Feb 6: Newport Classical Announces An Evening with Violinist Rachel Barton Pine at Rosecliff Mansion
Feb 6: Newport Classical Announces An Evening with Violinist Rachel Barton Pine at Rosecliff Mansion
Rachel Barton Pine by Lisa Marie Mazzucco. Photos available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Announces Special Performance
An Evening with Violinist Rachel Barton Pine & Pianist Matthew Hagle
At Rosecliff Mansion
Friday, February 6, 2026 at 7:30pm
Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org
Newport, RI – Newport Classical announces a very special performance, recently added to its spring season – An Evening with Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and Pianist Matthew Hagle – on Friday, February 6, 2026 at 7:30pm at Rosecliff Mansion (548 Bellevue Ave). The concert, which is Pine’s Newport debut, will feature Brahms’ Sonata No. 5 in E-flat major, Amanda Maier’s Sonata in B minor, Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, and Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 in D minor.
Acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine, described by The New York Times as “striking and charismatic” with “bravura technique and soulful musicianship,” has garnered international praise for performances that combine her distinctive sound with a deep connection to musical history. With an infectious joy in music-making, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music. She has been recognized as “in the top echelon” of today’s performers by The Washington Post.
Pine’s discography consists of over 40 recordings, including 25 for Cedille Records, and her many recital appearances have included Davos, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Marlboro, Ravinia, Salzburg, Bravo! Vail, and Wolf Trap. She performs regularly with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Vienna Symphony Orchestras.
Up next, 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.
Hidden Portrait by Amanda Brewster Sewell Discovered Beneath Century-Old Painting at Caramoor’s Rosen House
Hidden Portrait by Amanda Brewster Sewell Discovered Beneath Century-Old Painting at Caramoor’s Rosen House
L-R: c. 1901 portrait of Flora Bigelow by Amanda Brewster Sewell; the hidden earlier portrait of Bigelow by the same artist. Images courtesy of Caramoor available in high resolution here.
Hidden Portrait Discovered Beneath Century-Old Painting at Caramoor’s Rosen House
Second painting by early 20th-century American artist Amanda Brewster Sewell revealed during conservation
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts | Rosen House
149 Girdle Ridge Drive | Katonah, NY
caramoor.org
KATONAH, NY – Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY, announces the discovery of a complete hidden portrait concealed beneath a painting that has hung in the historic Rosen House for decades. The remarkable find was made by conservator Nadia Ghannam while preparing a circa 1901 portrait of Mrs. Charles S. Dodge (née Flora Bigelow) for treatment.
Both portraits were painted by American artist Amanda Brewster Sewell (1859-1926), and depict the same subject: Flora Bigelow Dodge (1868-1964), mother of Caramoor co-founder Lucie Bigelow Rosen (1890-1968). Amanda Brewster Sewell was an accomplished artist trained in New York and Paris, well-known during her lifetime, whose work has been forgotten in the intervening decades. She was the first woman to receive an award (the Thomas B. Clarke prize) from the National Academy of Design, having been elected an Associate in 1903. Her work featured in numerous early 20th-century exhibitions, including the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, where six of her works were exhibited. She was a medal winner at the Columbian Exposition that year, as well as at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, Charleston Exposition in 1901-02, and the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.
“Finding a second complete portrait beneath the canvas we sent for conservation was completely unexpected,” said Jessa Krick, Director of Interpretation, Collection and Archives at the Rosen House. “Both paintings offer fascinating insights into Flora Dodge's life during a transformative period, which coincided with her divorce and her evolution as an independent woman at the turn of the 20th century. They are also significant in that they were repeat commissions by a woman from a woman artist, which was very unusual for the time.”
The discovery adds an intriguing layer to the history of Caramoor. Research is ongoing to determine when the earlier portrait was completed and why it was hidden. One possibility is that after her 1903 divorce from Charles Dodge, Flora preferred the more dramatic and seductive pose of the later portrait over the earlier, more formal depiction. Flora Dodge's story appears as a case study in April White's 2021 book The Divorce Colony, which chronicles how wealthy New York women traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the early 1900s to obtain no-fault divorces, which were unavailable to them in New York. Another theory suggests the double framing may have helped evade customs when Flora sent the painting from London to her daughter Lucie in New York in 1964.
Lucie Bigelow was eleven years old when Sewell painted her portrait, around the same time as her mother's second portrait. This early exposure to a working female artist appears to have influenced young Lucie, who maintained a lifelong interest in art and artists, seeking out exhibitions of all types and befriending artists in New York and London throughout her adult life.
“The Rosen House has always been at the heart of Caramoor, filled with the music and art the family loved, says Caramoor President and CEO Gillian Fox. “We continue to be intrigued by new discoveries like this one and are honored to conserve and share the House and Collection with the public. We can't wait for visitors to discover Flora Dodge’s hidden portrait for themselves when they come to Caramoor.”
Both portraits are on view in the Rosen House and can be seen during Caramoor's Holiday Rosen House Tours, running December 10 to 21, 2025 at 12:30pm and 1pm daily (by advance ticket purchase only; no tours on December 15). The art-filled Rosen House is decked out for the holidays with decorations inspired by the Rosen family archive. The House itself offers a number of treasures, including complete 18th-century rooms, originally from private villas and chateaux in Italy, France, and England. The Formal Dining Room features doors thought to have been designed by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1695-1770), made for a Venetian palace. The Music Room includes Renaissance furniture and architectural elements such as the intricately carved coffered ceiling from a house in Lecce, Italy; a pair of pink marble twisted columns from Verona, once in the collection of William Randolph Hearst; and a magnificent Franco-Flemish tapestry titled “The Holy Family.”
Caramoor is also producing a short documentary about the discovery of the hidden painting, featuring interviews with experts filmed on location. The film will explore the discovery process and celebrate the remarkable women at the center of this story.
The conservation of the newly discovered portrait was made possible by a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. A period frame has been acquired and restored by Ammi Ribar of Hudson, New York, to display the newly revealed work alongside its companion piece.
The NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Grant Treatment Program is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
About Caramoor
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY. Once the home of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor has evolved into one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performances, cultural engagement, and exploration – a sanctuary for music, art, and nature.
Each year, Caramoor presents an exciting array of concerts across genres – from classical, opera, and chamber music to jazz, American roots, global sounds, and the American songbook. Caramoor’s acclaimed Summer Season brings audiences together for unforgettable outdoor performances from June into August in five distinct settings (the Music Room, Venetian Theater, Spanish Courtyard, Friends Field, and the Sunken Garden), while the intimate Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May in the historic Rosen House, a Mediterranean-style villa listed on the National Register of Historic Places and filled with treasures from around the world. With a mission to engage audiences of all ages, Caramoor also offers a selection of concerts and programs for families and our youngest listeners.
Caramoor is a place where music, history, and nature come together to create moments of beauty and connection for all who visit. In addition to hearing concerts, visitors to Caramoor can tour the spectacular Rosen House, explore its intriguing collections, enjoy a picnic, and experience the lush gardens and grounds – including Caramoor’s unique collection of site-specific Sound Art, permanently installed sound sculptures which draw inspiration from their environment. Caramoor also offers a formal afternoon tea service year-round in the Music Room (by reservation), a seasonal concessions tent, and a selection of public programs such as yoga, art classes, and large-scale community events.
Jan. 15: The Jasper String Quartet and Jupiter String Quartet Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley – Performing Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg, Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
Jan. 15: The Jasper String Quartet and Jupiter String Quartet Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley
The Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper Quartet
Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley
Performing Music by
Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg,
Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm
First United Methodist Church | 625 Randolph Street | Napa, CA
Tickets and Information
“an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
www.jasperquartet.com | www.jupiterquartet.com
Napa, CA – On Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm, the Jasper String Quartet, which The Strad describes as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling”—and the Jupiter String Quartet – internationally acclaimed winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) – will be presented together in concert by Chamber Music Napa Valley in First United Methodist Church (625 Randolph Street).
The Jasper and Jupiter quartets celebrate many years of deep connections that go beyond the joy of playing music together. There are siblings – J Freivogel from the Jasper is the younger brother of Jupiter members Meg and Liz Freivogel; and spouses – Rachel Henderson Freivogel and J are married in the Jasper, and Daniel McDonough and Meg are married in the Jupiter, all with a spirit of friendship and unity forged together in performance. In 2021, the two quartets celebrated the release of a collaborative album on Marquis Classics, produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner Judith Sherman, which features Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, a work the groups will perform together as part of this concert program.
The two quartets bring their combined musical prowess to four works shaped by vivid imagery, lived experiences, and emotive compositional style. The program takes listeners on a journey across four centuries.Selections include: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3 “The Bird” by Franz Joseph Haydn (1781) performed by the Jupiter Quartet; Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (1899), performed by members of the Jupiter and Jasper Quartets; Reinaldo Moya’s Yara (2025), performed by the Jasper Quartet; and Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 (1825).
”It is such a joy to get to perform together with the Jasper Quartet,” says the Jupiter Quartet. “It is always special to collaborate with another string quartet, and the concerts we get to play with the Jaspers are a special pleasure because of our deep and long-term relationship to them. This connection always lends an extra energy to the experience of cooperative music making.”
“Our longstanding Jupiter and Jasper Quartet collaboration inspires tremendous creativity within our quartets, spurred by our deep musical and familial affinity,” says the Jasper Quartet. “Performing together for Chamber Music Napa Valley presents exciting premieres on many fronts - our first joint performance for the series, our first performance with wonderful new Jupiter Quartet violinist, Mélanie Clapiès, and the West Coast premiere of one of our Jasper SQ 2025-26 commissions, Yara, by composer Reinaldo Moya. It will be a thrilling evening!”
Watch the Jupiter and Jasper Quartets performing Felix Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 at Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Felix Mendelssohn composed his String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, an intricate masterpiece, in 1825, at the age of sixteen. The work is known for its joyous energy. Rather than treating the two quartets as separate entities, Mendelssohn weaves all kinds of deft and subtle conversations among the eight musicians, in every possible combination.
The “Bird” is one of the most popular of Haydn’s six Opus 33 string quartets. It is filled with joy and playfulness, often imitating the sprightly and singsong qualities of birds (hence the nickname). Haydn’s good-natured creativity is on full display here, throughout the vivacity of the opening and closing movements, the quirky scherzo, and the wonderfully lyrical slow movement.
Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) is one of Schoenberg’s most popular works. It is inspired by a poem of the same name, written by Richard Dehmel and published in the collection Weib und Welt (1896; “Woman and World”). The work is full of extreme drama and extraordinary beauty, and reflects vividly the struggle between despair and acceptance featured in the underlying poem. The journey leads gradually to a transformation from darkness into light.
Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya (b. 1984) is a graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system and of The Juilliard School. His works have been performed by orchestras worldwide and his music often reflects deeply expressive, personal, and thought-provoking messaging tied to lived experiences, intricate stories, and complex individuals. His new string quartet Yaya is inspired by María Lionza, the figure at the center of a legendary story and cult in Venezuelan culture. The Jasper Quartet gave the world premiere performance on October 16, 2025.
About the Jasper Quartet: Celebrated as one of the preeminent American string quartets of the twenty-first century, the prizewinning Jasper String Quartet is hailed as being “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet is highly regarded for its “programming savvy” (Cleveland Classical), which strives to evocatively connect the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire through thoughtful programs that appeal to a wide variety of audiences.
A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2012), the Quartet’s playing has been described as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including its most recent release, Insects and Machines: Quartets of Vivian Fung, named CMA’s 2025 Album of the Year. Strings Magazine praised the Quartet on the album as “intensely dramatic throughout demonstrating both their advocacy of new music and their transcendent mastery.” The Quartet’s 2017 release, Unbound, was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.
The Quartet will release new recordings in 2026, including Lamenting Earth with tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang, Reinaldo Moya’s Pájaros Garabatos with soprano Maria Brea, and an album of chamber works by Richard Festinger. In celebration of its Twentieth Anniversary in 2026-27, the Quartet has commissioned new works from composers Patrick Castillo, Brittany J. Green, Reinaldo Moya and Michelle Ross.
The Jasper String Quartet is passionate about connecting with audiences beyond the concert hall and is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and Director of the annual Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute.
The Quartet is Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, a series in Philadelphia dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber performances. The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and is represented by Suòno Artist Management. For more information, please visit jasperquartet.com
More About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse acclaimed, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet will record their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiters.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity,” and the Jasper String Quartet, which The Strad describes as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” are presented together in concert by Chamber Music Napa Valley. The two award-winning ensembles will perform a program that showcases their individual and collaborative quartet chemistries with emotive and intricate works written between the late 18th century and the present day – one of the works having its world premiere performance this past October. The concert program will include: Joseph Franz Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33, No. 3 “Bird;” Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht; Reinaldo Moya’s Yara for String Quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet
Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg, Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
When: Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: First United Methodist Church, 625 Randolph Street, Napa, CA 94559
Tickets and information: http://www.chambermusicnapa.org/this.html#jupiter
Dec. 21: Pianist Sarah Cahill in Terry Riley at 90: A Piano Celebration Featuring the Music of Terry Riley – Presented by the San Francisco Public Library
Dec. 21: Pianist Sarah Cahill in Terry Riley at 90: A Piano Celebration Featuring the Music of Terry Riley – Presented by the San Francisco Public Library
L-R Sarah Cahill, Terry Riley
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill in Terry Riley at 90: A Piano Celebration
Featuring the Music of Terry Riley
Presented by the San Francisco Public Library
Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 2pm
San Francisco Public Library (Latino Room on the Lower Level)
100 Larkin Street | San Francisco, CA
Free and Open to the Public - 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 be presented in concert by the San Francisco Public Library on Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 2pm. Cahill will perform a program dedicated to the music of Terry Riley. The concert will take place in the Latino Room of the San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin Street). The performance is free and open to the public.
Sarah Cahill honors the artistry of Terry Riley in a special program celebrating the American composer for his 90th birthday. Riley, a California native from the Sierra foothills, became well known and celebrated for his cutting edge, experimental and minimalist styles of composition. Cahill has worked closely with Riley for three decades and commissioned six compositions from him. Cahill also commissioned eight younger composers to write music in tribute to Riley for his 80th birthday. The resulting works were recorded by Cahill, and fellow pianists Regina Myers and Samuel Adams in 2017, as a 4-CD set entitled Eighty Trips Around the Sun: Music by and for Terry Riley (Irritable Hedgehog Music).
Cahill says of this special program honoring Terry Riley:
“It's such a great pleasure to celebrate Terry Riley at the San Francisco Public Library, a welcoming community space with a long history of supporting innovative new music, with a program ranging from his 1964 Keyboard Studies to new works written in his honor.”
Of the works found on the album that will be part of this program, Allan Kozinn writes in the Wall Street Journal, “[Fandango on the Heaven Ladder] explore[s] Mr. Riley’s fascination with the harmonic gauziness of Impressionism, and the Fandango. . .embrace[s] Latin rhythms filtered through, and altered by, Mr. Riley’s free-ranging sensibilities. Be Kind to One Another (2008, revised 2014), a work composed for Ms. Cahill, tells us something about [Terry Riley’s] passion for jazz—he is a freewheeling improviser—by gradually transforming a sweet, gracefully ornamented melody, at first couched in a late-Romantic salon style, into several varieties of ragtime and stride. Minimalism is represented by only a single selection, Ms. Cahill’s own combined edition of “Keyboard Studies Nos. 1 & 2” (1965) with elements from each study superimposed (at Mr. Riley’s suggestion).”
The Walrus in Memoriam is based on tunes written by The Beatles and was commissioned by Aki Takahashi for her Hyper-Beatles project.Samuel Adams’ Shade Studies examines the counterpoint between the acoustic resonance of the piano and sine waves. The music is quiet and built of cadences, silences, and repeated gestures. As the work unfolds, the two resonance systems engage through masking and illumination, creating a brief exploration of musical “shade.” This work was generously commissioned by Russ Irwin and is dedicated to Sarah Cahill and Terry Riley.
Danny Clay says of Circle Songs: When Sarah [Cahill] and I discussed the possibility of writing a piece in celebration of Terry Riley’s 80th birthday, I was both thrilled and daunted. To be honest, as I’m writing this, just a few hours away from the double bar line, I still feel a bit at sea regarding what this piece is about. 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.”
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, is presented in concert by the San Francisco Public Library. Cahill will celebrate Terry Riley's ninetieth birthday year with his music combined with works composed by Samuel Adams and Danny Clay in honor of Terry Riley.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill - Terry Riley at 90: A Piano Celebration
Presented by the San Francisco Public Library
What: Music by Terry Riley
When: Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 2pm
Where: San Francisco Public Library (Latino Room on the Lower Level), 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
More information (Free and open to the public): https://sfpl.org/events/2025/12/21/performance-terry-riley-90-piano-celebration
Dec. 27-28: Violinist Itamar Zorman in Music of the Spheres: A Concert Exploring the Connection Between Music and Space – Presented by The INTUITIVE® Planetarium
Dec. 27-28: Violinist Itamar Zorman in Music of the Spheres: A Concert Exploring the Connection Between Music and Space – Presented by The INTUITIVE® Planetarium
Violinist Itamar Zorman in Music of the Spheres
A Concert Exploring the Connection Between Music and Space
Presented by The INTUITIVE® Planetarium
at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center
Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 5pm
Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 5pm
Doors: 1 Hour Before Showtime
U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) | One Tranquility Base | Huntsville, AL
Tickets and information
“There is a stunning sincerity and freshness in [Itamar Zorman’s] playing” – Violinist.com
Huntsville, AL – Internationally acclaimed violinist Itamar Zorman will give three performances of Music of the Spheres, an immersive live performance presented by The INTUITIVE® Planetarium at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL), in December. Music of the Spheres is a unique concert experience dedicated to exploring the connection between music and space. Zorman will give two performances on Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 5pm and 7:30pm, followed by a third performance on Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 5pm. Doors will open one hour prior to showtime for all three concerts.
Itamar Zorman is one of the most soulful, evocative artists of his generation, distinguished by his emotionally gripping performances and gift for musical storytelling. Since his emergence with the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he has wowed audiences all over the world with breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.” His “youthful intensity” and “achingly beautiful” sound shine through in every performance, earning him the title of the “virtuoso of emotions.”
In this awe-inspiring solo violin performance, Itamar Zorman will perform music with connections to space by an array of composers from across centuries of human history, accompanied by stunning visuals on the planetarium dome. Johann Sebastian Bach's Gavotte en Rondeau, which was chosen to represent humanity on the "Golden Record" –– a disk on the Voyager spacecraft containing sounds and images of earth –– is set to images taken by the Voyager on its journey through the solar system. Philip Glass' Knee Play 2 from Einstein on the Beach, is accompanied by animation of black holes, a phenomena Einstein had predicted in his General Theory of Relativity. Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune features a slow flight across the moon's surface. Bart Howard’s Fly Me to the Moon is paired with stunning new images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Eugène Ysaÿe's L'Aurore is performed alongside footage of a supernova explosion, Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers for violin is set to breathtaking images of Nebulae, where new stars are born; and Bach’s Monumental Chaconne, constructed by the cell of a four-note descending bassline, is accompanied by a journey from Atoms to Galaxies.
David Weigel, Director of the INTUITIVE® Planetarium, describes the program as “a cosmic journey like no other.”
“Itamar came to us with this vision of putting together spectacular violin [music] with cosmic visualizations, crafted specifically to the songs he has chosen,” Weigel says. “Our team has worked with him to put together these immersive, cinematic visualizations for an elegant yet comfortable evening.”
Of the personal significance behind creating this program, Zorman says,
“Throughout the ages, the connection between music and space has sparked the curiosity of humans. The ancient Greeks celebrated the concept of Music of The Spheres, regarding the harmonic movement of celestial bodies as a form of music. Music and astronomy were both included in the medieval Quadrivium of liberal arts, and Johannes Kepler's 1619 book Harmonices Mundi discusses a celestial choir of planets.
As a fan of science fiction and popular science, I have always been curious about the emotions that the vastness and mysteries of the co3smos evoke in humans. By combining space imagery with music, I was hoping to go both outwards to the universe, and inwards, taking inspiration from Carl Sagan's famous quote: ‘The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself,’
This is also a program which travels across space and time like no other. I find it moving that we see images from billions of light years away, while listening to music written hundreds of years in the past. There is also an interesting gamut of human invention and instruments involved, as images taken by the recently launched James Webb telescope are partnered with music created by a Guarneri violin made nearly three hundred years ago.This is one of my artistic projects of which I am most proud. It is made for a wide audience, space-lovers and music-lovers alike. I couldn't have imagined a better partner for it than the team at the INTUITIVE® Planetarium of the US Space and Rocket Center, who have put as much work, creativity, and passion into it as I have.”
