March 14: ECM New Series Releases Patrick Demenga's Recording of Alexander Knaifel's Chapter Eight

ECM New Series Releases

Alexander Knaifel: Chapter Eight

Patrick Demenga, violoncello
The State Choir Latvija, Youth Choir Kamēr and Riga Cathedral Boys Choir
Andres Mustonen, conductor

Release Date: March 14, 2025
ECM 2637
CD: 0028948598533

Press downloads and CDs available upon request.

Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of Alexander Knaifel. Written in 1992 and 1993 and based upon the eighth chapter of the Old Testament Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, it is conceived as a “community prayer”. In his imagination, while writing it, Knaifel said he “heard it in the most reverberant church acoustics.” 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. Many of Knaifel’s works implied a spiritual or contemplative dimension and in its obituary of the Russian composer, who died last year, Gramophone wrote that “his style proved ideal for the ECM aesthetic, allowing the luminous, meditative qualities of the music to shine through.” Those qualities are evident as Estonian conductor Andres Mustonen subtly directs three Latvian choirs: the State Choir Latvija, the Youth Choir Kamēr and the Riga Cathedral Boys Choir. “Andres Mustonen managed to make the choral voices float,” wrote Michael Dervan, a witness to the performance here, in the Irish Times. “The sounds sometimes seemed to emerge as imperceptibly as a cloud slowly forming in a clear sky. In the welcoming rococo interior of Lucerne’s Jesuit Church, the effect was of prolonged, quiet ravishment.”

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Alexander Knaifel was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1943, and grew up in St Petersburg. Setting out, initially, to be a cellist, he studied with teachers including Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory in the early 1960s. As a composer he was soon allied with an emerging Soviet avant-garde, a network of friends such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina and Valentin Silvestrov. Like them, he subsequently found his way to a more personal idiom. His own compositions, from the mid-1970s onwards, include a number of slowly evolving pieces: “quiet giants” was his own term for these works, whose quest for beauty often has a metaphysical dimension or a sacred subtext. Knaifel sought to convey something of the heart of faith by, as he put it, "speaking in a low voice, hoping to hear a voice within oneself.”

The premiere performance of Chapter Eight took place in Washington’s National Cathedral in 1995, with Mstislav Rostropovich in the cellist’s role.

Further recordings of the music of Alexander Knaifel on ECM are Svete Tikhiy (2002) with Oleg Malov, the Keller Quartett, Tatiana Melentieva, and Andrei Siegle, Amicta Sole (2005), with Rostropovich and Melentieva plus the Glinka College Boys Choir and the Hermitage Orchestra, Blazhenstva (2008) with Melentieva, Ivan Monighetti, Piotr Migunov, the Hermitage Orchestra and the Lege Artis Choir, and Lukumoriye (2018), with Malov, Migunov, Melentieva, and Lege Artis.

Swiss cellist Patrick Demenga was born in 1962. He studied at the Bern Conservatory, in Cologne with Boris Pergamenschikow, and in New York with Harvey Shapiro. He has premiered works by Isang Yun, Gerhard Schedl, Heinz Holliger and many others. Patrick Demenga first appeared on ECM New Series in 1995 with 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher, with music of Berio, Boulez, Britten, Dutilleux, Ginastera, Henze, Holliger, Lutosławski and more.

Andres Mustonen was born in Tallinn in 1953. Renowned as both conductor and violinist, he was a founder of the early music consort Hortus Musicus, and has long juxtaposed investigations into old music with ardent championing of the new.

The State Choir Latvija is the largest professional choir in the Baltic States. Founded in 1942 its repertoire extends from the renaissance to the present day. The Latvija choir has given world premieres of Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry and Lera Auerbach’s Russian Requiem.

Youth Choir Kamēr was founded in 1990, and established a reputation for its expressive performance style. The choir has commissioned pieces from composers including John Tavener, Giya Kancheli, Dobrinka Tabakova and John Luther Adams, and participated in collaborations with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, Yuri Bashmet, Maxim Rysanov, and others.

The Riga Cathedral Boys Choir was first established in Latvia in 1950, and has since toured the world on many occasions.

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Chapter Eight with Patrick Demenga and the three Latvian choirs under the direction of Andres Mustonen, was recorded at Jesuitenkirche Luzerne in March 2009, in the context of the Lucerne Festival. The Jesuitenkirche - whose acoustic properties are an essential component of this interpretation of Knaifel’s piece - was built in the 17th century, as the first large Baroque church in Switzerland north of the Alps.

May 23: Sony Classical Releases Moonlight Variations New Album by Cellist Pablo Ferrández – Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante Out Today

Sony Classical Releases Moonlight Variations
New Album by Cellist Pablo Ferrández

Out Today
Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante - Listen Here

Album Release Date: May 23, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now

Pablo Ferrández Unites Moonlit Nocturnes with Sunlit Tchaikovsky

Star cellist Pablo Ferrández has realized a twenty-year dream to record Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations on his latest album for Sony Classical, combining the spirited work with melancholy nocturnes to create Moonlight Variations - an album he describes as ‘night followed by day.’ The album will be released internationally on May 23, 2025 - pre-order is available now. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33: Var. 6. Andante is out today – listen here.

The night-time has long fascinated Ferrández. 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. ‘I feel more creative at night,’ says the cellist. ‘I’m not alone in that. So many composers have written special music connected to this time. They all felt a difference in the world once the sun had gone down.’

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.

‘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.’

The recording constitutes Ferrández’s first on the 1689 Archinto Stradivarius he recently acquired. ‘I haven’t heard any other cello with this warmth and I think it really suits my vocal approach and the mellow feeling I wanted to convey here,’ he says.

Ferrández’s attitude to the night hours is supported by recent scientific research, which suggests the brain’s neurotransmitters shift gear markedly at night, opening up pathways to pleasure and communication. ‘My timing feels different at night,’ days Ferrández, ‘I am somehow more relaxed, more open.’

Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations is a staple of the concertante repertoire for solo cellists. Ferrández has played the work for twenty years. He relished the opportunity to record it with fellow Sony artist Martin Fröst and his Swedish Chamber Orchestra. ‘I just love Martin as a musician, he is full of intuition and sensibility and is incredibly inspiring,’ says Ferrández. ‘I have played with him a few times and I think he must be the best clarinetist in history. As a conductor, I thought he would be a perfect fit for the Rococo Variations because of his expertise in Mozart. Mozart was Tchaikovsky’s favorite composer and Tchaikovsky is clearly channeling something of his Classical spirit in this piece.’

Joining Ferrández for the piano and cello works is his regular piano partner Julien Quentin. ‘Julien is a great musician and a great friend,’ says the cellist. ‘We have previously recorded night-themed music together for Sony, which came out of our Night Sessions project where we would gather musicians and friends together at Julien’s house and play, talk and drink wine. We have tried to capture the same atmosphere in our collaboration on this album. Every time we play together it feels like being at home.’

Pablo Ferrández was born in 1991 Madrid and named after the great Spanish cellist, Pablo Casals. He released his debut solo album on Sony in 2021 to critical acclaim and has since recorded as a concerto partner with Anne-Sophie Mutter and won an Opus Klassik Awards.

March 5: Telegraph Quartet Presented by University of Iowa

Available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet

Telegraph Quartet Presented by University of Iowa
Performing the Music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Kenji Bunch, and Mieczysław Weinberg

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building | 93 East Burlington St. | Iowa City, IA
More information

“soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail ... an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape.”
– San Francisco Chronicle

www.TelegraphQuartet.com

Iowa City, IA – On Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group described by The Strad as having "precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication,” will be presented in concert by the University of Iowa at the Voxman Music Building at (93 East Burlington St.). The award-winning ensemble will perform a program featuring Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2 “Concussion Theory,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 “Harp” and Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 in E minor, Op. 35. This performance is free and open to the public and is the culmination of a three day residency with the University of Iowa Sting Quartet Residency Program which had been supported in part by the Linda and Rick Maxson Chamber Music Fund.

The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet bring their musical synchronicity and nuanced performance style to a program of music that highlights three very distinct forms of struggle that range from that of self-contained individual adversity to national plights of natural disasters, as well as the uncertainty of global conflict.

Beethoven’s “Harp” quartet, composed during a French attack on Vienna, is actually one of his most melodious works, despite it being written during the composer’s 11-year-long struggle with hearing loss, which inevitably kept him from fully experiencing this work. During World War II Mieczysław Weinberg fled his homeland of Poland and having failed to convince his family to come with him, almost all of them would be murdered in the concentration camps. His String Quartet No. 6 contains an innocent mundanity that erupts throughout the work into desperation, sorrow, and tragic indignation as he dealt with the ramifications of his exile and learned to live warily in his newfound home of the Soviet Union. The work, which was banned in Stalin’s USSR and was never performed in Weinberg’s lifetime, is now being championed by the Telegraph Quartet.

Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2, Concussion Theory, explores many aspects of the historically unprecedented plight of [the 1930’s Dustbowl] and the highly unorthodox experiments the nation tried in order to address it.

“The first movement, No Man's Land, presents a dire scene of the parched, barren earth of the Great Plains, with a scorching sun and only a rustling of tumbleweed to interrupt the desolate stillness. Black Sunday recalls a battered, downtrodden community church gathering in 1935 on the day of one of the worst dust storm of that era blacked out an area spanning five states. The third movement, Concussion Theory, depicts the blazing fireworks of explosives fired into the heavens above, followed by A Gentle Rain, a fantasy of cathartic rainfall; a bittersweet, would-be outcome of this experiment that, alas, in reality never actually occurred.

The Telegraph Quartet’s latest album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, was released in 2023 on Azica Records. The first in the Telegraph’s three-album series focused on string quartets of the first half of the 20th century, Divergent Paths explores the bewildering and unbridled creativity of the period through the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Maurice Ravel, whose music on this album weaves threads of great contrast and surprising similarity. The album has been met with critical acclaim, with The New York Times reporting, “[I]n the Schoenberg, they achieve something truly special, meticulously guiding its often wayward progress. At times Schoenberg makes the four strings sound almost orchestral, but the Telegraph players can also make his contrapuntal tangles radiantly clear. Every minute of their account sounds gripping and purposeful, which is one of the highest compliments you can pay the piece.”

More about Telegraph Quartet: The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.

Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.

In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released its latest album Divergent Paths, the first in a series of recordings titled 20th Century Vantage Points, on Azica Records. This first volume features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. Through this series, the Telegraph Quartet intends to explore string quartets of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. The New York Times praised the Telegraph’s performance as “…full of elegance and pinpoint control…” Divergent Paths follows Into The Light (Centaur, 2018), an album highlighting a gripping set of works by Leon Kirchner, Anton Webern, and Benjamin Britten.

Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.

For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Concert details:

Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by the University of Iowa
What: Music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Kenji Bunch, and Mieczysław Weinberg
When: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Voxman Music Building, 93 East Burlington St., Iowa City, IA 52240
Tickets and information: www.gpsg.uiowa.edu/event/147476/0

Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, which the San Francisco Chronicle describes as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail” and being “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape,” is presented by the University of Iowa on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will feature Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2 “Concussion Theory,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 “Harp” and Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 in E minor, Op. 35. Through this performance, the Telegraph Quartet presents music that explores a wide range of bold emotions and experiences, inspired by dramatic events of individual, national and global scale.

March 22 & 23: High Drama and a World Premiere are Featured in California Symphony's TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION

Photo of David Fung by Studio D2 for Steinway and Sons; Donato Cabrera by Kristen Loken; Saad Haddad by Bess Adler; high resolution photos available here.

High Drama and a World Premiere are Featured
in California Symphony's TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION

Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director

In Concert March 22 at 7:30pm & March 23 at 4:00pm
at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts

Featuring Piano Soloist David Fung in Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto,
the World Premiere of Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s Fantasia for Strings,
and Tchaikovsky’s Final Symphony, Symphony No. 6

California Symphony’s 2024-2025 Season Showcases the Crowning Achievements of Composers at the Peak of Their Powers: Watch Donato Cabrera’s Introduction

Tickets & Information: www.californiasymphony.org

WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera continue the 2024-2025 season, showcasing the crowning achievements of composers at the peak of their powers, with TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION – two concerts featuring music that is full of drama and high emotion on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 4:00pm at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek). Centered around Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s powerful final symphony, Symphony No. 6, the concerts will also include the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s second commission for the orchestra Fantasia for Strings, and the California Symphony debut of pianist David Fung as soloist in Grażyna Bacewicz’s rarely heard virtuosic Piano Concerto.

Saad Haddad, who is California Symphony’s Young American Composer in Residence from 2024-2026, writes music that frequently delves into the relationship between the West and the East by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arab instruments to Western symphonic instruments. His Fantasia for Strings takes inspiration from English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams’ famous Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, fused with Arab maqam or melodic structure. Pianist David Fung, praised by The Washington Post for his “poetic and exquisitely sculpted interpretations,” joins the orchestra as soloist in Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final symphony is also known as the “Pathétique,” but the composer originally called it the “Passionate.” Grand, sweeping, and with themes recognizable from movies and pop culture, it is one of the Russian melody master’s most popular and frequently performed works.

“While programming an entire season around the final symphonies of well-known composers was exhilarating, it is always a particular challenge to find the right tone and arc when programming a concert in and around Tchaikovsky’s uniquely final symphony, the Pathétique,” says Donato Cabrera. “Using the original definition of pathetic as a guide immediately led me to the compositions of Grażyna Bacewicz. Her music is not new to the California Symphony and this powerful Piano Concerto will be brilliantly performed by our guest soloist, David Fung. The concert begins with our composer-in-residence Saad Haddad’s Fantasia for Strings – its emotional and dramatic atmosphere is a perfect companion to both the Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky.”

Saad Hadded writes of his new piece, Fantasia for Strings, that he took a “snapshot” of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and created “an entire soundscape of my own aesthetic based on his.” He explains, “The role of the solo string quartet is to evoke the Vaughan Williams theme within the framework of the Arab maqam system, while the rest of the orchestra plays in an aesthetic closer to the original Vaughan Williams. So there is an internal dialogue going on between the two groups.” The two groups trade back and forth until they both merge together and the two styles – Arabic and European – sound as one.

