranger and his instinctive feel for the new. During his exquisite performances of his carefully curated programme for the album, Sumino adeptly utilises a variety of keyboards, including a concert grand, a vintage piano, a modern upright and celeste.
Chopin Orbit follows this exceptional young musician’s acclaimed Sony Classical debut album Human Universe, released in November 2024, which saw Sumino range effortlessly across a diverse selection of repertoire from Bach to Zimmer via some of his own compositions.
HAYATO SUMINO:
2025-2026 PERFORMANCE DATES
Oct. 24, 2025 Fresno Concert Hall; Fresno, CA
Oct. 26, 2025 Bing Concert Hall; Stanford, CA
Oct. 27, 2025 Bing Concert Hall; Stanford, CA
Nov. 16, 2025 Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center; Chicago, IL
Nov. 18, 2025 Carnegie Hall (DEBUT); New York, NY
Mar 25, 2026 Bowker Auditorium – University of Massachusetts; Amherst, MA
Mar 27, 2026 McKnight Center, Performance Hall; Stillwater, OK
Mar 27, 2026 McKnight Center, Performance Hall; Stillwater, OK
Mar 31, 2026 Carnegie Hall; New York, NY
Apr 4, 2026 Irvine Berkeley Theatre; Irvine, CA
May 9, 2026 The Baker-Baum Concert Hall; La Jolla, CA
May 10, 2026 Visual and Performing Arts Center; Cupertino, CA
ABOUT HAYATO SUMINO
Hayato Sumino is an artistic phenomenon. Also known as Cateen, he has garnered over 2.2 million followers globally across his social media platforms.
In April 2024, he made a spectacular Royal Albert Hall debut with his performance of Gershwin's ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and recently performed at the BBC Proms in an historic overnight event, as a personal guest of the evening’s curator, star organist Anna Lapwood. He has enjoyed a string of successful concerts this year, performing at prestigious venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie and the Hollywood Bowl, and is set to make his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in November.
Following a sold-out performance for 15k spectators at Budokan in July 2024, Sumino will headline the +20,000-capacity K-Arena Yokohama in the fall of 2025—an unprecedented achievement for a classical solo artist. In July 2025, he was awarded the prestigious Bernstein Award, recognizing his exceptional contributions to contemporary classical music. At the upcoming 2025 Opus Klassik Awards, he will also be honored with two accolades for his Sony debut album Human Universe: “Young Talent of the Year” and “Best Live Performance (Soloist).”
Sumino’s rising international profile has earned him widespread recognition: he was featured in Japan’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2023, named one of Vogue Japan’s #TheOnesToWatch in 2024, spotlighted by Rolling Stone Korea, and most recently selected by Elle Magazine US as one of “9 Artists Shaping Culture in 2025.”
A prodigious composer, Hayato Sumino possesses a unique and captivating style that readily combines his diverse musical interests, ranging from classical and jazz to film music, post-classical, and electronica. He is also much in-demand for film and TV scores in Japan. He also holds a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and Technology and was honored with the President’s Award for his exceptional achievements in both music and engineering.
Hayato Sumino is one of the leading members of the next generation of boundary-pushing musicians who move seamlessly between genres and across musical borders, and who allow themselves the freedom of musical expression however they see fit, for the benefit of the audience.
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.
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Jan 24 & 25: California Symphony led by Donato Cabrera presents SCHUBERT IN VIENNA with Cellist Nathan Chan - Music by Mozart, Gulda, Schubert
Jan 24 & 25: California Symphony led by Donato Cabrera presents SCHUBERT IN VIENNA with Cellist Nathan Chan - Music by Mozart, Gulda, Schubert
Photo of Donato Cabrera with the California Symphony by Kristen Loken;
photo of Nathan Chan by Mike Grittani; high resolution photos available here.
California Symphony's 2025-2026 Season Continues with
SCHUBERT IN VIENNA
A lively genre-blending program exploring how and why Vienna became the musical capital of the world
Featuring the classical elegance of instrumental selections from Mozart’s Don Giovanni,
Friedrich Gulda’s outrageous multi-genre Cello Concerto with soloist Nathan Chan,
and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 “The Great”
Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director
In Concert January 24 at 7:30pm & January 25, 2026 at 4:00pm
At Walnut Creek's Lesher Center for the Arts
Tickets & Information: www.californiasymphony.org
WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera continue the 2025-2026 season with SCHUBERT IN VIENNA – a lively, genre-blending program featuring the classical elegance of instrumental selections from W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto with soloist Nathan Chan (an outrageous mix of jazz, rock, blues, classical, and improvisation), and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 “The Great” on Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 7:30pm and Sunday, January 25, 2026 at 4:00pm at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek).