More about Itamar Zorman: Since his emergence with the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Itamar Zorman has wowed audiences all over the world with his “youthful intensity” and “achingly beautiful” sound, earning him the title of the “virtuoso of emotions”. Awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award for 2014, violinist Itamar Zorman is the winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Mr. Zorman has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Kremerata Baltica, RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), American Symphony. In 2024 he performed with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in their traditional televised Christmas concert, following the Pope’s blessing. He has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, Valery Gergiev, James DePreist, Karina Canellakis, Yuri Bashmet, and Nathalie Stuztmann. Mr. Zorman has performed around the world in halls such as Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zurich Tonhalle, and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow.
As a recitalist he performed at Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debut series, Wigmore Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, the Louvre Museum, Suntory Hall, and HR-Sendesaal Frankfurt. Mr. Zorman was invited to the Marlboro, Verbier, Rheingau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, MITO SettembreMusica, and Radio France Festivals. He has also collaborated with several legendary artists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Steven Isserlis and Jörg Widmann.
Mr. Zorman is currently on faculty at Indiana University's Jacob's School of Music. He plays on a 1734 Guarneri del Gesù, from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Internationally acclaimed violinist Itamar Zorman is presented by The INTUITIVE® Planetarium at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Music of the Spheres, a unique concert experience dedicated to exploring the connection between music and space. Accompanied by stunning cosmic visuals displayed on the planetarium dome, Zorman will perform the music of several bold composers from throughout history, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Eugène Ysaÿe, Philip Glass, Claude Debussy,Missy Mazzol, and Bart Howard.
Concert details:
Who: Violinist Itamar Zorman
What: Music of the Spheres: A Concert Exploring the Connection Between Music and Space Featuring the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Eugène Ysaÿe, Philip Glass, and Missy Mazzoli
When:
Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 5pm
Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 5pm
Where: U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) One Tranquility Base Huntsville, AL 35805
Tickets and Information: https://www.rocketcenter.com/content/music-spheres-itamar-zorman2025
All images courtesy of the artist from a Music of the Spheres performance at The INTUITIVE® Planetarium in February 2025.
Sarah Kirkland Snider Releases New Album Forward Into Light - February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
Sarah Kirkland Snider Releases New Album Forward Into Light - February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
Album art and photos available here.
Sarah Kirkland Snider Releases Forward Into Light
A New Album Featuring Four Orchestral Works
Out February 27 on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch Records
Recorded by Metropolis Ensemble
Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director/Conductor
“Her music can sound ageless and contemporary at once, with an emotional impact that's direct and immediate.” – Gothamist
Two Album Tracks Out Today:
Forward Into Light & “Of Rise and Renewal” from Something for the Dark
Listen Now
Review CDs and downloads available upon request.
Sarah Kirkland Snider’s fifth full-length LP, a new, all-orchestral album titled Forward Into Light, produced by multi-GRAMMY-winning producer Silas Brown and recorded by GRAMMY-nominated Metropolis Ensemble led by artistic director/conductor Andrew Cyr, will be co-released by Nonesuch Records and the label that Snider co-founded, New Amsterdam Records, on February 27, 2026.
The new album features four of Snider’s orchestral works: 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; Eye of Mnemosyne, a multimedia orchestral work on memory, innovation, and culture as refracted through the lens of photography, commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic; and Something for the Dark, a meditation on resilience, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra after Snider won its Lebenbom Competition in 2014. Two singles from the album are out today – the title track, Forward Into Light, and “Of Rise and Renewal” from Something for the Dark.
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
GatherNYC Presents Concerts Every Sunday Morning - Up Next Kayla Williams, Natalie Tenenbaum, Renaissance String Quartet, harpist Bridget Kibbey
GatherNYC Presents Concerts Every Sunday Morning - Up Next Kayla Williams, Natalie Tenenbaum, Renaissance String Quartet, harpist Bridget Kibbey
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:
November 30: Kayla Williams + Friends
December 7: GatherNYC Downtown – Natalie Tenenbaum, piano
December 14: Renaissance String Quartet
December 21: Bridget Kibbey, harp
“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:
November 30: Kayla Williams + Friends
Violist, vocalist, and composer Kayla Williams explores a multidisciplinary approach to contemporary chamber music. Her ensemble strives to bridge the gaps between classical, jazz, folk, and roots music bringing each of these musical communities into conversation and collaboration.
December 7: GatherNYC Downtown – Natalie Tenenbaum, piano
In this special offsite performance taking place in a private loft in Manhattan, the superstar pianist Natalie Tenenbaum, known for her fluency in a wide variety of musical styles including classical, jazz, pop, Broadway and more, will share an intimate acoustic set of her original works and improvisations.
December 14: Renaissance String Quartet
Founded in 2021 by violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass, the New York City based quartet was formed on the basis of over a decade of friendship at The Perlman Music Program and The Juilliard School. The quartet feels a responsibility to command a diverse repertoire of classic, underrepresented, and new works, so they can contribute to the reclamation, redefinition, and continuation of a musical tradition that belongs to all of us. They represent and articulate an inclusive vision of the future of classical music, which sees a culture of music wherein all lives and histories are welcomed and celebrated. For their first appearance at GatherNYC, the quartet performs music from its debut album Love & Levity.
December 21: Bridget Kibbey, harp
GatherNYC welcomes back acclaimed harpist Bridget Kibbey for her second appearance on the series. In a virtuosic and charming holiday baroque program, Kibbey plays a set of solo transcriptions by J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti alongside her own improvisations and arrangements celebrating the holiday season.
2026 GatherNYC Schedule:
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!
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.
Announcing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series
Announcing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series
Press photos available here.
Announcing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s
Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series
Fifteen Performances at Calderwood Hall from January through May
Information & Tickets: gardnermuseum.org/about/music
BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announces its Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series, a fifteen-concert season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel running from January 25 through May 17, 2026, featuring world-class artists 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 intense and intentional listening experience.
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.
The Gardner Museum's Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series includes: Rachell Ellen Wong, the first Baroque violinist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant, making her Calderwood Hall debut with collaborators from her Twelfth Night Ensemble (January 25); a chamber music program created especially for the Gardner Museum by violinist Romuald Grimbert-Barré, cellist Tommy Mesa, and pianist Albert Cano Smit (February 1); the celebrated Claremont Trio returning with Louise Farrenc's Piano Quintet No. 1 alongside music by Ravel and Shulamit Ran (February 8); the impossibly talented Attacca Quartet performing a Museum-commissioned Boston premiere by David Lang paired with works by Mendelssohn and Bartók (February 22); Boston piano star Gloria Chien joining the young German stars of the Goldmund Quartet for Amy Beach's Piano Quintet alongside music by Haydn and Grażyna Bacewicz (March 1); the great American lutenist Hopkinson Smith in a special 400th anniversary celebration of John Dowland (March 8); Boston's beloved Borromeo String Quartet in Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" and works by Vijay Iyer, Caroline Shaw, and Jessie Montgomery (March 15); longtime Gardner Museum collaborators Castle of Our Skins presenting a portrait concert of violinist-composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (March 29); superstar guitarist Paul Galbraith performing on his remarkable eight-string “Brahms Guitar” (April 5); the return of virtuoso violinist Randall Goosby in a program of music by Beethoven, Debussy, and Amy Beach (April 12); Boston Children's Chorus honoring the legacy of civil rights icon Melnea Cass (April 18); the remarkable Imani Winds in a varied program including music by Simon Shaheen, Stevie Wonder, Valerie Coleman, and Fazil Say (April 19); the Diderot String Quartet performing Haydn and Beethoven on period instruments (April 26); stellar pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason in a thoughtful program including Beethoven's "Moonlight" and "Waldstein" sonatas, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, and selections by Dobrinka Tabakova (May 10); and the Renaissance String Quartet (violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass) with works by Florence Price, Brahms, and Daniel Hass (May 17).
“I am very excited about our Winter/Spring season in Calderwood Hall,” George Steel says. “Violinist Randall Goosby returns for two concerts: a solo recital and a performance with his group Renaissance String Quartet. We have guitar and lute recitals—Calderwood Hall is the ideal venue for those. And a wonderful range of chamber music: piano quintets from Amy Beach and Louise Farrenc, string quartets from Schubert, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and more. Please join us for a season of beauty and rediscovery.”
Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series Overview
The Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series opens on January 25 with Rachell Ellen Wong, the first Baroque violinist ever to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant, making her overdue Gardner Museum debut in a program of trio sonatas with collaborators from her group, the excellent (and seasonally named) Twelfth Night Ensemble. Wong is a major talent—eloquent, virtuosic, and always musicianly. The program spans the great era of Baroque violin music, from Biber’s Sonata V in F major through Corelli’s celebrated “La Folia” Sonata, Tartini’s diabolical Sonata in G minor (nicknamed “The Devil’s Trill”), J.S. Bach’s Sonata No. 2 in A major for violin and harpsichord, and other gems by Veracini, Royer, and Leclair.
On February 1, violinist Romuald Grimbert-Barré, who comes from a family of exceptional French/Caribbean musicians, presents a program of chamber music created especially for the Gardner Museum, joined by two equally talented colleagues—the Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit and Tommy Mesa, the Cuban American cellist who won the 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant on the heels of winning the 2023 Sphinx Competition. Their program ranges from Clara Schumann’s Three Romances and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, to Debussy’s Sonata for cello and piano, Lili Boulanger’s D’un soir triste, and Jessie Montgomery’s contemporary Duo for violin and cello.
The celebrated Claremont Trio returns to the Gardner Museum on February 8, joined by violist Rosemary Nelis and bassist Bradley Aikman, for a performance of 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc’s Piano Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 30. Farrenc, whose music is only now receiving the attention it deserves, was a formidable pianist and composer whose piano quintet stands alongside the finest chamber works of her era. The trio will also take on Ravel’s luscious piano trio and Shulamit Ran’s yearning Soliloquy, which grew out of her work on an operatic adaptation of The Dybbuk by S. An-sky.
The impossibly talented Attacca Quartet returns to Calderwood Hall on February 22, bringing Bartók’s pungent fourth quartet, which mixes Hungarian folk music and modernism with foot-stomping ferocity. Mendelssohn’s Apollonian musicianship will be on display in his elegant String Quartet in E minor. The program is balanced by the Boston premiere of a Museum-commissioned work by David Lang, daisy, from the composer who created his “in-ear opera” true pearl for the Gardner Museum’s Tapestry Room in 2018. Lang’s music continues to surprise and delight with its inventive approaches to texture and form.
Boston piano star Gloria Chien returns to the Gardner Museum on March 1 to join the young German stars of the Goldmund Quartet in composer Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet, one of the finest works by the greatest of Boston’s “Second New England School” of composers. The Goldmunds will offer Haydn’s String Quartet in E-flat major, nicknamed his “Joke” quartet, from his astonishing Opus 33 set of quartets, along with the fourth quartet of Polish mid-century modernist Grażyna Bacewicz. Her music, only now finding a wider audience, balances Baltic intensity and Mendelssohnian wit.
On March 8, the great American lutenist Hopkinson Smith celebrates the life and music of John Dowland, the great Elizabethan songwriter and performer. This concert, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Dowland’s death in 1626, will be built around lute transcriptions of Dowland’s celebrated Lachrimae Pavanes, a set of exquisite variations on his own song, Flow My Tears, one of the supreme examples of glorious Tudor musical melancholy. Smith’s artistry and deep understanding of this repertoire make him the ideal guide to Dowland’s world. This is a special event not to be missed.
Boston’s beloved Borromeo String Quartet pays a visit to the Gardner Museum on March 15 with a program built around Schubert’s monumental “Death and the Maiden” quartet, one of his supreme late masterpieces and a paragon of the Romantic spirit. The Borromeos also bring a quartet by jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, who is Harvard’s Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts and a MacArthur Fellow. Nicholas Kitchen has arranged a pair of preludes and fugues from Bach and Shostakovich, while Entr’acte by Museum-favorite Caroline Shaw and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code round out this adventurous and eclectic program that showcases the quartet’s remarkable range.
The Gardner’s longtime collaborators, Castle of Our Skins, perform a portrait concert on March 29 of violinist, composer, and musical firebrand Daniel Bernard Roumain, joined by the composer himself on electric violin along with Val-Inc as sound chemist. This concert includes three string quartets from Roumain’s cycle of musical portraits of major Black figures: String Quartet No. 1, “X” (1993); String Quartet No. 2, “King” (2001); and String Quartet No. 4, “Angelou” (2004). Roumain’s music thrillingly mixes classical American music, jazz, and hip-hop, all transformed through his own unique voice. His quartets are powerful testimonies to the lives and legacies of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Maya Angelou.
On April 5, the Gardner Museum presents superstar Paul Galbraith, one of the great guitarists of our time and a superb interpreter. With the music of J.S. Bach and Albéniz at the heart of his program, Galbraith will perform on his remarkable eight-string “Brahms Guitar,” which he holds like a cello. His instrument and his artistry are sui generis. There is simply no one else doing what Galbraith does. The program ranges from Dowland’s Elizabethan gems through J.S. Bach’s French Suites and Partitas, to a sonata by Haydn, Albéniz’s masterpieces Suite Española and España, Ravel’s Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn, and Lennox Berkeley’s Quatre pièces. There is no better place to hear Galbraith’s miraculous playing than in the superb acoustics of Calderwood Hall.
Virtuoso violinist Randall Goosby returns on April 12 with pianist Zhu Wang for an intimate recital of epic music. Two major sonatas bookend the program: Debussy’s elusive and gorgeous sonata is paired with Beethoven’s sunny F major essay in the form. The concert also includes Southland Sketches by Harry Burleigh, who was key in forging a quintessential American musical language, modifying the gorgeous modal inflections of spirituals with the chromatic ambiguities of Wagner’s harmony. Romance by Boston’s Amy Beach, the best of the Second New England School of composers, gorgeously drinks from a similar Wagnerian well. Dvořák’s Four Romantic Pieces provide a bridge between these worlds, showing how Romanticism and folk traditions can be seamlessly interwoven.
Boston Children’s Chorus honors the remarkable legacy of Melnea Cass, the “First Lady of Roxbury,” on April 18. A tireless advocate for justice, Cass championed women’s suffrage, Black employment, early childhood education, care for the elderly, and civil rights leadership as president of Boston’s NAACP. Her lifelong commitment to equity shaped generations in Boston and her influence continues to resonate today. Audiences are invited to celebrate the enduring impact of this powerful yet often unsung Boston icon through a program of music that reflects her spirit of activism, community, and hope.
The celebrated wind quintet Imani Winds returns to the Gardner Museum on April 19 with a typically wide-ranging program showcasing works by composer-performers. Including the great American ‘oud player Simon Shaheen, Turkish pianist Fazil Say, the nonpareil Stevie Wonder, and Imani’s own Valerie Coleman, this program demonstrates the quintet’s commitment to expanding the wind repertoire with music that crosses cultural and stylistic boundaries. From Wonder’s jubilant Overjoyed to Coleman’s evocative Red Clay & Mississippi Delta, from Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s substantial Wind Quintet No. 1 to Paquito D’Rivera’s A Little Cuban Waltz, this wonderful program is full of color and invention.
Four superlative musicians (all colleagues in the Baroque ensemble ACRONYM) come together as the Diderot String Quartet on April 26 to perform crowning glories of the Classical era on period instruments with gut strings. Haydn’s Opus 20 “Sun” Quartets may be his finest works for string quartet. These players will know how to bring out the contrapuntal splendors of Haydn’s writing—the second quartet concludes with a witty fugue on four subjects. The program is completed by Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, the last of his Opus 18 set, showing the younger composer already pushing at the boundaries Haydn had established.
The stellar pianist member of the great English Kanneh-Mason family of musicians, Isata Kanneh-Mason, takes a moment away from the concerto stage on May 10 to bring this thoughtfully constructed program to Calderwood Hall: two of Beethoven’s best-loved sonatas, the “Moonlight” and the “Waldstein;” Ravel’s astonishing three-movement tour-de-force Gaspard de la nuit, inspired by the dark poetry of Aloysius Bertrand; and pair of shorter works, Halo and Nocturne, by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova.
The Gardner Museum is thrilled and fortunate to present the Renaissance String Quartet on May 17, for the closing performance of the Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series. These four terrific musicians (violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass) find time in their busy touring lives as soloists and chamber musicians to perform together as a quartet. Brahms’ String Quartet No. 2 in A minor anchors the program with its characteristic blend of passion and intellectual rigor. The concert also includes the great American composer Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 1 in G Major. Price had a special gift for quartet writing; the exquisite and eloquent slow movement of her first quartet shows her love of American song, especially Black spirituals. The program closes with String Quartet No. 1, “Love and Levity,” by Daniel Hass, the cellist in the Renaissance String Quartet. He describes the piece as “Beethovenian in its thematic and structural tautness, but even more so in its motion towards excess.”
Winter/Spring 2026 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule
January 25: Twelfth Night Ensemble
February 1: Romuald Grimbert-Barré, violin; Tommy Mesa, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano
February 8: Claremont Trio
February 22: Attacca Quartet
March 1: Goldmund Quartet with Gloria Chien, piano
March 8: Hopkinson Smith, lute
March 15: Borromeo String Quartet
March 29: Castle of Our Skins with Daniel Bernard Roumain, electric violin and Val-Inc, sound chemist
April 5: Paul Galbraith, guitar
April 12: Randall Goosby, violin with Zhu Wang, piano
April 18: Boston Children’s Chorus: The Road She Paved
April 19: Imani Winds
April 26: Diderot String Quartet
May 10: Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
May 17: Renaissance String Quartet
All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm (except for the Boston Children’s Chorus which performs on Saturday, April 18 at 2pm) in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).
Ticketing Information
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.
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
Music at the Gardner is supported by Manitou Fund. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Dec. 5: Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Announces Jane Austen's Piano on Sony Classical – New Single Dawn by Dario Marianelli Out Today
Dec. 5: Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Announces Jane Austen's Piano on Sony Classical - New Single Dawn by Dario Marianelli Out Today
Expressive Young Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
Explores Jane Austen’s Musical World on New EP
Jane Austen’s Piano
New Single:
Dawn (from the Pride & Prejudice Soundtrack) by Dario Marianelli
Listen Here
Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the Beloved Author’s Birth in 2025
Worldwide Release Date: December 5, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
To which books does a busy professional musician turn for relaxation in between the hectic whirl of rehearsals, performances and travel?
In the case of young rising star pianist, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, whose debut album Fantasie was praised by Gramophone for its “poetry and confidence” and by BBC Music Magazine for its “sparkle and self-possession”, it’s the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817) that provide her with an unending source of enjoyment and contentment as well as revelry in the understated humour and social commentary contained therein.
So much so that Jeneba started to reflect on references to music in Jane Austen’s works and more broadly on the music of the time. It started a new train of thought for her: known to be a pianist herself, with which music may Jane Austen have been familiar? Which pieces might she have performed privately?
Happily, Jeneba had two important lines of enquiry to follow: the original Austen family music book collection dating from Jane Austen’s lifetime is extant and was able to provide some direction. Furthermore, Jane Austen is also very likely to have visited the annual local Hampshire Music Meeting, for which records exist. In fact, Jane Austen’s own piano teacher Dr George Chard, assistant organist at Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen is buried), was someone who helped organise the festival and curate the programme, all of which no doubt had a lasting musical influence on his private pupils.
The result of Jeneba’s fascination with the music of Jane Austen’s time is this brand-new recording for solo piano: Jane Austen’s Piano, scheduled for release on December 5, 2025 via Sony Classical, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth on December 16, 1775. New single, Menuet by George Frideric Händel, is out now - listen here. Accompanying the announcement is a new music video as well - watch here.
The recording consists of six pieces overall, mirroring the fact that Jane Austen wrote six full, famous and much-loved novels: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (published in 1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Persuasion (1817) and Northanger Abbey (1817).