Grażyna Bacewicz was one of the first women composers to achieve national prominence in Poland. In the 1930s, she studied in Paris with the pioneering composer Nadia Boulanger, who taught many other great 20th century composers. Despite taking care of her sister who was wounded and her own family, Bacewicz composed and premiered new works at private concerts in Nazi-occupied Warsaw during the Second World War. She composed her Piano Concerto in 1949, and it was premiered that year by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Bacewicz incorporates Polish folk themes in this work which features intense moments of drama and a demanding and virtuosic solo piano part. In his notes for this program, Scott Fogelsong describes Bacewicz’s music, writing, “Her long-overlooked music is well worth exploring: beautifully crafted, vital and passionate, it carves out a stylistic journey from the Gallic influences of her youth to the dark complexities of her late years.”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, Symphony No. 6, is nicknamed the Pathétique Symphony and premiered just nine days before his death. As Fogelsong explains, “Pathétique plotlines have been conjured up throughout the work’s century-plus history: suicide note, presentiment of death, death wish, despair of being homosexual in a violently anti-gay culture.” However, the composer originally named the symphony Pateticheskaya, meaning passionate or emotional, and was in good health when he composed the piece. Tchaikovsky wrote to his nephew Vladimir ‘Bob’ Davydov of the work, “I certainly regard it as easily the best – and especially the most ‘sincere’ – of all my works, and I love it as I have never before loved one of my musical offspring.”

Illustrating California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers, the 2024-2025 season features the iconic final symphonies of titans of classical music Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the unfinished masterpieces of Anton Bruckner and Franz Schubert; a Grammy-winning Disney Fantasia-esque concerto for film and orchestra by Bay Area composer Mason Bates paired with Benjamin Britten’s lively introduction to the ensemble; a world premiere by the orchestra’s 2024-2026 Young American Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad; a recent work by Grammy-nominated composer and Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon; Joaquín Rodrigo’s famous tour-de-force guitar concerto Concierto de Aranjuez; and rarely performed music by 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc and 20th-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz.

Season tickets are now available for California Symphony’s 2025-2026 season. Read the season announcement here.

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Donato Cabrera since 2013. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area. California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.

Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. A free 30-minute pre-concert talk by lecturer Scott Fogelsong will begin one hour before each performance. More information is available at CaliforniaSymphony.org.

FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT: California Symphony presents TCHAIKOVSKY PASSION

California Symphony’s March concerts, conducted by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera, feature music that is full of emotion and high drama, concluding with Tchaikovsky’s powerful final symphony, Symphony No. 6. The concerts begin with the world premiere of Fantasia for Strings, Composer-in-Residence Saad Haddad’s second commission for the orchestra. Haddad’s music frequently delves into the relationship between the West and the East by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arabic instruments to Western symphonic instruments. Pianist David Fung, praised by The Washington Post for his “poetic and exquisitely sculpted interpretations,” makes his California Symphony debut as soloist in 20th century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto. Bacewicz incorporates Polish folk themes in this work which features intense moments of drama and a demanding and virtuosic solo piano part. Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final symphony is also known as the “Pathétique,” but the composer originally called it the “Passionate.” Grand, sweeping, and with themes recognizable from movies and pop culture, it is one of the Russian melody master’s most popular and frequently performed works.

California Symphony takes the stuffiness out of the concert experience: Take selfies at the photo booth, order a signature cocktail, and sip at your seat. Tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, starting one hour before the show.

WHEN: Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 4:00pm

WHERE: Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek

CONCERT:

Tchaikovsky Passion
7:30pm, Saturday, March 22
4:00pm, Sunday, March 23
Donato Cabrera, conductor
David Fung, piano soloist
California Symphony

PROGRAM:
Saad Haddad: Fantasia for Strings (World Premiere)
Grażyna Bacewicz: Piano Concerto
David Fung, piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

TICKETS: Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under.
INFO: For more information or to purchase tickets, the public may visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, noon to 6pm).
PHOTOS: Available here.

About the California Symphony:

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera since 2013. It is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area.

California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.

Since 1991, California Symphony's three-year Young American Composer-in-Residence program has provided a composer with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the orchestra over three consecutive years to create, rehearse, premiere, and record three major orchestra compositions, one each season. Every Composer-in-Residence has gone on to win top honors and accolades in the field, including the Rome Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and more.

The orchestra's nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds impacts students' trajectories by providing instruction for violin or cello and musicianship skills. Sound Minds has proven to contribute directly to improved reading and math proficiencies and character development, as students set and achieve goals, learn communication and problem-solving skills, and gain self-confidence. Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, the program is offered completely free of charge to the students and families of Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, California.

Through its innovative adult education program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, California Symphony provides lifelong learners a fun-filled introduction to the orchestra and classical music. Led by celebrated educator and California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong, these live classes are held over four weeks in the summer annually and are available to stream online year-round.

In 2017, California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. Its website is available in both Spanish and English.

Reaching far beyond the performance hall, since 2020 the orchestra's concerts have been broadcast nationally on multiple radio series through Classical California (KUSC/KDFC) and the WFMT Radio Network, reaching over 1.5 million listeners across the country.

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

California Symphony’s 2024-25 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.

March 21: Newport Classical Presents Oboist James Austin Smith and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown in Next Chamber Series Concert

James Austin Smith. Photos available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Presents
Oboist James Austin Smith and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
in Next Chamber Series Concert

Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30pm

Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information

Newport, RI – Newport Classical continues its fourth full-season Chamber Series, featuring twelve concerts held on select Fridays at 7:30pm at the organization’s home venue the Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.), with a recital by oboist James Austin Smith and pianist Michael Stephen Brown on Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30pm. Their compelling program features music by William Grant Still, Clara Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Frédéric Chopin, Benjamin Britten, and more. 

Praised for his “virtuosic,” “dazzling,” and “brilliant” performances (The New York Times) and his “bold, keen sound” (The New Yorker), James Austin Smith is a soloist, chamber musician, and artistic director. He appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Carnegie Hall, on tour as Co-Principal Oboe of the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Smith is also Artistic and Executive Director of Tertulia Chamber Music, which creates intimate evenings of food, drink, and music in singular cultural experiences in New York, San Francisco and Serenbe, Georgia, as well as an annual weekend festival of food and music in a variety of global destinations. Smith’s previous projects include Hearing Memory, an evening of performance, story-telling and archival film footage documenting politically engaged musicians in the former East Germany. Smith holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music and bachelor’s degrees in political science and music from Northwestern University. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany.

Watch James Austin Smith

Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series, newly expanded to twelve concerts held between September and June, reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to offer year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with a complimentary glass of wine from Greenvale Vineyards and homemade treats by Newport Classical volunteers.

As part of Newport Classical’s desire to create connections between classical music, the artists who perform it, and the Newport community, all musicians performing on the Chamber Series also visit Newport-area schools to perform for, speak with, and inspire students, through Newport Classical’s Music Education and Engagement Initiative.

Up next, the Newport Classical Chamber Series presents Boyd Meets Girl, coming to Newport for a performance on Valentine’s Day, February 14 – the impressive husband-and-wife guitar and cello duo has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé. On February 28, the acclaimed Trio Karénine, which has established itself in recent years as a key group on the French and international stage, pairs Schubert’s second piano trio with Dvořák’s rarely programmed second piano trio, filled with color, warmth, lively dance, and Slavic folk elements.

On April 25, Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova, who has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (The New York Times) presents the music of Bach and Messiaen, alongside works by Grieg and Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, with pianist Anna Polonsky. Pianist Orion Weiss, known for his “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post), returns to Newport for a solo recital of Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations on May 16. On June 13, the GRAMMY®-nominated Norwegian Trio Mediaeval, who captivate audiences with their crystalline voices, closes the 2024-2025 Newport Classical Chamber Series with an enchanting evening of Norwegian and Swedish traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, and ballads. 

The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 4-22, 2025, with programming to be announced at the end of March.

Special Note: Newport Classical is currently hiring for seasonal roles to support the summer Newport Classical Music Festival – Operations Coordinator, Box Office Coordinator, and Production Crew. Those interested in joining a dynamic team and helping produce exceptional classical music events can view available positions at www.newportclassical.org/employment.

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 music 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 Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools 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, and Clarice Assad.

March 28: Jupiter Quartet Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series

Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/jupiter-string

The Jupiter Quartet
Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series'

Performing Music by
Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms

Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm
UVM Recital Hall | 384 South Prospect Street | Burlington, VT
Tickets and Information

“technical finesse and rare expressive maturity” – The New Yorker

www.jupiterquartet.com

Burlington, VT – On Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter String Quartet – the internationally acclaimed winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Banff International String Quartet Competition who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) – will be presented in concert by the University of Vermont Lane Series in the UVM Recital Hall (384 South Prospect Street).

Based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and performing all across the nation, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet has been performing together since 2001. Exuding an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, the Quartet celebrates every opportunity to bring their close-knit and lively style to audiences. Their connections to each other and the length of time they’ve shared the stage always shine through in their intuitive performances.

The Jupiter Quartet brings its highly developed, intertwined musical chemistry to three works composed from the turn of the 19th century to the present day. Each work embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. The program includes: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.The Jupiter Quartet’s lively and expressive playing style will showcase the dramatic tensions and strong emotions driving the music of this program.

“We are very pleased to share this lively and engaging program of works with the UVM audience,” says Jupiter Quartet. “Haydn and Brahms have remained great favorites of ours throughout our years together, and we are excited to explore the sound world of the fantastic contemporary composer, Caroline Shaw.”

Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2 is the last of his many works in this genre. Considered by many to be the “grandfather of the string quartet”, Haydn developed the form over many years, experimenting with more dramatic structures and particularly with a more equal treatment of the four voices, instead of the first-violin dominated texture often heard earlier.

Caroline Shaw says of Entr’acte: “Entr’acte is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of [Haydn’s] Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”

Brahms’s first string quartet was composed in a painstaking process over the course of several years.The work’s four movements are presented in the form of two outer movements fueled by torment and anxiety, and two inner movements framed by a more delicate and calm musical aesthetic.

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,” is presented in concert by the University of Vermont Lane Series. The ensemble will perform a concert program featuring music that embraces the unique attributes of its respective compositional form to create clever juxtapositions between texture and emotion, heightening the intensity of the performance. Featured works on the concert program will include: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82 by Franz Joseph Haydn; Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.

Concert details:

Who: Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by the University of Vermont Lane Series
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Caroline Shaw, and Johannes Brahms
When: Friday, March 28, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: UVM Recital Hall, 384 South Prospect Street, Burlington, VT 05405
Tickets and information: www.uvm.edu/laneseries/jupiter-string-quartet

Aug. 9-10, 16-17: Composer Robert Sirota’s Muzzy Ridge Concerts Celebrates Milestone Fifth Season of Summer Performances in Searsmont, ME

Clockwise: (Regina Brady, Taavi Sirota, Jonah Sirota, Victoria Sirota, Robert Sirota), Laurie Carney, David Friend

Searsmont Composer Robert Sirota
Celebrates Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ Milestone Fifth Season
Two Weekends of Performances in August

Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025 at 3pm
Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025 at 3pm
Tickets and More Information

“A unique and intimate concert experience” – The Republican Journal

robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts

Searsmont, ME – Muzzy Ridge Concerts – the annual series of summer concerts founded by composer Robert Sirota – celebrates its fifth season in August 2025. The milestone year will feature four performances, presented over two weekends in late summer: Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025 and Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025. All performances will take place at 3pm. The cherished Maine chamber series will feature the return of several friends of Muzzy Ridge, as well as a special collaboration between Robert Sirota and members of his family.

All the concerts will be presented in Robert Sirota’s Searsmont, Maine studio – the creative sanctuary where he has composed a great deal of his work throughout the past 35 years. Each of the concert programs performed on the two Saturdays will be repeated on the respective Sundays. Performances will run for approximately 60 minutes with no intermission. Indoor seating is limited to 50 patrons with an additional 20 outdoor seats. Tickets are on sale now.

Robert Sirota says:

“Muzzy Ridge Concerts were born in August of 2021 when Vicki and I invited a few friends to our house to spend a couple of weekends performing chamber music. Now in its fifth season, It has become a mainstay of the Maine summer concert calendar. To celebrate this milestone we are gathering three generations of Sirotas to play together. In addition we joyfully welcome back Laurie Carney and David Friend who performed in our inaugural concerts. We invite you to join us!”

On Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10, 2025, Robert Sirota will perform as pianist alongside four members of his musical family: pianist Victoria Sirota, violist Jonah Sirota, oboist Regina Brady, and flutist Taavi Sirota. The multi-generational quintet of Sirotas will perform a stylistically diverse program of traditional and contemporary works, featuring Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola by Gustav Holst; Collision Etudes for solo oboe by Alyssa Morris; and Concerto for flute, oboe d’amore, viola d’amore and continuo by Georg Philipp Telemann. The program will also feature music by two of the five Sirotas: Spin for Flute, Oboe, Viola and Piano by Jonah Sirota, and Compendium de Lumine for solo viola by Robert Sirota.

During the following weekend on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday August 17, 2025, Muzzy Ridge Concerts will present the extraordinary duo of violinist Laurie Carney and pianist David Friend, who last performed in Searsmont as part of Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ first season in 2021. The duo will perform a colorful array of chamber selections that will include W.A. Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major K454; Robert Sirota’s Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano; Lili Boulanger’s Three Pieces; and Claude Debussy’s Sonata for violin and piano.

Tickets for all Muzzy Ridge Concerts performances are now on sale at www.robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts.

About the Artists

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, Blair and Telegraph String Quartets; the Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown; 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, and yMusic, Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis, Trinity Episcopal Church (Indianapolis), and Sierra Chamber Society, as well as arrangements for Paul Simon.

Grants include the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, NEA, 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.

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.

