Aug. 14-15: Telegraph Quartet Presented by the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck in Two Performances
Aug. 14-15: Telegraph Quartet Presented by the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck in Two Performances
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution here.
Telegraph Quartet Gives Two Performances
Presented by the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck
Featuring the Music of
Henry Cowell, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven
August 14-15, 2025 at 7pm
Saugatuck Woman's Club | 303 Butler St. | Saugatuck, MI
Tickets and More Information
“precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication" – The Strad
Saugatuck, MI – On Thursday, August 14 and Friday, August 15, 2025 at 7pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group described by The San Francisco Chronicle as having "tonal warmth and communicative urgency,” will give two performances presented by the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Both concerts will be held at the Saugatuck Woman's Club (303 Butler St.).
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.
The Quartet’s next album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm will be released August 22, 2025 on Azica Records and continues the Telegraph Quartet’s exploration of creativity and composition in the 20th century, specifically examining music from the turbulent war years of 1941-1951. The second volume features a thoughtfully curated program of string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet bring their refined synchronicity and artistic finesse to a concert program that embraces contrast in expression and musical form as a way to underscore the depth of human emotions and the acme of musical virtuosity. The program includes: United, String Quartet No. 4 by Henry Cowell; String Quartet in C Major Op. 54 No. 2 by Franz Joseph Haydn; and String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Neither Henry Cowell’s musical peers nor his public audiences fully appreciated Cowell’s approach to applying familiar and more popular leaning musical structures in his work. In a statement Cowell included with the publication of the United Quartet, he says the piece “is an attempt toward a more universal music style.” Though Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major Op. 54 was written nearly 150 years before Cowell’s work, Haydn’s quartet evokes a similar spirit of ambition and experimentation with musical form. The intricacy and deeply expressive nature of the melodies across its four movements reflected Haydn’s engaging instincts as a composer. Unlike the experimental pursuits of Cowell and Haydn, Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 grounds itself with consistency, thanks in part to its F major key signature – the tonal center of Beethoven’s first and very last quartets, as well as his iconic Pastorale Symphony No. 6. And like its cousin compositions, the String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 shrewdly carves and traverses a vast emotional landscape from heavy, despondency to the brightest of finales.
Telegraph Quartet says of bringing this deeply expressive program to Saugatuck:
“We’re very excited to bring this program to the Saugatuck audiences this summer and feel that Beethoven, Haydn and Cowell all three find a way to masterfully combine simplicity and tunefulness with a deeply cohesive musical architecture.”
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, the first in a trilogy of recordings, on Azica Records. The 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.
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.
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 Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck
What: Music by Henry Cowell, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven
When: Thursday, August 14 and Friday August 15, 2025 at 7pm
Where: Saugatuck Woman's Club, 303 Butler St. Saugatuck, MI 49453
Tickets and information: www.saugatuckmusic.org/events/telegraph-quartet
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group described by The San Francisco Chronicle as having "tonal warmth and communicative urgency,” will give two performances as part of the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. For both concerts, the Quartet will perform String Quartet No. 4 United by Henry Cowell, String Quartet in C Major Op. 54 by Franz Joseph Haydn, and String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59 by Ludwig van Beethoven – a program that embraces the expressive potential of contrast as a way to evoke and underscore the strongest of emotions and musical virtuosity.
Sept 12: Ember Releases New Album Birds of Paradise - Music by Henriette Renié, Reena Esmail, Angélica Negrón - Azica Records
Ember Releases New Album Birds of Paradise - Music by Henriette Renié, Reena Esmail, Angélica Negrón - Azica Records
Photos by Dario Acosta, and album cover, available in high resolution here.
Ember Announces Debut Album
Birds of Paradise on Azica Records
A Bold New Recording Celebrating Women Composers & Performers
Featuring music by Henriette Renié, Reena Esmail, Angélica Negrón, and highlighting artistic voices of women across generations
Ember is Emily Levin, harp; Julia Choi, violin; Christine Lamprea, cello
Worldwide Release Date: September 12, 2025
Photos, and CDs available to press on request
www.emilylevinharp.com/ensembles | www.azica.com
Ember, the acclaimed ensemble of Emily Levin (harp), Julia Choi (violin), and Christine Lamprea (cello), will release its debut album Birds of Paradise on Azica Records on September 12, 2025. This bold new recording celebrates both historical and contemporary women composers while addressing the cultural significance of the contributions of women in classical music.
Ember is an ensemble of modern trailblazers championing new works by living composers and forging paths of connection and community through intimate, personalized concert experiences. The trio’s debut album showcases three compelling works: French harpist and composer Henriette Renié's groundbreaking Trio in B-flat Major (1901), the first major composition written for harp, violin, and cello; the world premiere recording of Angélica Negrón’s Ave del paraíso (2023); and the first recording of Reena Esmail’s Saans (2017) in this new arrangement for harp, violin, and cello created for Ember.
Birds of Paradise directly confronts the historical stereotyping of the harp as a "feminine" domestic instrument. As Emily Levin explains in the album notes, while the harp was once "considered suitable for the domestic sphere,” its transition to the concert hall was largely championed by male performers playing works by male composers, often overlooking the revolutionary contributions of women performers and composers.
Henriette Renié (1875-1956) was a transformative figure who redefined the harp through her virtuosic performance, teaching, and compositions. A child prodigy who won the Premier Prix at age 11, she expanded the instrument's technical and expressive possibilities. Her 1901 Trio, written when she was just 26, is a tour de force for the players and showcases the rich sound world of late 19th century France.
Ember’s Emily Levin represents a pedagogical lineage that traces directly back to Renié. Levin explains, “I had the privilege of studying with Susann McDonald for my undergraduate degree at Indiana University. As a teenager, Miss McDonald traveled from Illinois to Paris to study with Mademoiselle Renié, and she became her prized pupil. In my lessons, Miss McDonald would often reference Renié, and some of my favorite memories come from learning Renié's music with her. We timed the album release to celebrate Renié's birthday, September 18. Miss McDonald passed away in May, at age 90, and this album is a testament to her legacy.”