Jane Austen’s Piano includes music hand-picked by Jeneba either because of its specific link to Jane Austen or for its significance to the time. It features music by George Frideric Händel (1732-1809), Joseph Haydn (1685-1759), George Kiallmark (1781-1835) and Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858) plus a bonus Jane Austen-related work composed by Dario Marianelli (b. 1963).
Jeneba has chosen Händel’s Suite in B flat major/Menuet and his Suite in D minor/Allemande for inclusion on the recording. Jane Austen would have been very familiar with Händel’s music, as his works were regularly featured at the local music festival and several arrangements of his vocal works formed part of her family’s own personal music collection.
In showcasing Haydn, Jeneba performs the Piano Sonata in C major, first published in 1780 but only published in London in 1792. It is extra-special to Jeneba as a copy of this work in Jane Austen’s own hand appears in the Austen family music collection. It is therefore highly likely that the author herself performed this work.
As for music specifically referenced in Jane Austen’s work, Jeneba has included the Robin Adair Variations by British violinist and composer George Kiallmark, as mentioned in Jane Austen’s fourth novel ‘Emma’. This version of the Irish folk tune appears in the Austen family music collection, signed by Jane’s sister, Cassandra and is likely the version Jane would have had in mind when referencing the piece in her novel. Kiallmark was also someone well-known to the audiences of the local music festival, performing there in 1803 and 1805 and appointed by Jane’s teacher George Chard to be one of the principal instrumentalists at the event.
Johann Baptist Cramer was a famous English pianist and composer of German origin, some of whose music is also contained in the Austen family music collection. He is the only composer to be named by Jane Austen in all her novels (also in ‘Emma’, referenced there as “something quite new”). His Etude No. 3 in A minor, although not in the family collection, is a welcome addition, introducing early flares of romanticism into Jane Austen’s mostly very classical piano literature.
Finally, sitting alongside the music of the period is Dario Marianelli’s Dawn from his Oscar-nominated 2005 soundtrack to the film Pride and Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright. Jeneba has included it as a modern cinematic homage to Jane Austen’s world, bridging historical inspiration with contemporary interpretation, and also marking the 20th anniversary of the film.
About her new recording, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason notes: “I am an avid reader and from a very young age, I have thoroughly enjoyed Jane Austen’s novels and being immersed in the world that she inhabits. When I read her books, I always find myself imagining a soundtrack to each novel. Curating this collection has therefore been such a joy, as the music has all been in my head for a very long time.”
Jan. 16: Violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing Releases New Sony Classical Album Colors Of Bach – New Single Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben Variation Out Today
Jan. 16: Violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing Releases New Sony Classical Album Colors Of Bach – New Single Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben Variation Out Today
©
Violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing
Reveals Entirely New Colors in Bach’s Music on New Sony Classical Album
Colors Of Bach
New Single Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben Variation Out Today
Listen Here
Worldwide Album Release Date: January 16, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now
On her new Sony Classical album, Colors Of Bach, set for release on January 16, 2026 violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing reimagines the depth and richness of J.S. Bach’s music through entirely new arrangements, offering fresh emotional perspectives and contemporary soundscapes.
Intricate, layered, and ultimately playful, the album draws inspiration from the structural ingenuity and expressive beauty that define each of the 20 selected masterpieces. By quite literally bringing new colors into Bach’s works—through tone, harmony, and emotion—renowned arrangers Tim Allhoff, Jan-Peter Klöpfel, and Jarkko Riihimäki cast familiar masterpieces in a renewed light. At the core of this project lies a shared artistic philosophy: to expand, rethink, and reshape Bach’s music without ever diminishing it. The arrangers draw strength from the positive and universal nature of his themes and harmonies, aiming to preserve the inherent optimism that runs through his work. From the whimsical brilliance of the “Partita No. 3 Variation” to the profoundly emotional reimagining of Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto,” iconic melodies breathe renewed vitality, opening new emotional dimensions while maintaining deep respect for the original compositions. Some arrangements introduce fresh harmonic contexts, while others explore entirely new instrumentations. The dense and melodic treatment of the “Organ Prelude in C Major” transitions seamlessly into a virtuosic solo violin and string orchestra rendition, creating a captivating musical experience. “Air” adopts the elegance of an Italian concerto, while the beloved “Erbarme Dich” from the “St. Matthew Passion” is reimagined as an intimate instrumental ballad. Together, these inventive arrangements showcase the adaptability and timelessness of Bach’s music, resulting in a striking kaleidoscope of musical colors.
“Bach is such a genius composer,” Eldbjørg Hemsing reflects, “that there are endless ways to look at the shapes and forms that make up his pieces. Every melody Bach composed contains an intriguing duality of being highly technical, yet profoundly emotional; and, thus, there are endless possibilities for reinterpretation.” COLORS OF BACH is a tribute to his perennial musicality—one that invites the listener on a journey of playful exploration. Through a kaleidoscope of emotional imagery, with its vibrant swells and lyrical releases, each piece recaptures and recolors its original form.
At its heart, the album exudes joy, hope, and, ultimately, playfulness. “We wanted to create an opportunity for the audience to reconnect with such important pieces of history,” Eldbjørg notes. “And, perhaps, this time, discovering their own interpretation of it in the process.”
One of the album’s most emotional transformations is “Air.” Often associated with funerals and farewells, it holds a deeply personal meaning for Eldbjørg: “This piece is one of the most important ones I’ve ever played,” she shares. “It was performed at my father’s funeral, and I’ve always associated it with the devastation of having lost him. But that’s not how I want to remember him. Music is so powerful that it can determine our emotional associations. So, by giving this piece a new perspective, I have the opportunity to decide how I want to connect with the music. And that’s truly the spirit of this album.”
By offering fresh ways to connect with timeless pieces, COLORS OF BACH brings Bach from the past into the present. With its joyful surprises and soulful arrangements, this album invites both new and experienced listeners to rediscover the infinite colors within Bach’s music.
COLORS OF BACH was recorded in the studio of the Oslo Opera House with an all-star ensemble featuring some of the city’s finest string players: Elise Båtnes, 1st violin; Liv Hilde Klokk-Bryhn and Maria Carlsen, 2nd violins; Ida Bryhn, viola; Louisa Tuck, cello; Kenneth Ryland, bass. Tim Allhoff joins them on piano, with Christian Kjos on harpsichord.
ELDBJØRG HEMSING: COLORS OF BACH – Release Date: January 16, 2026
Tracklist:
Bach Partita Variation (After Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 100: I. Preludio) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff
Ertönt uns durch dein Güte Variation (After Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22, No. 5: Ertöt uns durch dein Güte) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Ave Maria Variation (After The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846: I. Prelude) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet and Piano by Tim Allhoff
Minuet in G Major Variation (After Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh.116, No. 7: Menuet in G Major) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Concerto in A Minor Variation (After Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Melancholy Variation (After Concerto for Violin & Oboe in C Minor, BWV 1060R: III. Allegro) Arr. for Violin, Accordion, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben Variation (After Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: VI. Wohl mir, daß ich Jesum habe) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Air Variation (After Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068: II. Air) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff
Bach Brandenburg Concerto Revisited (After Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F Major, BWV 1046: I. Allegro) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jarkko Riihimäki
Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier, BWV 469 Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Aria Goldberg Variation (After Goldberg Variations, BVW 988: Aria) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff
Prelude in C Major Variation (After Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 553: I. Prelude) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff
Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit Variation (After Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein, BWV 734) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jarkko Riihimäki
Invention in F Major Variation (After Invention in F Major, BWV 779) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Organ Sonata Variation (After Organ Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, BWV 528: II. Andante) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff
Befiehl du deine Wege Variation (After Matthäuspassion, BWV 244, No. 53: Befiehl du deine Wege) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff
Erbarme dich, mein Gott Variation (After Matthäuspassion, BWV 244, No. 47: Erbarme dich, mein Gott) Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ Variation (After Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639) Arr. for Violin, Cello & Piano by Tim Allhoff
Concerto in D Minor Variation (After Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974: III. Presto) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Jan-Peter Klöpfel
Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Minor, BWV 1042
20. I. Allegro
21. II. Adagio
22. III. Allegro assai
23. Choral Aria Variation (After Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54: I. Aria) Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff
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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/.
Jensen Artists: Selected 2025 Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Jensen Artists: Selected 2025 Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Selected 2025 Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Lei Liang
Dui (Islandia Records)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Mystery Sonata
Aequora (Sono Luminus)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
UBIQUE (Sono Luminus)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Leandra Ramm
Watching glass, I hear you (Ablaze Records)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Matthew Aubin & the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
Fernande Decruck / Concertante Works, Vol. 2 (Claves Records)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Anton Mejias & Philip Lasser
The Art of Memory (Deutsche Grammophon)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Ariel Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven: Complete String Quartets Vol. 1 (Orchid Records)
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Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers
UP by Riley Nicholson
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Benjamin Appl
For Dieter: The Past and The Future (Outhere Music)
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Simone Dinnerstein
Complicité (Supertrain Records)
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Maya Beiser
Salt (Islandia Music Records)
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Tamar Sagiv
Shades of Mourning (Sono Luminus)
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Telegraph Quartet
Edge of the Storm (Azica Records)
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Ember
Birds of Paradise (Azica Records)
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Arlene Sierra
Birds and Insects Vol. 4 (Bridge Records)
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Christopher Stark
Fire Ecologies (New Focus Recordings)
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Ensemble Galilei
There I Long to Be (Sono Luminus)
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Clarice Jensen
In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness (FatCat / 130701)
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Ariel Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven: Complete String Quartets Vol. 2 (Orchid Records)
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Lei Liang – Dui | February 14, 2025 (Islandia Records)
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The Best New Albums Out February 14, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“Chinese-American composer Lei Liang’s eclectic collection of ten thematic tracks could pass as a soundtrack to an artistic, surrealist film or an intense, psychological drama.” – John Tamillo, The Arts Fuse
“[Dui] is intensely absorbing in the way it invites prolonged immersion and engagement. It is, simply put, a recording of fulsome rewards, and listeners will come away from it feeling well-compensated for their investments of time and attention.” – Ron Schepper, Textura
Dui, is a portrait album of the music of Chinese-American composer Lei Liang. The new record features performances by Maya Beiser, cello; Wu Man, pipa; Steven Schick, percussion; Cho-Liang Lin, violin; Zhe Lin, percussion; Mark Dresser, contrabass; and loadbang (Andy Kozar, trumpet; William Lang, trombone; Carlos Cordeiro, bass clarinet; and Jeffrey Gavett, baritone). The album’s title Dui, 對, means “to face.” Dui stages instruments and performance as elements of surprise from distant worlds.
Lei Liang is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award, a Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, a Creative Capital Award, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He writes about the music on this album, “Composing offers me a chance to explore and foster deeply personal relationships, including the relationship with my own cultural and spiritual heritage. It also presents me the opportunity to face seemingly insurmountable challenges. Who am I without my cultural heritage and without my friendships? I like to think of my music as the ultimate tribute to the past and present bonds that have shaped my life and given it meaning. All of the works on this album were written for and performed by artists who have inspired me. The challenge in composing each piece, however, is unique.”
Mystery Sonata – Aequora | February 28, 2025 (Sono Luminus)
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“Carrettin and Gajić work seamlessly as a team, and they bring expressive acuity and technical prowess” – Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone
The Best New Albums Out February 28, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“These composers [on Aequora] may be known to those who follow the contemporary Iceland scene, but most, with the possible exception of Anna Thorvaldsdottir, are going to be new to listeners. That is just one good reason to check the album out; another is the crystal clear sound from Sono Luminus, catching Carrettin's delicate work in his highest register.” – James Manheim, AllMusic
Until the release of Aequora on Sono Luminus, pianist Mina Gajić and violinist Zachary Carrettin have recorded under their given names, occasionally performing live under the duo’s moniker, Mystery Sonata, especially in non-classical settings presenting a diversity of repertoire and styles. Aequora is the first recording the married duo have released as Mystery Sonata, embracing the inherent mystery in presenting contemporary music and new arrangements for the first time. The album is inspired by Iceland and the cultural legacy of its music, featuring works by several prominent Icelandic composers, including Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Daníel Bjarnason, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, and Páll Ragnar Pálsson.
Mina Gajić writes, “Zachary and I traveled to Iceland to experience the landscapes and to meet with several composers, exploring their work and observing where the connections between their interests and ours as a duo seemed congruous. María had been wanting to rework her Aequora, adding a violin to the piano and electronics, and Páll Ragnar Pálsson had been imagining adapting the harp part for piano in his work Notre Dame. Both turned out to be remarkably successful, and rewarding to study and perform. In exploring works to program alongside these, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Reminiscence and Daníel Bjarnason’sFirst Escape worked beautifully – solos complementing the other works while providing refreshing contrast to the duo works. We asked Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir to create an entirely new work for us with the goal of providing a contemplative environment for the audience, as a shared meditation, a community-building ritual. She composed an utterly gorgeous work, Re/fractions, casting light on what is possible when the intention is, as she so eloquently stated when we first met, ‘to refrain from adding noise to an already noisy world.’”
Anna Thorvaldsdottir – UBIQUE | February 28, 2025 (Sono Luminus)
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“If you don’t know Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music, you’re in for a real treat. If you had to create a soundtrack for geologic plate tectonics or the lifespan of dwarf stars, and galaxies, and black holes, you might go to Anna Thorvaldsdottir. She’s concerned with big blocks of sound and textures and here, this small group of instruments sounds much bigger than it is.” – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“There’s an elusive mixture of ritual and instinct to the writing that eschews traditional structure; and while it may not draw direct inspiration from nature in the way that much of Thorvaldsdottir’s music does, there’s no missing its raw unpredictability, with passages of lyric contemplation dissolving into harrowing dissonance.” – Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily
“[Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s] music has a uniquely powerful magnetism.” – Peter Burwasser, The Absolute Sound
Anna Thorvaldsdottir releases the world premiere recording of UBIQUE on Sono Lumiunus, an evening-length chamber work, which was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Cheswatyr Foundation, Kurt Chauviere, and Density Arts for Claire Chase’s Density 2036 project. The world premiere was given in May 2023 at Carnegie Hall, performed by Claire Chase, flutes; Katinka Kleijn and Seth Parker Woods, cellos; and Cory Smythe, piano; with Levy Lorenzo, live sound. The same musicians recorded the music for this new album.
Anna writes of the piece, “UBIQUE is inspired by the notion of being everywhere at the same time, an enveloping omnipresence, while simultaneously focusing on details within the density of each particle, echoed in various forms of fragmentation and interruption and in the sustain of certain elements of a sound beyond their natural resonance – throughout the piece, sounds are both reduced to their smallest particles and their atmospheric presence expanded towards the Infinite. As with my music generally, the inspiration is not something I am trying to describe through the music as such – it is a way to intuitively approach and work with the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the piece.”
Leandra Ramm – Watching glass, I hear you (Featuring the World Premiere Recording of Centuries in the Hours by Lisa Bielawa) | February 28, 2025 (Ablaze Records)
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“Each song [in Centuries in the Hours] is given the first name of the woman whose diary notes are being used. The moods and subjects vary and the women featured age from thirteen to thirty-eight years. These are beautifully written and the vocal and piano writing is very effective.” – Geoff Pearce, Classical Music Daily
The world premiere recording of Centuries in the Hours, a song cycle by composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa, is on Watching glass, I hear you, the new album from mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm, released on Ablaze Records. Bielawa’s song cycle illuminates the lives of American women by setting selections from women’s diaries spanning three centuries. The album also includes song cycles by composers Cyril Deaconoff, Daron Hagen, Douglas Knehans, and David T. Little. All of the works except for Deaconoff’s songs are premiere recordings.
Of the origin of Centuries in the Hours, Bielawa says, “While at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, I uncovered an entire alternative American history, woven together through the experiences of women from all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, of all ages, from all corners of the US and its nascent territories, and from all chapters of our history. I eventually read 72 diaries, representing staggering diversity . . These women showed me an America that was completely unknown to me, invisible yet fully lived, behind the doors and in the corners, for centuries.”
Each song in Bielawa’s Centuries in the Hours reflects the experiences of a different American woman whose life circumstances rendered her historically invisible. The stories of the women represented include Emily French, a divorced and impoverished house cleaner in the 1890s; Betsey Stockton, a formerly enslaved woman en route to Hawai’i in the 1820s; Angeles Monrayo Raymundo, a Filipina teenager in the 1920s with great ambition; Sallie McNeill, a plantation owner’s daughter in Civil War-era Texas; and Sarah Wister, a Revolutionary War-era girl whose family fled Philadelphia. The project meditates on the theme of invisibility: How do we, through performance, make visible the invisible, make things vivid in unexpected ways? To that end, it brings to light written words of women who were “invisible” in their social milieu.
Matthew Aubin & The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra – Fernande Decruck / Concertante Works, Vol. 2 | March 7, 2025 (Claves Records)
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“This is not just another good recording of music with which you are already familiar, it’s an excellent recording of excellent music that you’ve never heard before but would most likely enjoy if you did – and is thus most enthusiastically recommended.” – Karl Nehring, Classical Candor
”[...] All the soloists play with flair and engagement and the Jackson Symphony acquits itself well, Aubin directing with awareness of the modest emotional parameters of Decruck’s music. The recording has been aptly judged too and the conductor’s notes are helpfully to the point." – Jonathan Woolf, Musicweb International
Claves Records releases the world premiere recordings of four works by French composer Fernande Decruck (1896-1954) on Concertante Works Volume 2, featuring the Jackson Symphony Orchestra (Michigan) alongside soloists Jeremy Crosmer, cello; Mitsuru Kubo, viola; and Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord, conducted by Matthew Aubin. The album includes the first commercial recordings of Decruck’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1932); Sonata in C# for Alto Saxophone (or Viola) and Orchestra (1943) with viola soloist; The Bells of Vienna: Suite of Waltzes (1935); and The Trianons: Suite for Harpsichord (or Piano) and Orchestra (1946).
For the last decade, Dr. Matthew Aubin (Music Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra), has championed efforts to bring Decruck’s music back to orchestral performances, giving orchestras further access and insight into her brilliant work through these recordings and by editing and creating critical editions of her music, published by Éditions Billaudot. As the foremost scholar on Decruck’s music, he has earned multiple research grants to study her significant life and work, and has worked closely with her family
“The works on this album are a diverse representation of Decruck's many compositional voices,” Aubin says. “They're sure to find a place on many a future orchestral program.”
Anton Mejias & Philip Lasser – The Art of Memory | March 28, 2025 (Deutsche Grammophon)
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The Best New Albums Out March 28, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“[T]he rumors about Mejias are true. He keeps up a combination of high energy and deep detail in these much-recorded pieces, and his work is quite pianistic without applying pedals or much else other than articulation. One awaits both further recordings from Mejias and especially his further format experiments.” – James Manheim, AllMusic
“As for Mejias’ Bach pianism, there’s much to savor.” – Jed Distler, Gramophone (June, 2025)
On The Art of Memory – a bold, live recording from the Dresdner Musikfestspiele – Finnish-Cuban pianist Anton Mejias deftly interweaves the music of Philip Lasser and J.S. Bach for his first solo album. Mejias takes listeners on a journey that reveals both composers' music in a new light. Lasser’s Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory was co-commissioned for Mejias by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Newport Classical. The album features the world premiere recording of Philip Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory, a companion piece to Book II of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.
J.S. Bach has fascinated Anton Mejias, who is considered one of the most exciting talents on the international classical scene, since his childhood. He says, “In performing Bach I strive to emphasize the incredibly rich emotional side and the heart of the music, without overlooking the intellectual side and the style of the music. The most beautiful thing is that these two sides belong together and it is not about one or the other, but about the fact that both can enrich the other enormously.”
Ariel Quartet – Complete Beethoven String Quartets Vol. 1 | April 7, 2025 (Orchid Records)
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“[A]n invigorating take [by the Ariel Quartet,] on a repertory staple that restores a sense of lightness and unpredictability to works written by a composer who was just getting started in revolutionizing the string quartet genre.” – Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times
“Yet no one [can] deny the physical and intellectual energy of the Ariel [Quartet’s] playing or their sheer technical brilliance. That counts for a lot in Beethoven.” – Richard Wigmore, Gramophone (July 2025)
The Ariel Quartet (Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; and Amit Even-Tov, cello) – distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned performances – will release the complete Beethoven String Quartets over two years, culminating in 2027, the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death. For the first volume of the series, the recording includes: Beethoven’s Op. 18 string quartets over 2 CDs – on CD 1, String Quartet in F major, Op.18 No.1; String Quartet in D major, Op.18 No. 3; and String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.18 No. 6; and on CD 2, String Quartet in G major, Op.18 No. 2; String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No. 4; and String Quartet in A major, Op.18 No. 5.
Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel Quartet has a long history with the quartets of Beethoven. His String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4 was the very first piece that the group tackled together as thirteen year olds, and the members credit the work for hooking them on the genre, for life.
Of Beethoven’s Op. 18 set, composed between 1798 and 1800, the Ariel writes, “[W]e hear a young Beethoven proving himself on the battleground of his teachers and peers, Haydn and Mozart, while signaling a bold move toward new musical horizons. . . Zooming in and familiarizing ourselves with Haydn’s and Mozart’s quartets of the time, we quickly understand that Beethoven’s set – while adhering to the same rules and principles – is distinctly ‘Beethovenian.’ While this impression can be broken down into factors such as motive-driven development, emotional contrasts, his characteristic expanded harmonic language, structural experimentation etc., the big achievement was his ability to unify these elements into a compositional language that expresses extraordinary emotional depth.”
Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers – UP (by Riley Nicholson) | April 25, 2025 (Independent)
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“I was impressed by the quality of reproduction of the thick textures of this keyboard music.” – Stephen Smoliar, The Rehearsal Studio
Featured on One Jazz as part of Fuse, with Debra Richards (March 29, 2025)
Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers have recorded composer D. Riley Nicholson’s UP for two pianos, a work that they commissioned in 2020. Cahill and Myers gave the world premiere performance of the piece at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in September 2022, before recording UP at SFCM in 2024.
Nicholson writes of the work, “UP’s one unifying theme is simply that, ‘up.’ The piece moves ‘up’ in so many directions: literally, opening with an upward motif that gets pinged between pianos in a groovy, dizzying counterpoint; gradually with increasing frequency moving up the circle of fifths; with upbeat syncopations and tempi; constantly one upping itself with a burgeoning energy that trips over itself with virtuosic fits; and many other upward motions and themes. Loosely akin to a theme and variations, each movement is a different interpretation of the theme ‘up,’ and given the frenetic energy of every moment, tranquil interludes provide a necessary buffer between the movements, and give the performers a chance to catch their breath. Even with the addition of these palette cleansing interludes, the entirety of the work is a manic trip that both explores joyous energy and that darker underbelly of positivity when energy and motion become simply too much to be contained.”
Of their shared experience commissioning, performing, and recording UP, Cahill and Myers say,
“When we first spoke with Riley about commissioning a new work from him, we had no idea that it would turn into an epic four-movement piece, which we have grown to know and love as a great work of artistic expression. UP reflects Riley's own style at the piano, with brilliant rapid passagework and interlocking patterns, and it took us several years to find our way into his stylistic approach with all its complexity and intricacy. It's a beautifully powerful piece, and even a global pandemic couldn't stop its path of coming into the world. We are so fortunate to work with Riley, both as a marvelous composer and as an excellent producer of this new album!”
Benjamin Appl – For Dieter: The Past and The Future | May 23, 2025 (Outhere Music)
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“For Dieter is a loving and emotional tribute. And one that will have you not only exploring more of Appl’s work, but also Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“Benjamin Appl’s tone and expressivity is gorgeous, and you couldn’t ask for better accompaniment than the playing of James Baillieu. But this album is more than that, a meticulous tribute to the great Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau that paints a portrait of the baritone’s life, from pieces he made famous, to obscure songs written by his own family members. A beautiful tribute to one of the most important artists of the 20th century.” – Weston Williams, WFMT
German baritone Benjamin Appl pays tribute to his teacher and mentor, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012), with For Dieter: The Past and The Future, released by Alpha Classics.The repertoire on this monumental release is structured to reflect the major stages of Fischer-Dieskau’s incredible life and includes compositions by his family members Albert and Klaus Fischer-Dieskau, repertoire he sang as a soldier during World War II and as an American Prisoner of War in Italy, and pieces that were composed especially for him, as well as favourite lieder by Schubert. Appl is joined on the recording by one of his frequent collaborators, pianist James Baillieu.
Appl writes of his experience working on this project: “It is thanks to curating this 100th anniversary celebratory album and related concerts that I have been able to spend countless hours over the past months and years studying an immense number of his letters, contracts, programmes, diary entries, photo albums and books. These were very personal moments for me, as they brought me closer not only to Fischer-Dieskau the artist but even more so to the man himself; they sharpened my memories of character traits I knew so well and also allowed me to observe new facets of his multi-lavered personality. This project is intended to provide a subjective representation of Fischer-Dieskau as well as to give an insight into the man behind all the great successes and accolades, and onto what moved him and what shaped him as a human being.”
Simone Dinnerstein – Complicité | May 30, 2025 (Supertrain Records)
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“[Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn] spend a pleasant hour gently experimenting with and rethinking a neatly chosen sequence of compositions by Bach.” – Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone
“With Dinnerstein spearheading the project, Complicité registers strongly. Not only are the performances terrific, the music impresses for being more than faithful replications of existing scores but instead arresting re-imaginings that take Bach's pieces into dynamic new realms. The pianist's talent for inspiring those around her is also clearly evident in the engaged performances by [Baroklyn] and the contributions of [Peggy] Pearson and [Jennifer Johnson] Cano.” – Ron Schepper, Textura
“I was seduced by the sound world of this album. There is a relaxed yet sincere quality to the performances that conveys the artists’ desire to make this music feel contemporary and accessible. This is music among friends with the listener feeling very welcome and wishing the evening would not end.” – Oliver Camacho, WFMT
Complicité, out now on Supertrain Records, is the fifteenth album from GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein. This is Simone's first album with the string ensemble she founded and directs, Baroklyn (a portmanteau of Baroque and Brooklyn, her home borough).
It includes Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053 and his chorales Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf, BWV 617 and Der Leib war in der Erden, BWV 161 (both arranged by Dinnerstein and Baroklyn); Bach’s Cantata 170, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust with continuo realization by Philip Lasser; and In the Air, Lasser’s recomposition of Bach’s Air on the G String. Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano and Peggy Pearson, oboe d’amore, join Simone's and Baroklyn on this deeply felt recording, which embodies Dinnerstein’s artistic vision that music should always be creative and new.
Of the album title, Simone says, “Complicité is a term that I first heard from my son, who studied the teachings of the French theatre practitioner, Jacques Lecoq. Three important ideas that Lecoq communicated to his students were le jeu (playfulness), complicité (togetherness), and disponsibilité (openness). I was so intrigued by these ideas, and the different exercises that my son learned in order to cultivate these skills within ensemble acting, that I decided to try a Lecoq approach with my own musical ensemble, Baroklyn.”
Maya Beiser – Salt | August 1, 2025 (Islandia Music Records)
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“Beiser has built a career around challenging traditional notions of how her instrument is played and thought about in a sometimes stiflingly rigid classical music industry that has traditionally imposed higher barriers on women.” – Leila Fadel, NPR Morning Edition
“Salt is an emotionally charged meditation on memory, mourning and mythic womanhood.” – Thomas May, The Strad
“an extraordinary album that reinforces [Maya] Beiser’s status as one of the most innovative—and intriguing—string players on the contemporary music scene.” – Greg Cahill, Strings
Cellist and producer Maya Beiser, hailed as a “force of nature” by The Boston Globe, released her newest solo album, Salt, on her Islandia Music Records label. This conceptually rich collection centers around the biblical figure of Lot's Wife, exploring themes of memory, witness, and the cost of remembering. On her new album, Maya gives voice to this nameless biblical figure who, for her, became “a symbol of all the women who have been punished for remembering, for feeling too much, for refusing to move on. I imagined her not as a cautionary tale, but as a witness. A woman who couldn’t unsee what she had loved. A woman who dared to turn around.”
The album features Missy Mazzoli's Salt, a powerful mini-opera for alto voice, amplified cello and electronics, featuring text by celebrated screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson and vocals by the extraordinary performer Helga Davis; Bieser’s arrangements of Gluck’s Melody from Orfeo ed Euridice, Tavener's Lament to Phaedra and Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna; Salt Air, Salt Earth by Clarice Jensen; and Bieser’s reimagining of Meredith Monk's Hocket; her reconstruction of Shedemati, a song from Beiser’s childhood in Israel, performed with the compelling vocal artist Odeya Nini; and Purcell's When I Am Laid in Earth, Purcell's When I Am Laid in Earth.
Tamar Sagiv – Shades of Mourning | August 8, 2025 (Sono Luminus)
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The Best New Albums Out August 8, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“Stylistically, [Tamar Sagiv’s] solo music is melodic and oddly timeless, and indeed placeless, somehow evoking both Bach and Dave Holland.” – Roger Thomas, BBC Music Magazine
“An impressive debut that fuses performance talents and composition in an unusual and fresh way.” – James Manheim, All Music
“Shades of Mourning showcases [Tamar Sagiv’s] virtuosic command of the cello, and she uses that technique to amplify the emotional expression of the material.” – Ron Schepper, Textura
New York City-based cellist and composer Tamar Sagiv releases her new album, Shades of Mourning, on the GRAMMY-winning label Sono Luminus. The album features nine original compositions by Sagiv that explore the multifaceted nature of grief and mourning through deeply personal musical landscapes. Violinist Leerone Hakami and violist Ella Bukszpan collaborate with Sagiv on four of the tracks.
Described by New York Weekly as "an innovative cellist [whose] versatility sets her apart from her peers," Sagiv was drawn to music's unique ability to convey the nuance of complex emotions and lived experiences. Each work on the album illuminates different aspects of the grieving process, from profound loss to unexpected moments of renewal.
Shades of Mourning began in the most intimate of circumstances. "This album began, unknowingly, at my grandmother's deathbed," Sagiv writes in her liner notes. "I didn't realize then that the piece I wrote while she was taking her last breaths would grow into an album, nor did I yet know I was a composer." That first piece became the album's opening track – a passacaglia that Sagiv describes as "a farewell to a woman who shaped my life in ways I'm still uncovering."
Tina Davidson – Let Your Heart Be Broken (Audiobook) | August 12, 2025 (Boyle & Dalton)
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“The real music here is in the words, which cascade across these pages with a gentle, precise rhythm reflected in Davidson’s luminous musical scores. Let Your Heart Be Broken is not the story of a solitary artist obsessed with a craft but rather of the life that informs the art: a humanistic, worldly spirit, creating beauty amid an often-maddening, yet ever-hopeful, world.” – Peter Burwasser, Broad Street Review
Composer and author Tina Davidson’s memoir, Let Your Heart Be Broken, is now available in audiobook format on all major platforms via publisher Boyle & Dalton. The audiobook, read by Davidson herself, features her music woven throughout, interspersed in sections where she discusses the compositions’ creation. This rare look inside a composer’s creative process juxtaposes recordings of Davidson’s music, memories, journal entries, and insights into the life of an artist and mother at work. Let Your Heart Be Broken was published in hardback and paperback in 2023.
“Part of my commitment as a composer is to bring others into my musical world, both through the music itself and by writing about my creative process,” says Tina Davidson. “By weaving my compositions into the chapters of this audiobook containing my journals, I'm creating a bridge between my inner creative practice and the finished work, opening the door for listeners to understand and connect more deeply.”
Davidson, a highly regarded American composer, creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyrical dignity. Lauded for her authentic voice, The New York Times has praised her “vivid ear for harmony and colors.”
Telegraph Quartet – 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm | August 22, 2025 (Azica Records)
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“Nimble and cohesive, the Telegraph Quartet plays these works with utter conviction, revealing music that, haunted by destruction, insists on forward motion.” – Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times
“Edge of the Storm builds on the Telegraph’s reputation for intellectually searching and emotionally charged interpretations. Now quartet-in-residence with the University of Michigan, the ensemble – violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw – approaches this music not simply as a historical document, but as a living challenge to engage with the past.” – Thomas May, The Strad
“An impressive series of performances that are not for the faint-of-heart.” – Gary Lemco, The Arts Fuse
The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) releases its new album, Edge of the Storm, on Azica Records. Edge of the Storm follows the Telegraph Quartet's acclaimed 2023 album Divergent Paths as the second volume in its 20th-Century Vantage Points series. Where the first volume featuring the quartets of Ravel and Schoenberg explored the century's opening decade of unbridled creativity, this new installment examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
On Edge of the Storm, the Telegraph delves into the brief but historically significant ten-year period of 1941-51. As Kai Christiansen writes in the liner notes, “Each composer featured on the album lived a unique wartime life that unmistakably influenced their equally unique quartet masterworks of the period.” Together, these quartets form a powerful triptych of wartime experience: Britten's exile and displacement, Weinberg's direct confrontation with genocide and loss, and Bacewicz's emergence from underground resistance into post-war renewal. Each composer's unique response to this defining historical moment creates a cohesive artistic statement about creativity's persistence through one of humanity's darkest periods.
Ember – Birds of Paradise | September 12, 2025 (Azica Records)
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“Written in 1901, [Henriette Renié's] Trio's four movements draw on the style of late 19th century French Romanticism with elements of the modernist ideas that were also developing, conveyed here in an interpretation that is evocative but never mannered.” – Roger Thomas, BBC Music Magazine
“It would be reductionist to say that this is an album showcasing women’s voices. It is so much more than that. Birds of Paradise is a wonderfully evocative and engaging 48 minutes of music performed exquisitely.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“The principal composition on the album is a trio in B-flat major composed by Henriette Renié…The instrumentation allows for a piano in place of a harp, but the plucked-string sonorities of the harp make for an engaging contrast with the two bowed instruments.” – Stephen Smoliar, The Rehearsal Studio
Ember (harpist, Emily Levin, violinist Julia Choi, and cellist Christine Lamprea) is an ensemble of modern trailblazers championing new works by living composers and forging paths of connection and community through intimate, personalized concert experiences. The trio’s debut album – Birds of Paradise, released on Azica Records – showcases three compelling works: French harpist and composer Henriette Renié's groundbreaking Trio in B-flat Major (1901), the first major composition written for harp, violin, and cello; the world premiere recording of Angélica Negrón’s Ave del paraíso (2023); and the first recording of Reena Esmail’s Saans (2017) in this new arrangement for harp, violin, and cello created for Ember.“
Birds of Paradise directly confronts the historical stereotyping of the harp as a "feminine" domestic instrument. As Emily Levin explains in the album notes, while the harp was once "considered suitable for the domestic sphere,” its transition to the concert hall was largely championed by male performers playing works by male composers, often overlooking the revolutionary contributions of women performers and composers.
Arlene Sierra – Birds and Insects Vol. 4 (Featuring the World Premiere Recording of Birds and Insects: Book 3 by Sarah Cahill) | September 5, 2025 (Bridge Records)
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"This is music that you need to hear for yourself... Arlene Sierra’s gift is unquestionably brilliant." – Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International
“This is rigorously modern music that is directly appealing, something that is no small accomplishment.” – James Manheim, AllMusic
"Whether you are familiar with the sounds of the titmouse or the black and white warbler or tawny owls, Sierra’s approach to giving them a musical work is enjoyable and provocative.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
Arlene Sierra’s Birds and Insects Vol. 4 is out now on Bridge Records. This is the fourth volume of Sierra’s work recorded as part of Bridge Records’ Portrait Series. The album features pianist Sarah Cahill’s world premiere recording of Birds and Insects: Book 3, as well as the world premiere recordings of Birds and Insects Books 1 and 2, recorded by pianist Steven Beck. Sierra composed Birds and Insects: Book 3 for Cahill in 2022, commissioned by London’s Barbican Centre as part of Cahill’s The Future is Female project.
Sierra's Birds and Insects comprises three books of 5 movements each, composed across a twenty-year period. Like much of her work, it centers on the natural world, addressing the subjects of landscape, evolutionary biology, and the sounds, processes and behavior of birds and insects. Sierra writes, “Each piece features distinct characteristics to fit its title: spelling the name in pitches, employing a transcription of an animal’s song from nature, recalling its physical movement in various ways, or developing ideas drawn from an animal’s cultural symbolism.”
Cahill says: “It was an honor to work with Arlene Sierra on these fascinating pieces which she wrote for my project The Future is Female at the Barbican in 2022, and to make the first recording of them. Arlene was inspired by the female Lovely Fairywren and Canyon Wren who sing. She explains that birdsong was always considered the exclusive domain of male birds because they were only studied by male ornithologists, but that recently female ornithologists have proven that female birds sing as well.”
Christopher Stark – Fire Ecologies | September 19, 2025 (New Focus Recordings)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
The Best New Albums Out September 19, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“The blend of music and recordings begins its life in the haunting opening track. The subsequent pieces reflect tones that are whimsical, ominous and conclude with a sense of renewal.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“You can be dazzled in the comfort of your home, as Unheard-of//Ensemble has released a stunning recording of [Christopher] Stark’s piece.” – Jeremy Shatan, anEarful
Fire Ecologies is the new album from Christopher Stark – Rome Prize-winning composer, curator, and Associate Professor of Composition at Washington University in St. Louis. This new recording is released on New Focus Recordings and performed by New York based chamber group Unheard-of Ensemble – Ford Fourqurean (clarinet), Matheus Souza (violin), Iva Casian-Lakoš (cello), Daniel Anastasio (piano). The work was premiered on September 18, 2021 by Unheard-of Ensemble at the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.
In the nearly four years since its premiere, Fire Ecologies has been performed several times throughout the United States with two of its most noteworthy performances taking place at two New York City based EPA Superfund sites. These locations add to the statement of the work itself, aiming to move the conversation about climate change beyond the walls of the concert hall and into nature, striving to bring more attention to the places that need more urgent preservation efforts.
Fire Ecologies incorporates field recordings of the 2020 California wildfires and sounds from Stark’s travels around the U.S. “Nature has always been a central theme in my work because I grew up in western Montana in a very small town at the base of the Rocky Mountains and on the southern shore of a large glacial lake,” Stark writes in an article for Washington University in St. Louis. “But in recent years the inspiration I take from nature has become more complicated as climate change has begun to haunt our planet.”
Made up of six “scenes,” Fire Ecologies evokes many contrasting moods through each one.
“They take their titles from pre-existing, nature-inspired music in an attempt to recontextualize these old pieces through the contemporary lens of global warming,” writes Stark. “For example, the second scene is called Jeux d’eau ( Water Games) after Maurice Ravel, and the fifth scene is called “Dypt inne i barskogen” (“Deep in the Forest”) after Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt.”
Carolyn Surrick & Ensemble Galilei – There I Long to Be | September 26, 2025 (Sono Luminus)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
The Best New Albums Out September 26, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“[Ensemble Galilei’s] sound defies genre classification.” – Frank Housh, Media Room
Ensemble Galilei is a small ensemble specializing in a wide range of music for their particular instrumentation, and includes Isaac Alderson (uilleann pipes, Irish flute, whistles, tenor saxophone), Jesse Langen (guitar), Kathryn Montoya (recorders, whistle, shawm), Jackie Moran (banjo, bodhrán, egg shaker; and founder Carolyn Surrick (viola da gamba). The group performs Renaissance and Baroque, Ancient and recent Celtic (including Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Galician music), and Irish music, including some works especially written for them. The ensemble is named after Vincenzo Galilei (ca. 1520-1592), a pioneer in the Greek-inspired movement that created “opera in musica.” He is credited as both simplifying and bringing passion back into music, and was also a leading theoretician of his time. (His son, Galileo Galilei, was the great astronomer.)
Featuring 47 tunes across 34 tracks on two discs, There I Long to Be, the new album from esteemed folk collective Ensemble Gllilei, contains an abundance of jigs, reels, traditional tunes, and early music, as well as works by members of the Ensemble. In addition to the five regular Ensemble members, this recording also features Hanneke Cassel (fiddle, and Ensemble Galilei emeritus member), Tim Langen (fiddle), Ronn McFarlane (lute), and James Oxley (tenor).
Recorded over the course of two years, the music on There I Long to Be encompasses a wide range of musical styles, cultures, and time periods – a combination of the musicians’ individual interests and the group’s focus. What unites it is an artistic vision that is inspired and undeterred, and unique to Ensemble Galilei.