Composer, producer, and violist Jonah Sirota is equally at home scoring and recording music for film, TV, and video games, writing concert music, and performing as a soloist and chamber musician. A 2024 Society of Composers and Lyricists LA mentee, and a 2022 fellow in the Sundance Film Music Intensive, his soundtrack for the NPR web documentary “Return of the American Bison” was nominated for a regional Emmy award in 2019. His first full-length feature film as composer, The Grand Strand, will be hitting film festivals in 2025, while his piano trio Dry Ocean was premiered in the spring of 2023 by the Grammy- nominated Neave Trio. He has played on numerous projects including as violist and arranger for Lindsay Marcus’ score to the 2021 Oscar-winning animated short If Anything Happens I Love You…, and major cinematic releases including Avatar: The Way of Water, Oppenheimer, and The Mandalorian. Jonah was the violist of the recently-disbanded Chiara String Quartet for all of its 18 years. With the Chiara Quartet, he toured internationally, recorded seven albums, premiered over 30 works, and played in numerous major venues worldwide. He is sought after as a session player, maintains an active performance schedule with several chamber music groups in the Los Angeles area, and regularly plays with major orchestras, including the Long Beach Symphony, where he is Assistant Principal Viola. He teaches at the Colburn School, Cal State University Fullerton and the Greenwood Music Camp, and gives viola and composition masterclasses and residencies across the country. He resides in South Pasadena, CA.

Taavi Sirota is a multi-talented flautist and producer from Los Angeles, California. They play principal flute in the Colburn Youth Orchestra, a position they have held for the last three years. In 2023, they performed Cécile Chaminade’s Concertino as a soloist with the orchestra. They also play in an honors chamber music group as a part of Colburn’s Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute. For the last two years, Taavi has spent their summers at Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, Massachusetts, where they performed over ten chamber works, including the premieres of Walt Conte’s “To The Mountains,” and the quintet version of Ilaria Hawley’s “The Earth, a Purple Blaze.” Before that, they attended the Idyllwild Arts Orchestra Intensive. In 2024, they won the San Diego Flute Guild’s annual competition in the junior division.They have played masterclasses for Christina Jennings, Jean-Yves Thibodet, and Kathy Caroly, with whom they currently study full-time. Taavi’s talents extend beyond a traditional classical training, though, as they enjoy producing, composing, and recording electronic and electro-acoustic music.

Equally adept on oboe and English horn, Regina (Gigi) Brady is a sought-after performer on both coasts. Gigi performs regularly with orchestras around Los Angeles, including the Pacific Symphony, LA Opera Orchestra, MUSE/IQUE, New West Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony. Performances highlighting her versatility include an appearance with the LA Opera orchestra in collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet, a chamber music performance live to film at the Wende Museum of the Cold War, an English horn solo in a pop release, and the premiere performance of an Opera NFT at NFT LA. She has performed chamber music with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Breitman, and in a duo with her partner, violist/composer Jonah Sirota. A passionate advocate for new music, she has premiered dozens of new works. She has been a fellow at Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival. A passionate educator, Gigi is a teaching artist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) program, the Pasadena Symphony’s Youth Orchestra program, and maintains a private teaching studio. She is also on both the faculty and the board of Greenwood Music Camp where she teaches oboe and coaches chamber music. Gigi holds degrees in Oboe Performance and Neuroscience from Oberlin where she studied with Robert Walters, Colburn Conservatory where she studied with Ariana Ghez and Anne Marie Gabriele, and Bard College, where she performed for three years with The Orchestra Now. She is a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College Division where she studied with Richard Dallessio.

A founding member of the American String Quartet, Laurie Carney comes from a prodigious musical family. Her father was a trumpeter and educator, her mother a pianist, and her three siblings all violinists. She began her studies at home and at the age of 8 became the youngest violinist ever to be admitted to the Preparatory Division of the Juilliard School. At 15 she was the youngest to be accepted into Juilliard’s College Division. Ms. Carney studied with Dorothy DeLay and received both BM and MM degrees from Juilliard. She has shared the stage with many of the world’s leading artists, including Isaac Stern, Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Frederica von Stade, and been featured in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Bournemouth Symphony and the Basque (Spain) Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Carney frequently performs duo recitals with Guarneri Quartet violist Michael Tree. She was featured in the New York premiere of Giampaolo Bracali’s Fantasia. A member of the Manhattan School of Music faculty and the faculty of Aspen Music School, she has held teaching positions at the Mannes College of Music, Peabody Conservatory, the University of Nebraska, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Her frequent master classes have taken her to California, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and New Mexico. Ms. Carney performs the duo repertory with her husband, cellist William Grubb. Her nonprofessional interests include animal rights and environmental concerns. Her violin is by Carlo Tononi (Venice, 1720).

The New York Times describes David Friend as “[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene.” He has performed at major venues internationally including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, Royal Festival Hall (London), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), the Chan Centre (Vancouver), and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He has also performed extensively in alternative, underground, and DIY venues including (Le) Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, Roulette Intermedia, National Sawdust, MoMA P.S.1, St. Ann’s Warehouse, REDCAT, Constellation (Chicago), Bop Stop (Cleveland), Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, LiteraturHaus (Copenhagen), Music Gallery (Toronto), and Logos Tetrahedron (Ghent), and has appeared in major festivals including the Lincoln Center Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Next on Grand Festival, Whitney Biennial, Prague Spring Festival, TIME:SPANS Festival, Rewire Festival (the Hague), Long Play Festival, CTM Festival (Berlin), Big Ears Festival, June in Buffalo, Ultima Festival (Oslo), and the Venice Biennale. He has recorded for the New Amsterdam, Harmonia Mundi, Albany, Cedille, Dacapo, Innova, a wave press, Naxos, and New World labels, and his playing has been heard on radio stations across the country, including on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, WQXR’s Hammered!, and WNYC’s New Sounds. He records frequently with a wide variety of collaborators and is featured on Third Coast Percussion’s album of music by Steve Reich, which won the Grammy Award for best chamber music performance.

APRIL 25: Sony Classical Presents Eugene Ormandy – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42

Sony Classical Presents
Eugene Ormandy – The RCA Victor Recordings 1935-42

Album Release Date: April 25, 2025
Reviewer Rate Available Upon Request
Pre-Order Available Now 

16 recordings on CD for the first time ever
55 recordings for the first time on CD as authorized releases from the original masters

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 (available in an 11-CD Sony Classical box set), 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. Sony Classical is pleased to continue 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 orchestra had moved to Columbia Masterworks. The set will be released on April 25, 2025. Pre-order is available now.

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. The first to be released – fittingly enough for a Russian music specialist – was Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony, recorded by Victor on December 13, 1936. That three-hour session in Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, the orchestra’s home, was the first of more than 400 led by Ormandy. And it was highly productive – Ormandy had a reputation as a fast worker – yielding not only the Tchaikovsky, but also two Bach arrangements by Lucien Cailliet, a Philadelphia Orchestra clarinetist and its staff arranger, the first three movements of Schumann’s Second Symphony and, most importantly, Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of Paganini’s D major Violin Concerto, with Kreisler himself as soloist.

More Tchaikovsky followed during this early Victor stint: in 1941, Ormandy and the Philadelphians recorded the Fifth Symphony and the Nutcracker Suite. The latter’s matrices suffered from processing problems that rendered them too noisy to release until now. The orchestra’s contract, however, allowed them to re-make the recording for RCA in 1945, even though they’d already gone over to Columbia, and it has been possible to include both versions here.

Ormandy recorded Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, one of his most celebrated interpretations, in 1937, but not in the familiar Ravel orchestration that he would always use later. Having just taken over as sole conductor of the orchestra after Stokowski’s resignation, he wanted his own version of the Pictures, so he commissioned a new score from the orchestra’s house arranger, Lucien Cailliet. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s most famous Russian connection was with Sergei Rachmaninoff, who premièred a number of his works with them during Stokowski’s tenure. When Ormandy assumed the music directorship, he was thrilled to continue the partnership – especially as he had developed a friendship with the composer at his 1931 Minneapolis SO début concert, in which Rachmaninoff was the soloist. The partnership reached its height in late 1939 when Ormandy mounted a “Rachmaninoff Festival” at the Academy of Music and New York’s Carnegie Hall to mark the 30th anniversary of his Philadelphia Orchestra début. They also took advantage of the opportunity to record three of Rachmaninoff’s concertos for RCA, the First, Third and Fourth, legendary performances that have never been out of the catalogue and are, of course, reissued here.

At the Budapest Academy, Ormandy had studied the violin with a pupil of Brahms’s great friend Joseph Joachim – who also encouraged Ormandy as a child, so Brahms’s music was in his blood from the beginning. As a conductor, Brahms’s symphonies were at the core of his repertoire, and he gave more performances of them with the Philadelphia Orchestra than any other conductor in American musical history. He first recorded the Second with the Philadelphians anonymously for the “World’s Greatest Music” series in March 1939, and nine months later conducted a tauter, “official” version for release on RCA. Both are included here along with Ormandy’s other recordings for “World’s Greatest Music”, all made in 1938: the Mozart G minor, Beethoven’s Fifth, Schubert’s “Unfinished” and the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2 and 3.

Two other famous Brahms recordings from 1939 are the Alto Rhapsody with Marian Anderson and the Double Concerto with Jascha Heifetz and Emanuel Feuermann, about which Gramophone’s original reviewer wrote: “Rarely can the powers of two string players have been so fully extended, so richly proved … The whole thing is tremendous: a manifestation, for all who have an ear of the soul, of the composer’s greatness of heart and mind.”

Soloists revered Ormandy throughout his career. Said Isaac Stern: “There was not a single conductor who was a greater colleague in the making of a concerto record.” In addition to the Brahms Double and the Paganini First Concerto with Kreisler, mentioned earlier, the new Sony collection reissues the Mendelssohn and Spohr’s No. 8 with another famous violinist, Albert Spalding, and the Grieg Piano Concerto with Arthur Rubinstein: “A glittering specimen and exuberantly played … The best of the modern readings” (Gramophone).

Sibelius was another leading composer Ormandy knew personally and performed regularly – he also visited him in Finland and brought him to Philadelphia. For an album to mark the composer’s 75th birthday in 1940, he recorded three tone poems, while the next year saw a new recording of the First Symphony (Ormandy’s earlier one was made in Minneapolis in 1935), which he identified as “the first of the master’s symphonies I ever conducted”. Two further versions would follow, in 1962 (for Columbia) and in 1978 (for RCA).

Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra were Victor’s chief Richard Strauss exponents during these years, making the first electrical recording of the Symphonia Domestica in 1938, followed in 1939 by Ein Heldenleben and in 1940 by Don Quixote, with Emanuel Feuermann. Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler” Symphony was still a new work when Ormandy recorded it in 1940, only six years after the composer introduced it with his own Berlin Philharmonic recording. Strauss family waltzes had already featured in Ormandy’s Minneapolis recordings. The three waltzes in this Philadelphia set earned praise from Gramophone in 1942: “You will enjoy the brilliance of the combinations of tone, and their balance – one of the exciting things about all the best American recordings … Here is full-voiced tonal splendour.”

American music was a prominent feature of this conductor’s repertoire – he was always eager to promote the composers of his adopted homeland. Here we find the first recording of any work by Gian Carlo Menotti, his Amelia Goes to the Ball Overture, and the earliest recording of an orchestral work by Samuel Barber, his First Essay for Orchestra, as well as pieces by Roy Harris and two Sousa marches from the orchestra’s last session before the musicians’ strike shut down commercial recording for the next three years. But not before Ormandy and his Philadelphians had amassed the treasures brought together here for the first time. 

SET CONTENTS 

DISC 1:

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8 in A Minor, Op. 47 "Gesangscene"
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: I. Allegro maestoso - Tempo giusto 

DISC 2:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61 

DISC 3:

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (suite), Op. 71a
Rimsky-Korsakov (arr. Ormandy): Christmas Eve, Act III: Church Scene (first release) 

DISC 4:

Mussorgsky (arr. Cailliet): Pictures at an Exhibition
Liszt: Les Préludes, S. 97
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A Major, Op. 11
Debussy (arr. O'Connell) I: Préludes, Book I, L. 117: No. 12, Minstrels (first release) 

DISC 5:

Beethoven: Ah perfido!, Op. 65 - Konzertarie für Sopran und Orchester
Weber: Oberon, Act II: "Ozean Du Ungeheuer"
Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72, Act I: "Abscheulicher, Wo Eilst Du Hin?"
Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act I: "Du bist der Lenz"
Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act II: "Ho-Yo-To-Ho" - Hans Lange, conductor 
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act I: Elsas Traum - Hans Lange, conductor 
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act II, Scene 2: "Euch Lüften, die mein Klagen "
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act II: "Dich teure Halle, grüß ich wieder" - Hans Lange, conductor 
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act III: Elisabeths Gebet - Hans Lange, conductor 
Wagner: Götterdämmerung, WWV 86D, Act III: "Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort" (Brünnhilde's Immolation)
Bach, J.S.: Cantata No. 140: Now Let Every Tongue Adore Thee
Charpentier: Louise, Act III: "Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée"
Debussy: L'enfant prodigue, L. 57: "L'année, en vain chasse l'année" 

DISC 6:

Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B, Act I: Winterstürme "Spring Song"
Wagner: Siegfried, WWV 86c, Act I: "Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!"
Wagner: Siegfried, WWV 86c, Act I: Schmiedelied "Hoho! Hoho! Hohei" Schmiede, mein Hammer" - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96, Act I: "Am stillen Herd"
Wagner: Die Meistersinger, WWV 96, Act III: Morgenlich leuchtend "Prize Song"
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act III: "In fernem Land" "Lohengrin's Narrative"
Wagner: Parsifal, WWV 111, Act III: "Nur eine Waffe taugt"
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder, WWV 91: No. 4, Schmerzen}
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder, WWV 91: No. 5, Träume
Wagner: The Flying Dutchman, WWV 63, Act I: Steuermann Lied - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act I: "Dir töne Lob!" - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Tannhäuser, WWV 70, Act III: Rome Narrative - Edwin McArthur, conductor
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV 75, Act III: Mein lieber Schwan "Lohengrins Abschied und Finale"
Wagner: Parsifal, WWV 111, Act II: "Amfortas! Die Wunde!"
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96, Act III: "Tanz der Lehrbuben" 

