May 28: John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet performs on Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Thursday Night Music series

New Masada Quartet. Press photos available here.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Continues Thursday Night Music

A New Series of Concerts Held on Thursday Nights at Calderwood Hall 

May 28: John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet

John Zorn, saxophone; Julian Lage, electric guitar; Jorge Roeder, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums

Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 7 pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall | 25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/about/music

BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its bold new concert series, Thursday Night Music, curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel and held on select Thursday evenings. Thursday Night Music brings a different energy to the concert hall than the afternoon performances of the Museum’s Weekend Concert Series, featuring edgier, more experimental work. With no intermissions, open seating, and a relaxed atmosphere, these single-set performances offer immersive and adventurous listening experiences. All concerts take place in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intimate and intense acoustic environment.

The next Thursday Night Music concert on May 28, 2026 features John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet with John Zorn, saxophone; Julian Lage, electric guitar; Jorge Roeder, bass; and Kenny Wollesen, drums. The New Masada Quartet is iconoclastic composer and saxophonist John Zorn’s virtuosic ensemble that performs classic compositions from Zorn’s Masada songbooks—hundreds of short-form pieces marrying Jewish klezmer music and free jazz. Zorn has said, “The idea with Masada is to produce a sort of radical Jewish music, a new Jewish music which is not the traditional one in a different arrangement, but music for the Jews of today. The idea is to put Ornette Coleman and the Jewish scales together.” 

Led by Zorn, the Quartet’s performances are kinetic, with fierce solos and near telepathic interaction among the musicians, who are all steeped in Zorn’s catalogue. The Quartet has released one studio album and two live albums, the latest of which was recorded live at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY and released in 2024. The Free Jazz Collective raved, “This isn’t a nostalgic project as much as it’s a renewal or declaration of intent . . . New Masada Quartet isn’t just ‘playing the hits;’ the group plays songs from the book not quite like they’ve been done before. . . . Watch any clip on YouTube, you’ll see the joy radiating from all four players, as they rip barn-burner solos off, then throw in a quick stop and pivot to a restatement of the theme or a wholly new idea.”

John Zorn is one of the most prolific and boundary-defying figures in contemporary music. Born in New York City in 1953, he grew up absorbing a wide range of styles—classical, jazz, rock, film scores—an eclecticism that defines his music. After emerging from the New York Downtown scene in the 1970s, Zorn established himself as a radical innovator on the alto saxophone. His early work embraced free improvisation, game pieces, and noise. His most celebrated achievement is the Masada project, begun over 30 years ago, and now a vast body of work fusing Jewish musical traditions, klezmer, and free jazz which has spawned hundreds of compositions and dozens of recordings. In 1995, Zorn founded Tzadik Records to release adventurous music the mainstream industry ignores. He has released over 500 recordings. Zorn remains extraordinarily active, composing and performing music that spans jazz, classical, metal, ambient, and more.

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.

Performances take place in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

About Music at the Gardner

George Steel’s music programming for the Museum continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds. 

About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers a singular invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, unforgettable galleries surround a luminous Courtyard and are home to masters such as Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Whistler, and Sargent. The Renzo Piano Wing provides a platform for contemporary artists, musicians, and scholars and serves as an innovative venue where creativity is celebrated in all of its forms. 

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115 • Hours: Open Weekends from 10 am to 5 pm, Weekdays from 11am to 5 pm and Thursdays until 9 pm. Closed Tuesdays. • Admission: Adults $22; Seniors $20; Students $15; Free for members, children under 18, everyone on their birthday, and all named “Isabella” • $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ticket • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org 

Thursday Night Music at the Gardner is sponsored by Barbara and Amos Hostetter.