Clarice Jensen – In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness | October 17, 2025 (FatCat/130701 Records)
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“With this album, [Clarice] Jensen reminds us how past and present can combine in potent, emotionally charged ways — how Bach's old school traditions and our new age of electronics can make arresting bedfellows.” – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music
“There is music with the power to transport you instantly into another world—and Clarice Jensen's new album, In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness, is most certainly among it. Even the title (inspired by a line from Rilke) feels like a promise: something emerging from the darkness, radiant, dressed in festive attire. And that is precisely how it's supposed to be, when you allow yourself to be drawn into Jensen's soundscapes.” – Sounds Vegan
“Even the most accessible work in the evolving oeuvre of cellist and composer Clarice Jensen is experimental, because it’s about venturing somewhere new. In holiday clothing out of the great darkness moves her sound forward through improvisation, as she uses cello, pedals, and electronics to create loops and layers. The result is a wealth of tonal variety[.]” – Marc Masters, Bandcamp
Cellist and composer Clarice Jensen releases her fourth solo album, In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness, via FatCat Records’ 130701 imprint. The new album showcases Jensen’s distinctive compositional approach, in which she improvises and layers her cello through shifting loops and a chain of electronic effects, exploring a series of rich, drone-based sound fields. Pulsing, visceral and full of color, her work is deeply immersive, marked by a wonderful sense of restraint and an almost hallucinatory clarity. Jensen recorded In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness as part of the Visiting Artist Programme at Studio Richter Mahr, the creative space co-founded by Yulia Mahr and Max Richter in Oxfordshire, England.
With In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness, Jensen sets new parameters – placing the acoustic sound of the cello at the fore and affecting the sound only through a few effects (octave displacement, delay, tremolo and looping). Jensen considers the solo cello works of J.S. Bach as a central backdrop to this new album. Bach’s Solo Cello Suites display a rich range of voices created by one instrument. Having found ways to expand the sound and voice of the instrument through electronics, Jensen found it fitting to return to Bach's works – music she has played for many years – as a way to touch back in with the tradition of the instrument. She notes, “It felt necessary to return to the rich acoustic sound of the cello that I've loved and produced for nearly my entire life, and to return to an expression of emotion that's multi-dimensional and sincere.”
Ariel Quartet – Complete Beethoven String Quartets Vol. 2 | November 7, 2025 (Orchid Records)
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“One of the finest musical ensembles performing today, noted for its sophisticated, passionate sound.” – Frank Housh, Media Room
The Ariel Quartet (Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; and Amit Even-Tov, cello) – distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned performances – will release volume two of their Complete Beethoven String Quartets trilogy on November 7, 2025 via Orchid Classics, with volume three arriving in June 2026 and a special box set release in March 2027.
Volume two of the cycle, recorded across three CDs, includes Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartets – String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1; String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3; and String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 – as well as his String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74; and String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op. 95, “Quartetto serioso.”
The Quartet recounts an early experience with Beethoven’s Op. 59, the Razumovsky Quartets, which left a long-lasting impression.
They write, “A memorable milestone in our personal journey with Beethoven was a concert at Frankfurt’s Kaisersaal during the 1999-2000 season, where we performed all three Razumovsky Quartets in a single evening. At sixteen, we approached the challenge with youthful excitement, and through countless hours in rehearsal we began to understand the depth and demands of this music – gradually developing not only the stamina, but the artistic maturity required to bring over two hours of this intricate music to life. Youthful enthusiasm (let’s be honest: fearlessness) alone allowed us to commit to the repertoire for this important concert without hesitation – and luckily, all went well. In hindsight, preparing this music for increasingly demanding opportunities played a crucial role in forging a confident and lasting relationship with this extraordinary canon.”
Dec. 6: Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Lynn University Conservatory of Music – Performing the Music of Chopin, Granados, and Debussy
Dec. 6: Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Lynn University Conservatory of Music – Performing the Music of Chopin, Granados, and Debussy
Photo by Dario Acosta available in high resolution here.
Pianist Charlotte Hu
Presented by Lynn University Conservatory of Music
Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin,
Enrique Granados, and Claude Debussy
Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 7:30pm
Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall (inside de Hoernle International Center)
3601 North Military Trail | Boca Raton, FL
Tickets and information
“praises follow [Charlotte Hu] all around the world” – International Piano
Boca Raton, FL – Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu will be presented in concert by Lynn University Conservatory of Music on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 7:30pm. The performance will be held in Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall, which is inside de Hoernle International Center (3601 N Military Trl ). 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.
For this Saturday evening performance, Hu will perform a program dedicated to the music of Frédéric Chopin, Enrique Granados, and Claude Debussy. This program highlights Hu’s past and future, as the Romantic era 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.
The timeless music of Claude Debussy will then serve as a delicate bridge between the two halves of the program. Hu brings her musical elegance to the iconic composer of the Impressionist era, imparting various emotions through Debussy’s work, before moving to the decisive and compelling imagery that shapes the music of Enrique Granados’ Goyescas Suite (1911). Granados composed this richly expressive work in 1911, as he was inspired by the work of artist Francisco Goya. The suite is subtitled Los majos enamorados (The Gallants in Love). The music is highly technical and extremely challenging but is also regarded as one of the two most iconic works of Spanish piano repertoire – the other being Isaac Albeniz’s Iberia Suite. Granados composer is the inspiration behind Hu’s next album – her second on the PENTATONE label – which will be released in June 2026.
The complete concert program will include: Chopin’s Variations on Là ci darem la mano from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Op. 2; Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57; Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60; and Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 "Heroic"; Debussy’s Suite bergamasque III. Clair de lune; and Selections from Goyescas, Los majos enamorados: No. 5 El amor y la muerte (Love and Death); No. 4 Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor (Complaints, or The Maiden and the Nightingale); and No. 1 Los requiebros (Compliments/Flattery).
"I am truly looking forward to visiting Lynn University and performing some of the most amazing works in piano literature—audience favorites like the Chopin works and Debussy, as well as lesser-performed works like the absolutely gorgeous Suite of Goyescas,” says Hu, “I look forward to performing for the audience in Boca Raton and visiting this fantastic university."
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, who the Philadelphia Inquirer describes as a “first class talent [and] superb pianist,” is presented in concert by the Lynn University Conservatory of Music. Hu will perform a program featuring the music of Frédéric Chopin, Enrique Granados, and Claude Debussy.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Charlotte Hu
Presented by Lynn University Conservatory of Music
What: Music by Frédéric Chopin, Enrique Granados, and Claude Debussy
When: Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: 3601 North Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Tickets and information: www.lynn.edu/events/guest-pianist-charlotte-hu-in-recital
Dec. 13: World Premiere of The Star by Robert and Victoria Sirota – Performed by ESSENTIAL VOICES USA Conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman
Dec. 13: World Premiere of The Star by Robert and Victoria Sirota – Performed by ESSENTIAL VOICES USA Conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman
Photo by Ryuhei Shindo available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/robert-sirota
Composer Robert Sirota: World Premiere of The Star
A New Work for Chorus, Piano, and String Quartet
Music by Robert Sirota and Text by Victoria Sirota
Presented as part of
Sing Christmas! - A Holiday Concert and Sing-Along
Performed by ESSENTIAL VOICES USA
Conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman
Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 7:30pm
St. Malachy’s - The Actors’ Chapel
239 West 49th Street | New York, NY
Free and Open to the Public | $20.00 Suggested Donation
More Information
“[Sirota’s] compositional voice has a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite.” – The New York Times
New York, NY – On Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 7:30pm, in St. Malachy’s - The Actors’ Chapel (239 West 49th Street), ESSENTIAL VOICES USA will present the world premiere performance of The Star – a new work for chorus, piano, and string quartet with music by composer Robert Sirota and text by Victoria Sirota.
The performance is part of Essential Voices USA’s Holiday Concert and Sing-Along, Sing Christmas, which is presented through EVUSA’s Community Project – a program that brings concerts and sing-alongs free of charge to the New York City community. The performance features the Essential Voices chorus conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman, accompanied by the Essential Strings. There is a $20 suggested donation but the performance is free and open to the public.
Robert and Victoria Sirota share a multilayered and intertwined life as spouses, musicians, educators, people of faith, and more. The pair have collaborated countless times, performing and writing together, leading to some truly beautiful artistry. Their complementary creative gifts come together again in the making of The Star, a piece written specifically for this joyous performance and gathering of the community for the holidays.
“The great choral conductor, composer, guru Judith Clurman asked Vicki [Sirota] and me to create a new holiday song for her wonderful choir, Essential Voices USA – a song with a refrain that the whole audience could sing.” says Robert Sirota. “Vicki produced a text which is eloquent, simple, and eminently singable, and I have done my best to write something which does justice to her words.”
Gather us up and bring us home,
Dear Angels from on high.
Restore our dreams. Restore our faith,
In Hope that does not die
Gather us up and bring us home,
Dear Angels from above.
Show us the path of Truth and Light,
Blessed by Eternal Love.
"In The Star, I imagine the light of a single star heralding an angelic choir,” says Victoria Sirota. “Their sweet song mystically carries us to a place of perfect love, love that nurtures, inspires and empowers us to be the fullness of who we have been created to be."
The program will also include performances of Christmas Joy, a collection of holiday favorites arranged by Joshua Clayton and Judith Clurman for chorus and string quartet; the world premiere of a new arrangement of The Wexford Carol, for percussion, cello, and keyboard; and Listen to the World (music by Judith Clurman, lyrics by William Schermerhorn) – a work that encourages greater understanding and inspires hope for a better world. The audience will also be invited to participate in several traditional carol arrangements, accompanied by string quartet arrangements by Jeremy Robin Lyons, as well as holiday classics by Jerry Herman and Irving Berlin. As part of the evening’s sing-along, audience members will also be invited to join the Essential Voices chorus in singing the refrain from The Star.
About Robert Sirota: Over five decades, composer Robert Sirota has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota’s musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.”
Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Telegraph, and Blair String Quartets; the Neave, Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown music festivals; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Recent commissions include the Neave Trio, Judith Clurman/Essential Voices USA, Jeffrey Kahane and the Sarasota Music Festival, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Palladium Musicum, American Guild of Organists, the American String Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Naumburg Foundation, yMusic, and arrangements for Paul Simon. Commissions for Sirota@70 in honor of his 70th birthday include works for Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis & the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, and Sierra Chamber Society.
Recipient of grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, United States Information Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center, Sirota’s works are recorded on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Hal Leonard, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.
Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, Sirota served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University's School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the School’s composition faculty.
A native New Yorker, Sirota studied at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.
For complete information, visit www.robertsirota.com.
About Victoria R. Sirota: Victoria Sirota, organist, Episcopal priest and author, holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Boston University and Harvard Divinity School. She has studied organ with Andre Marchal in Paris and Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam and has performed organ recitals in the United States, France and Germany. The Rev. Dr. Sirota has taught at Boston University, Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music, and The Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University. Former National Chaplain for the American Guild of Organists and The Association of Anglican Musicians, she is the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas and song cycles. Her book Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of Sacred Musician is available from Church Publishing, and, in addition to recordings on Northeastern and Gasparo labels, her recording of organ works by Robert Sirota Celestial Wind is available from Albany Records.
About ESSENTIAL VOICES USA: Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) is recognized as one of New York’s most distinguished choral ensembles. Comprised of acclaimed professionals and select auditioned volunteers, the ensemble shapes its sound to reflect the unique spirit and character of each project it undertakes. EVUSA has appeared on many of the nation’s most celebrated stages, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, and the Washington National Cathedral. The group has recorded more than twenty CDs. Through The Community Project, EVUSA presents free concerts and sing-alongs across New York City’s five boroughs, while its Composer Speaks series, at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, celebrates and champions new American works. A Grammy nominee and two-time Emmy Award nominee, conductor Judith Clurman has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and beyond. A passionate advocate for new music, she has commissioned and premiered works by more than seventy composers. Judith has served as Director of Choral Activities at The Juilliard School, as vocal specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts/Columbia University Institute of Classical Music, and as co-creator and conductor of The Singing Tree for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. She currently teaches voice at the Manhattan School of Music, and her compositions and arrangements are performed by major orchestras and choruses nationwide.
The Essential Strings (Suliman Tekali & Rita Wang violins; Caeli Smith viola; and Aaron Wolff cello) was formed for EVUSA’S recent project, Christmas Joy. Christmas Joy and Listen to the World are recorded by EVUSA for Albany Records.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: On Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 7:30pm, Judith Clurman’s ESSENTIAL VOICES USA will present the world premiere performance of The Star – A new work for chorus, piano, and string quartet with music by composer Robert Sirota and text by Victoria Sirota. The performance will be part of an evening of carols, readings, and a community sing-along held in St. Malachy’s - The Actors’ Chapel (239 West 49th Street) and features the Essential Voices chorus conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman, accompanied by the Essential Strings.
Concert details:
What: World Premiere of The Star – a New Work for Chorus, Piano, and String Quartet Music by Robert Sirota and Text by Victoria Sirota in Sing Christmas! - A Holiday Concert and Sing-Along
Presented as part of EVUSA’s Community Project
Who: Essential Voices USA and Essential Strings, conducted by Music Director Judith Clurman
When: Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: St. Malachy’s - The Actors’ Chapel, 239 West 49th Street, New York, NY 10019
More Information: www.judithclurman.com/wp/news-events
ECM New Series: 2025 Year-End Review
ECM New Series: 2025 Year-End Review
ECM New Series: 2025 Year-End Review
Alexander Knaifel – Chapter Eight | March 14, 2025 (ECM New Series)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
Best New Albums Out March 14, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“[Alexander Knaifel] called the work 'a community prayer,' to be realized 'in the most reverberant church acoustics.' This recording from 2009, made in the Jesuitenkirche in Luzern, Switzerland, certainly fills the bill, and credit goes to the ECM label's engineers, in a difficult live situation, for giving the music the desired sense of growing out of the walls.” – James Manheim, All Music
Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of composer Alexander Knaifel. A slowly moving piece that acquires a cumulative power with enveloping and radiant atmosphere, it proposes what Knaifel referred to as a “non-concerto situation.” As the work progresses, the cellist is called upon to renounce the soloist’s role of leadership and to surrender to the total sound at the nexus of the choirs, arranged in cross formation inside the church. Here the cellist is Patrick Demenga who, together with his brother Thomas, made the first of ECM’s recordings of Knaifel’s music in 1998 with Lux Aeterna. The premiere performance of Chapter Eight took place in Washington’s National Cathedral in 1995, with Mstislav Rostropovich in the cellist’s role.
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts – ÆRIS | May 23, 2025 (ECM New Series)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
“highly expressive and colourful music.” – James McCarthy, Gramophone
“Certainly this is challenging music, and just as certainly, it is beautifully recorded by ECM at the Estonian Concert Hall in Tallinn.” – James Manheim, All Music
Best New Albums Out May 23, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
Aeris is the ninth ECM New Series album to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. Olari Elts, a long-time champion of Tüür’s work, conducts the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in compelling, intensely-focused performances of Phantasma, De Profundis and Tüür’s tenth symphony “ÆRIS”, which is scored for horn quartet and orchestra.
In Latin, Tüür notes, “æris” means brass while “aeris” means air, “and without this essential element, not a sound would come out of brass instruments. Thus, the title of my tenth symphony focuses mainly on the brass sound that carries the weight of this composition.” Written at the urging of the ensemble German Hornsound in 2022, the symphony is a vast drama of shifting energies and interactions, with the horns effectively “messengers from beyond the horizon, bringing prophecies of imminent irreversible changes.”
Arvo Pärt – Tractus (Limited Edition Heavyweight 2-LP) | May 30, 2025 (ECM New Series)
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
“An original and intriguing collection of works, this, with beautiful recorded sound, as always, and outstanding performances of passion and precision guided by the presiding genius of Tõnu Kaljuste.” – Ivan Moody, Gramophone
“Tractus, seems to put an arm around you and whisper, 'In troubled times, music can help.'” – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music
Tractus emphasizes Arvo Pärt compositions that blend the timbres of string orchestra and choir. New versions predominate, with focused performances from the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste’s direction that invite alert and concentrated listening. From the opening composition Littlemore Tractus, which takes as its starting point consoling reflections from a sermon by John Henry Newman, the idea of change, transfiguration and renewal resonates, setting a tone for a recording whose character is one of summing up, looking inward, and reconciling with the past. Compositions included are Littlemore Tractus, Greater Antiphons, Cantique des degrés, Sequentia, L’abbé Agathon, These Words… and Veni creator. An evocative reworking of Vater unser for choir, strings and piano concludes this album.
The compositions included on Tractus are based upon or inspired by scriptural, liturgical or other Christian texts. “The text is independent of us,” Pärt once said. “It awaits us. Everyone needs his own time to come to it. The encounter occurs when the text is no longer treated as literature or artwork but as reference point or model.”
Signum Quartett – A Dark Flaring | July 18, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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"genuinely new experiences for many hearers" – James Manheim, All Music
“On the evidence of this beautifully played and presented programme, string quartet composition is alive and well in Southern Africa.” – Guy Rickards, Gramophone
“The six pieces included on this enthralling album reflect as many different ways of reconciling that most Western European art form – the string quartet – with the heritage of South African culture and history.” – Carlos Maria Solare, The Strad
“I strongly urge you to seek out this release if you are interested in the string quartet and/or the meeting of cultural traditions. It’s been a profoundly refreshing and educative experience.” – Dominic Hartley, Musicweb International
A Dark Flaring marks the Signum Quartett’s return to ECM’s New Series after debuting for the label with striking performances on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s acclaimed chamber music recording Lost Prayers (2020). Here, the quartet has put together a unique programme dedicated to South African composers, born in the 20th century, whose works for string quartet are united by the way they blend respect for the past with an instinct for the future in a wide-flung idiomatic scope. The grid of references unravelled between the six composers here – their dates of birth span from 1903 to 1983 – is as geographically wide as it is idiomatically deep, with large musical bridges connecting inspirations ranging from South African Xhosa and Zulu traditions through the late Renaissance to 19th century Romanticism as well as 20th century impressionists and minimalists. There’s even a nod to popular culture, as Matthijs van Dijk’s (rage) rage against the borrows inspiration for its title from the rock group Rage Against The Machine.
The complicated historical and in the same breath cultural backdrop that goes hand in hand with musical repertory composed over this specific period, in the South African context, is not only impossible to ignore but moreover serves as catalyst, canvas and disrupter – sometimes all at once – for most of the music presented here. The album was recorded at Sendesaal Bremen in March 2022. The CD includes liner notes by South African journalist and music critic Shirley Apthorp.
Rolf Lislevand – Libro primo | August 29, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“Full of rich expressivity and gleaming virtuosity, Libro Primo from Rolf Lislevand is a beautiful listen. It’s also a valuable contribution to our understanding of music from a period that classical music presenters often overlook.” – Jon Sobel, Blogcritics
On his newest recording for ECM’s New Series, lute virtuoso Rolf Lislevand turns to the revolutionary Baroque literature for archlute and chitarrone, interpreting the works of some of the most significant 16th-17th century lute composers. In striking solo performances, the Norwegian lute player explores the progressive nature of pieces by Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini, Bernardo Gianoncelli and Diego Ortiz. Lislevand takes historically informed liberties in his interpretations throughout the programme, improvising frequently, as was custom at the time, and even contributes his own personal study of the challenging Passacaglia form with his “Passacaglia al modo mio”. Delving deeper into the musical fabric of the time, he also decided on a different tuning for the archlute than is commonly used today, “giving the music an adventurous timbre, more in line with the nuove musiche.”
The modernity of this music’s melodic and rhythmic sensibility throughout can be surprising, not only substantiating Lislevand’s deeper dive into this repertoire, but also revealing a broad idiomatic reach that can still sound highly contemporary today.
Arvo Pärt, Vox Clamantis; Jaan-Eik Tulve, Conductor – And I heard a voice | September 5, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“The music helps create this supernatural portal between this world and the next and how Arvo Pärt depicts it, is with the utmost wonder and reverence.” Tom Huizenga, – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“Some of the most outstanding performances I have attended in my life have featured vocal music by Estonian composers performed by Estonian choirs in the acoustic marvel that is Estonian churches – and Vox Clamantis’ new album of works by Arvo Pärt recorded in Haapsalu Cathedral is equally magnificent.” – Amanda Cook, I Care If You Listen
“This superb collection of music for choir composed by Pärt concludes with ‘And I heard a voice’, notable as the only composition by the Estonian composer in which he has set sacred text in his native language, using a translation into Estonian of the Book of Revelation. To the text Pärt has written music that perfectly blends the past with the present, and to which Vox Clamantis bring a gravitas that acknowledges both the compositions and the composer.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views
And I heard a voice, recorded in Haapsalu Cathedral, Estonia, and released as Arvo Pärt turns 90, shows that the rapport between the choir, Vox Clamantis – conducted by Jaan-Eik Tulve – and composer, rooted in a shared feeling for both ancient plainchant and contemporary music, continues to deepen.