DISC 7:

Strauss, R.: Sinfonia Domestica, Op. 53
Strauss, R.: Der Rosenkavalier, Suite, TrV 227d 

DISC 8:

McDonald: Symphony No. 1 "The Santa Fé Trail"
McDonald: From Childhood "Suite for Harp and Orchestra" – Harl McDonald, conductor
McDonald: Cakewalk - Scherzo from Symphony No. 4
McDonald: 3 Poems on Aramaic Themes 

DISC 9:

Vivaldi (arr. Cailliet): L'estro armonico, Op 3, No. 8: Concerto for 2 Violins in A Minor (Arr. Lucien Cailliet)
Purcell (arr. Cailliet): Suite from Dido and Aeneas
Mozart: Divertimento No. 10 in F Major for Strings and 2 Horns, K. 247
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite, TWV 55: a2
Jenkins (arr. Cailliet): Five-Part Fantasy in D Major (first release) 

DISC 10:

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Minor, Op. 40 

DISC 11:

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 

DISC 12:

Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor, Op. 102
R. Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35: Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character 

DISC 13:

Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 "Harzreise im Winter"
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 8 Lieder and Songs, Op. 59, No. 8: Dein blaues Auge hält so still   
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 5 Poems, Op. 19, No. 4: Der Schmied
Brahms (orch. Hertz): 5 Lieder, Op. 105: "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer"   
Brahms (orch. Hertz): Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43, No. 1 

DISC 14:

Strauss, R.: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2 

DISC 15:

Sibelius: Finlandia, Op. 26
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, No. 2: The Swan of Tuonela
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, No. 4: Lemminkäinen's Return
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39 

DISC 16:

Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony
Menotti: Amelia Goes to the Ball - Overture
Barber: First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12
Harris: 3 Pieces for Orchestra
Sousa: Washington Post March
Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever

DISC 17:

Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, BWV 534 (Arranged for Orchestra by Lucien Cailliet)
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (from Cantata No. 147, BWV 147)
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Preludio in E Major from Partita No 3 for Violin Unaccompanied, BWV 1006 – Leopold Stokowski, conductor
Bach, J.S. (arr. Cailliet): Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544
Bach, J.S. (arr. O'Connell): St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: Herzliebster Jesu
Strauss, Johann II: Frühlingsstimmen - Walzer, Op. 410
Strauss, Johann II: Wiener Blut Walzer, Op. 354
Strauss, Johann II: Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437 

DISC 18:

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (suite), Op. 71a
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 5. in E Minor, Op. 64 

DISC 19:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D.759 "Unfinished" 

DISC 20:

Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 

DISC 21:

Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

March 20: Violinist Kristin Lee & Pianist Michael Stephen Brown Perform American Sketches at Lincoln Center

L-R Kristin Lee, Michael Stephen Brown 
Photo of Kristin by Harrison Truong; Photo of Michael Stephen Brown by Anela Bence Selkowitz

Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
Perform American Sketches

Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio
165 W. 65th St. 10th floor | New York, NY
Tickets & Information

Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com

New York, NY – On Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm, violinist Kristin Lee – hailed in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy” – will perform with pianist Michael Stephen Brown The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2024-2025 Season at the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio (165 W 65th St., 10th floor). This performance follows the release of Kristin Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches, on First Hand Records on November 15, 2024. American Sketches reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. An accomplished chamber musician, Lee became a member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center after winning The Bowers Program audition and completing the program's three-year residency. She performs at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season.  

For this performance for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kristin Lee has taken inspiration from the concept of her new album and will perform Praeludium and Allegro by Fritz Kreisler; Sonata No. 4, Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting by Charles Ives; Sonata No. 2, Poeme Mystique by Ernst Bloch; Road Movies by John Adams; Concert Fantasy on Themes from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Op. 19, by Igor Frolov; and Romance Op. 23 by Amy Beach, which can be found on Lee’s new album.

A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Kristin Lee enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.” 

American Sketches has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select repertoire for her album American Sketches, which would express her pride in the country she now calls her own. On it, Lee has recorded works by American composers that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.

Of performing her American Sketches program in recital for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lee says:

“I am deeply honored to present this recital alongside my esteemed colleague, Michael Stephen Brown, at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,” says Kristin Lee.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of America in 2026, I’ve been reflecting on what this nation means to me and how its music captures the essence of its history. This program explores the many facets of American music and its profound influence on the evolution of musical traditions and spiritual roots. My hope is that this evening brings an opportunity for listeners to immerse themselves in the richness, complexity, and joy of American music.”

About Kristin Lee:
 
As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and many others.

She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall’s Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery.  

For seven years, she was a principal artist of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. Lee has also appeared in chamber music programs at Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, Moab Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Sedona, Music in the Vineyards, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others.

In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is also a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. She has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute.

Lee is the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Since 2015, she has crafted unconventional and captivating programs that have led to Emerald City Music’s renown for its eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. The series was recently deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts).

An advocate for living composers, Kristin Lee has collaborated with many of today’s prominent composers, including Vivian Fung, Andy Akiho, Patrick Castillo, Jakub Ciupiński, Shobana Raghavan, Steve Coleman, Jeremy Jordan, and more. She made the world premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, written for her, which won a Juno Award and is available on Naxos. 

Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. Her performances have been broadcast on PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center,” the Kennedy Center Honors, WFMT Chicago’s “Rising Stars” series, WRTI in Philadelphia, and on WQXR in New York. She also appeared on Perlman in Shanghai, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that chronicled a historic cross-cultural exchange between the Perlman Music Program and Shanghai Conservatory.

Born in Seoul, Lee moved to the United States and studied under prestigious teachers including Sonja Foster, Catherine Cho, Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples, Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul & Linda Gridley.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” will perform with pianist Michael Stephen Brown in American Sketches, a concert inspired by Lee’s debut solo album of the same title, which reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. The program, presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, will include works by Fritz Kreisler, Charles Ives, Ernst Bloch, John Adams, Igor Frolov, Amy Beach.

Concert details:

Who: Violinist Kristin Lee with Pianist Michael Stephen Brown
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
What: American Sketches
When: Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio, 165 W 65th St. 10th floor, New York, NY 10023
Tickets and information: www.chambermusicsociety.org/our-concerts/at-lincoln-center/events/24-25/art-of-the-recital/

California Symphony Announces 2025-2026 Season Led by Artistic & Music Director Donato Cabrera

Photo by Kristen Loken. Hi res photos available here.

CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES 2025-2026 SEASON

Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director 

Timeless Classics, Bold New Works, World-Class Soloists
and Thrilling Performances to Excite, Move, and Connect Us All

“Under the leadership of the irrepressible Mexican-American maestro Donato Cabrera since 2013, California Symphony takes its music seriously . . . But the educational agenda is no excuse for discounting the pleasure principle. Want to take selfies? Bring drinks to your seats? Clap when the spirit moves you? Please do! And prick up your ears for exciting new sounds! . . . Regional press is glowing” – Air Mail 

Subscriptions available now. Single tickets go on sale in July.

CaliforniaSymphony.org

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February 6, 2025) – California Symphony, led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera and Executive Director Lisa Dell, announces its 2025-2026 season – featuring timeless classics, bold new works, and world-class soloists – in five thrilling programs over ten performances at Hoffman Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts from September 2025 to May 2026.

Illustrating California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concerts, rich in storytelling and spanning the breadth of orchestral repertoire, this season explores evocative programmatic music including Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Valentin Silvestrov’s Stille Musik; the fruitful intersection of jazz and classical in music by Jessie Montgomery, Friedrich Gulda, and George Gershwin; the monumental symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Jean Sibelius, and Alexander Borodin; the timelessness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart including excerpts from Don Giovanni; and world-class soloists in riveting concertos including pianist Robert Thies in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, Nathan Chan in Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto, violinists Jennifer Cho and Sam Weiser in Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and pianist Sofya Gulyak in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

Donato Cabrera says, “What’s the connection to Paris between a French, American, and Russian composer? How do composers from three different nationalities react to being subject to the tyrannical rule of another country? Why did a woodwind ensemble hold sway over Vienna’s musical life for over two hundred years? Each concert is my attempt at answering questions like these, through a mixture of new works, forgotten masterpieces, and known warhorses. And to help tell these stories, I have enlisted five incredible soloists to dazzle us in works ranging from Mozart to Arvo Pärt. I’m very excited to share this season with you and I can’t wait to bring these works to life with my dear colleagues in the orchestra.”

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Donato Cabrera since 2013. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California, serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area. California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere. During the 2024-2025 season, California Symphony’s season ticket revenue was the highest ever in the organization’s history. 

In the 2025-2026 season, California Symphony will continue to serve its community beyond the stage through its nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds and its innovative lifelong learning program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed. It will also expand its programs for vulnerable populations at Trinity Center Walnut Creek and continue community partnerships to reach more underserved youth throughout Contra Costa County.

California Symphony 2025-2026 Concert Schedule:

PICTURES FROM PARIS
Saturday, September 27, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 4pm

Maurice Ravel: Boléro (1928)
George Gershwin: An American in Paris (1928)
Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (1874; orch. by Ravel 1922) 

California Symphony launches its season with a trio of evocative, orchestral showstoppers. French composer Maurice Ravel’s mesmerizing Boléro from 1928 builds from a whisper to a triumphant climax as two beguiling melodies are shared throughout the entire orchestra in what became the composer’s most famous piece. Jazz meets classical in American composer George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, also from 1928. Gershwin described the piece as an effort to, “portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere.” Gershwin and Ravel shared a musical friendship, meeting in Paris in 1926, with Gershwin later being instrumental in bringing Ravel to tour the U.S. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for piano in 1874 as a musical depiction of the paintings of artist Viktor Hartmann, but this version is Ravel’s famous update for orchestra from 1922, which showcases his unmatched ability to use the orchestra as a palette to create rich textures and vivid imagery.

BEETHOVEN’S EROICA
Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 4pm

Jessie Montgomery: Overture (2022)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
     Robert Thies, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) (1804)

California Symphony’s November concerts feature music that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit. Full of rich harmonies, GRAMMY-winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s Overture from 2022 blends elements of jazz, American classical music, and Baroque rhythms. Nicknamed the Elvira Madigan concerto because of its use in the 1967 Swedish film, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 features one of classical music’s most famous and serene melodies, performed by Robert Thies, praised by the Los Angeles Times as, "A pianist of unerring warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power." Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 – the Eroica Symphony – changed the game for symphonic music: A bold and powerful celebration of struggle, triumph, and humanity, it is where Beethoven truly began to push boundaries, introducing the emotional depth and drama that later culminated in the grandeur of the Ninth.

SCHUBERT IN VIENNA
Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, January 25, 2026 at 4pm 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Excerpts from Don Giovanni (1787)
Friedrich Gulda: Cello Concerto (1980)
     Nathan Chan, cello
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (The Great) (1824-26)

California Symphony’s first concerts of 2026 feature a genre-blending program that showcases the wind and brass instruments of the orchestra, moving from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's classical elegance to Friedrich Gulda's jazz-inspired Cello Concerto. The concerts begin with excerpts from Mozart’s brilliantly witty and melody-filled opera Don Giovanni in an arrangement for the Harmoniemusik of Mozart’s day, when bands of wind players would roam the streets of Vienna to promote coming attractions. Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto, performed by Bay Area native Nathan Chan, is a fusion of jazz, rock, and European folk dance performed with a big band brass section, electric guitar, bass, and drum set. Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 – aptly known as The Great – is a grand and majestic journey through soaring melodies and lively folk rhythms, almost all of which are first introduced by the woodwind and brass sections.

NORTHERN LIGHTS
Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 4pm 

Valentin Silvestrov: Stille Musik (Quiet Music) (2002)
Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa (1977)
     Jennifer Cho and Sam Weiser, violins
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 (1901-02)

California Symphony’s March concerts feature contemplative and calming music by Northern and Eastern European composers spanning the last century. Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Stille Musik from 2002 sets a calm and reflective tone with gentle melodies that take listeners on a meditative journey, away from the noise of everyday life. California Symphony all-stars Concertmaster Jennifer Cho and Assistant Concertmaster Sam Weiser are featured in Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, a minimalistic, melodic conversation between two violins, in a dramatic, modern masterpiece from 1977 that is deeply moving and powerful. Stirring and uplifting, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, written at the turn of the last century, captures the breathtaking beauty of the Nordic landscape and evokes a sense of fearless optimism. Its sweeping melodies and bold themes make it a powerful celebration of resilience and triumph. 

HEROIC RACHMANINOFF
Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 4pm

Saad Haddad: World Premiere
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (1909)
   Sofya Gulyak, piano
Alexander Borodin: Symphony No. 2 (1869-76)

California Symphony’s season finale concerts feature Rachmaninoff's dazzling piano concerto, Borodin's dramatic symphony, and a world premiere. The performances include the third and final commission for the California Symphony by Resident Composer Saad Haddad, whose music explores the relationship between the West and the East and has been praised by The New York Times for “achiev[ing] a remarkable fusion of idioms.” Sofya Gulyak, First Prize winner of the 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition, takes on one of the most celebrated and challenging concertos ever written – Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 – often called the “Mount Everest” of piano concertos for its legendary degree of difficulty. The concerts conclude with Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2, composed intermittently between 1869 and 1876 due to the demands of the composer’s primary career as a chemist and physician. The work is filled with dramatic energy and rich melodies inspired by Russian folklore – a bold and heroic sound that combines mighty rhythms with rich orchestral textures.

Concert Details:

Location for All Performances: Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts; 1601 Civic Drive; Walnut Creek, CA 

Ticket Information: 5-Concert Subscriptions concerts start at $120 and are available now. 3- and 4-Concert subscriptions go on sale in late May, and single tickets ($50-110) and student tickets ($25 for students 25 and under with valid Student ID) on sale in July. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call 925.280.2490.

About the California Symphony:

Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera since 2013. It is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area.

