Sept. 25: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs the Annual Darius Milhaud Concert – Presented by Mills College at Northeastern University
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at
jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill
Performs the Annual Darius Milhaud Concert
Presented by Mills College at Northeastern University
Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall at Northeastern University Oakland
5000 MacArthur Blvd. | Oakland, CA
Tickets and More Information
“As tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of”
– San Francisco Chronicle
Oakland, CA – On Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm, pianist Sarah Cahill performs the annual Darius Milhaud Concert presented by Mills College at Northeastern University in Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall at Northeastern University Oakland, formerly Mills College (5000 MacArthur Blvd). This performance is part of the Mills Music Now Concert Series, of which Cahill has been a frequent performer.
At this celebration of music and the life of Darius Milhaud, Cahill will perform a wide array of works by Milhaud, his students at Mills, and important composers who held the Milhaud Professorship over the years, as well as composers connected with Mills. Part of her program will also feature collaborative performance with her longtime friend and musical colleague, pianist Regina Myers.
The Darius Milhaud Concert is funded by the Mills College Class of 1945 Darius Milhaud Performance Endowment. Established in 1995 by the Mills College Class of 1945 at its 50th Reunion, the endowment has supported annual concerts featuring the music of Darius Milhaud. The Class of 1945 was among the first to graduate during Milhaud’s tenure at Mills College. Their vision and generosity is a fitting tribute to his inspirational teaching and artistry. Mills College at Northeastern University is grateful to the Mills College Class of 1945 for ensuring that Milhaud’s music will continue to exert a strong influence in the years to come.
Cahill’s program showcases works from the early 20th century through today, underscoring the vast scope of influence both Milhaud and Mills College at Northeastern University had and continue to have in the present. Several of the featured composers are artists with whom Cahill also shares a creative connection, including Theresa Wong, Annea Lockwood, Maggi Payne, Pauline Oliveros, Lou Harrison, and Terry Riley, further highlighting the tightly knit nature of the new music community and the extraordinary legacy of the Mills College music department that has formed and continues to grow over the years following Darius Milhaud’s lifetime.
Cahill’s performance will include Scaramouche (1937) by Darius Milhaud; Jeux de plein air (1919) by Germaine Tailleferre; Quintuplets Play Pen (2001) by Pauline Oliveros; Thaw (1975) by Elinor Armer; The Graceful Ghost (1971) by William Bolcom; Dejavalse (1977) and Dejavalise, for Bill Bolcom (1985) by Tom Constanten; Range-Song, Jig (1939), Fugue for David Tudor, and Tandy’s Tango (1982) by Lou Harrison; Holding Pattern (2001) Maggi Payne; Be Kind to One Another (2008/2014) by Terry Riley; She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees (2019) by Theresa Wong; Milk and Honey: Mielle’s Rag (1969) by James Tenney; and RCSC (2001) by Annea Lockwood.
Tailleferre was a close friend of Milhaud's and a fellow member of Les Six. Armer and Bolcom both studied with Milhaud at Mills College. Harrison and Oliveros both held the Darius Milhaud Chair of Musical Composition at Mills, and Riley, Tenney, and Lockwood all taught there. Constanten was a student of Luciano Berio at Mills, along with his friend and fellow Grateful Dead bandmate Phil Lesh, while Wong earned her MFA at the school.
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).
One of Cahill’s most extensive projects 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, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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, Gretna Arts, WoCo Festival, 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 thirty 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: Bay Area-based pianist Sarah Cahill performs the annual Darius Milhaud Concert presented by Mills College at Northeastern University in Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall at Northeastern University Oakland. This performance is part of the Mills Music Now Concert Series. Cahill will perform an array of works by Milhaud, his students, and influential teachers and students from the institution formerly known as Mills College. Longtime friend and fellow pianist Regina Myers will join Cahill for part of the performance.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Mills College at Northeastern University
What: Music by Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre, Pauline Oliveros, Elinor Armer, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Terry Riley, Theresa Wong, James Tenney, and Annea Lockwood
When: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall at Northeastern University Oakland, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613
Tickets and information: https://performingarts.oakland.northeastern.edu/event-detail/?eventId=1422483045