Human connections are woven throughout Birds of Paradise. In 2021, Levin founded the ambitious GroundWork(s) initiative, through which she is commissioning 52 American composers – one from each state, plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico – to create new works centered on the harp. Levin commissioned Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón in 2023, who wrote Ave del paraíso, inspired by the tropical bird of paradise flower and incorporating field recordings of Puerto Rican birds. In her notes on the piece, Negrón writes that it reflects on “utopian and idyllic views of places that have deeply complicated histories.” Ember gave the world premiere performance of Ave del paraíso in Negrón's home city of San Juan. Negrón writes, “Ave del paraíso is dedicated to my family and friends in Puerto Rico and to Emily Levin, for making it possible for them to be the first to hear this piece.”
The piece Saans by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail carries a touching backstory that exemplifies the composer's belief in writing music inspired by the people in her life. “I've always found the story of the Franck Violin Sonata as incredibly moving and romantic as the music itself,” Esmail explains. “Franck wrote the sonata for Ysaÿe and his wife as a wedding present, and they premiered it at the wedding, sight reading through the score.” Saans began as the slow movement of Esmail's Clarinet Concerto, which she transformed into a piano trio as a wedding gift for Suzana Bartal and her husband Eric. As the only two women in their Yale DMA program year, Esmail writes she and Bartal “supported each other unconditionally through some of the toughest moments of our lives, celebrated our accomplishments with each other, and developed a deep and lasting friendship.” Birds of Paradise includes Ember’s world premiere recording of Esmail's new version of this piece, arranged for harp, violin, and cello.
The three musicians of Ember bring exceptional credentials to this project. Emily Levin, the only American to win top prizes at both the USA International Harp Competition and the International Harp Contest in Israel, is currently Principal Harp of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and has served as guest principal with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Houston Symphony. Praised for her “intense, emotionally communicatively intense expression,” (Jerusalem Post), as a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at leading venues throughout North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, LA Phil’s Green Umbrella, the Ojai Festival, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and Newport Classical. Julia Choi, praised for her “delightful idiosyncrasy” and “involving performances,” (The Classical Source) is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra's First Violin section and has appeared as a guest musician with leading ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, as well as the Atlanta, Detroit, New Jersey, and San Diego Symphonies. A prizewinner in several national competitions including the LISMA, Caprio, and New York Competitions, she was recently featured on the cover of Real Woman magazine for her inspiring musical journey. Cellist Christine Lamprea, noted for her “supreme panache” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), is a winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013, and has performed with major orchestras nationwide. Her soloist debut recording with the Detroit Symphony was released on Albany Records, featuring a concerto written for her by Jeffrey Mumford. Her Songs of Colombia Suite includes arrangements of traditional South American tunes and has been performed at the Colombian Embassy and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Birds of Paradise celebrates the artistic voices of women as both performers and creators,” the musicians note. “Listeners are invited to experience this dynamic sound world, full of color and warmth, created and performed by women.”
Birds of Paradise | Ember
Emily Levin, harp; Julia Choi, violin; and Christine Lamprea, cello
Azica Records | September 12, 2025
[1-4] Henriette Renié: Trio in B-flat Major (29:50)
[5] Reena Esmail: Saans (8:59)
[6] Angélica Negrón: Ave del paraíso (9:09)
Producers: Alan Bise & Emily Levin
Recording Engineer: Alan Bise
Mastering: Alan Bise
Photography: Dario Acosta & Vanessa Brice
Graphic Design: Danielle Reeves
Creative Editor: Vannesa Nates
Recorded March 13-15 2024, Van Cliburn Concert Hall, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
Aug. 16: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Mística at Point Reyes Dance Palace – Featuring Music by Women of Color Throughout History
Aug. 16: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Mística at Point Reyes Dance Palace – Featuring Music by Women of Color Throughout History
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Mística at Point Reyes Dance Palace
Featuring Music by Women of Color Throughout History
Saturday, August 16, 2025 at 2pm
Church Space | 503 B Street | Point Reyes Station, CA
More Information
“As tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of” – San Francisco Chronicle
Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert featuring music from The Future is Female
Point Reyes Station, CA – Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as a “fiercely gifted” by The New York Times will be presented in concert by Point Reyes Dance Palace on Saturday, August 16 at 2pm. Performing her program Mística, Cahill brings the works of several exceptional women composers of color to the Point Reyes Dance Palace Church Space (503 B Street). Point Reyes Dance Palace last presented Cahill performing her program The Woods So Wild in July 2024.
Mística brings together vibrant and brilliant music composed by women of color through history, including Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico), Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (Ethiopia), Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), Margaret Bonds (USA), Tania León (Cuba/USA), Chiquinha Gonzaga (Brazil), and many more.
“It's such a delight to return to the Point Reyes Dance Palace for a summer concert of great music by women of color from the 19th century to the present day,” Cahill says. “From the Cuban dance rhythms of Tania León's Mistica to the orchestral virtuosity of Margaret Bonds' Troubled Water, this collection of works demonstrates the tremendous scope and diverse range of these composers – many of whom are fine pianists themselves. Theresa Wong will introduce her powerful piece, She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees.”
About the Music Sarah Cahill Features in Mística:
Tania León: Mistica (2003)
Acclaimed pianist Ursula Oppens commissioned Afro-Cuban Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León to compose a work for her when Oppens was invited to perform in Havana, Cuba. The bold, frenetic, and percussive work makes use of the piano’s entire keyboard, delivering a lively, technically demanding, and oftentimes unpredictable melodic trajectory. Oppens performed the adventurous piece on Mother’s Day and told León’s mother, who was in the audience, “This piece is for you, it’s your Mother’s Day present.”