California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.

Since 1991, California Symphony's three-year Young American Composer-in-Residence program has provided a composer with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the orchestra over three consecutive years to create, rehearse, premiere, and record three major orchestra compositions, one each season. Every Composer-in-Residence has gone on to win top honors and accolades in the field, including the Rome Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and more.

The orchestra's nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds impacts students' trajectories by providing instruction for violin or cello and musicianship skills. Sound Minds has proven to contribute directly to improved reading and math proficiencies and character development, as students set and achieve goals, learn communication and problem-solving skills, and gain self-confidence. Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, the program is offered completely free of charge to the students and families of Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, California.

Through its innovative adult education program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, California Symphony provides lifelong learners a fun-filled introduction to the orchestra and classical music. Led by celebrated educator and California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong, these live classes are held over four weeks in the summer annually. 

In 2017, California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. Its website is available in both Spanish and English.

Reaching far beyond the performance hall, since 2020 the orchestra's concerts have been broadcast nationally on multiple radio series through Classical California (KUSC/KDFC) and the WFMT Radio Network, reaching over 1.5 million listeners across the country.

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

California Symphony’s 2025-26 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.

The Lysander Piano Trio Announces James Kim as New Cellist - Releases New Videos and Website

 L-R: Itamar Zorman, violin; Liza Stepanova, piano; James Kim, cello. Photo by Irina Rozovsky available in high resolution here.

The Lysander Piano Trio Announces James Kim as New Cellist

“an uncommon degree of heart-on-the-sleeve emotional frankness” – The Washington Post

New Website: www.lysandertrio.com

Watch New Performance Videos of Lysander Piano Trio with Cellist James Kim

Athens, GA (February 4, 2025)  – The Lysander Piano Trio announces that James Kim has been appointed as the ensemble’s new cellist; Kim succeeds Michael Katz and joins original members violinist Itamar Zorman and pianist Liza Stepanova. Founded at The Juilliard School in 2009, the Lysander has been praised by The Strad for its “incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas and wide palette of colors” and by The Washington Post for “vivid engagement carried by soaring, ripely Romantic playing.” The Trio is devoted to inventive programming, finding intriguing connections between works from all over the world, and uncovering lesser-known gems of the repertoire from the past to the present. Coinciding with the announcement of James Kim’s appointment, the Trio has released several new performance videos with Kim, a preview of a new collaboration with performance artist Kevork Mourad, and a newly re-designed website.

Outgoing cellist Michael Katz joined the Lysander Piano Trio in 2010, performing with the group for several competition wins, including the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition in 2012, on two commercial recordings, and in multiple performances at Carnegie Hall as well as extensively on tour in over 100 concerts in the US, Canada, Mexico, Denmark, and Israel. He is departing the ensemble to join the Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2025.

Cellist James Kim, who continues the Lysander Piano Trio’s connection to The Juilliard School having studied there as well, is lauded by The New York Times for his “admirable purity of tone and accuracy.” Kim has appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Wallonie Royal Chamber, and Juilliard Orchestra working with conductors such as David Zinman, Michael Sanderling, Alexander Shelley, Keith Lockhart, Frank Braley, Tan Dun, Julian Kovatchev, and Benjamin Zander onstage at Carnegie Stern Auditorium, Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kim has given solo recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall, Seoul Arts Center IBK Hall, Midday Masterpieces Series at the Greene Space, McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase hosted by Robert Sherman, Beautiful Thursday Series at Kumho Art Hall, Garden City Chamber Music Series curated by Bruce Adolphe, James Kim with Friends at Music Space Camerata in Paju, Tuesday Series at Seoul National University, and Faculty Artist Series at UGA Performing Arts Center. His performances have been broadcasted on radio stations NPR and WQXR. Kim also performs extensively in his native Korea. A champion of the music by Shinuh Lee, he premiered her Cello Concerto in 2021 and released Death and Offering, an album of her works dedicated to him, through Sony Classical in the same year. Winner of the 2006 David Popper International Cello Competition and 2012 Salon de Virtuosi’s Sony Career Grant, Kim is a laureate of the 2015 Isang Yun International Cello Competition and 2024 Naumburg International Cello Competition. 

Stepanova and Zorman say, "It is a bittersweet day. We are grateful to Michael for fifteen years of adventures on the road and for getting to know the cornerstones of the piano trio literature inside and out through many performances with him. We thank him for these many years of joyful music-making and are certainly wishing him all the best for his next chapter with the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the same time, we are very excited to welcome James to our group. Reading with him late in the fall, and starting to perform together this January, it was clear right away that this was an excellent musical fit. We think about phrasing, colors, and making chamber music in a similar way. And, he just sounds fantastic! We are looking forward to working together from our joint homebase at the University of Georgia in Athens, which will allow for in-depth rehearsing as well as some exciting recording opportunities!”

“I am delighted to join the Lysander Piano Trio in future concerts and projects,” says James Kim. “Our rehearsals produce a joy I look forward to sharing with audiences. Our pursuit of bringing music to life through meaning and conversation embodies my ideal life as a musician, so I am immensely excited to start this new chapter.”

The Lysander Piano Trio performed for the first time with James Kim on January 9 at the University of Georgia in Athens, where both Stepanova and Kim are on the faculty of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. On February 9, the Trio will collaborate with Franklin Pond Chamber Music in Atlanta to present an educational workshop and performance. Next season’s highlights thus far include collaborations with Argentine bandoneonist JP Jofre and a new concert program with visual artist Kevork Mourad, as well as performances in New York, New Mexico, California, a tour of the US Southeast, and more. 

Watch selections from the Lysander Piano Trio’s stunning first performance with cellist James Kim: 

Watch Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 "Ghost”:

Watch Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio: 

Watch video of the Lysander’s new collaboration with Kevork Mourad: 

More About the Lysander Piano Trio:

The Lysander Piano Trio has spent over a decade performing around the US with appearances at notable venues such as the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Los Angeles’ Da Camera Society, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, San Francisco’s Music at Kohl Mansion, Palm Beach's Kravis Center and Norton Museum of Art, Chamber Music Raleigh, Concerts International Memphis, Sanibel Music Festival, Florida Keys Concert Association, Chamber Music Tulsa, Juneau Jazz and Classics, and notable college venues including Middlebury College, Clemson University, Lee University’s Presidential Concert Series, Purdue University’s Convocations Series, and University of Illinois’ Krannert Center. Summer and festival appearances include the Bard Music Festival, Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, Copenhagen Summer Festival, The Chautauqua Institution, Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts, and a critically acclaimed recital at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Lysander Trio also performed abroad in recent seasons, notably at Calgary Pro Musica in Canada, Pro Musica San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and a tour of Israel. Orchestral engagements include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and Greenwich Village Orchestra in New York City.

Highlights of the 2024-25 season include performances at the Asheville Chamber Music Series, Bender JCC of Greater Washington, Chamber Music Society of Central Kentucky, Chamber Music Society of Utica, Cosmos Club, Valley Classical Concerts, Westchester Chamber Music Society, Music Mountain, Hunter International Music Festival, Nantucket Musical Arts Society, and other notable series in Chattanooga, Palm Beach, and the Greater Boston area. In the 2023-24 season, the Trio gave debuts at Parlance Chamber Concerts, Feldman Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg, Northeast Kingdom Classical Series, Blue Hill Concert Association, University of Idaho's Auditorium Chamber Music Series, Nelson Overture Concerts Society, and Kelowna Chamber Concert Association in Canada. In the spring of 2023, the Lysander "brought the house down" (Dumbarton Concerts) with its new tango-infused collaboration with Argentine bandoneonist and composer JP Jofre.

The Trio has a long-standing commitment to working with living composers and building a new repertoire for the piano trio. The Lysander Trio's latest commission, Nostos by Udi Perlman, was premiered in 2024 and has been received enthusiastically by audiences across the US. Following a recent performance of Nostos at Music Mountain, The Millbrook Independent proclaimed: "That melody has been ringing in my ears over the past twenty-four hours; it provided a delightful conclusion, and I wished to hear the work once more!" The ensemble’s commissions also include Gilad Cohen’s Around the Cauldron (2017), co-commissioned by Concert Artists Guild and premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; Ghostwritten Variations, by Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya; Jakub Ciupinski’s The Black Mirror; and Four Movements Inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” penned by four pre-teen composers of ComposerCraft from NYC’s Kaufman Music Center and premiered at Merkin Concert Hall in 2014.

Lysander members also premiered Jennifer Higdon’s Love Sweet for soprano and piano trio, which received its world-premiere recording together with acclaimed soprano Sarah Shafer on the group’s 2021 release, Mirrors. Beyond its praise from Musical America for being “strikingly inventive…meticulous” and from The Strad for its “evocative moments,” Gramophone celebrated Mirrors by noting that “all six of this release’s compositions benefit from the Lysander Trio’s finely honed ensemble values and well-characterised solo contributions.” The Trio’s debut recording After A Dream (CAG Records) was acclaimed by The New York Times for  its “polished and spirited interpretations.”

The Lysander Piano Trio, whose name is inspired by the character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was formed at The Juilliard School. The Trio studied with Ronald Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet, the late Joseph Kalichstein, and Seymour Lipkin. Early in their career, Lysander became a standout at competitions, with top honors at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition (Grand Prize), the J. C. Arriaga Chamber Music Competition (First Prize), and the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition.

Photo by Irina Rozovsky available in high resolution here.

March 21: Sony Classical Releases Songs With Words New Album from Vocalist & Composer Malakoff Kowalski – Debut Single When I Died, Love feat. Igor Levit Out Now

Album Artwork (Download)

Sony Classical Releases Songs with Words
New Album from Vocalist and Composer Malakoff Kowalski
with Pianists Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales

Out Now: Debut Single When I Died, Love
Featuring Igor Levit
Listen Here | Watch Here

Album Release Date: March 21, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now

Songs With Words is the new album by vocalist and composer Malakoff Kowalski, together with pianists Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales. Set for release on March 21, 2025 and available for pre-order now, the new Sony Classical album features miniatures by classical composers coupled with sung poems by American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Reflecting on Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, this extraordinary 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. Accompanying the album news is the first track release, When I Died, Love featuring pianist Igor Levit - watch the official video.

In his liner notes, Kowalski, the Berlin-based German-American composer and singer of Persian origin, succinctly describes the album thus: “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. Malakoff Kowalski describes it as a great stroke of luck that three of his closest musician friends played the piano on this album in order to transform a mere concept into actual music: “Three personalities with contrasting pianistic spirits, as distinct as the material we engaged with here: Igor Levit, whom I love above all for his three great Bs: Busoni, Bach, Brahms. Johanna Summer, who improvises between jazz and classical so freely and so thoroughly that it makes me dizzy with joy. And Chilly Gonzales, who with SOLO PIANO and its successors, has done more for contemporary miniatures than any other living composer.”

With the album Songs With Words, this remarkable group has created a fascinating interplay between the pristine European piano tradition and the American poetry of the Beat Generation.

“All I know: my parents were born in Tehran, I was born in Boston, I grew up in Hamburg and I now live in Berlin. I love nothing more than music. Everything else equals question marks, exclamation marks and dashes.” This is how musician and composer Malakoff Kowalski describes himself. VOGUE magazine named him “The Piano Poet,” fellow musician Chilly Gonzales regards him as one of his “favorite living composers.”

Kowalski refers to Debussy, Scriabin and Frederic Mompou as his influences—while Jazz and Psychedelic music from the fifties and sixties is just as important to him. “One is being forced to listen closely. Kowalski’s compositions may appear to be rather simple, but the world hidden inside them is most complex. From unresolved harmonic turns to frequent musical quotations—it remains unclear on how many different levels his music takes place. Its calm is only a facade.” (Concerti Magazine)

In addition to his solo music, recorded on seven albums to date, Malakoff Kowalski composes for film and theater as well. As a writer he publishes passionate and controversial music critiques. In his concerts the auditorium is entirely dark, with a small reading lamp above the grand piano and a white spotlight being the only sources of light.

Igor Levit, who recently premiered a work specially written for him by Kowalski at the Salzburg Festival, raves about his compositions: “Ferruccio Busoni once said, ‘Music is sonorous air.’ That’s what this music is. Most wonderful sonorous air.”

Malakoff Kowalski, Vocals
Igor Levit / Johanna Summer / Chilly Gonzales, Piano
Songs With Words

Tracklist:

1. Dry Old Rose (Ft. Johanna Summer)

2. Shadow Changes into Bone (Ft. Igor Levit)

3. When I Died, Love (Ft. Igor Levit)

4. See the World Go Wild (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)

5. Interlude #A

6. A Strange Wild Leaf (Ft. Johanna Summer)

7. The Weight of the World Is Love (Ft. Igor Levit)

8. Until They Try (Ft. Johanna Summer)

9. An Empty Hungry Ghost (Ft. Johanna Summer)

10. Interlude #B

11. One Day (Ft. Igor Levit)

12. The Nightingale at Night (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)

13. Dawn (Ft. Johanna Summer)

14. Awake (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)

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.

April 11: Leif Ove Andsnes Releases New Album on Sony Classical – Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works

Album Artwork (Download)

Leif Ove Andsnes Unveils the Hidden Side of Liszt

New Album to be Released on Sony Classical
Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works

Out Today: Consolations No. 3 – Listen Here

Album Release Date: April 11, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now

The pianist explores the introspective beauty of Liszt’s consolations and the spiritual depth of Via Crucis with the Norwegian Soloist Choir, led by Grete Pedersen

“a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight.” – The New York Times

“as usual with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, blend is exquisite, intonation perfect and articulation superlative.” – Gramophone

On his latest album Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works for Sony Classical, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes 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. The new album, Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works, is set for release on April 11, 2025 and available for pre-order now. The first single, Consolations No. 3 is out today – listen here.

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.

Franz Liszt is often described as the ‘first virtuoso’ - a superstar pianist and composer who invented the piano recital and whose fame and following in the nineteenth century were unprecedented. Much of Liszt’s reputation hangs on sweeping virtuosic showpieces so technically challenging that only Liszt could play them.