The new album, focusing primarily on recent compositions by Pärt, also reaches back to embrace the Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, written in 1988, and based upon the scriptural verses intoned in the Roman Catholic liturgy during evening prayers in the week before Christmas. In the liner notes, Kristina Kõrver indicates how Pärt allows the character of each text to influence his settings of it. Thus, reference to the Laws of Moses in O Adonai are expressed in a “more archaic sound and ascetic expression”, while Jesse (O Sproß aus Isais Wurzel) incorporates dissonance “like a little flower pushing its way through the pavement”, as Pärt once said.e created a fascinating interplay between the pristine European piano tradition and the American poetry of the Beat Generation.
Dobrinka Tabakova – Sun Triptych | September 26, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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The Best New Albums Out September 26, 2025 – All Songs Considered, NPR Music
“superb new album” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“Her harmonic shifts quite simply melt into each other and leave an imprint on the soul.” – Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel
Dobrinka Tabakova’s ECM New Series debut, String Paths, made an immediate impact on its release in 2013. Sun Triptych, produced by Manfred Eicher, brings back some of the String Paths ensemble, including close associates violist Maxim Rysanov, violinist Roman Mints, and cellist Kristine Blaumane. Friends and colleagues since conservatory days at the Guildhall School, all now leading soloists in their own right, they have grown up with the expressive language and colors of Tabakova’s music and are among its ideal interpreters.
Dobrinka Tabakova was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1980 and moved with her family to the UK in 1991; she has lived in London since then. She studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department and at the age of 14 won the Jean-Frédéric Perrenoud composition prize at the Vienna International Music Competition. Tabakova graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and King’s College London, and also participated in master classes with composers including Iannis Xenakis, John Adams and Louis Andriessen.
Zehetmair Quartett – Johannes Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 | October 17, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“wonderful new recording...outstanding performances.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
“[T]he Zehetmair Quartett offer an impassioned and intrepid take on the material, from the throbbing high line of the violins and curved arch of the cello which characterise the opening phrases of the very first movement to the spare romance.” – Christopher Laws, Culturedarm
A central fixture in the world of string quartets for the past thirty years, the Zehetmair Quartett’s ECM recordings of Schumann, Hindemith, Bartók and Hartmann have received luminous praise – Gramophone lauded their Schumann as “Record of the Year”, while The Sunday Times described their Hindemith and Bartók performances as “playing of huge finesse in both pieces,” calling them “a real benchmark”.
For this newest entry into their New Series catalogue, the ensemble turns to Johannes Brahms’s first two string quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 and 2 – works of mature reflection and dramatic urgency that reveal Brahms’s mastery of form. Recorded with the Zehetmair Quartett’s characteristic intensity and richly expressive depth, the performances capture fresh and deeply felt readings of these cornerstone chamber works.
Meredith Monk – Cellular Songs | October 10, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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“[Cellular Songs] is non-narrative stuff — sung in no language, just the experimental vocalise that [Meredith] Monk has perfected over decades. Yet in partnership with her regular percussionist and vocalists (one of whom doubles on violin and piano), Monk shows she’s still capable of fashioning sonic surprise and resolution.” – Seth Colter Walls, The New York Times
“While each of these Cellular Songs carry their own patterns of internal logic, the album conceived as a whole tends to prove resolutely defiant, as Monk is joined variously by Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs and Allison Sniffin, each utilising their voice and playing body percussion while Sniffin also adds strains on the violin and piano and John Hollenbeck accentuates their patter through a deft blend of vibraphone, percussion and crotales.” – Christopher Laws, Culturedarm
“Meredith Monk’s music still has the ability to surprise, and with Cellular Songs the composer is still looking to push the boundaries and explore the possibilities available with the human voice.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views
Cellular Songs is the first Meredith Monk release with ECM since the extensive box-set Meredith Monk: The Recordings in 2022 and the first recording of new music since 2016’s On Behalf of Nature. It is also the second part of an interdisciplinary trilogy of performance works by Meredith Monk that began with On Behalf of Nature, a meditation on the precarious state of our global ecology.
Cellular Songs turns attention to the very fabric of life itself, and evokes such biological processes as layering, replication, division and mutation. Monk drew inspiration, she has noted, from reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by physician and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, struck by the notion that “a cell is like a miraculous prototype of cooperation, offering an alternative culture or template of human behavior to one of competition and destruction.”
Wu Wei, Martin Stegner, Janne Saksala – Pur ti miro | November 21, 2025 (ECM New Series)
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On ECM New Series release, Pur ti miro, sheng player Wu Wei, violist Martin Stegner, and bassist Janne Saksala play Claude Monteverdi’s Si dolce è’l tormento and Pur ti miro from L’incoronazione di Poppea, J. S. Bach’s organ trio sonatas Nos 1 and 4, and Antonio Vivaldi’s D minor Trio Sonata, in a program completed by “Buremarsj frå Beiarn”, a bridal march from Norwegian folk tradition. “Over time our programme kept growing, even though it’s a challenge to arrange works for this unusual combination of sounds,” says Stenger. “We don’t aim to interpret early music in a strictly historically correct way. All of us come from different musical and cultural backgrounds and it is precisely this diversity that consciously flows into our interpretations.”
Dec 4: Meredith Monk's Cellular Songs Album Listening Party at National Sawdust - Out Now on ECM New Series
Dec 4: Meredith Monk's Cellular Songs Album Listening Party at National Sawdust - Out Now on ECM New Series
Meredith Monk: Cellular Songs
Album Listening Party at National Sawdust
Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 7:30pm
80 North 6th Street | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets & Information
Out Now on ECM New Series
Listen: https://ecm.lnk.to/CellularSongs
Read The New York Times Review
Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble
Meredith Monk, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Allison Sniffin, voices; John Hollenbeck, vibraphone, percussion, crotales; Allison Sniffin, piano, violin
ECM New Series 2751
“As artists, we're all contending with what to do at a time like this. I wanted to make a piece that can be experienced as an alternative possibility of human behavior, where the values are cooperation, interdependence, and kindness, as an antidote to the values that are being propagated right now." – Meredith Monk
Cellular Songs is the first Meredith Monk release with ECM since the extensive box-set Meredith Monk: The Recordings in 2022 and the first recording of new music since 2016’s On Behalf of Nature. It is also the second part of an interdisciplinary trilogy of performance works by Meredith Monk that began with On Behalf of Nature, a meditation on the precarious state of our global ecology. Cellular Songs turns attention to the very fabric of life itself, and evokes such biological processes as layering, replication, division and mutation. Monk drew inspiration, she has noted, from reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by physician and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, struck by the notion that “a cell is like a miraculous prototype of cooperation, offering an alternative culture or template of human behavior to one of competition and destruction.”
On Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 7:30pm, National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY will host an album listening party, celebrating this new release. Listeners are invited to sit back and immerse themselves in the world of Cellular Songs, alongside Monk and fellow contributors to the album, in National Sawdust's state-of-the-art sonic environment. CDs will also be available for purchase.
Cellular Songs features the women of the acclaimed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble (Monk, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs and Allison Sniffin), and some of Monk’s most adventurous and daring writing for voice. The work, at once playful and contemplative, conjures cycles of birth and death throughout. “Some of the pieces have much more dissonance and chromatic harmonies, and the forms are almost like three-dimensional sculptures,” Monk notes. “Earlier, my music had much more to do with layering. Now you can almost see or hear the piece rotating as if it were a sculpture in space, though it's a musical form."
With voices and body percussion among the primary resources, Monk underlines her aim to “boil down what I am doing to its essence”. Songs are wordless, with the exception of “Happy Woman”, which also incorporates piano, violin and vibraphone by Allison Sniffin and John Hollenbeck.
Cellular Songs was premiered at the BAM Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, New York in March 2018. The Financial Times hailed the work as a “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” and “an antidote to the troubled times we live in.”
In the album’s liner notes, writer Bonnie Marranca takes up this theme: “Art takes many forms to address global crises as a way of comprehending reality. Monk’s work has chosen a path different than the response that is a direct statement of conditions, following instead her Buddhist grounding in art as spiritual practice (…) Her work honors the human need for the feelings of love and joy and beauty. In the integrity of its regard, Cellular Songs is of this world but also beyond this world, like all poetic works of the imagination.”
Meredith Monk has been an ECM recording artist since 1981. In 2022, Meredith Monk: The Recordings, a box set of her New Series albums from Dolmen Music to On Behalf of Nature was issued in celebration of her 80th birthday, in an edition incorporating texts, photos, scores and more. In 2023 the full scope of Monk’s interdisciplinary work was the subject of major exhibitions at Munich’s Haus der Kunst and Oude Kerk Amsterdam.
Cellular Songs was recorded at New York’s Power Station in 2022 and 2024.
In 2024-2025 Meredith Monk celebrated her 60th Performance Season with a host of events centered in New York City, including the North American premiere of Indra’s Net, the third part of the trilogy of works exploring our relationship with the natural world. This fall she will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Music at the Venice Biennale.
CD booklet includes performance photography by notes by Julieta Cervantes and liner notes by Bonnie Marranca, whose previous publications include the book Conversations with Meredith Monk (New York 2014, revised 2020).
Further information: www.meredithmonk.org
Feb. 24: Composer and Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi Releases New Album PERSEVERANTIA Executive Produced by John Zorn for Tzadik – New Single Out Today
Feb. 24: Composer and Pianist Vadim Neselovskyi Releases New Album PERSEVERANTIA Executive Produced by John Zorn for Tzadik
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
First Single & Video Out Today: Refugees
Listen Now | Watch Now
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.
The first single from PERSEVERANTIA, titled Refugees, is out today, alongside an accompanying video release. Born out of witnessing Ukrainian families fleeing the war, Refugees transforms anguish into compassion through rare emotional depth. Fusing improvisational fire at the piano with the choral-like resonance of strings, it offers a haunting glimpse of Neselovskyi’s most ambitious work yet.
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)
Sony Classical in 2025: Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Sony Classical in 2025: Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Sony Classical 2025 Albums for Year-End Roundup Consideration
Wiener Philharmoniker & Riccardo Muti: New Year’s Concert 2025
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Hans Zimmer: The World of Hans Zimmer Part II: A New Dimension
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Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1983)
Buy Here
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason: Fantasie
Listen Here
Guarneri String Quartet: The Complete RCA Collection
Buy Here
Malakoff Kowalski: Songs With Words
Listen Here
Lorin Maazel: Lorin Maazel Conducts the Cleveland Orchestra
– The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings
Buy Here
Leif Ove Andsnes: Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
Listen Here
Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra - The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42
Buy Here
Esther Abrami: Women
Listen Here
Kevin Olusola: Dawn of a Misfit
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Pablo Ferrandez: Moonlight Variations
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Anna Lapwood: Firedove
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Wiener Philharmoniker & Tugan Sokhiev: Summer Night Concert 2025
Listen Here
John Williams: The Anthology – Vol. 1 1969-1990
Buy Here
Terry Riley: The Complete Columbia Recordings
Buy Here
Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas, Kavakos, Emanuel Ax:
Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 1 / Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost” / Op. 11 Gassenhauer
Listen Here
Jonas Kaufmann: Doppelgänger
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Hauser: Cinema
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Anastasia Kobekina: Bach: Cello Suites
Listen Here
Martin Fröst: B.A.C.H
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Jeneba Kanneh-Mason: Jane Austen’s Piano
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Wiener Philharmoniker & Riccardo Muti: New Year’s Concert 2025 | January 10, 2025
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“If, like so many people around the world, you want to waltz your way into 2025, this recording is for you.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
There are few concerts in the world that are awaited with as much excitement as the New Year’s Concert from Vienna. 2025’s performance by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Riccardo Muti, was broadcast to over 90 countries around the world, reaching an audience of millions of people. The program featured repertoire from the Strauss family and their contemporaries, with a unique addition: for the first time, a work by a female composer, and a friend of Johann Strauss II, The Ferdinandus-Walzer, composed by the twelve-year-old Constanze Geiger in 1848, was a highlight of this year’s program.
The artistic collaboration with Maestro Muti that began in 1971, has given rise to more than 500 mutual concerts, including six New Year’s Concerts, Philharmonic subscription concerts, memorial concerts, guest performances and tours, as well as numerous opera productions.
Daniel Froschauer, Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, emphasized the conductor’s special significance for the orchestra: “Riccardo Muti has held an exceptional position in the history of the Vienna Philharmonic for over fifty years. An honorary member of the orchestra since 2011, Muti has helped shape the repertoire and specific sound of the ensemble in a unique manner.
The tradition of presenting New Year’s Concerts began in 1941. The first concert marking the New Year was given in 1939, albeit on 31 December. The first conductor was Clemens Krauss. The Vienna Philharmonic regards this now traditional event as a way of wishing the world a Happy New Year through the medium of music in a spirit of hope, friendship and peace.
Hans Zimmer – The World of Hans Zimmer Part II: A New Dimension | February 28, 2025
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“Hans Zimmer is famously known for his use of deep bass in his movie scores, and that is on full display in the brand-new release The World of Hans Zimmer – Part II [A New Dimension].” – James Larson, Audioholics
Melding the grandeur of symphonic music with the dynamic power of Hans Zimmer’s cinematic compositions, The World of Hans Zimmer – Part II: A New Dimension transforms more of his most successful soundtracks into epic new orchestral suites. Highlights include a short, captivating “cello-concerto-like” version of Final Ascent from No Time to Die, a tranquil rendition of A Time of Quiet Between the Storms from Dune II, and a new romantic suite from The Prince of Egypt. Additionally, Zimmer revisits one of his classic 90s soundtracks with a newly crafted suite of The Rock.
The World Of Hans Zimmer – Part II: A New Dimension features Zimmer accompanied by a stellar ensemble of soloists and collaborators, including singers Lebo M, Lisa Gerrard, Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod, and Nokukhanya Dlamini; multi-woodwind wizard Pedro Eustache; bass player Juan García-Herreros; guitarist Alexios Anest; pianist Eliane Correa; cellist Mariko Muranaka; violinist Rusanda Panfili; and percussionists Aleksandra Šuklar, Luis Ribeiro, and Lucy Landymore. Together, they perform alongside the Odessa Orchestra & Friends and the Nairobi Chamber Choir, under the baton of conductor Gavin Greenaway.
Zimmer says: “We’re taking music that fans know and love and presenting it with a renewed sense of energy, scale, and emotion. These new orchestral suites are a testament to the incredible musicians I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and the magic that happens when we come together with the orchestra and choir. It’s about capturing those transformative moments in performance.”
Eugene Ormandy – The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1983) | January 31, 2025
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“Ormandy knew he had a team of tireless, world-class musicians — an American powerhouse — and was eager to share them with the world. With this kaleidoscopic showcase, it is clear that he succeeded.” – Bruce Hodges, WRTI
“The repertoire ranges from Bach to Mozart to Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Nielsen, Ives and everything in between, and it's all performed at an amazingly high level of consistent excellence. You'll be astonished.” – David Hurwitz, Classics Today
This massive new reissue from Eugene Ormandy’s stereo discography collects all the Columbia Masterworks recordings he made in Philadelphia between the early 1960s and early 1980s, in a new 94-CD box set from Sony Classical. Some of these performances – including the complete recording of Bach’s St. John Passion, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis, Schubert’s Sixth Symphony and a disc of opera choruses with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as Ginastera’s Concerto for Strings and the ballet music from Massenet’s opera Le Cid – have never appeared before in the digital medium, and they shine a light into new corners of Ormandy’s astonishingly large repertoire. Also new to CD are two late symphonies by Haydn – No. 96 “The Miracle” and No. 101 “The Clock” – a prime example of Ormandy excelling in repertoire not normally associated with him.
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason – Fantasie | March 7, 2025
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Best New Albums Out on March 7 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“This is a promising debut revealing a gift for Chopin.” – James Manheim, AllMusic
“a stellar debut recording,” – Jonathan Blumhofer, The Arts Fuse
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason takes listeners on a journey that explores connections across different composers’ sound worlds – whether they met, influenced each other, or simply existed in resonance. She is a musician deeply committed to her craft, relishing the challenges of performance and recording and dedicated to her audience, whether in the concert hall or via her recordings and is a talented young artist for whom mastery isn’t just technical but emotional too.
From Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin and Alexander Scriabin to Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and William Grant Still, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason presents a program on her debut solo album Fantasie, which is also very personal to her as an artist.
She says, “I’ve always loved coming up with quite complex programmes which flow really nicely from one piece to the other and all these works mean a lot to me” she says. “By gathering them here for my debut album, I am not only revealing more of myself as a musician, but also sharing the very different styles of music I grew up listening to.”
The Guarneri String Quartet – The Guarneri String Quartet: The Complete RCA Victor Collection | March 21, 2025
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“Sony’s monumental 49-disc box set (compiling the remastered RCA releases) cements Guarneri’s status, spanning the Brahms Piano Quartets and Quintet with Arthur Rubinstein, the early Beethoven set (1967–70), the Bartók set from 1977, and a feast of left-field entries like Dohnányi, Verdi, Grieg, and Smetana.” – Tim Riley, LA Review of Books
“The Guarneri Quartet's legacy for RCA features wide-ranging repertoire choices, extremely high performance standards, famous artistic partnerships (most notably with Artur Rubinstein), and (with one exception) consistent personnel over more than three decades. The result is 49 CDs of sterling music-making, even if you already own some of the most familiar items.” – David Hurwitz, Classics Today
In the early 1960s, four young musicians who had been playing chamber music at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro School and Festival in Vermont were encouraged to form a string quartet. In July 1964, the Guarneri String Quartet gave its first concert and less than a year later made its first recordings under contract to RCA Victor. For the next 45 years, with only one change of personnel, the Guarneris performed all over the world and amassed a large, wide-ranging, prize-winning discography. For the first time in a single collection, Sony Classical presents all the recordings made by the Guarneri Quartet for RCA between 1965 and 2005.
HiFi Stereo Review said of the group when they made their complete recording of the Beethoven String Quartets for RCA between 1966 and 1969: “The Guarneri is, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary string quartets before the public these days: the group has an absolutely stunning sense of both soloistic and ensemble color. Indeed, I can’t think of another string quartet that can match them for sheer sensuous appeal.”
Malakoff Kowalski – Songs With Words | March 21, 2025
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Songs With Words is the new Sony Classical album from vocalist and composer Malakoff Kowalski with pianists Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales. Songs With Words features miniatures by classical composers coupled with sung poems by American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Reflecting on Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, this thrilling quartet presents a new kind of music, and possibly a whole new genre that has never before appeared in this form either in classical music, jazz, or pop.
Kowalski says of the album: “It took about five years to birth these twelve songs. They were assembled from both famous and lesser-known miniatures by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Aram Khachaturian, Maurice Ravel, Edvard Grieg, Amy Beach, Germaine Tailleferre, Claude Debussy, and Gabriel Fauré. I kept unearthing timeless, intimate, vulnerable poems from Ginsberg’s oeuvre, and for some reason, again and again, these poems, with little or no reworking, functioned very naturally as song lyrics. The quiet, inner-directed vocals strictly followed the piano’s motifs and themes, while the piano parts, in turn, stuck to their original versions, with only the most imperceptible of alterations here and there.”
The result is a song cycle reminiscent of Tom Waits, Jim Morrison, and David Bowie, infused with the musicality of Bill Evans, Kurt Weill, and Michel Legrand.
Through Songs With Words, Kowalski, Levit, Summer, and Gonzalez have created a fascinating interplay between the pristine European piano tradition and the American poetry of the Beat Generation.
