April 17: GRAMMY-Nominated Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis Releases New Album Terra Infirma - World Premiere Recordings of Music by Reena Esmail
GRAMMY®-Nominated Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis
Releases Terra Infirma on April 17 Just Before Earth Day 2026
World Premiere Recordings of Major New Works Composed by Reena Esmail
Featuring Vijay Gupta, Violin
Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra & Chorus
Conducted by Andrew Grams | Carter Smith, Choral Director
Watch the Trailer for The Terra Infirma Project
Release Dates: April 17 (digital), May 15 (CD) on Azica Records
Yolanda Kondonassis | Reena Esmail | Azica Records
Review CDs and downloads available upon request.
On April 17, 2026, shortly before Earth Day, GRAMMY®-nominated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis releases her new album Terra Infirma on Azica Records. Terra Infirma, which will be released on CD on May 15, 2026, features world premiere recordings of major new works by acclaimed composer Reena Esmail, including the titular concerto for harp and percussion (both performed by Kondonassis) with orchestra, as well as Sandhiprakash for violin and harp, and Earth Speaks: Curiosity for chorus and solo harp. In addition to Kondonassis, the album includes violinist Vijay Gupta, the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra and Chorus, conductor Andrew Grams, and choral director Carter Smith.
Each piece on the album concerns our relationship to the environment – an ongoing theme in both Kondonassis’s and Esmail’s work. Kondonassis’s most recent album is FIVE MINUTES for Earth from 2022, which features pieces (including one by Esmail) commissioned through her environmental awareness non-profit organization Earth at Heart. Esmail often uses her work as a composer and performer to support environmental advocacy, particularly with her compositions Earth Speaks and Malhaar: A Requiem for Water.
Esmail’s new harp and percussion concerto Terra Infirma was directly informed by the composer’s experience living in Los Angeles during the catastrophic fires of January 2025. Esmail, who is Indian-American, also drew on her extensive studies of Hindustani music in composing the piece. Her compositional voice is at once arresting, lyrical, haunting, and fierce. She writes in the liner notes, “Though the idea had been set in motion four years earlier, the timing of its creation was uncanny. I began writing this concerto in January 2025, a few days before wildfire ravaged my neighborhood of Altadena, CA. The material for immolation came to me as I walked the hills of Los Angeles while we were evacuated. The piece draws on the ancient Hindustani raags of Deepak, which evokes fire, and Megh, which extinguishes it through rain.” Kondonassis, known for “a range of colour that’s breathtaking,” (Gramophone), brings the work to life with colorful authenticity.
Terra Infirma reflects not only the environmental passion and advocacy of both artists, but also their inspiration to innovate and expand the concerto form. In this bold new work, with a title taken from a poem by Robert Walters (also commissioned by Kondonassis through Earth at Heart), the harp symbolizes the protagonist Earth, both fragile and powerful. The towering instrument is moved choreographically by Kondonassis across the stage as she journeys through various arrays of suspended percussion. Esmail describes the work as “part virtuoso concerto, part performance art, and part theater.”
Says Esmail, “Terra Infirma sits somewhere between a harp/percussion concerto and a monodrama – Yolanda leads us through the trajectory of a wildfire, starting with the eerie moments before the first spark, and ending with the hope of new growth. The work explores our human relationship to fire – a force that can be at once devastating and illuminating. It has been a dream to work so closely with Yolanda, who has reinvented the role of the harp over and over again throughout her career. We have built the DNA of this piece together over so many years – experimenting in percussion studios, mapping stage plots, pushing our imaginations to the limit. I am so excited to share this work with the world.”
Kondonassis says, “The personal and musical resonance that I feel with Reena has resulted in a work that’s deeply personal, uniquely colorful, and ground-breaking in so many ways. The harp is a highly visual instrument, and Terra Infirma utilizes that element to the fullest. In this work, the harp is actually a character in the musical drama onstage, and that gives me the chance to portray an enormous range of artistic emotion.”
Photos by Ryan Zimmerman available in high resolution here.
The album also includes Esmail’s works Sandhiprakash (originally written for solo cello in 2022, reimagined for violin and harp for this project) and Earth Speaks: Curiosity (originally written in 2014 for chorus and solo piano, revised for chorus and solo harp). Esmail writes, “Sandhiprakash, meaning ‘the joining of light’, is the term for a particular set of Hindustani raags that are performed at the moments of sunrise and sunset. This piece focuses on the sunrise raags, Bhairav, Ahir Bhairav and Vibhas. Quite different from the sonorities that evoke dawn in Western music, these melodies are darker and more mysterious.” Earth Speaks: Curiosity uses as its texts the list of stops that the rover Curiosity made on Mars in 2011 – many of them named from the places worldwide where the scientists involved conducted their research – as well as haikus which were submitted to an online competition to commemorate the launch.