But that is only half the story. In 1847, at the age of just 35, Liszt retired from public performance to focus on writing and teaching. Thirteen years later he took another step back, taking Holy Orders and embarking upon a new life of religious devotion and creative introspection.

In this later period, a new aesthetic took root in Liszt, one characterized by austere, spare and sometimes inscrutable musical utterances that tended to question more than they assert. ‘I find Liszt’s religious music fascinating,’ says Andsnes, who has lived with Liszt’s music since childhood. ‘This is very different music, with so few notes but with a tension and beauty.’

One of the major statements of Liszt’s late period was Via Crucis, a journey through the Roman Catholic tradition’s Stations of the Cross for choir and piano, written in Rome in 1866 but considered too unusual by Liszt’s publisher and never performed in the composer’s lifetime. It wasn’t until 1929 that the work was given its first airing, on Good Friday, in the capital of the composer’s native Hungary, Budapest.

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 Andnsnes. “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 scared music.”

The work’s unusual scoring gave Andsnes the opportunity to extend his long-standing collaboration with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir - one of the finest vocal ensembles in the world and a seasoned recording group, consisting of 26 handpicked professional singers.

“Via Crucis tells a story about a man who gave his life for others, and at the same time is so much about humanity,” says Grete Pedersen, artistic director of the choir; “it is a piece with a lot of question marks, and I hope listeners will feel that.”

“We live in a world of pain and conflict and Via Crucis offers room for empathy, for philosophical thought, and for the taking-in of different emotions,” says Andsnes. “Audiences seem to be mesmerized by it. It really is a special work in which you can discover so much beauty.” He likens the work to ‘14 miniature tone poems’.

The musicians examined the piece extensively before recording it together in Oslo, performing it in concert and attempting to fathom is unusual scoring in which piano and choir are sometimes partners yet sometimes sound diametrically opposed.

“It was inspiring to be in the middle of the sound of a choir of this quality,” says Andsnes; “I was inspired by the exacting way Grete and the Soloists’ Choir do these things. Their attention to detail is so great, which is important in music that is so fragile.” Grete Pedersen comments: “If any pianist can make the piano sing, it’s Leif Ove.”

Completing the program is music from two earlier cycles by Liszt that prove there was always more to his musical outlook than showmanship and virtuosity. A mood of thoughtful reflection dominates the composer’s Consolations, written on the eve of the composer’s retirement from public performance and in a paired-back idiom that alternates the lyrical, the winsome and the forthright before dissolving into silence.

Two of the six movements are cast in the key of E major, the tonality Liszt reserved for music addressing the divine. “ find the Consolations so tender, so intimate, speaking from heart to heart,” says Andsnes. “But still, they have different styles, from the spiritual to the dramatic. They are so wonderfully written for the piano; it always sings.”

Andsnes’s album also includes two movements from Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, a magnificent 10-movement cycle written in 1853, inspired by poetry by Alphonse de Lamartine. Andsnes describes the ‘Andante Lagrimoso’ as “full of sorrow.”

The other movement from the set, which ends the album, is something else entirely. Liszt’s ‘Miserere, d’après Palestrina’ is a startling creation written in homage to Italy’s great Renaissance polyphonic composer, which treats a chant-like theme with an almost improvisatory spontaneity. “It ends with an enormous flourish,” says Andsnes, “it’s a relief after all the intimate music we have been through. But it also brings us back to the very beginning of the album, as the Via Crucis begins with a Gregorian chant.”

Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
TRACKLIST
Via Crucis, S. 53       

1          Vexilla regis                  
2          Station I: Jesus wird zum Tode verdammt                    
3          Station II: Jesus trägt sein Kreuz          
4          Station III: Jesus fällt zum ersten Mal           
5          Station IV: Jesus begegnet seiner heiligen Mutter               
6          Station V: Simon von Kyrene hilft Jesus das Kreuz tragen       
7          Station VI: Sancta Veronica                  
8          Station VII: Jesus fällt zum zweiten Mal       
9          Station VIII: Die Frauen von Jerusalem            
10        Station IX: Jesus fällt zum dritten Mal             
11        Station X: Jesus wird entkleidet           
12        Station XI: Jesus wird ans Kreuz geschlagen             
13        Station XII: Jesus stirbt am Kreuze                  
14        Station XIII: Jesus wird vom Kreuz genommen         
15        Station XIV: Jesus wird ins Grab gelegt           

Consolations, S. 172                         

16        No. 1 in E Major. Andante con moto            
17        No. 2 in E Major. Un poco più mosso             
18        No. 3 in D-Flat Major. Lento placido                
19        No. 4 in D-Flat Major. Quasi adagio              
20        No. 5 in E Major. Andantino                
21        No. 6 in E Major. Allegretto sempre cantabile         

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173                

22        No. 9. Andante lagrimoso     
23        No. 8. Miserere, d'après Palestrina. Largo    

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records, and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.

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Feb-March: GatherNYC Presents Five Mindful Musical Mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle - Sundays at 11AM

Press photos available here.

GatherNYC Continues 2024-2025 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle 

Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM
Mindful Musical Mornings Include Spoken Word and Brief Celebration of Silence 

Coming Up in February and March

2/2 ensemble 132
2/16 Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
3/2 Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea
3/16 Daedalus Quartet
3/30 MATA

Spring 2025 GatherNYC Concerts: 

4/13 Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
4/27 ETHEL + Layale Chaker
5/11 Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
5/25 Rupert Boyd, guitar
6/8 Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl

“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 2024-2025 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with five upcoming concerts in February and March - ensemble 132 on February 2, Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner on February 16, Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea on March 2, Daedalus Quartet on March 16, and a MATA showcase on March 30. The season runs through June 2025, with concerts held every other Sunday 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.

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 last year. “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 returning to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 17 concerts throughout our 2024-25 season, our largest lineup yet. We look forward to inviting audiences to join us for these mindful, musical mornings with world-class artists in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”

Up Next, Sundays at 11AM: 

Feb. 2: ensemble132
ensemble132 presents a genre-bending program honoring the expansive legacy of two musical icons for their joint 150th birthday: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Maurice Ravel. This group of all-star chamber musicians drawn from the rosters of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and more, explores these composers’ influence on other visionaries through the 20th and 21st centuries. ensemble132 traces these connections in a program featuring movements from Ravel’s and Coleridge-Taylor’s string quartets along with special e132 arrangements and a rollicking finale by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.

Feb. 16: Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Vocalist and composer Sarah Elizabeth Charles, hailed as “soulfully articulate” by The New York Times, and acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Jarrett Cherner will present music from their debut album as a duo. The album, called Tone, centers its concept on the magical, fleeting and delicate nature of life as well as the need to take care of ourselves and the world around us as best as we possibly can. 

Mar. 2: Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to expanding the Latin American chamber music repertoire, presents this family-friendly concert of music from Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. The program features Cuban composer Keyla Orozco’s The Song of the Cicada (2024) for narrator and quintet, inspired by Onelio Jorge Cardoso’s vivid children’s story of the same title. Also on the program are Toomai’s original arrangements of works by Hermeto Pascoal, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Léa Freire, and Manuel Ponce. 

Mar. 16: Daedalus Quartet
Winners of the highest honor in string quartet playing, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Daedalus Quartet will perform the visceral, folk-inspired sixth string quartet by Béla Bartók, alongside the atmospheric, pop-influenced Space Between by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim fellow Anna Weesner. 

Mar. 30: MATA
Music at the Anthology (MATA), an incubator for adventurous emerging artists in the early stages of their careers, presents, supports, and commissions composers, regardless of their stylistic views or aesthetic inclinations. Founded by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa in 1996 as a way to address the lack of presentation opportunities for unaffiliated composers, MATA composers have since emanated to include future Rome, Alpert, Takemitsu, Siemens, and Pulitzer Prize-winners, Guggenheim Fellows, and MacArthur “Geniuses.” In 2010 MATA was awarded ASCAP’s prestigious Aaron Copland award in recognition of its work. For its first collaboration with GatherNYC,  MATA will showcase highlights from previous festivals as well as selected works from its global Call for Submissions. The New Yorker has hailed MATA as, “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.” The New York Times has called it “nondogmatic, even antidogmatic;” and The Wall Street Journal said that it “tells us a lot about how composers are thinking now.”

GatherNYC's Remaining Spring 2025 Schedule – All Concerts Take Place at 11AM:  

Apr. 13: Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
Violinist Deborah Buck, praised by The Strad as having a “surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound,” and Orli Shaham, described as a “brilliant pianist” by The New York Times, present a program to celebrate Clara Schumann's legacy. In addition to works by Robert and Clara Schumann, the program features the couple's circle of friends, including the music of Amanda Maier. 

Apr. 27: ETHEL + Layale Chaker
From their beginnings in 1998, the members of ETHEL have prized collaboration. In recent years, the quartet has struck up a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Lebanese-born, Brooklyn-based violinist and composer Layale Chaker. Their album Vigil offers a chance to document some of that collective work, with each member of ETHEL contributing a piece and Chaker contributing two works, one of which is the remarkable work that gives the project its name. 

May 11: Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
Acclaimed violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is known for channeling her award-winning virtuosity as a means of championing worthy music by lesser or unknown composers from her native Ukraine. For her first appearance at GatherNYC, Solomiya is joined by violist William Frampton and cellist Laura Metcalf to present a forgotten masterwork by Fedir Yakymenko, a colorful and rhapsodic piece written around the turn of the 20th century. Ukrainian by birth and spending his life in Russia and France, Yakymenko deftly blends French and Ukrainian sounds and styles into this delightful piece, which deserves to be heard and remembered. 

May 25: Rupert Boyd, guitar
GatherNYC artistic director and classical guitar virtuoso Rupert Boyd takes listeners on a journey across centuries and continents on the six strings of his guitar. From Malian kora music to atmospheric sounds from Japan to contemporary music from his home country of Australia to classic works for the Spanish guitar, Boyd’s riveting program has something for everyone. 

June 8: Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
Building on a highly successful collaboration during the 2023-24 season, GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd in their duo formation of Boyd Meets Girl once again team up with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for an expanded collaborative program featuring classical favorites and creative, virtuosic takes on popular tunes.

For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.

Press photos available here.

Feb. 28: World Premiere Recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Centuries in the Hours on Leandra Ramm's New Album Watching glass, I hear you

Photo of Lisa Bielawa by Desmond White. Available in hi-resolution at https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/lisa-bielawa.

World Premiere Recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Centuries in the Hours
A Song Cycle Illuminating the Lives of American Women

Recorded by Mezzo-Soprano Leandra Ramm
On Her Album Watching glass, I hear you

Release Coincides with International Women’s Day

Worldwide Release Date: February 28, 2025 (Ablaze Records)

Press Downloads Available Upon Request

“the formal sophistication and lyrical richness of Bielawa’s music go deep”
– The New Yorker

LisaBielawa.net | LeandraRamm.com | AblazeRecords.net

The world premiere recording of composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa’s song cycle Centuries in the Hours, which illuminates the lives of American women by setting selections from women’s diaries spanning three centuries, will be released on a new album from mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm titled Watching glass, I hear you (Ablaze Records). The recording will be released on February 28, 2025, shortly before International Women’s Day on March 8. 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.

Lisa Bielawa is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and a Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition, who takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. She is the recipient of the 2017 Music Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and a 2020 OPERA America Grant for Female Composers. 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. In 1997, she co-founded the MATA Festival.

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.

The premiere performance of the Centuries in the Hours song cycle (orchestral version) was performed by mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin with ROCO in September 2019 in Houston, TX. It was co-commissioned by the ASCAP Foundation, Charles Kingsford Fund, and ROCO. Bielawa has also created a chamber opera version of Centuries in the Hours with librettist Claire Solomon, which was premiered online during the pandemic by Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School High School in May 2021. The online chamber opera was commissioned in part by Kaufman Music Center, underwritten by Cathy White O’Rourke. Development of Centuries in the Hours was funded in part by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

About Lisa Bielawa: www.lisabielawa.net/bio
About Leandra Ramm: www.leandraramm.com/bio

TRACK LIST

Watching glass, I hear you
Release Date: February 28, 2025
Leandra Ramm, mezzo-soprano; Michael Delfín, piano
Ablaze Records

1-5: Centuries in the Hours
Composed by Lisa Bielawa / Texts by Emily French, Betsey Stockton, Angeles Monrayo Raymundo, Sallie McNiell, Sarah Wister

I. Emily [4:15]
II. Betsey [4:08]
III. Angeles [3:38]
IV. Sallie [3:29]
V. Sarah [4:28]

6-9: Watching glass, I hear you
Composed by Douglas Knehans / Text by Katarina Knehans

I. Hear [2:37]
II. See [2:28]
III. Touch [2:37]
IV. Feel [2:45]

10-20: Eleven Fragments for the Book of Dreams
Composed by David T. Little / Text by Sonja Krefting

I. (wait for sleep - [0:55]
II. and there is always a possibility [1:00]
III. During the most recent earthquake [1:14]
IV. perhaps your hands [0:45]
V. but what will you remember? [1:13]
VI. name until you are no longer sure of the spelling… [0:34]
VII. What happened to the stone? [0:40]
VIII. your long journey through the underworld? [0:37]
IX. These new eyes are meant for looking [0:39]
X. you will be able to find [0:56]
XI. I shall possess my body forever [0:31]

21-24: Transformations
Composed by Cyril Deaconoff / Texts by Leslie Haight, Susan Noyes Anderson, Emma Weeks

I. Dance of Love [1:42]
II. Peace [2:38]
III. Don’t Mess With Me [0:53]
IV. Sweet Sorrow [4:26]
V. Dance of Love [1:50]

25-29: Four Songs for Mezzo-Soprano & Piano
Composed by Daron Hagen / Texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, Charles Baudelaire, Traditional, Paul Verlaine

I. Atem der Statuen [3:27]
II. To a Street Person [2:59]
III. La Flor de la Canela [4:25]
IV. The Nightingale [2:35]

Total Time: 64:24

Recording/Editing/Mixing/Mastering Engineer: Michael Hughes
Producer: Douglas Knehans
Design: Josephine McLachlan
Recorded on July 20-23, 2022 at Cohen Studio, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, OH

OUT NOW: Violinist Esther Abrami Presents Wiegala – First Single from New Album on Sony Classical to be Released April 25

Violinist Esther Abrami Presents Wiegala

First Single from New Album on Sony Classical
Listen Here | Watch Music Video

Album Release Date: April 25, 2025

Esther Abrami presents moving lullaby by Jewish composer Ilse Weber in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Violinist Esther Abrami releases a poignant new interpretation of Wiegala a lullaby by Jewish poet and composer Ilse Weber. Arranged for violin and string quintet by Abrami herself, the song is available now, alongside a music video - watch here in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ilse Weber (1903–1944) was a Czech-born Jewish poet, writer, and composer known for her children’s books and heartfelt songs, many of which she wrote during her imprisonment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. “Wiegala, a lullaby which she composed during this time, stands as a testament to Weber’s courage and compassion. While working as a nurse for children in the camp, Weber offered music as a source of comfort and hope when medicine was unavailable. She composed songs, led performances, and even formed a choir, bringing light into one of history’s darkest chapters. When the children were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, she chose to accompany them, singing “Wiegala” with them for the last time before she was murdered, alongside the children she had cared for.