Gabriela Ortiz: Prelude and Etude #3 (2011)
Born in Mexico City, Gabriela Ortiz has composed operas and symphonic works as well as chamber and piano music. Her Preludio y Estudio #3, or Prelude and Etude No. 3, is inspired by Jesusa Palancares, a semi-fictional spiritual about a Mexican woman who emerged from poverty and fought in the Mexican revolution.
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.
Theresa Wong: She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees (2019)
Theresa Wong wrote She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees for Cahill in 2019. She was inspired by Nina Simone’s a cappella song “Images” and its lyrics, which is a poem by Harlem Renaissance poet William Waring Cuney. The melody of Simone’s song appears in the opening of the piece. Wong is a cellist, composer, vocalist and improviser based in San Francisco.
Teresa Carreño: Un rêve en mer, Op. 28 (1868)
Teresa Carreño was a prodigious Venezuelan pianist, composer, soprano, and conductor. She played piano for Abraham Lincoln in the White House at age 9 and studied with Franz Liszt and Charles Gonoud as a teenager in Paris. Carreño wrote Un rêve en mer or “A dream at sea" when she was just 15 years old.
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou: The homeless wanderer (1951)
Born Yewubdar Guèbrou, Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guèbrou (1923-2023), was an Ethiopian composer, pianist, and nun who composed an abundance of works, predominately for piano. Guèbrou describes the narrative of The homeless wanderer as: “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."
Adelaide Pereira da Silva: Valse Choro No. 2 (1965)
Born in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Pereira da Silva was one of the founders of the Brazilian Pro Music Society, and many of her works reflect her study of Brazilian folk music. A short work for solo piano, Pereira da Silva’s Valse Choro No. 2 is a sensuously chromatic waltz – romantic yet harmonically adventurous.
Reena Esmail: Rang de Basant (2012)
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. The title Rang de Basant comes from a famous Hindi film, “Rang De Basanti” (literal translation: “Give it the color of Saffron”). In her program notes for Rang de Basant, she explains that “Basant means ‘spring’ in Hindi, but it couldn’t be further from the Western conception of the season.” Esmail describes Basant as feeling “dark and exotic, rendered in bold colors, and winding through passages of sinewy chromaticism.”
Chiquinha Gonzaga: Saudade (1896)
In 1896, Chiquinha Gonzaga traveled to the funeral of fellow Brazilian composer Carlos Gome and composed Saudade, which means “longing,” in his memory. However, she kept both the piece and the dedication secret. In 1932, a collection of choros (works for saxophone and flute) titled Alma Brasileira were published by Gonzaga’s companion, João Batista Gonzaga and the collection included Saudade. However, it took until 1998 for the work to be recorded for piano, by Clara Sverner.
About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).
Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Metropolitan Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.
Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.
Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 6 to 8pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described as “fiercely gifted” by The New York Times, is presented in concert by Point Reyes Dance Palace on August 16, 2025 at 2pm, Sarah will perform a program titled Mística, featuring vibrant and brilliant music composed by women of color through history and from around the world, including Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico), Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guèbrou (Ethiopia), Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), Margaret Bonds (USA), Tania León (Cuba/USA), Chiquinha Gonzaga (Brazil), and many more.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Point Reyes Dance Palace
What: Music for Solo Piano by Women Composers of Color from Throughout History and Around the World
When: Saturday, August 16, 2025 at 2pm
Where: Church Space, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
More information: www.dancepalace.org/event/sarah-cahill-concert/
Sept. 5: Pianist Sarah Cahill Records Arlene Sierra’s Birds and Insects: Book 3 – Commissioned by the Barbican Centre for Cahill’s The Future is Female Project
Sept. 5: Pianist Sarah Cahill Records Arlene Sierra’s Birds and Insects: Book 3 – Commissioned by the Barbican Centre for Cahill’s The Future is Female Project
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski. Available in hi-resolution at jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill Records Arlene Sierra’s Birds and Insects: Book 3
Commissioned by the Barbican Centre for Cahill’s The Future is Female Project
Worldwide Release Date: September 5, 2025 (Bridge Records)
Press Downloads Available Upon Request
“[Sarah Cahill is] a leading light of the new-music piano scene” – The New York Times
SarahCahill.com | ArleneSierra.com
Pianist Sarah Cahill has recorded Arlene Sierra’s Birds and Insects: Book 3 to be released as part of Sierra’s new Bridge Records album, Birds and Insects, out on September 5, 2025. In addition to Cahill’s recording of Book 3, the new album, which is the fourth volume of Sierra’s work recorded as part of Bridge Records’ Portrait Series, also includes Sierra’s Birds and Insects Books 1 and 2, recorded by Steven Beck.
Sierra's Birds and Insects comprises three books of 5 movements each, composed across a twenty-year period. Like much of her work, it centers on the natural world, addressing the subjects of landscape, evolutionary biology, and the sounds, processes and behavior of birds and insects. Sierra writes, “Each piece features distinct characteristics to fit its title: spelling the name in pitches, employing a transcription of an animal’s song from nature, recalling its physical movement in various ways, or developing ideas drawn from an animal’s cultural symbolism.”
Sierra composed Birds and Insects: Book 3 for Cahill in 2022, commissioned by London’s Barbican Centre as part of Cahill’s The Future is Female project. The Future is Female is Cahill’s ongoing investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, which she has performed at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, National Gallery of Art, and more. In addition to this recording, Cahill has released three albums of music from The Future is Female on First Hand Records.
Cahill says: “It was an honor to work with Arlene Sierra on these fascinating pieces which she wrote for my project The Future is Female at the Barbican in 2022, and to make the first recording of them. Arlene was inspired by the female Lovely Fairywren and Canyon Wren who sing. She explains that birdsong was always considered the exclusive domain of male birds because they were only studied by male ornithologists, but that recently female ornithologists have proven that female birds sing as well.”
Hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times and “a brilliant and charismatic advocate for modern and contemporary composers” by Time Out New York, Sarah Cahill 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).
About Arlene Sierra: www.arlenesierra.com
About Sarah Cahill: www.sarahcahill.com
About Steven Beck: www.stevenbeck.me
Birds and Insects
Release Date (Worldwide): September 5, 2025
Steven Beck, piano; Sarah Cahill, piano
Bridge Records
1-5: Birds and Insects, Book I
Composed by Arlene Sierra; Steven Beck, piano
1. Sarus Crane [2:22]
2. Cornish Bantam [1:45]
3. Cicada Sketch [1:24]
4. Titmouse [1:16]
5. Scarab [8:43]
6-10 Birds and Insects, Book II
Composed by Arlene Sierra; Steven Beck, piano
6. Painted Bunting [1:31]*
7. Hermit Thrush [4:10]*
8. Black and White Warbler [2:48]*
9. Thermometer Cricket [3:08]*
10. Bobolink [11:07]*
11-15 Birds and Insects, Book III
Composed by Arlene Sierra; Sarah Cahill, piano
11. Lovely Fairywren [4:45]*
12. Canyon Wren [2:20]*
13. Great Grig [2:22]*
14. Tawny Owls [2:58]*
15. Troupial [6:20]*
* World premiere recording
Total Time: 56:21
Composer: Arlene Sierra
Executive Producers: Becky and David Starobin
Produced and Engineered by Adam Abeshouse and Doron Schächter
Editor: Ian Striedter
Mix and Mastering Engineer: Ian Striedter
Recorded in South Salem, NY, 2023-24
Annotator: David Beard
Cover Photograph: © Ian Phillips-McLaren
Booklet Photograph: © Ian Phillips-McLaren
Graphic Design: Casey Siu
Arlene Sierra’s music is published by Cecilian Music.
Newport Classical Announces 2025-2026 Chamber Series - A Dynamic Season of Twelve Concerts from September 2025-June 2026
Newport Classical Announces 2025-2026 Chamber Series - A Dynamic Season of Twelve Concerts from September 2025-June 2026
Photos available in high resolution here.
Newport Classical Announces 2025-2026 Chamber Series
Tickets on Sale July 29, 2025
Presenting a Dynamic Season of Twelve Concerts
from September 2025 through June 2026
"a thriving musical community, generously supported by locals whose love of the arts equals their pride in the town's elegant past." – BBC Music Magazine
Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org
Newport, RI – Following its successful 56th annual summer festival, Newport Classical presents its fifth full-season Chamber Series held on select Fridays at 7:30pm, featuring twelve concerts held between September 2025 and June 2026, at the organization's air-conditioned home venue, Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.). Tickets will go on sale to the public on July 29 at www.newportclassical.org.
Newport Classical Director of Artistic Planning Trevor Neal says, "We are thrilled to be announcing our fifth Chamber Series, held in our intimate concert venue, the Newport Classical Recital Hall. Newport Classical is thriving, and we are proud to be bringing world-class musicians from around the world – both celebrated performers and rising stars – offering our community twelve evenings of extraordinary artistry, in addition to free community concerts, special events, and our holiday programming, to be announced later this year.”
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 reaffirms Newport Classical's commitment to year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with complimentary wine generously provided by Gold's Wine and Spirits served during intermission. Both performers and audience members alike have described these concerts as some of their favorites. “Beautiful concert, high artistry and exciting programming . . . a deeply moving and soulful experience, with a rousing and brilliant virtuosity that kept you on the edge of your seat,” raved one attendee.
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 will also go into the Newport-area public schools to perform for and speak with students, through Newport Classical's Music Education and Engagement Initiative.
Newport Classical's Chamber Series opens this fall on September 12 with the Poiesis Quartet, 2023 Grand Prize winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and lauded as "an ensemble to watch" by Hyde Park Herald. Their program features bold contemporary works including Kevin Lau's String Quartet No. 7, commissioned by the ensemble, alongside Prokofiev's vibrant String Quartet No. 2 and recent works by Michi Wiancko and Billy Childs. On October 3, celebrated violinist Blake Pouliot, praised for his "radiant sound and high-powered virtuosity" (Los Angeles Times), performs with acclaimed pianist Henry Kramer in a Romantic program featuring Schumann's stormy Violin Sonata No. 1, Chausson's sweeping Poème, and Dvořák’s spirited Ziguenerleider. Trio Zimbalist makes their Newport Classical debut on October 17 with what EfSyn calls "precision and feverish intensity," presenting Beethoven's beloved "Archduke" Trio alongside works by Smetana and George Xiaoyuan Fu. Taiwanese American pianist Charlotte Hu, celebrated as a "first-class talent" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) with "superstar quality" (Jerusalem Post), embarks on a compelling journey through Chopin's expressive world on November 7. Saxophonist Valentin Kovalev, Gold Medal winner at the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition, brings his electrifying technique and soulful depth to his Newport Classical debut on November 21 with a program culminating in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
The Chamber Series continues in 2026 with cellist Jonathan Swensen making his highly anticipated return on January 23 following his memorable 2024 festival debut. Honored with the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and joint First Prize at the 2024 Naumburg International Cello Competition, Swensen is described as "a musician of charisma and thrilling physicality" (BBC Music Magazine). The Verona Quartet, celebrated by The New York Times as an "outstanding ensemble... cohesive yet full of temperament," makes their Newport Classical debut on February 20 with a program tracing a vivid stylistic arc from Scarlatti to Beethoven. On March 13, baritone Benjamin Appl, whose voice “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), whose artistry has been described as “unbearably moving” (The Times), presents Schubert's hauntingly beautiful Die Winterreise with his frequent collaborator, pianist James Baillieu. Ars Poetica, an ensemble of acclaimed musicians with a passion for historical music, explores "Dance and Transfiguration" on March 27 with their colorful array of Baroque instruments. Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, praised for his "dark-hued and razor-sharp technique" (The New York Times), makes his Newport Classical debut on April 10 alongside returning pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner in works by Debussy, Prokofiev, and Grieg. Rising-star pianist James Zijian Wei, first-prize winner at the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition, makes his highly anticipated Newport debut on May 8 with a program featuring Ravel, Liszt, and more. The Chamber Series concludes on June 5 with flutist Amir Hoshang Farsi and pianist Chelsea Wang, both Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect alumni, presenting a program of sparkling impressionism featuring works by Fauré, Lili Boulanger, and contemporary composers Reena Esmai, Ian Clarke, and Yuko Uebayashi.