Lorin Maazel – Lorin Maazel Conducts the Cleveland Orchestra: The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings | March 28, 2025
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“For devoted Maazel fans, this box may well be an attractive package.” – Karl Nehring, Classical Candor
“You have any number of reasons to buy this box. As a Maazel fan, you can place it among the hundreds of other recordings he’s made. It’s a showcase for one of our “big five” orchestras. It has a solid basic-repertory place with its complete Beethoven symphonies alongside the only Tchaikovsky symphonies people care about. Maazel proved that Szell was not irreplaceable, and he also paved the way for a succession of similarly distinguished conductors at that helm. But Maazel’s was a magical decade in Cleveland.” – Byron Nilsson, Words and Music
When he was called to succeed George Szell as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1972, the 42-year-old American conductor was hardly known in his home country. But over the next ten years, as the recordings collected for the first time in Sony Classical’s new 15-CD box set amply demonstrate, this enigmatic genius by the name of Lorin Maazel burnished the Cleveland image and maintained the exalted standards set by Szell, who had elevated his ensemble to pre-eminence among the US “Big Five” orchestras.
Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42 | May 13, 2025
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“[H]earing these newly remastered recordings reveals that the Ormandy/Philadelphia partnership’s salient virtues were well in place during the conductor’s first years as the orchestra’s co-director and (starting in 1938) full music director.” – Jed Distler, Classics Today
Best New Albums Out on April 25 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“gem of a set that offers still more great-sounding reasons to reassess the Ormandy Legacy.” – Byron Nilsson, Words and Music
Sony Classical continues its comprehensive documentation of Eugene Ormandy’s discography with a new 21-CD release of everything he set down in Philadelphia before the ban on commercial recording instigated by the musicians’ union in 1942. By the time the strike ended in 1944, Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra had moved to Columbia Masterworks. As connoisseurs have long known, these early Philadelphia albums are among the most impressive performances Ormandy set down in over 40 years at the orchestra’s helm.
1931 was the breakthrough year for 32-year-old Hungarian immigrant Eugene Ormandy. First, he was engaged by the Philadelphia Orchestra to deputize for his idol Toscanini, who was briefly indisposed. Then, a few months later, he was asked to step in for the conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, also indisposed – but in this case permanently. Soon Ormandy was hired to take over that rising Midwestern orchestra. At the end of his five-year tenure in Minneapolis, which produced a considerable discography for RCA Victor, Ormandy was called back to Philadelphia, this time to become its co-conductor with Leopold Stokowski. In 1936, he began recording regularly for Victor with his new orchestra, picking up the pace in 1938 when he became its sole music director.
Leif Ove Andsnes – Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works | April 11, 2025
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“This album offers a new and fresh examination of one of Liszt's least-understood works, and it is a major release from Andsnes.” – James Manheim, AllMusic
“a splendid project that shows [Leif Ove] Andsnes’s pianism at its best.” – Ryan Ross, Classical Candor
“The most interesting compositional aspect of Via Crucis is the democratic relationship between piano and choir. The function of the piano is not, as you might expect, an accompaniment to the choir — and hence perhaps why Andsnes became interested in this project. The piano functions as an independent soloist, and in its interactions with the choral ensemble is as a collaborating voice, akin to the role of the piano in chamber music.” – Xenia Hanusiak, Classical Voice North America
On Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works, the latest Sony Classical album from Leif Ove Andsnes, the Norwegian pianist unveils the often-forgotten side of the famed virtuoso Franz Liszt - the sacred music that offers a more intimate picture of the man and his deeply held faith.
With acclaimed vocal ensemble the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Andsnes has recorded Liszt’s remarkable late work Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross’) for choir and piano. The pianist completes his all-Liszt album with the solo piano work Consolations and two movements from the composer’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. Via Crucis is unlike any other work in the repertoire: a concentrated ritual drama, ranging from liturgical chant to Lisztian chromaticism at its most searching and expressive. It sets a pianist and choir in dialogue with one another, each performing alone as well as together.
“This is something very different,” says Andsnes. “It is incredible, the journey Liszt made as a composer, from this very flamboyant virtuosic style to [Via Crucis], which is very bare, with so few notes, but still an incredible tension and beauty. It points forward to the twentieth century while also building on the tradition of sacred music.
Esther Abrami – Women | April 25, 2025
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“Attention grabbing. Stirring, even. When you hear it, you will probably feel something about it. And that’s what French violinist Esther Abrami wants. She wants you to listen to her album, titled Women, and feel something. Because that’s what she wants when she listens to an album." – Olivia Hampton on NPR Morning Edition
“[Esther Abrami] is offering something different from the usual run, and those presenting classical music could benefit from paying attention to what she is doing. Women, released in 2025, is far from a parade of crossover favorites. In fact, there is a good deal of music here that most listeners will not know, some of it arranged for violin and orchestra, chamber ensemble, or piano by Abrami.” – James Manheim, All Music
A tribute to women composers across history and a range of genres, Women, the new album from violinist Esther Abrami, showcases the exceptional talent of 14 remarkable composers, spanning newly composed works and rediscovered masterpieces. The album features Oscar winners Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, as well as new arrangements of compositions by historic composers such as Pauline Viardot, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Teresa Carreño or Ethel Smyth. Women also includes Transmission, an original composition by Esther Abrami, who has arranged several pieces on the album. At its heart is the world-premiere recording of Ina Boyle’s Violin Concerto, a breathtaking, late-Romantic composition. Esther Abrami carefully chose each piece on Women not only for its musical brilliance but also for the emotional connection it holds for her, highlighting the often-overlooked voices of women in classical music.
Abrami says, “Women is a journey through centuries of music, told through the voices of women who composed, fought, lived, and created despite the odds. The stories of these women inspired me to create; they showed me the importance of leaving your mark for future generations to discover. I hope Women can inspire a new generation of young girls to compose.”
Kevin Olusola – Dawn of a Misfit | May 9, 2025
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“[Dawn of a Misfit] is a kaleidoscope of sounds and feelings that reflect [Kevin Olusola’s] struggle to appreciate the different parts of himself.” – Ayesha Rascoe, NPR Music
“The album showcases the style of performance that Olusola has dubbed “celloboxing,” a way of playing that incorporates some of the rhythmic techniques of vocal beatboxing. The project, as one would expect, is a blend of styles and musical enthusiasms, exhibiting a strong spirit of experimentation, exploration, self-expression, and joyously entertaining play.” – David Templeton, Strings
Kevin Olusola, the dynamic singer, cellist, and beatboxer best known for his work with the 3x-GRAMMY® Award-winning a cappella group Pentatonix, releases his debut solo album, Dawn Of A Misfit on Sony Music Masterworks. The wide-ranging album touches on spirituality, fatherhood, and being a first-generation person in a Western country, all while fusing classical, pop, R&B, and hip-hop. It even includes a nod to Pentatonix with Kevin’s Fifth, a fan-favorite expansion on Beethoven’s 5th that he often performs during their live shows.
Dawn of a Misfit draws on Kevin Olusola’s classical virtuosity and the graceful soulfulness of his vocals, partly fueled by his Nigerian and Grenadian heritage. While recording the new album, he was influenced by a diverse range of artists, including Sting, multi-hyphenate artist Jon Batiste, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, American singer and actor Harry Belafonte, country-rap artist Shaboozey, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, pianist Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr., and Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Pablo Ferrandez – Moonlight Variations | May 23, 2025
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“Through an intimate sequence of nocturnes, song transcriptions and lyrical miniatures – some newly arranged for cello – that culminate in the Rococo Variations, [Pablo] Ferrández reflects on his fascination with night-time and how it enhances imagination and perception.” – Thomas May, The Strad
“Playing for the first time on a gorgeous-sounding 1689 Stradivarius cello, [Pablo Ferrandez] delivers absorbing melodies with just a hint of rubato delay to keep the listener's attention fixed..” – James Manheim, All Music
“[T]he centerpiece work of this album — Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations — demonstrates a wide spectrum of colors and emotion.” – Oliver Camacho, WFMT
Cellist Pablo Ferrández has realized a twenty-year dream to record Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations on Moonlight Variations, his latest album for Sony Classical, combining the spirited work with melancholy nocturnes to create an album he describes as “night followed by day.”
On his new album, he assembles eleven handpicked gems by composers from Antonín Dvořák to Manuel Ponce that speak of the heightened emotional intimacy of the dark hours. The cellist has arranged songs, piano nocturnes, violin works and an opera aria. In addition to Tchaikovsky’s extended variation set, recorded in Örebro with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Martin Fröst, Ferrández includes movements from Liszt’s Liebestraum and Schumann’s Kinderszenen, transcriptions of piano nocturnes by Chopin and songs by Schubert and Debussy. The album also includes two additional works by Tchaikovsky including the composer’s own arrangement for cello and orchestra of his ‘Nocturne’ from 6 Pieces for Piano. The recording constitutes Ferrández’s first on the 1689 Archinto Stradivarius he recently acquired.
“We made a decision to make our arrangements true to the instrument I’m playing while not removing the piece from its original concept,” says Ferrández. “The idea was to give each piece a personality of its own that suits the cello. I was thinking, of course, of singing - of that more human kind of expression. One reason I love to play lieder is that we always try to sing though the cello.”
Anna Lapwood – Firedove | May 30, 2025
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Best New Albums Out on May 30, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“[Anna] Lapwood’s musical vision comes through as consistent and compelling. Whether playing the organ on Hans Zimmer’s Time or leading the choir in Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love, she is able to draw us into the music, make us share in her reverence for the sheer wonder of melody and harmony,” – Karl Nehring, Classical Candor
“[Firedove is] an unexpected and utterly compelling mix of music, from Vierne to Robbie Williams to Hans Zimmer.” – Meg Bragle, WRTI
“It's not hyperbole to state that with Luna and now Firedove [Anna Lapwood] is invigorating contemporary organ practice with her fresh and imaginative vision. – Ron Schepper, Textura
Already widely celebrated for introducing the organ to new generations of music fans through her extraordinary interpretations of both classical and contemporary works, Anna Lapwood has become known to millions through viral TikTok videos, high-profile collaborations and sold-out live concerts. Her latest recording, Firedove, is the follow-up to her acclaimed Sony Classical debut album Luna, released in September 2023. Firedove effortlessly demonstrates Lapwood’s open-minded approach to music. The album's repertoire choices showcase how this release is Lapwood’s most personal record to date, with a Vierne scherzo sitting alongside a rendition of Robbie Williams’ Angels and Maurice Duruflé’s Prelude and Fugue with Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love.
On how Firedove stands out as an exciting listening experience, Lapwood says,
“There are lots of little easter eggs in there that you wouldn’t expect – even the first appearance of the choir – and a through-line of flight and spreading wings, because this does feel as though I’ve found what I want to say as an artist. I’m very proud of it.”
Wiener Philharmoniker & Tugan Sokhiev: Summer Night Concert 2025 | August 29, 2025
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“[E]njoy a mini-vacation to one of Vienna’s most famous musical events.”
– Nicole Lacroix, WETA
“The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2025 was more than a concert — it was a celebration of art, history, and unity, reminding audiences worldwide why this open-air tradition continues to captivate year after year.” – Leo Hart, Chicago Music Guide
Once again, Sony Classical releases a recording of the Summer Night Concert 2025 with the Vienna Philharmonic, this time conducted by Tugan Sokhiev with tenor Piotr Beczała.
2025’s Summer Night Concert was performed on June 13, 2025. The annual open-air concert took place on the grounds of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. With its UNESCO World Heritage setting in the Baroque park of Schönbrunn and the palace as a backdrop, the Summer Night Concert enchanted with its visual charm and outstanding musical quality. The idea of making the very best of classical music accessible to all—offering a gift to music lovers—continues to characterize the event. Today, millions of viewers and listeners in more than 80 countries follow the concert online, on television, and on the radio.
The program for the 22nd Summer Night Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic focused on well-known melodies from opera and operetta, featuring renowned arias alongside popular overtures and interludes. Maestro Tugan Sokhiev and Piotr Beczała as vocal soloist were joined by the Vienna Boys Choir, marking a special premiere in the Summer Night Concert.
In response to the tragic attacks in Graz, Austria this year’s Summer Night Concert opened with Air by Johann Sebastian Bach, replacing the originally scheduled Can-Can from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
John Williams: The Anthology – Vol. 1 1969-1990 | August 22, 2025
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“[John Williams’] work has touched the lives of any and all cinephiles, music fanatics, or anyone who even remotely calls themselves a lover of American culture. With their three-volume, 75-disc anthology, Sony Classical has endeavored to honor that prolific body of work as a way to sing the praises of, as they put it, the most beloved composer of our time.” – Lacey Cohen, Screen Rant
“[W]hen it comes to iconic scores and a composer at the very height of his powers, [John Williams: The Anthology – Vol. 1 1969-1990] will be hard to beat.” – Clive Paget, Musical America
“For those who love the music of John Williams — which is to say, any self-respecting cinephile — there’s something to get excited about.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
Sony Classical embarks on a definitive, one-of-a-kind celebration of the music of five-time-Oscar®-winning composer John Williams, with the release of John Williams: The Anthology. The three-volume comprehensive collection will be released as three individual box sets throughout 2025. It will encompass the seven-decade career of the most popular and admired composer of his time, plus feature many of the maestro’s original soundtrack recordings and concert music recordings. The 22 discs in John Williams: The Anthology – Vol. 1 1969-1990 showcase Williams’ music for 27 films that established him as one of the most influential and imaginative composers in the history of film music. They include his unforgettable scores for the first three Star Wars films, Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first two Indiana Jones adventures, Superman and a range of others from The Reivers (1969) to Home Alone (1990). Three of the scores included in this first volume – Jaws (1975), Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – won Williams the Academy Award® for Best Original Score. Fifteen more Oscar® nominations were accorded to other scores in Volume 1, as well as five BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globes and 14 Grammy® Awards.
“I have often said that without John Williams, bicycles do not fly, nor do brooms in Quidditch matches or heroes in red capes. Dinosaurs do not walk the earth. Sharks do not terrorize idyllic summer beaches. And Jedi do not return,” the director Steven Spielberg, the composer’s most frequent collaborator, writes in the foreword for this collection. “Without the magic of John Williams, audiences do not wonder, or weep, or believe. Whether in an elegant concert hall or a darkened cinema, John’s music is instantly recognizable both for its emotional power and its ability to tap into our collective unconscious… to inspire us, to captivate us, and to illuminate our shared journey through the human experience.
Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings | August 22, 2025
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“The release reaffirms Riley’s foundational status in the history of late-twentieth-century music and his unexpectedly broad influence.” – William Robin, The New Yorker
“Palpably, six decades later, Riley’s Columbia recordings connote a time of idealism, of possibilities inhabiting the territory between motion and repose.” – Marc Medwin, Point of Departure
“The reissue of Terry Riley's Columbia recordings in a handsome four-disc box set invites a new appreciation of the hugely influential work the American visionary produced between 1968 and 1980.” – Ron Schepper, Textura
One of the most consequential musicians of the 20th century – the visionary American composer – is celebrated with the Sony Classical release of Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings. The four-disc box set includes Terry Riley’s unique recordings for Columbia Masterworks between 1968 and 1980 that changed the direction and expanded the range of late 20th-century music. Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings box set includes the albums In C (1968); A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969); Church of Anthrax (1971, in collaboration with John Cale of the Velvet Underground); and Shri Camel (1980), all made for Columbia Masterworks at a time when the label was boldly embracing new directions in American music. This collection offers an essential document of Riley’s most transformative period when the pulse of innovation met the possibilities of high-fidelity sound.
In addition to all four complete recordings and rarely seen archival photographs from recording sessions in Columbia’s fabled 30th Street Studios in Manhattan, Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings includes a 50-page booklet featuring first-hand reflections from David Behrman, the original producer of In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air; and an essay by Thomas M. Welsh, Terry Riley’s longtime manager and archivist; and reprints of all essays and notes from the original vinyl releases. Riley’s rich musical life has continued through the decades to explore the potential of his musical ideas, building on the early success and his four seminal recordings for Columbia Masterworks.
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma – Beethoven For Three: Symphony No. 1 / Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost” / Op. 11 Gassenhauer | August 22, 2025
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“Not only can [Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma] convey the music’s symphonic breadth, but they also — even more impressive — make this potentially unwieldy creation sound like genuine chamber music.” – David Weininger, The New York Times
“These three players have worked together for enough time that they've jelled as a unit, with a relaxed, confident quality.” – James Manheim, All Music
“The three beloved artists perform the symphonies on three instruments alongside the composer’s canonical piano trios, giving audiences a rare look at Beethoven’s compositional language at its most intimate and raw—all while conveying the power and immediacy of his orchestral works.” – Lisa Flynn, WFMT
Beethoven for Three features pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma – three musicians in pursuit of the essential elements of Beethoven's musical language, presenting his most iconic symphonies in trio arrangements. By performing the symphonies on three instruments alongside the composer’s canonical piano trios, the artists give audiences a rare look at Beethoven's compositional language at its most intimate and raw—all while conveying the power and immediacy of his orchestral works.
The trio’s latest collaborative release in this series, their fourth, features Symphony No. 1 (Op. 21) and the Ghost (Op. 70, No. 1) and Gassenhauer (Op. 11) piano trios. This new recording marks another milestone in three friends’ journey through the marvels of one extraordinary composer.
“We all feel that being able to participate in a symphony is such a wonderful thing to do,” says Ma. “One of the things that has separated people since recording began is the categories that we put people in, in which chamber musicians, orchestra players, people who play concertos, people who do transcriptions, people who compose, people who conduct, are all viewed as separate categories with no overlap. That siloed thinking discourages actual creativity and collaboration between people. And so we feel that one of the things that is really important to do today is to actually go back to the first principles of music, the simple interaction between friends who want to do something together."
Jonas Kaufman – Doppelgänger | September 5, 2025
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“Kaufmann and Deutsch prove an impeccable Lieder duo.” – Richard Fairman, Financial Times
“Kaufmann approaches these new recordings with a grace and ease that I think we all find in our lives and our work as we get older. The results are quite satisfying.” – Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
Just like the album Selige Stunde, the recordings of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Kerner Lieder were made during the first COVID lockdown in 2020. In retrospect, the circumstances were as bizarre as they were artistically creative, and, according to Helmut Deutsch, “made the recordings feel almost like ‘domestic music-making’, which is very different from the usually austere atmosphere of a concert hall or a studio.” For Jonas Kaufmann, it was a welcome opportunity to intensively engage with Dichterliebe once again: “It is an incredible stroke of luck to be able to sing this song cycle both as a young and as a mature singer. Dichterliebe is unique and unparalleled in the entire Lied repertoire.”
Kaufmann had already worked on the famous song cycle during his student years in Munich, while attending Helmut Deutsch’s Lied class. His piano accompanist at the time was Jan Philip Schulze, who is now Professor of Art Song Interpretation at the Hanover University of Music; together, they presented the final result at a recital, which was also recorded. Jonas Kaufmann has chosen six songs from this previously unreleased recording, made in March 1994, as bonus tracks for the Schumann CD – a fascinating contrast to the 2020 recording. These works come together on a new Sony Classical recording from Kaufmann, titled Doppelgänger.
Hauser – Cinema | September 12, 2025
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“With his signature blend of classical elegance and cinematic flair, Hauser is back—this time not just to serenade, but to score our emotions.” – TMRW Magazine
Global cello sensation Hauser releases his brand-new album Cinema, a sweeping homage to some of the most unforgettable film melodies ever written. With his unmistakable artistry and passion, Hauser breathes new life into cinema’s most iconic music.
The 25-track collection, recorded with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Robert Ziegler, spans decades of cinematic history, reinventing timeless themes through HAUSER’s lush and emotional interpretations. Beyond the music, the project also serves as a cultural bridge, with performance videos filmed in breathtaking locations around the world, reinforcing his mission to connect people across borders through the power of melody. The album features a powerful lineup of iconic themes, including What Was I Made For?, Concerto pour la fin d'un amour, Le Vent, Le Cri, the Mission: Impossible theme, Phantom of the Opera’s Music Of The Night, A Time For Us, and Writing’s on the Wall, the Oscar-winning song from Spectre.
The album also features romantic themes from Somewhere in Time and Out of Africa, as well as deeply personal renditions of hidden gems by legendary European composers, including Nino Rota, Francis Lai, Luis Bacalov, and Vangelis.