Esther Abrami’s delicate arrangement captures the profound emotional depth of the piece, honoring Weber’s legacy and highlighting the enduring power of music in the face of unimaginable adversity. Wiegala is the first single from Abrami’s forthcoming album, which will exclusively feature works by female composers. The Sony Classical album will be released on April 25, 2025. Wiegala is available in both Stereo and Dolby Atmos.

About Esther Abrami

Esther Abrami is much more than a musician: she's an inspiration to a new generation of music enthusiasts. Through her large social media platform, Esther shares her passion for music, performance, and practice sessions and shares behind-the-scenes glimpses into her life as a musician with an ever-growing community worldwide. With her dazzling talent, infectious personality, and boundless enthusiasm for music-making, Esther Abrami is a rising star.

Born in 1996 in Aix-en-Provence, the violinist studied at the Royal College of Music and completed her master's degree at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, for which she received a full scholarship. In 2019, she became the first classical musician ever to win the ‘Social Media Superstar’ category at the Global Awards and in 2021 she was featured in Classic FM's ‘30 under 30 Classical Artists to Watch’ series, curated by Julian Lloyd Webber and was listed as a ‘Rising Star’ by BBC Music Magazine. In the UK, Esther Abrami is considered one of the most promising young classical artists of her generation and has been appointed Creative Partner and Artist in Residence by the English Symphony Orchestra. With her debut album ‘Esther Abrami’ (2022), the follow up “Cinema” (2023) and an EP “Spotlight” dedicated to women composers recorded with ‘Her Ensemble’, a free-form group that seeks to address the gender gap and gender stereotypes in the music industry, Esther has become an artist who achieves wide attention outside the classical sphere and on social media. In her podcast ‘Woman in Classical’, Esther Abrami regularly interviews outstanding women musicians and composers from the world of classical music with the hope of inspiring young people to pursue a career in music. Esther Abrami plays a violin by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, kindly provided by Beare's International Violin Society.

Follow Esther Abrami

Website: https://www.estherabrami.com/
Instagram: @estherabrami
TikTok: @estherabrami
Facebook: @estherabramiviolin
X: @estherabrami
YouTube: @estherabrami

March 8: Sarah Cahill Honors International Women's Day with The Future is Female

Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill

Pianist Sarah Cahill Celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8 with The Future is Female

Performing Six Hours of Music by
Women Composers from Around the Globe
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 2-8pm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art | 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY
European Paintings 1250–1800, Gallery 609
Free with Museum Admission
More Information

“a series distinctive for its finesse and conviction” – Gramophone

Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert featuring music from The Future is Female

Sarah Cahill: www.sarahcahill.com

New York, NY – Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as a “fiercely gifted” by The New York Times, will mark International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 2-8pm with a six-hour marathon performance of music from her ongoing project The Future is Female presented by MetLiveArts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue), in the European Paintings 1250-1800 Gallery 609. The Future is Female is Cahill’s exploration of music for solo piano by women composers from the Baroque to the present day, which includes more than 70 pieces from around the globe, some commissioned by or for Cahill as part of the project. This is Cahill’s debut performance at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sarah Cahill has been featured performing music from The Future is Female in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, as well as in eight-hour marathon performances at the Barbican Centre in London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., both celebrating International Women’s Day. In addition, Cahill recorded 30 works from The Future is Female on a three-volume set of albums released in 2022 and 2023 on the First Hand Records label, which included many world premiere recordings and was widely acclaimed by publications including in the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, International Piano, The Wire, Gramophone Magazine, and more. BBC Music Magazine reported, “the American pianist [Sarah Cahill] takes us on a chronological journey that zips around the world, stitching together contrasting styles into an enjoyable musical patchwork,” while Textura notes Cahill’s “ability to capture the essence of each piece and illuminate it with eloquent playing.”

Sarah Cahill began working on The Future is Female in 2018. She says, “For decades I had been working with many living American composers, including Pauline Oliveros, Tania León, Eve Beglarian, Mary D. Watkins, Julia Wolfe, Ursula Mamlok, Meredith Monk, Annea Lockwood, and many more, but I felt an urgent need to explore neglected composers from the past, and from around the globe. Like most pianists, I grew up with the classical canon, which has always excluded women composers as well as composers of color. It is still standard practice to perform recitals consisting entirely of music written by men. The Future is Female, then, aims to be a corrective towards rebalancing the repertoire. It does not attempt to be exhaustive . . . The possibilities are, in fact, limitless.”

For her marathon installment of The Future is Female at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on International Women’s Day this year, Cahill will perform music for solo piano by women composers written across five centuries from 1687 to 2020, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods, including works such as:

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Suite in D minor (1687)

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was celebrated in her lifetime as both a composer and harpsichordist, an acclaimed musician in the court of Louis XIV, and one of only a few French composers to publish keyboard pieces in the 17th century. Jacquet de la Guerre’s Suites speak to her boundless imagination and prodigious talents at the keyboard.

Hélène de Montgeroult: Sonata No. 9, Op. 5 No. 3 (1811)

Hélène de Montgeroult was a virtuoso pianist and composer. In a possibly apocryphal story, she saved herself from the guillotine by improvising variations on “Le Marsaillaise” during the French Revolution. Sonata No. 9 is one of Montgeroult’s many works for keyboard.

Vítězslava Kaprálová: April Preludes (1937)

Vítězslava Kaprálová was one of the most brilliant young Czech composers to emerge between the two world wars. Before her death at age 25, she composed prolifically, and was the first woman to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Her April Preludes were composed for the pianist Rudolph Firkusny.

Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru (1951)

Born Yewubdar Guèbrou, Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Gebru (1923-2023), was an Ethiopian composer, pianist, and nun who composed an abundance of works, predominately for piano, released several albums, and used her music in an effort to help educate of young children. She became a nun in 1944 and spent 10 years living in a hilltop monastery in Addis Ababa, taking the title Emahoy and the religious name Tsegué-Maryam. The homeless wanderer is a beloved piece of Gebrou’s, the narrative of which she describes as such: “The homeless wanderer plays on his flute, while he worries about the wilderness around his life. At night in the mountains, when people and animals rest after the day, one hears the song of a flute which the little wanderer plays, alone and far from home. The wild animals and snakes do not dare approach him, but listen spellbound to the melody his flute produces, which becomes its protector through the power of the notes. This he loses his fear of the nocturnal visitors. They become his friends."

Margaret Bonds: Troubled Water (1967)

Margaret Bonds was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher. Bonds is regarded as one of the first well-recognized Black composers and performers in the U.S.. Bonds was a prolific arranger of African-American spirituals and often collaborated with Langston Hughes. She was the first Black soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Kaija Saariaho: Ballade (2005)

The late Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) was a leading voice of her gener­ation of composers, in her native Finland and worldwide. She studied compo­sition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she lived from 1982 to her death. Her studies and research at IRCAM, the Parisian center for electroacoustic exper­i­men­tation, had a major influence on her music, and her charac­ter­is­ti­cally luxuriant and myste­rious textures were often created by combining live performance and electronics.

Mary D. Watkins: Summer Days (2020)

Mary D. Watkins composed Summer Days for Sarah Cahill in 2020. Watkins is an eclectic composer as well as a pianist, arranger, recording artist, and record producer. Her music reflects many styles – jazz, gospel, country, rock, classical and pop. She says of the piece, “[the music] makes me think of children on a hot summer day freely playing in the water of a sprinkler, bouncing, running, wrestling, yelling, laughing, and screaming with delight.”

Additional composers featured on Cahill’s March 8 marathon performance include Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Teresa Carreño, Louise Farrenc, Adelaide Pereira da Silva, Maria Szymanowska, Frangiz Ali-Zadeh, Mel Bonis, Julia Perry, Ann Southam, Fannie Charles Dillon, Valerie Capers, Theresa Wong, Viola Kinney, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Marianna Martines, Reena Esmail, Grażyna Bacewicz, Zenobia Powell Perry, Chen Yi, Janice Giteck, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Meredith Monk, Marion Bauer, Anna Bon, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Tania León, Leokadiya Kashperova, Annea Lockwood, Gabriela Lena Frank, Aida Shirazi, Betsy Jolas, Ethel Smyth, Maria Corley, Johanna Beyer, Chiquinha Gonzaga, and Linda Catlin Smith.

Sarah Cahill has previously brought The Future is Female to venues across the U.S. including Carolina Performing Arts in Chapel Hill, NC; Carlsbad Music Festival in San Diego, CA; the University of Iowa; Bowling Green New Music Festival in Ohio; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; North Dakota Museum of Art; the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York; the Newport Classical Music Festival in Rhode Island, and more.

Listen to The Future is Female, Vols. 1-3 (First Hand Records):

Vol. 1: https://lnkfi.re/CahillFutureisFemaleVol1
Vol. 2: https://lnkfi.re/CahillFutureisFemaleVol2
Vol. 3: https://lnkfi.re/CahillFutureisFemaleVol3

More 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. Keyboard Magazine writes, “Through her inspired interpretation of works across the 20th and 21st centuries, Cahill has been instrumental in bringing to life the music of many of our greatest living composers.” She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).

Cahill enjoys working closely with composers, musicologists, and scholars to prepare scores for each performance. She researched and recorded music by prominent early 20th- century American modernists Henry Cowell and Ruth Crawford and commissioned a number of new pieces in tribute to their enduring influence. Cahill has worked closely with composer Terry Riley since 1997, and for his 80th birthday, she commissioned nine new works for solo piano in his honor and performed them with several of Riley’s own compositions at venues across the country. Cahill also had the opportunity to work closely with Lou Harrison and has championed many of his works for piano.

Cahill has performed classical and contemporary chamber music with artists and ensembles such as Jessica Lang Dance; pianists Joseph Kubera, Adam Tendler, and Regina Myers; violinist Stuart Canin; the Alexander String Quartet; New Century Chamber Orchestra; Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and many more. She also performs as a duo with violinist Kate Stenberg.

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: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “fiercely gifted” by The New York Times, will perform music from her ongoing project The Future is Female in a concert presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Future is Female is Cahill’s exploration of music for solo piano by women composers from the Baroque to the present day, which includes more than 70 pieces from around the globe, some commissioned by or for Cahill as part of the project. Cahill will perform music by an array of women composers, featuring works written between 1687 and 2020, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill in The Future is Female on International Women’s Day
What: Music for Solo Piano by Women Composers Spanning Five Centuries
When: Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 2-8pm
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave. New York, NY 10028
Free with Museum Admission.
More information: www.engage.metmuseum.org/events/metlivearts/2024-25-season/sarah-cahill-the-future-is-female/

March 7: World Premiere Recording of Music by Fernande Decruck by Conductor Matthew Aubin and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Out on Claves Records

World Premiere Recording of Music by French Composer
Fernande Decruck: Concertante Works Volume 2 

Conductor Matthew Aubin and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra

With Soloists Jeremy Crosmer, cello; Mitsuru Kubo, viola;
and Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord

Worldwide Release Date: March 7, 2025 (Claves Records)
Coinciding with International Women’s Day

“This album is a real revelation, necessary in any collection of 20th century French music.” – All Music on Vol. 1 

“As a composer, Fernande Decruck combines polytonality with impressionism, exoticism with neo-romanticism in her own unique way – her imaginative orchestral treatment is most comparable to Ravel.” – Fidelity Magazine on Vol. 1

Review CDs and downloads available upon request. 

Pre-Save: https://orcd.co/album-decruck-ii 

Jackson Symphony Orchestra’s Equal Billing Project: www.jacksonsymphony.org
Claves Records: www.claves.ch

On Friday, March 7, 2025, Claves Records will release the world premiere recordings of four works by French composer Fernande Decruck (1896-1954) on a new album titled Concertante Works Volume 2, conducted by Matthew Aubin and featuring the Jackson Symphony Orchestra (Michigan) alongside soloists Jeremy Crosmer, cello; Mitsuru Kubo, viola; and Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord. 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). The release coincides with International Women’s Day on March 8, and follows Aubin and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Decruck’s Concertante Works Volume 1 in 2022 on Claves, which included her Sonata in C-sharp for Alto Saxophone (or Viola) and Orchestra (1943) with saxophonist Carrie Koffman; Heroic Poem for Solo Trumpet in C, Solo Horn in F and Orchestra (1946) with soloists Amy McCabe, trumpet and Leelanee Sterrett, horn; and Concerto for Harp and Orchestra (1944) with soloist Chen-Yu Huang.