Single tickets start at $45 and packages are available. AARP members and their guests receive discounts on Chamber Series tickets and packages, and thanks to a generous grant from the Gruben Charitable Foundation, a limited number of free student tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
During the 2025-2026 season, Newport Classical will also present several free family-friendly Community Concerts at neighborhood-centered locations, generously sponsored by BankNewport, and holiday programs, which will be announced later this year. The 2026 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 2-19, 2026.
Newport Classical 2025-2026 Chamber Series Schedule At-A-Glance:
September 12: Opening Night with Poiesis Quartet
October 3: Blake Pouliot & Henry Kramer perform Schumann and Dvořák
October 17: Trio Zimbalist performs Beethoven
November 7: Pianist Charlotte Hu performs Chopin
November 21: Saxophonist Valentin Kovalev performs Pictures at an Exhibition
January 23: Cellist Jonathan Swensen Returns
February 20: Verona Quartet performs Scarlatti and Beethoven
March 13: Baritone Benjamin Appl and Pianist James Baillieu perform Schubert's Die Winterreise
March 27: Ars Poetica performs Dance and Transfiguration
April 10: Yevgeny Kutik & Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner perform Debussy and Grieg
May 8: Zijian Wei performs Ravel and Liszt
June 5: Chamber Series Finale: Amir Hoshang Farsi and Chelsea Wang
Complete concert details can be found at www.newportclassical.org/concerts. All Chamber Series concerts are held on select Fridays at 7:30pm at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn Street).
About Newport Classical
Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.
Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.
Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music 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, Clarice Assad, and Cris Derksen.
Aug. 24: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Presented by New Marlborough Meeting House – Performing Music of J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and Keith Jarrett
Aug. 24: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Presented by New Marlborough Meeting House – Performing Music of J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and Keith Jarrett
GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Presented by New Marlborough Meeting House
Performing the Music of J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and Keith Jarrett
Sunday, August 24, 2025 at 4:30PM
New Marlborough Meeting House
154 Hartsville-New Marlborough Road | New Marlborough, MA
Tickets and information
“a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” – The New York Times
Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com
New Marlborough, MA – GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein will be presented in concert by New Marlborough Meeting House (154 Hartsville-New Marlborough Road) on Sunday, August 24, 2025 at 4:30pm. Dinnerstein, who is heralded for her distinctive musical voice and her commitment to sharing classical music with everyone, will perform J.S. Bach’s fifteen Inventions and Sinfonias, Philip Glass’s Etude No. 2, and Keith Jarrett’s Encore from Tokyo (transcribed by Uwe Karcher).
Simone Dinnerstein first gained widespread recognition in 2007 with her debut album featuring J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, and has since become increasingly celebrated for her interpretations of contemporary works, particularly those of Philip Glass. She has performed and recorded Glass's Piano Concerto No. 3, which the composer wrote specifically for her in 2017, and NPR Music praised her recording, noting that “Dinnerstein's creamy tone and elastic phrasing gives the music an air of Schubertian warmth and wistfulness.” Her New Marlborough program thoughtfully bridges centuries of keyboard music, beginning with Bach’s pedagogical masterworks. In his preface to his Sinfonias, Bach described these pieces as, “An honest guide by which the amateurs of the keyboard – especially, however, those desirous of learning – are shown a clear way…to achieve a cantabile style in playing and at the same time acquire a strong foretaste of composition.” The program moves from Bach to Glass's meditative Etude No. 2, and concludes with Keith Jarrett's Encore from Tokyo, which embraces Baroque conventions through a descending repeating bass line while building harmonically adventurous and wide-ranging improvisations around it.
Simone Dinnerstein recently released her newest album, Complicité – her first all-Bach recording in over ten years. Shortly after its release, it reached over 1 million streams on Apple Music. In addition to Dinnerstein, the album features Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano and Peggy Pearson, oboe d’amore along with the string ensemble Dinnerstein founded and directs, Baroklyn (a portmanteau of Baroque and Brooklyn, Dinnerstein’s home New York borough). Recorded with producer Silas Brown, the album also includes composer Philip Lasser’s continuo realizations and recomposition of Bach’s Air on the G String. Read the full press release here.
About Simone Dinnerstein: American pianist Simone Dinnerstein first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.”
Dinnerstein has played with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. She has made fourteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts and were recorded by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. During the pandemic she recorded three albums which form a trilogy: A Character of Quiet, An American Mosaic, and Undersong. An American Mosaic was nominated for a GRAMMY.
In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata. She released her live recording of the premiere in October 2024 on Supertrain Records to coincide with Ives’s 150th birthday. The Eye is the First Circle also marked Dinnerstein’s fourteenth and final recording produced with the late Adam Abeshouse. Dinnerstein premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative. For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: GRAMMY-nominated® pianist Simone Dinnerstein, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation” (The New York Times) and a praised interpreter of Philip Glass, is presented in concert by New Marlborough Meeting House. Dinnerstein will perform a program featuring the music of J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and Keith Jarrett.