The new album forms the heart of The Terra Infirma Project, a multi-year initiative of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, which boasts Kondonassis as an alumna (class of ‘82). In addition to the world premiere performances and recording of Esmail’s pieces, the project consists of a live multi-media concert video, the creation of a two-part documentary, and a year-long series of educational and residency activities at Interlochen Center for the Arts. The entire process, from initial workshops to the world-premiere and recording, has been captured by the award-winning film crew Fulvew Productions for the upcoming documentary to be released in August 2026. .
Of working with and mentoring the students at her alma mater during her residency at Interlochen, Kondonassis states, “Bringing Terra Infirma to life with my dear friend, Reena Esmail, was a gift in itself, but to do it at Interlochen – where many of my earliest and most important musical values were formed – was extraordinary. My time on campus suggested to me that maybe, just maybe, we actually can go home again when ‘home’ represents the genesis of our best selves. My time spent with the incredible Interlochen students assured me that the future of music is safe in the hands of these smart, curious, motivated young players. Even in our increasingly complex world, their ability to commit and collaborate with their whole hearts gives me hope. I find it enormously inspiring to be reminded that the training ground of great artists shouldn’t be considered an assembly line, but a magnificent garden – rich with seeds, buds, and blooms for which opportunity and mentorship are the sun and water.”
About Yolanda Kondonassis:
Yolanda Kondonassis enjoys a career as one of the world’s leading solo harpists. Hailed as “viscerally exciting” by TheChicago Tribune, she has performed around the globe as a concerto soloist and in recital, pushing the boundaries of what listeners expect of the harp. Since making her debut at age 18 with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Kondonassis has appeared as soloist with countless major orchestras in the United States and abroad. Also a published author, speaker, professor of harp, and environmental activist, she weaves her many passions into a vibrant and multi-faceted career.
Praised by Gramophone for her “keen sense of dramatic timing and a range of colour that’s breathtaking,” Kondonassis has released over 25 commercial recordings and her music has been sold and downloaded by millions of listeners. She was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her world premiere recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto (Azica). Her album of music by Takemitsu and Debussy, Air (Telarc), was also nominated for a GRAMMY® Award.
Committed to the advancement of new music, Kondonassis’ body of solo harp commissions includes works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty, Reena Esmail, Chen Yi, Bright Sheng, Jennifer Higdon, Stephen Hartke, Takuma Itoh, Zhou Long, Donald Erb, and Arturo Sandoval, among numerous others. As an author, she has published several books to date, including The Composer’s Guide to Writing Well for the Modern Harp (Carl Fischer); On Playing the Harp (Carl Fischer); The Yolanda Kondonassis Collection (Carl Fischer); and The Earth Collection (Theodore Presser), a curated volume of newly-composed, earth-inspired works for solo harp.
Kondonassis’s first children’s book, Our House is Round: A Kid’s Book About Why Protecting Our Earth Matters, was released in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing and praised as “the perfect children’s introduction to environmental issues” by The Environmental Defense Fund. The book was subsequently licensed by Scholastic Books and recently released in an updated paperback edition under the title, My Earth, My Home.
Kondonassis is currently Director of the Harp Department at The University of Michigan, after previously heading the harp departments at Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music for over 25 years. She has presented masterclasses around the world and is the founding director of The American Harp Institute. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy as a high school student and continued her studies at The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received her BM and MM degrees in Harp Performance.
About Reena Esmail:
Reena Esmail’s music weaves together the traditions of Hindustani and Western classical music, drawing musicians from many perspectives into shared creative spaces. Esmail divides her attention evenly between orchestral, chamber and choral work. She has written commissions for ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Seattle Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony and her music has featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, including The Singing Guitar by Conspirare, BRUITS by Imani Winds, and Healing Modes by Brooklyn Rider.
Many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press, and her piece TaReKiTa has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Her life and music was profiled on Season 3 of the PBS Great Performances series Now Hear This, as well as Frame of Mind, a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Esmail was the Los Angeles Master Choral’s 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and was Seattle Symphony’s 2020-21 Composer-in-Residence. She has been in residence with Tanglewood Music Center (co-Curator – 2023), Spoleto Festival (Chamber Music Composer-in-Residence – 2024) and Marlboro Music Festival (2025 Composer in Residence).
Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School (BM’05) and the Yale School of Music (MM’11, MMA’14, DMA’18). Her primary teachers have included Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Rouse, and Samuel Adler. She received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. Her Hindustani music teachers include Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazumdar, and she currently studies and collaborates with Saili Oak. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers. Esmail resides in her hometown of Los Angeles, CA.
About the Featured Artists & Ensembles:
Vijay Gupta: vijaygupta.com
Andrew Grams:andrewgrams.com
Carter Smith: interlochen.org/person/carter-smith
About Earth at Heart: www.earthatheart.org
About Interlochen Center for the Arts:
The nonprofit Interlochen Center for the Arts is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the only organization in the world that brings together a 3,400 -plus-student summer camp program; a 570-plus-student fine arts boarding high school; a year-round source of expert online arts education for children, teens, and adults; opportunities for adults to engage in fulfilling artistic and creative programs; two 24-hour, listener-supported public radio services (classical music and news); more than 600 arts presentations annually by students, faculty, and world-renowned guest artists; a robust hospitality division that curates on-campus lodging, dining, and transportation services; and a global alumni base spanning nine decades, including leaders in the arts and all other endeavors. For information, visit interlochen.org.
About the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra:
A recipient of The American Prize, the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra is recognized as one of America’s finest high school orchestras. Under the direction of Leslie B. Dunner, the orchestra performs an advanced repertoire encompassing symphonies, concertos, and contemporary works. The orchestra has appeared at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Symphony Hall, the Kimmel Center, and the New World Center, and has premiered works by Wynton Marsalis, Reena Esmail, Ash Fure, and Hannah Lash, among many others. Deeply committed to interdisciplinary creation, the ensemble collaborates regularly with the six other artistic divisions within Interlochen Arts Academy, reflecting the institution’s belief in artistic connection and creative exploration across disciplines. Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra alumni occupy positions in leading orchestras around the world, including principal positions with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra, among others. For more information, visit interlochen.org/music/academy/music-ensembles.
Album Information:
Terra Infirma | Yolanda Kondonassis, Harp & Percussion | Azica Records
All Music Composed by Reena Esmail
Featuring Vijay Gupta, Violin | Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra & Chorus
Andrew Grams, Conductor | Carter Smith, Choral Director
Release Date: April 17, 2026 (Digital) | May 15, 2026 (CD) (Worldwide)
Terra Infirma: Concerto for Harp, Percussion, and Orchestra
1. i. bone-colored branches [2:30]
Broken rocks reflecting the sun. Waterless, the terraced vineyards
Have all turned brown. Her Eden disintegrates, a daily
Orchard of dead trees with bone-colored branches.
2. ii. immolation [3:30]
Immolation. The world’s trees snap into flame...
The world is burning.
3. iii. helium ember [5:25]
...a helium ember that pulleys up through a tightening sky.
4. iv. roaming the ghost forest [7:05]
...glowing in aftermath...Dante roaming the ghost forest,
A spectral coastline of damp embers, black ash and hissing smoke.
5. v. skeletal silhouette [2:41]
Only the skeletal remains of Manzanita bushes
Scratch the horizon, a torched past in eerie silhouette.
6. vi. swallowed [5:25]
...swallowed by fire...
Smoldering forests forge new deliriums.
7. vii. facing the flame [3:52]
But somewhere, at this very moment, the snow is melting as it should.
On a high mountain trail, a cool spring rushes out of a low stand of Alders.
This is where you kiss the ground, gather the soil in your hands,
Tend to the shelter of new life greening at the water’s edge...
8. Sandhiprakash for violin and harp [8:40]
Earth Speaks: Curiosity for SATB chorus and solo harp
9. I. Ethereal [7:01]
10. II. Remote. Icy [2:48]
11. III. Intimate, Serene [3:39]
Total Time: [52:44]
All World Premiere Recordings
Executive Producer: Yolanda Kondonassis
Producer: Alan Bise
Recording Engineers: Alan Bise and Michael Culler
Mixing Engineer: Alan Bise
Project Manager at Interlochen Center for the Arts: Eric Stomberg
Cover Photo: Adobe Stock
Concert Photography: Ryan Zimmerman
Designer: Anilda Carrasquillo, Cover to Cover Design
Recorded in Corson Auditorium at Interlochen Center for the Arts