Fernande Decruck’s career showed promise from an early age when she won several prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. She later taught many students there, including Oliver Messiaen, who dedicated a score to her. Marcel Dupré introduced her to improvisation, a talent she showcased in an organ tour of the U.S. in 1928. She later gave solo recitals in the great auditoriums of New York. The trajectory of Decruck as a composer can be traced through her early works, which give prominence to the organ (her instrument), saxophone and double bass (her husband’s instruments). The Decrucks lived in New York for several years, and her husband Maurice played double bass and saxophone for the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. Decruck’s American period saw the birth of numerous compositions for piano, organ, orchestra and a concerto for cello and orchestra as well as many works for a wide range of wind instruments, notably for saxophone. In 1937, Fernande Decruck moved to Toulouse alone with her three children, working as a professor at the Toulouse Conservatory. Beginning in 1942, she devoted herself entirely to composition, notably writing several of the works on these recordings. Her divorce in 1950 led to financial difficulty, and a series of health problems led to her untimely death at the age of 57. Many of her compositions remained unpublished and were thought to be lost.

For the last decade, Dr. Matthew Aubin (Music Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of The Chelsea Symphony in New York), 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 – even learning to speak French fluently. He has also organized performances of Decruck’s music in the U.S. and in Europe. His critical editions of the works on this album will be published by Billaudot coinciding with the release of the recording in March 2025.

 “The works on this album are a diverse representation of Decruck's many compositional voices,” Aubin says. “The cello concerto is forward thinking, cinematic and from a time where the cello concerto repertoire is sparse. Les Trianons blends Neo-Baroque elements with 20th century orchestral color. Decruck's saxophone sonata works incredibly well in her setting for viola – so much so that many JSO musicians prefer this version . . . especially the string players! The charming waltzes that complete the album are light, but bear the melancholy spirit that infuses much of Decruck's work. They're sure to find a place on many a future orchestral program.”

MATTHEW AUBIN’S NOTES ON THE MUSIC

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1932)

Fernande Decruck’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, completed in New York City on October 29, 1932, is a remarkable work that showcases her early melodic and harmonic style. Representing her first known concerto and large-scale orchestral composition, it reflects Decruck’s life during that time as she balanced her roles as a composer, organist, and mother of two. . . While the specific dedicatee of the concerto remains unknown, her collaboration with cellist Robert Refuveille may have inspired its creation. This concerto serves as a testament to Decruck’s talent and versatility as a composer, laying the foundation for her subsequent works that would evolve and mature over time.

Sonata in C# for Alto Saxophone (or Viola) and Orchestra (1943)

The Sonata in C# for Alto Saxophone (or Viola) is Decruck’s most well-known work. Decruck created two versions of her world famous sonata, one with saxophone or viola and piano, the other with full orchestral accompaniment. The latter version is rarely heard. Decruck combines the Classical sonata form with impressionistic harmony and at times, polytonality. Decruck dedicated this work to Marcel Mule, the world-renowned French saxophonist. Although Mule had countless compositions written

for him in his lifetime, he took the time to record the Fileuse movement of the Sonata.

The Bells of Vienna: Suite of Waltzes (1935)

Decruck published Les clochers de Vienne (The Bells of Vienna) in 1935, and it was performed in several concerts and live broadcasts around that time. The music of this relatively early work by Decruck is bright and lively. The piece is unique in its pioneering inclusion of the vibraphone, an instrument that only became widely available in the previous decade. . . I originally thought that it was lost. The family only had four of the five string parts. I found the rest of the parts and score to most of the composition in a music library at a Portuguese radio station. The people there scanned and emailed it to me, but three of the parts were missing. Another friend helped locate the missing parts in a conservatory library in Tours, France, and sent them to me.

The Trianons: Suite for Harpsichord (or Piano) and Orchestra (1946)

Les Trianons is a suite concertante for harpsichord or piano and orchestra composed by Decruck in 1946. It is dedicated to Marcelle de Lacour, who later became a distinguished professor of harpsichord at the Paris Conservatory. The suite is named after the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon, two opulent royal buildings in Versailles from the 17th and 18th centuries, which serve as an evocative backdrop to the music. Decruck’s composition is written in a Neo-Baroque style, blending traditional Baroque elements with modern 20th-century orchestration. The chamber orchestra is enriched with contemporary additions such as alto saxophone, celesta, and concert toms, creating a unique sound palette.

Read Aubin’s full liner notes here.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS: 

Matthew Aubin, Conductor: www.matthewaubin.com/about.html
Jeremy Crosmer, Cello: www.jeremycrosmer.com/about
Mitsuru Kubo, Viola: www.mitsurukubo.com/bio
Mahan Esfahani, Harpsichord: www.mahanesfahani.com/biography
Jackson Symphony Orchestra: www.jacksonsymphony.org/about-jackson-symphony-orchestra

ALBUM TRACK LISTING: 

Fernande Decruck: Concertante Works Volume 2
Conductor Matthew Aubin | Jackson Symphony Orchestra
Jeremy Crosmer, cello | Mitsuru Kubo, viola | Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
Claves Records | Release Date: March 7, 2025 

1-3: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1932)
4-6: The Trianons: Suite for Harpsichord (or Piano) and Orchestra (1946)
7-10: Sonata in C# for Alto Saxophone (or Viola) and Orchestra (1943) with viola soloist
11: The Bells of Vienna: Suite of Waltzes (1935)

World Premiere Recordings

Publisher: Gérard Billaudot Editeur SA
CD Number: CD 50-3108 | EAN / UPC: 7619931310824 | Label Code: 3369
Copyright © & ℗ 2025 Claves Records SA, Prilly (Switzerland)
Recording Producer: Dirk Sobotka, Soundmirror, Inc.
Recording Engineers: Mark Donahue and Jacob Steingart, Soundmirror, Inc.
Design: Amethys
Executive Producer: Claves Records
Recorded in the Harold Sheffer Music Hall at the George E. Potter Center, Jackson, Michigan (USA), June 2023
Cover: Fernande Decruck, Paris, vers 1933 © DR

The New School’s College of Performing Arts Welcomes Bassoonist Adrian Morejon to Wind Faculty

The New School’s College of Performing Arts Welcomes Acclaimed Bassoonist Adrian Morejon to Wind Faculty

New York, NY (Jan. 22, 2025) – The New School’s College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, today announces the appointment of acclaimed bassoonist and prolific performer Adrian Morejon to the faculty of the esteemed performing arts school. As a faculty member in the Mannes School of Music, Morejon will lead classes and ensembles, teach private lessons, develop and create new projects, and share with students his depth of experience as an accomplished soloist, chamber and orchestral musician.

"I truly look forward to joining my esteemed colleagues on the Mannes wind faculty and working with the talented young musicians of tomorrow. The school's dedication to preparing today's students for a myriad of varied musical paths both excites and inspires me to share my musical experience and guidance," said Adrian Morejon.

“We are quite proud of our wind faculty at Mannes and thrilled about Adrian Morejon coming on board. His career is in so many ways a model of what is possible and what so many of our students need to embrace, including of course, his bassoon playing and teaching, his harpsichord playing, and his work in arts management and entrepreneurship. I so look forward to Adrian and what he brings to Mannes students, faculty, and staff,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.

Morejon has been praised for his "teeming energy" and "precise control" by The New York Times and having "every note varnished to a high gloss" by The Boston Globe. As a soloist, Morejon has appeared throughout the US, Mexico, and Europe with the Talea Ensemble, IRIS Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the Miami Symphony. Most recently, Morejon is featured on the recording of Joan Tower's Bassoon Concerto, Red Maple, released by BMOP/Sound. An active chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music, Morejon is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and Executive Director/Bassoonist of Talea Ensemble. He has appeared with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Imani Winds, Alarm Will Sound, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Essex Winter Series, among others. An experienced orchestral musician, Morejon is a member of Orchestra Lumos and the IRIS Collective, and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Novus, The Knights, and others.

Morejon was a recipient of Theodore Presser Foundation Grant, 2nd prize of the Fox-Gillet International Competition, and shared top prize at the Moscow Conservatory International Competition. During the past summers, he has participated in many festivals, including the Composer's Conference at Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival, Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music Summer Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, and the Monadnock Music Festival.

In joining the wind faculty at Mannes, Morejon will provide mentorship to a new generation of musicians, guiding them in technical mastery, creative expression and the practical realities of a professional music career. For more information on Adrian Morejon: www.adrianmorejon.com

The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.

The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.

The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.

Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. Distinguished Mannes alumni include the 20th-century songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, the great pianists Michel Camilo, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans, acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel, beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, as well as the great opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.

Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.

March 7: Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Releases Debut Solo Album Fantasie on Sony Classical

Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
Releases Debut Solo Album on Sony Classical
Fantasie

New Single: Summerland by William Grant Still
Listen Here | Watch the Music Video

Album Release Date: March 7, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason has a passion for curating programmes that cross diverse musical landscapes, and on her debut solo album Fantasie, she takes listeners on a journey that explores connections across different composers’ sound worlds – whether they met, influenced each other, or simply existed in resonance.

From Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin and Alexander Scriabin to Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and William Grant Still, Jeneba presents a programme which is also very personal to her as an artist. “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.”

William Grant Still’s 1935 Summerland - released today alongside album launch, listen here and watch the music video - perfectly illustrates Jeneba’s sense of the composers and their inter-connecting soundworlds. “I hear a lot of similarity between Still & Debussy” she explains. “I think that they occupy a similar sound world. ‘Summerland’ is very beautiful and it’s about a soul reaching heaven, and you can definitely hear that in the music. Like the Debussy Preludes, it’s very tranquil, but also harmonically complex… when you listen to it, you’re transported.”

Frédéric Chopin is central to Jeneba’s repertoire, and she opens with his Second Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op 35, one of his most powerful works, celebrated for its emotional depth and technical brilliance. This is followed by The Nocturnes, Op 27, two contrasting pieces that illustrate Chopin’s mastery in evoking complex emotions in music. “These pieces need to feel as if they’re being improvised” she reveals. “I’ve had to know the notes inside out, so that when I come to perform it, I can see what happens. With Chopin, I don’t feel like I do the same thing every time.”

From Chopin she takes us into the sound world of Claude Debussy and his Préludes - ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’ (‘The girl with flaxen hair’ from Book 1) and ‘Bruyères’ (‘Mists’ from Book 2), both of which evoke delicate, atmospheric worlds, where simplicity belies harmonic depth.

Then in a nod to the Russian tradition, Jeneba plays three works by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), who, like Chopin, expanded the piano’s expressive capacity. Two of his Op 11 Preludes, youthful works, and his Sonata No 2 offer her a canvas of harmonic daring and rhythmic freedom. “They both have a beautiful way of making the piano sing” she comments on Chopin & Scriabin. “You can hear Chopin’s influence in Scriabin’s music as he sometimes has these Chopin-esque decorations over the melodies. What I also really love about Scriabin’s music is that it’s very colourful. When he goes to a specific key, it’s important for him that it’s that key, and not any other key.”

Anchoring her programme’s central section are three African-American composers dear to Jeneba’s heart – Florence Price (1887-1953), Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) – each in their way pioneering new modes of musical expression. Jeneba’s affinity for Florence Price is palpable, dating back to her 2021 BBC Proms debut with Price’s Piano Concerto. Jeneba notes “I was very grateful to be able to perform Florence Price’s music at the BBC Proms and I am delighted to have her on my album as well. In lots of concerts when I have played her Fantasie in E Minor, people have come to me after the performance and said: ‘that was my favourite piece; that’s what I really loved’. I think it’s because her music is very vulnerable and instantly speaks to the heart. She has such a distinct style to which a lot of people can relate. Maybe it’s the passion and her direct connection to the Spirituals that she uses that makes her music so emotional and easy to connect to.”

Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds – who was a pupil and friend of Florence Price and a champion of her music and who played Price’s Concerto at its premiere in 1934 – is based on the Spiritual ‘Wade in the Water’ and combines syncopations, jazz influences and virtuoso demands. “The Spiritual in ‘Troubled Water’ is ‘Wade in the Water’ and I grew up listening to that when I was very young, so it’s nice to have a piece where you can really hear the pianistic side of Margaret Bonds’ playing and how she’s managed to weave in the Spiritual. There’s this sense of rhythm which follows through the whole piece and it’s a constant pulse underneath the Spiritual. It was an easy choice for me to include Margaret Bonds’ ‘Troubled Water’ on my debut album” Jeneba remarks, emphasizing the rhythmic intensity Bonds brings to her work.

William Grant Still’s Summerland’is a vision of paradise, and it suggests to Jeneba a similar musical world to the Debussy Préludes. It offers a delicate, rising hymn to transcendence and is the central movement of his Three Visions. “It's so beautiful and visual, yet delicate and intimate as well. It starts very simply, and then even though it grows in the left hand and the accompaniment becomes more harmonically complex, it stays in this peaceful Paradise world. Then the pitch gets higher and higher, as if the soul is lifting to heaven”.

The third youngest of the prodigiously musical Kanneh-Mason family, 22-year-old Jeneba knows instinctively who she is as a musician. “We are a very close-knit family and yet we all have very individual personalities” she explains. “We constantly influence each other, and I have learned a lot from my siblings - and still do. We all have our own voices yet can always turn to each other for support. Isata is six years older than me and she gave me a lot of lessons when I was younger. She’s always been a massive inspiration for me, and she’s already released many albums, so I feel like I’m following in her footsteps.”

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason 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.

Fantasie will be released internationally on March 7, 2025 on Sony Classical.

Tracklist

Chopin: Piano Sonata No.2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35
1. I. Grave - Doppio movimento
2. II. Scherzo
3. III. Marche funèbre (Lento)
4. IV. Finale (Presto)
5. Chopin: Nocturne No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 1
6. Chopin: Nocturne No. 8 in D-Flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2
7. Price: Fantasie Nègre No. 1 in E Minor
8. Bonds: Troubled Water
9. Still: Three Visions: II. Summerland
10. Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin
11. Debussy: Bruyères
12. Scriabin: 24 Preludes, Op. 11: No. 1 in C Major
13. Scriabin: 24 Preludes, Op. 11: No. 11 in B Major - Allegro assai
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-Sharp Minor, Op. 19 "Sonata Fantasy"
14. I. Andante
15. II. Presto