Concert details:
Who: GRAMMY-nominated® Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Presented by New Marlborough Meeting House
What: Music by J.S. Bach, Philip Glass, and Keith Jarrett
When: Sunday, August 24, 2025 at 4:30pm
Where: 154 Hartsville-New Marlborough Rd, New Marlborough, MA 01230
Tickets and information: nmmeetinghouse.org/music
Aug. 23: GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is Presented by Maverick Concerts as Soloist with Caroga Arts Ensemble Conducted by Alexander Platt
Aug. 23: GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is Presented by Maverick Concerts as Soloist with Caroga Arts Ensemble Conducted by Alexander Platt
GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is Featured Soloist with Caroga Arts Ensemble
Presented by Maverick Concerts
Performing Piano Concerto No. 3 by Philip Glass
Conducted by Alexander Platt and Directed by Kyle Price
Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 6pm
Maverick Concert Hall | 120 Maverick Rd | Woodstock, NY
Tickets and information
“an utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation” – The New York Times
Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com
Woodstock, NY – Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is presented by Maverick Concerts at Maverick Concert Hall (120 Maverick Rd) on Saturday August 23, 2025 at 6pm. Dinnerstein, who is heralded for her distinctive musical voice and her commitment to sharing classical music with everyone, is the featured soloist with the Caroga Arts Ensemble, conducted by Alexander Platt and directed by Kyle Price, in a performance of Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The concert also includes Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for Strings (“Basle”), Robert Manno’s Adagio for Strings, and Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.
Simone Dinnerstein is well known for her distinctive musical voice and increasingly so for her interpretations of music by Philip Glass. She has performed and recorded Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 3, which he wrote for her in 2017, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. NPR Music reported of her recording of the piece, “Dinnerstein's creamy tone and elastic phrasing gives the music an air of Schubertian warmth and wistfulness.” She is deeply familiar with this concerto, having performed the work over fifty times, all around the world, from Havana, Cuba to London, England.
On returning to perform with Alexander Platt and Caroga Arts Ensemble, Dinnerstein says:
“It is always such a wonderful experience to play in the Maverick’s very special space. It is a true community of devoted music and nature lovers. I am delighted to collaborate again with the fantastic musicians of the Caroga Arts Ensemble, on a work that is very meaningful to me.”
On May 30, 2025, Dinnerstein released her fifteenth recording, Complicité, on Supertrain Records. This is her first all-Bach album in over ten years and features Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano and Peggy Pearson, oboe d’amore along with the string ensemble Simone founded and directs, Baroklyn (a portmanteau of Baroque and Brooklyn, Dinnerstein’s home New York borough). Recorded with producer Silas Brown, the album also includes composer Philip Lasser’s continuo realizations and recomposition of Bach’s Air on the G String. Shortly after its release, it reached over 1 million streams on Apple Music. Read the album press release here.
About Simone Dinnerstein: American pianist Simone Dinnerstein first came to wider public attention in 2007 through her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reflecting an aesthetic that was both deeply rooted in the score and profoundly idiosyncratic. She is, wrote The New York Times, “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.”
Dinnerstein has played with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Seoul Arts Center and Sydney Opera House. She has made fourteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard charts and were recorded by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. During the pandemic she recorded three albums which form a trilogy: A Character of Quiet, An American Mosaic, and Undersong. An American Mosaic was nominated for a GRAMMY.
In recent years, Dinnerstein has created projects that express her broad musical interests. She gave the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata. She released her live recording of the premiere in October 2024 on Supertrain Records to coincide with Ives’s 150th birthday. The Eye is the First Circle also marked Dinnerstein’s fourteenth and final recording produced with the late Adam Abeshouse. Dinnerstein premiered Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic, in a performance on multiple pianos throughout Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Following her recording Mozart in Havana, she brought the Havana Lyceum Orchestra from Cuba to the U.S. for the first time, performing eleven concerts. Philip Glass composed his Piano Concerto No. 3 for her, co-commissioned by twelve orchestras. Working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet, she premiered André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen music festivals, and performed it at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and presented by LA Opera. Dinnerstein has also created her own ensemble, Baroklyn, which she directs. The Washington Post comments, “it is Dinnerstein’s unreserved identification with every note she plays that makes her performance so spellbinding.” In a world where music is everywhere, she hopes that it can still be transformative. For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: GRAMMY-nominated® pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The New York Times as “colorful and idiosyncratic,” is presented by Maverick Concerts as the featured soloist with the Caroga Arts Ensemble, conducted by Alexander Platt and directed by Kyle Price. Dinnerstein will perform Piano Concerto No. 3 by Philip Glass, which was composed for her. The concert also includes Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for Strings, Robert Manno’s Adagio for Strings, and Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.
Concert details:
Who: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Caroga Arts Ensemble Conducted by Alexander Platt, Directed by Kyle Price
Presented by Maverick Concerts
What: Performing Philip Glass’s Concerto No. 3
When: Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 6pm
Where: Maverick Concert Hall, 120 Maverick Rd, Woodstock, NY
Tickets and information: www.maverickconcerts.org/event/maverick-chamber-orchestra-concert-with-simone-dinnerstein-piano-and-the-caroga-arts-ensemble-maverick-saturday-nights/
Aug 13: BBC Proms Presents UK Premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Cello Concerto Featuring Johannes Moser & Conductor Eva Ollikainen - Live Radio Broadcast
Aug 13: BBC Proms Presents UK Premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Cello Concerto Featuring Johannes Moser & Conductor Eva Ollikainen - Live Radio Broadcast
Photo of Anna Thorvalsdottir by Anna Maggy, available in high resolution here.