California Symphony’s first concerts of 2026 tell the story of how and why Vienna became the musical capital of the world. The program begins with instrumental excerpts from Mozart’s brilliantly witty and melody-filled opera Don Giovanni in an 1803 arrangement for the Harmonie (wind ensemble) of Mozart’s day, when bands of wind players would roam the streets of Vienna to promote coming performances at the opera house. Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto, performed by Bay Area native Nathan Chan, is a fusion of jazz, rock, and European folk dance performed with a modified Harmoniemusik wind ensemble with the addition of a jazz rhythm section of guitar, bass, and drum set. Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 – aptly known as “The Great” – is a grand and majestic journey through soaring melodies and lively folk rhythms, all of which are first introduced by the harmoniemusik section of the orchestra.
“Like any historical endeavor, performing music of the past, whether it was composed two hundred years ago or last week, requires a passion and desire for context,” says Donato Cabrera. “These concerts explore the why and how of Vienna being the musical capital of 18th and 19th century Europe. Before the dawn of modern media, the opera houses of Vienna used the wind sections of their orchestra to act as musical billboards throughout the city, playing musical snippets from whatever opera was playing at the time. These wind ensembles, called Harmonie in German, became all the rage when the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, declared that there be a “Court Harmonie” in 1782, and this popularity lasted well into the 19th century. I’ve always been fascinated by Schubert’s ‘Great’ C-major symphony. One of its many interesting traits is that the Harmonie section of the orchestra (winds and brass) introduce all of the themes, from the opening horn call, to the final exuberant melodies of the last movement. Building a concert around this symphony became a labor of love. I have known of these Harmonie arrangements of the tunes from Mozart’s operas for many years and they are a perfect counterweight to Schubert’s towering symphony. Sandwiched in between is Gulda’s quirky and completely iconoclastic take on the cello concerto, with the Harmonie ensemble acting as the backing band to the Hendrix-like solo lines of the cello. And I couldn’t think of a more perfect piece to welcome back our friend, Nathan Chan.”
The program opens with Harmonie arrangements of Mozart's masterpiece Don Giovanni, offering a taste of one of the composer's most psychologically complex works. Written in 1787, this "opera of operas" (as composer Richard Wagner later described it) blends comedy and melodrama in its tale of the infamous libertine Don Juan. The woodwinds of the California Symphony enjoy the spotlight in selections from the opera in an 1803 arrangement for Harmonie.
Cellist Nathan Chan, praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as having a "mastery of musical narrative [that] unfolds with unerring clarity," joins the California Symphony for Friedrich Gulda's innovative Cello Concerto. The concerto breaks convention with its eclectic fusion of styles, from lyrical Romanticism to rock and jazz-inflected rhythms. Gulda described it as including “jazz, a minuet, rock, a smidgen of polka, a march, and a cadenza with two spots where the star cellist must improvise.” Chan, recently named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in Seattle, has harnessed the power of technology and social media to draw new audiences to classical music, with over 35 million views across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
California Symphony's January concerts culminate with Schubert's monumental Symphony No. 9 in C major, known as "The Great." This expansive work, which was not performed until ten years after the composer’s death, is a towering achievement of the Romantic era. With its “heavenly length” (as famously described by composer Robert Schumann), glorious melodies, and triumphant spirit, the symphony showcases Schubert's ability to create music of both intimate beauty and grand architectural scale.
California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concerts, rich in storytelling and spanning the breadth of orchestral repertoire, the 2025-2026 season explores evocative programmatic music including Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Valentin Silvestrov’s Stille Musik; the fruitful intersection of jazz and classical in music by Jessie Montgomery, Friedrich Gulda, and George Gershwin; the monumental symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Jean Sibelius, and Alexander Borodin; the timelessness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart including excerpts from Don Giovanni; and world-class soloists in riveting concertos including pianist Robert Thies in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, Nathan Chan in Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto, violinists Jennifer Cho and Sam Weiser in Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and pianist Sofya Gulyak in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
This season, California Symphony continues to serve its community beyond the stage through its nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds and its innovative lifelong learning program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed. It will also expand its programs for vulnerable populations at Trinity Center Walnut Creek and continue community partnerships to reach more underserved youth throughout Contra Costa County.
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.
Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. Season subscriptions and single tickets are available now. More information is available at CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, 12pm to 6pm).
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
WHAT: California Symphony’s first concerts of 2026 tell the story of how and why Vienna became the musical capital of the world. The lively, genre-blending program features the classical elegance of instrumental selections from W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto with soloist Nathan Chan (an outrageous mix of jazz, rock, blues, classical, and improvisation), and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 “The Great,” a grand and majestic journey through soaring melodies and lively folk rhythms.
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, one hour before the show.
WHEN:
Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, January 25, 2026 at 4pm
WHERE:
Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
CONCERT:
SCHUBERT IN VIENNA
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
PROGRAM:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Excerpts from Don Giovanni (1787)
Friedrich Gulda: Cello Concerto (1980)
Nathan Chan, cello
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (“The Great”) (1824-26)
TICKETS: Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, 12pm 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.
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 2025-26 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.