Anastasia Kobekina – Bach: Cello Suites | September 26, 2025
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Best New Albums Out on September 26, 2025 – NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“One might call these Romantic renditions, were they not rooted in Bach's time by the historical instruments. They are, above all, personal and deeply felt. To use Kobekina's words, the language is ‘abstract, architectural, rational, logical, and at the same time passionate, emotional, and deeply personal to the performer.’ She lives up to that duality in a set of Bach suites that marks an important step for an exciting young performer.” – James Manheim, All Music
“[Anastasia Kobekina] is the perfect artist to both draw out the mysteries at the heart of these suites as well as leave their ultimate interpretations to the listener.” – Kevin Filipski, The Flip Side Blog
Taking on Bach’s set of six suites for solo cello – an Everest for cellists – Anastasia Kobekina aims to open up ‘a shared space for interpretation, mine and yours.’ As with her previous album for Sony Classical, the hugely acclaimed Venice, Kobekina promises a fresh view of familiar music. On this album, she performs with period instruments, bringing a historically informed perspective to these iconic works.
Bach’s Cello Suites represent the music that has accompanied Kobekina the longest and which she has performed most frequently. ‘The dialectic nature of Bach’s suites – their internal dialogue and contradictions – has always fascinated me,’ says Kobekina. ‘The language is abstract, architectural, rational, logical, and at the same time passionate, emotional, and deeply personal to the performer.’
The works themselves represent the baroque composer’s most inwardly concentrated and revered music. Each consists of a prelude and a suite of dance movements. Adding to the work’s iconic status is the mystery behind its creation. No autograph score exists – only a copy, in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach, the composer’s second wife – while the work’s original recipient remains unknown.
Martin Frost | B.A.C.H. – October 24, 2025
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“Some of the pieces [on B.A.C.H.] are deeply poignant, some are quite jazzy — even playful — and others are more straightforward. Each one brings a fresh arrangement and sound to what is familiar and beloved music” – Stephanie Elkins, Wisconsin Public Radio
Acclaimed Swedish clarinetist and conductor, Martin Fröst releases his brand-new Sony Classical album, B.A.C.H., dedicated to the music of J.S. Bach. Bach’s music has fascinated Fröst throughout his life, being enchanted and beguiled by its intimate form, even at a very young age. Although Bach never encountered the clarinet, this has proved no barrier for Martin Fröst, who has returned to Bach’s music time and time again throughout his illustrious career. In the past, Fröst devised performance programs entitled ‘Beyond All Clarinet History’ (B.A.C.H.), which intertwined Bach’s timeless melodies with new arrangements and he returns to this original idea here with sparkling new interpretations both for clarinet and a variety of other instruments, such as bass, cello, and theorbo that form the linchpin of his new album.
B.A.C.H. was recorded in an extraordinary setting: an old wooden chapel set in the Swedish countryside, purchased, restored, and turned into a studio and concert venue by Fröst himself and which provided the perfect environment for this extraordinary musical adventure which features a range of fascinating artists including bassist Sebastien Dubé, violist Göran Fröst, cellist Anastasia Kobekina, and lutist Jonas Nordberg alongside a special guest appearance by Benny Andersson of ABBA on piano on the closing track.
With this unique, inventive album, Martin Fröst guides the listener through the enduring landscape of Bach's music. It is an album born of moments of challenge, unexpected discovery, and profound collaboration. Its narrative of connection and the sheer joy of the music and of the collective music-making will hopefully resonate keenly with all who listen.
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason | Jane Austen’s Piano – December 5, 2025
Listen Here
To which books does a busy professional musician turn for relaxation in between the hectic whirl of rehearsals, performances and travel?
In the case of young rising star pianist, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, it’s the novels of Jane Austen that provide her with an unending source of enjoyment and contentment as well as revelry in the understated humour and social commentary contained therein. So much so that Jeneba started to reflect on references to music in Jane Austen’s works and more broadly on the music of the time. It started a new train of thought for her: known to be a pianist herself, with which music may Jane Austen have been familiar? Which pieces might she have performed privately?
The result of Jeneba’s fascination with the music of Jane Austen’s time is this brand-new recording for solo piano: Jane Austen’s Piano, scheduled for release on December 5, 2025 on Sony Classical, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth on December 16, 1775. Jane Austen’s Piano consists of six pieces overall, mirroring the fact that Jane Austen wrote six full, famous and much-loved novels. The recording includes music hand-picked by Jeneba either because of its specific link to Jane Austen or for its significance to the time. It features music by George Frideric Händel (1732-1809), Joseph Haydn (1685-1759), George Kiallmark (1781-1835) and Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858) plus a bonus Jane Austen-related work composed by Dario Marianelli (b. 1963).
Composer Lisa Bielawa Named Howard Hanson Visiting Professor with the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester – Performance with Musica Nova on Dec. 4
Composer Lisa Bielawa Named Howard Hanson Visiting Professor with the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester – Performance with Musica Nova on Dec. 4
Photo by Shawn Poynter available in hi-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/lisa-bielawa
Composer, Producer, and Vocalist Lisa Bielawa Named
Howard Hanson Visiting Professor for 2025-2026
with the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester
Lisa Bielawa’s Inacessabili Voce
Performed by Bielawa & Musica Nova Ensemble
Conducted by Music Director Brad Lubman
Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 7:30pm
Kilbourn Hall | 26 Gibbs Street | Rochester, NY
Tickets, Livestream, and More Information
“the formal sophistication and lyrical richness of Bielawa’s music go deep" – The New Yorker
Rochester, NY – Composer, producer and vocalist Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968) has been named the Howard Hanson Visiting Professor at Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester for the 2025-2026 academic year. Bielawa is a 2023 Guggenheim fellow and Rome Prize winner, who takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Her music has been described as “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart,” by The New York Times, and “fluid and arresting ... at once dramatic and probing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Throughout the year, Lisa Bielawa will work with Eastman students, and several of her pieces will be performed by Eastman ensembles. The first performance of her visiting professorship will be on Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 7:30pm in Kilbourn Hall (26 Gibbs Street), featuring the Musica Nova Ensemble conducted by Music Director Brad Lubman. Musica Nova and Bielawa will perform her vocal chamber work, Incessabili Voce (2013). The program also includes Overcast Skies by Matthew Lam (2023) and Phlegra by Iannis Xenakis (1975).
In her program notes for Incessabili Voce, Bielawa writes:
“In designing material for the voice, I thought about singing in church, the ecstatic singing of angels, the roar of soldiers, the mannerisms of Greek storytelling in the great oral tradition, the traditions of Gregorian and Anglican chant. The vocal part coaxes cries of various sorts out of the instruments. The texture of the ensemble writing bears witness to my preoccupation, still as lively as when I was six years old, with the sloppy joyfulness of a multitude crying ceaselessly all together – whether angels or soldiers. I let all of these images, texts, traditions and energies enter the piece and mingle together, without strict dramatic intent. It is more of a dreamscape than a story, more cry than word.”
Bielawa is established as one of today’s leading composers and performers, consistently incorporating community-making as part of her artistic vision. In an article which branded Bielawa a “fire starter,” New Music Box reported, “It’s difficult to stand anywhere near composer and vocalist Lisa Bielawa and not feel energized by proximity. . . An extrovert to the core, Bielawa acknowledges that her highly social nature has taken her in some specific directions both as a composer and as a musical citizen. Community building and close collaboration with performing artists is often central to her compositional process.” She has created music for public spaces in Lower Manhattan, a bridge over the Ohio River in Louisville, KY, the banks of the Tiber River in Rome, on the sites of former airfields in Berlin and San Francisco, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; she has composed and produced a twelve-episode, made-for-TV opera that features over 350 musicians and was filmed in locations across the country. Bielawa’s 2025-26 season also includes the world premiere of Knoxville Broadcast, the latest iteration of her Broadcast series of large-scale, spatialized symphonies for performance in public spaces.
Of her current work as the Howard Hanson Visiting Professor and this first performance of the season, Bielawa says:
“I can think of no more fulfilling way to enter into the Eastman community than to jump onstage with the students to perform a work created expressly to maximize collaboration and spontaneity between the performers, alongside my longtime and cherished colleague, Brad Lubman. This is the first adventure in what I know will be a joyful and broad-ranging immersion in Eastman musical life.”
More about Lisa Bielawa: Bielawa is the recipient of the Music Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, an OPERA America Grant for Female Composers, a 2025 commission from The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, and is a 2025 New Music USA Amplifying Voices composer. She was named a William Randolph Hearst Visiting Artist Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society for 2018 and was Artist-in-Residence at Kaufman Music Center in New York for the 2020-2021 season. During the 2022-23 season, she was a member of the inaugural Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps.
Lisa Bielawa’s music is frequently performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her work has recently been premiered at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, SHIFT Festival, Town Hall Seattle, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Summer Series in New York’s Central Park, National Sawdust, Le Poisson Rouge, Rouen Opera, Helsinki Music Center, Arsenal de Metz, Japan Society, and MAXXI Museum in Rome, among others. Orchestras that have championed her music include the Louisville Orchestra, The Knights, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, American Composers Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Orlando Philharmonic; she has also written for the combined forces of The Knights, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Premieres of her work have been commissioned and presented by leading ensembles and organizations including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Big Ears, Miami String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Seattle Chamber Music Society, American Guild of Organists, American Pianists Association, California Music Center, Akademiska Sångföreningen (Helsinki), Paul Dresher Ensemble, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, the Washington and PRISM Saxophone Quartets, Ensemble Variances (commissioned by Radio France), and more.
The 2025-2026 concert season features the world premiere of Bielawa’s Violin Concerto No. 2: PULSE, written for violinist Tessa Lark and commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica.
Actively composing for the stage as well, Bielawa is currently at work on her Guggenheim Fellowship project, a hybrid film and live action opera called La Ballonniste or Balloon (A Hot Air Opera) – a heartfelt comedy centering on 18th century French opera singer Élisabeth Tible, the first woman to fly in a hot air balloon. Previously, Bielawa received a 2018 Los Angeles Area Emmy nomination for her unprecedented, made-for-TV-and-online opera Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser, created with librettist Erik Ehn and director Charles Otte.
In addition to being a leading composer, Bielawa has performed as the vocalist in the Philip Glass Ensemble since 1992. A dedicated musical citizen, she was a co-founder in 1997 of the MATA Festival which continues to support young composers. For five years, she served as the artistic director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, bringing the chorus to the NY PHIL BIENNIAL and introducing the young performers to the music of today through numerous premieres and commissions of leading composers. From 2019-2022, she was the founding Composer-in-Residence and Chief Curator of the Philip Glass Institute (PGI) at The New School’s College of the Performing Arts. She is currently the Howard Hanson Visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music
Bielawa’s music has been recorded on the Tzadik, Orange Mountain, Supertrain, Cedille, TROY, Innova, BMOP/sound, and Sono Luminus labels. Born in San Francisco into a musical family, Lisa Bielawa played the violin and piano, sang, and wrote music from early childhood. She moved to New York two weeks after receiving her B.A. in Literature in 1990 from Yale University and became an active participant in New York musical life. For more information, please visit www.lisabielawa.net.
Dec 3: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents Holiday Music in the Courtyard
Dec 3: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents Holiday Music in the Courtyard
George Steel leads Holiday Music in the Courtyard. Photo by Michael Blanchard, available here.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents
Holiday Music in the Courtyard 2025
Featuring Vox Vocal Ensemble and the American Brass Quintet
And Announcing Special Guests the Boston Arts Academy Spirituals Ensemble
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 from 6–9 pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Courtyard
25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/holiday-music-courtyard-2025
For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com
BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum reimagines the traditional holiday concert with its Holiday Music in the Courtyard celebration, from 6–9pm on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. The performance will take place in the Gardner Museum’s famed Courtyard, while guests are invited to watch from the surrounding galleries, strolling through the Museum to take in the music from every angle. (Please note, this is not a seated concert.)
Led by George Steel, Abrams Curator of Music, this immersive evening will showcase music from across four centuries, celebrating a variety of cultures’ winter traditions. The performance features the acclaimed Vox Vocal Ensemble and the all-star American Brass Quintet, with opportunities for everyone to sing along with familiar carols.
The music and sing-along will run from 7–8 pm, and ticket holders can come early at 6 pm or stay late until 9 pm to enjoy the Museum galleries, shop at Gift at the Gardner, or purchase treats from Café G’s holiday menu of small plates and cocktails/mocktails.
Visible from virtually any gallery in the Palace, the Courtyard is the heart and soul of the Gardner Museum, with changing horticultural displays throughout the year. In December, the festive garden features dark forest greens and shades of red and silver including masses of flowering jade trees, silver dusty miller, green aloe, and the dark red winter blooms of amaryllis, creating a magical setting for Holiday Music in the Courtyard.
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.
Ticketing Information
Tickets ($20-$85) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. All concert tickets include Museum admission.
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 17 and under, 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
Music at the Gardner is supported by Nora McNeely Hurley / Manitou Fund. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Caramoor Celebrates the Season - An Amarcord Christmas on Dec 7, Holiday Rosen House Tours, Gingerbread Decorating, and More
Caramoor Celebrates the Season - An Amarcord Christmas on Dec 7, Holiday Rosen House Tours, Gingerbread Decorating, and More
Clockwise L-R: Holidays at Caramoor’s Rosen House by Gabe Palacio; Amarcord by Anne Hornemann; Kimberly Hawkey at a Holiday Tea Musicale by Palacio; Rosen House at the holidays by Palacio; Joseph Parrish at a Holiday Tea Musicale by Palacio. Available in high resolution here.
Caramoor Celebrates the Season in December
December 7: Amarcord Christmas Concert
December 10-21: Holiday Rosen House Tours
December 10-21: Holiday Tea Musicales
December 10-21: Holiday Gift Shop in the Summer Dining Room
December 13: Gingerbread Decorating Class for Families
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts | Rosen House
149 Girdle Ridge Drive | Katonah, NY
Tickets & Information
KATONAH, NY – Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY, celebrates the season in December with An Amarcord Christmas as part of the intimate Rosen House Concert Series on Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 3pm, plus Holiday Rosen House Tours running from December 10 to 21, 2025 at 12:30pm and 1pm (by advance ticket purchase only), and Holiday Tea Musicales from December 10 to 21, 2025 (currently sold out). Additionally, from December 10 to 21, 2025 Caramoor’s Summer Dining Room is transformed into a Holiday Gift Shop, which includes locally made artisan goods, and on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 10:30am, Caramoor will offer a Gingerbread Decorating Class for families, in collaboration with Feeding Young Foodies. Once the estate of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor is one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performance, cultural engagement, and exploration. The estate’s gardens and grounds are also open year round to visitors, free of charge, for picnicking and walking daily from 10am to 4pm.
Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May, held in the exquisite Music Room of the historic home – a Mediterranean-style villa from 1939 filled with treasures from around the world. Audiences enjoy performances by some of today’s most in-demand artists in the same living room salon setting where the Rosens once entertained their many friends. As part of this Series, Caramoor rings in the season on Sunday, December 7 at 3pm with An Amarcord Christmas, featuring the acclaimed vocal quintet Amarcord from Leipzig, Germany, in a festive program showcasing their remarkable blend and dynamic range. The ensemble, founded in 1992 by former members of St. Thomas's Boys Choir, presents a rich selection of holiday music drawn from across centuries—from medieval and Renaissance gems to contemporary choral works. The program includes traditional carols like Gustav Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter and God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, alongside music by Michael Praetorius, Orlando di Lasso, Cornelius Freundt, and more. Known for their masterful interpretations and vocal range spanning an entire orchestra, the five singers bring technical precision and deep emotional resonance to every performance, their voices intertwining with effortless beauty, creating a sound that is at once powerful and ethereal.
From December 10 to 21, 2025, Caramoor invites guests to step into a holiday wonderland on special Holiday Rosen House Tours at 12:30pm and 1pm daily (by advance ticket purchase only; no tours on December 15). The art-filled Rosen House is decked out for the holidays with enchanting decorations inspired by the cherished Rosen family archive. The House offers a number of treasures, including complete 18th-century rooms, originally from private villas and chateaux in Italy, France, and England. The Burgundian Library is a French 17th-century, paneled room with a brilliant blue groin-vaulted ceiling. An exquisite 16th-century painted Spanish ceiling resides in an alcove off the Music Room. The Formal Dining Room features doors thought to have been designed by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1695-1770), made for a Venetian palace, along with turquoise Chinese export wallpaper featuring birds perched in flowering trees. The Music Room includes Renaissance furniture and architectural elements such as the intricately carved coffered ceiling from a house in Lecce, Italy; a pair of pink marble twisted columns from Verona, once in the collection of William Randolph Hearst; and a magnificent Franco-Flemish tapestry titled “The Holy Family.” With the holiday decor enhancing these extraordinary rooms, Caramoor’s Holiday Rosen House Tours offer a unique seasonal experience steeped in art, history, and beauty.
From December 10 to 21, 2025, Caramoor also offers Holiday Tea Musicales (by reservation only), featuring tea service in the Music Room and seasonal performances, including alumni of Caramoor’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program Sophia Baete (mezzo-soprano) and Francesco Barfoed (piano), Kate Morton (mezzo-soprano) with Michele Wong (piano), and Joseph Parrish (baritone), as well as jazz vocalists Kimberly Hawkey with pianist Peter Yarin and Mimi Hilaire with pianist Matt Podd. These popular events are already sold out; the Caramoor website will be updated with availability.
On Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 10:30am, Caramoor invites families to celebrate the season with a festive Gingerbread Decorating Class in collaboration with Feeding Young Foodies. Perfect for children ages 4 and up (accompanied by an adult), this cozy, hands-on class offers a creative morning of holiday magic as participants bring their own candy cottages to life while sipping warm hot chocolate. Before the class begins, families can stroll through the Rosen House to gather inspiration from its holiday decor. Each child will take home their own decorated gingerbread house and gingerbread friend, wrapped and ready to display (or eat!). All materials are included: pre-baked gingerbread house pieces, icing bags, candies, and packaging.
About Caramoor
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY. Once the home of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor has evolved into one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performances, cultural engagement, and exploration – a sanctuary for music, art, and nature.
Each year, Caramoor presents an exciting array of concerts across genres – from classical, opera, and chamber music to jazz, American roots, global sounds, and the American songbook. Caramoor’s acclaimed Summer Season brings audiences together for unforgettable outdoor performances from June into August in five distinct settings (the Music Room, Venetian Theater, Spanish Courtyard, Friends Field, and the Sunken Garden), while the intimate Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May in the historic Rosen House, a Mediterranean-style villa listed on the National Register of Historic Places and filled with treasures from around the world. With a mission to engage audiences of all ages, Caramoor also offers a selection of concerts and programs for families and our youngest listeners.
Caramoor is a place where music, history, and nature come together to create moments of beauty and connection for all who visit. In addition to hearing concerts, visitors to Caramoor can tour the spectacular Rosen House, explore its intriguing collections, enjoy a picnic, and experience the lush gardens and grounds – including Caramoor’s unique collection of site-specific Sound Art, permanently installed sound sculptures which draw inspiration from their environment. Caramoor also offers a formal afternoon tea service year-round in the Music Room (by reservation), a seasonal concessions tent, and a selection of public programs such as yoga, art classes, and large-scale community events.
At-a-Glance Calendar: Upcoming Rosen House Concert Series Performances
Friday, November 7 at 7:30pm: Christie Dashiell Quartet
Sunday, November 9 at 3pm: The English Concert
Sunday, November 16 at 3pm: Poiesis Quartet
Friday, November 21 at 7:30pm: The Arcadian Wild
Saturday, December 6 at 8pm: Rosanne Cash - Benefit Concert
Sunday, December 7 at 3pm: An Amarcord Christmas
Sunday, March 8 at 3pm: Schwab Vocal Rising Stars
Friday, March 20 at 7:30pm: Goitse
Sunday, March 22 at 3pm: Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Sunday, April 12 at 3pm: Junction Trio
Sunday, April 19 at 3pm: Steven Isserlis, cello & Connie Shih, piano
Friday, May 1 at 7:30pm: Anat Cohen Quartethinho
Sunday, May 3 at 3pm: Poiesis Quartet
Friday, May 8 at 7:30pm: Solomon Hicks
For Caramoor’s complete schedule: caramoor.org/events
Ticketing Information
Concert tickets are available for purchase online at caramoor.org; by phone at 914.232.1252 Tuesdays through Fridays from 10am-4pm; and on site from the Box Office two hours before each performance.
Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road in Katonah, NY.
More information about visiting Caramoor: caramoor.org/visit
Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May, held in the exquisite Music Room of the Rosens’ historic home – a Mediterranean-style villa from 1939 filled with treasures from around the world. Photo by Gabe Palacio available in high resolution here.