UK Premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s
Cello Concerto at the BBC Proms
Before we fall
Performed by Cellist Johannes Moser & the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Eva Ollikainen
Broadcast Live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds
A 2025 BBC Proms Top Pick by Gramophone Magazine
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 19:30
Royal Albert Hall | Kensington Gore | London
Tickets & Information: www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewxd2m
Broadcast Information: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gr8h
“[Thorvaldsdottir] has carved her own corner in contemporary music by creating symphonic works of sustained brilliance” – The Times
“Thorvaldsdottir’s new cello concerto, Before We Fall, is a banger, sonically and intellectually” – San Francisco Chronicle
London, England – Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s highly anticipated cello concerto, Before we fall, will have its UK premiere at the BBC Proms on Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 19:30 at Royal Albert Hall, performed by cello soloist Johannes Moser and the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Eva Ollikainen, and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. The program also includes Varèse’s Intégrales, Ravel’s Boléro, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The new concerto is written for Moser and co-commissioned by the BBC Proms, San Francisco Symphony, Iceland Symphony Orchestra (Icelandic premiere, 4 September 2025), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Finnish premiere, 16 January 2026), and Odense Symphony Orchestra. This is Thorvaldsdottir’s third premiere at the BBC Proms, following the UK premiere of METACOSMOS in 2019 and the world premiere of ARCHORA in 2022.
The San Francisco Symphony gave the world premiere of Before we fall in May, with the San Francisco Chronicle reporting, “Thorvaldsdottir’s new cello concerto, Before We Fall, is a banger, sonically and intellectually. . . Moser played throughout with both thrilling splendor and fierce intimacy. . .Thorvaldsdottir’s sound world, both delicate and massive, is like no other. . . in [Dalia] Stasevska’s hands, [it] induced a trancelike sense of being outside of time.” Moser and Ollikainen will next perform the concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at Harpa in Reykjavík on 4 September 2025, and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (where Thorvaldsdottir is the 2025-2026 Composer-in-Residence) will give the Finnish premiere on 16 January 2026 with Moser and Chief Conductor Jukka-Pekka Sarasate.
Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s striking sound world has made her “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music” (NPR). The Guardian reports, “Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s natural instrument is the symphony orchestra, but in her hands it is reborn as a natural organism.”
Her unique command of the orchestra on vivid display, the concerto carries Thorvaldsdottir's signature “combination of power and intimacy” (Gramophone) yet also distinctively expands her oeuvre. A cellist herself, Anna writes of the new piece:
“The core inspiration behind Before we fall centres around the notion of teetering on the edge, of balancing on the verge of a multitude of opposites. The musical structure flows between lyricism and a sense of distorted energy – two main forces that stabilise this entropic pull. Driven by the strong sense of lyricism that permeates the piece, the work also orbits a forward-moving energy that connects and balances the opposites in different ways. The stable fundament – a grounding power of sustained harmonic presence – communicates with ethereal and distorted sounds, together providing the earth for the essence of the solo cello, the structure upon which it stands and within which it moves. The cello, both alone and deeply connected to the orchestral elements in its expression, generates the atmospheric progression of the world it inhabits, yet continuously on the verge of falling outside the reality it is building for itself.
As with my music generally, the inspiration is not something I am trying to describe through the music or what the music is ‘about,’ as such. Inspiration is a way to intuitively tap into parts of the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the music I am writing each time. It is a fuel for the musical ideas to come into existence, a tool to approach and work with the fundamental materials, the ideas and sensations, that provide and generate the initial spark to the music – the various sources of inspiration are ultimately effective because I perceive qualities in them that I find musically captivating. I do often spend quite a bit of time finding ways to articulate some of the important elements of the musical ideas or thoughts that play certain key roles in the origin of each piece but the music itself does not emerge from a verbal place, it emerges as a stream of consciousness that flows, is felt, sensed, shaped and then crafted. So inspiration is a part of the origin story of a piece, but in the end the music stands on its own.”
Her other large orchestral works AERIALITY (2011), METACOSMOS (2017), AIŌN (2018), CATAMORPHOSIS (2020), and ARCHORA (2022) continue to receive country and local premieres as well as repeat performances throughout the world, and are all recorded on the Sono Luminus label.
Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s most recent season included performances of her music across at least twenty countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and Wales. The current schedule of performances of Anna’s music is available on her website.
Other highlights for Anna include serving as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s Creative Chair for the 2024-2025 season. Since 2015, the orchestra has invited a composer to hold this position each season, including, formerly, Arvo Pärt, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams, and Toshio Hosokawa, among others. From September 2024 to June 2025, a wide variety of Anna’s music was performed, ranging from string quartets to large orchestral pieces. The season-opening concerts featured ARCHORA, conducted by music director Paavo Järvi. Two of Anna’s orchestral works received their Swiss premieres – CATAMORPHOSIS at the Sonic Matter Festival Zurich conducted by André de Ridder and METACOSMOS conducted by Eva Ollikainen. During the 2025-2026 season, she is Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic.
Additionally, Anna continues her two-year period as one of ten CHANEL Next Prize winners. The biennial prize is awarded to ten international contemporary artists who are redefining their chosen discipline. Each artist embodies CHANEL’s mission to advance the new and the next and receives €100,000 in funding, allowing them to fully realize their most ambitious artistic projects. The NEXT Prize was established in 2021 as part of the CHANEL Culture Fund, CHANEL’s global initiative to accelerate the ideas that advance culture, extending the House’s century-long legacy of cultural patronage.
The 2024-2025 season also brought a new album featuring Anna’s chamber work Ubique, which was released worldwide on Sono Luminus on February 28. The 45-minute piece was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Pnea Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, and Kurt Chauviere for Claire Chase’s Claire Chase’s Density project. The world premiere was given in May 2023 at Carnegie Hall, performed by Claire Chase, flutes; Katinka Kleijn and Seth Parker Woods, cellos; Cory Smythe, piano; and Levy Lorenzo, live sound. The same musicians have recorded the new album, and will perform its West Coast premiere at the Ojai Festival in California on June 7. Anna writes of the piece, “Ubique lives on the border between enigmatic lyricism and atmospheric distortion. Through a combination of sounds, pitches, and textural nuances, low deep drones envelop lyrical materials and harmonies that breathe in and out of focus throughout the progress of the piece. The flow of the music is primarily guided by continuous expansion and contraction — of various kinds and durations — as it streams with subtle interruptions and frictions but ever moving forward in the overall structure.” Listen here.
Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music is composed as much by sounds and nuances as by harmonies and lyrical material – it is written as an ecosystem of sounds, where materials continuously grow in and out of each other, often inspired in an important way by nature and its many qualities, in particular structural ones, like proportion and flow. Her work is frequently performed internationally and has been commissioned by many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles, and arts organizations, including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Danish String Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, BBC Proms, and Carnegie Hall. Her “detailed and powerful” (The Guardian) orchestral writing has garnered her awards from the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center, the Nordic Council, and the UK’s Ivors Academy. Anna was Composer-in-Residence with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2018-2023, and was in 2023 also in residence at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. She holds a PhD from the University of California in San Diego, and is currently based in the London area. All of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestral music and many of her other works are recorded on the Sono Luminus label, and featured on Apple Music’s Anna Thorvaldsdottir Essentials Playlist. The music of Anna Thorvaldsdottir is published by Chester Music, part of Wise Music Group. For more information: www.annathorvalds.com/bio
Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser has performed with the world’s leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, BBC Philharmonic at the Proms, London Symphony, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Tokyo NHK Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras with conductors of the highest level including Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez, Paavo Järvi, Semyon Bychkov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Gustavo Dudamel. His recordings include the concertos by Dvořák, Lalo, Elgar, Lutosławski, Dutilleux, Tchaikovsky, Thomas Olesen and Fabrice Bollon (electric cello), which have gained him the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or. Johannes is renowned for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre to all audiences, and his passionate involvement in commissioning new works for his instrument. He performs on an Andrea Guarneri Cello from 1694 from a private collection. For more information about Johannes Moser: www.johannes-moser.com/biography-english
Sept 5: ECM New Series Releases New Arvo Pärt Album - And I heard a voice
Sept 5: ECM New Series Releases New Arvo Pärt Album - And I heard a voice
ECM New Series Releases
Arvo Pärt: And I heard a voice
Vox Clamantis
Jaan-Eik Tulve, conductor
Featuring: Nunc dimittis; O Holy Father Nicholas; Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen; Für Jan van Eyck; Kleine Litanei; And I heard a voice...
ECM New Series 2780
Release Date: September 5, 2025
Estonian vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis and their leader Jaan-Eik Tulve have established themselves among the leading interpreters of Arvo Pärt’s music over a quarter-century of close collaboration with the composer – a relationship that builds on the almost half a decade long artistic partnership between Pärt and producer Manfred Eicher. Of their ECM recording The Deer’s Cry, the BBC Music Magazine wrote that “the level of artistry necessary to achieve the kind of living, breathing performance given here by Vox Clamantis is a rarity ... This grippingly authentic and superbly sung collection may now be the finest single-disc introduction to Pärt’s music.” And I heard a voice, recorded in Haapsalu Cathedral, Estonia, and released as Arvo Pärt turns 90, shows that the rapport between choir and composer, rooted in a shared feeling for both ancient plainchant and contemporary music, continues to deepen.
The new album, focusing primarily on recent compositions by Pärt, also reaches back to embrace the Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, written in 1988, and based upon the scriptural verses intoned in the Roman Catholic liturgy during evening prayers in the week before Christmas. In the liner notes, Kristina Kõrver indicates how Pärt allows the character of each text to influence his settings of it. Thus, reference to the Laws of Moses in O Adonai are expressed in a “more archaic sound and ascetic expression”, while Jesse (O Sproß aus Isais Wurzel) incorporates dissonance “like a little flower pushing its way through the pavement”, as Pärt once said.
On Für Jan van Eyck (composed in 2019), Vox Clamantis are joined by organist Ene Salumäe in this dedication to the great Flemish painter. Inspired by the altarpiece Adoration of a Mystic Lamb in St Bavo’s Cathedral Ghent, the composition is based upon the Agnus Dei section of Pärt’s Berliner Messe (refer to the New Series album Te Deum).
O Holy Father Nicholas (2021) was written for the opening of the new St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York. The original church was destroyed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Pärt’s choral work is based on the English text of a prayer from the Orthodox liturgy, a text he had previously set in its Russian version on the Alleluia-Tropus, and which was sung by Vox Clamantis on Adam’s Lament and The Deer’s Cry.
Title piece And I heard a voice (2017) is, to date, the only work of Pärt’s set to sacred text in his mother tongue, with words based on a passage from upon the 1938 Estonian translation of the Book of Revelation, where the phrase “they rest from their labours” is expressed as “they breathe from their labours [nad hingavad oma vaevadest]”. As the booklet essay notes, “the incessant repetition of these words becomes the most important image of the work, the symbol of eternal life.”
The Kleine Litanei (2015) pays homage to the Irish Benedictine monk, theologian, and philosopher St Virgil (c. 700-784). Nunc dimittis (2001) sets text from the Gospel of St Luke; here Pärt makes freer use of his tintinnabuli technique, emphasising the meaning of the words through the deployment of variated texture, and underlining the word lumen (light).
Vox Clamantis, comprised of singers with a passion for plainchant, early polyphony and contemporary composition, was founded by conductor Jaan-Eik Tulve in 1996. Arvo Pärt, Helena Tulve and Erkki-Sven Tüür are among the composers who have written works for them.
The ensemble’s ECM discography includes Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry. Vox Clamantis also appears – alongside the Latvian Radio Choir and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – on Pärt’s Adam’s Lament, which won a Grammy Award in 2014.
Other recordings include Cyrillus Kreek: The Suspended Harp of Babel, and Filia Sion (Gregorian chant to works by Perotin, Hildegard von Bingen and Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz), Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Oxymoron, Arboles Iloran por lluvia with works by Helena Tulve, and an album with music by Henrik Ødegaard.
And I heard a voice was recorded in 2021 and 2022 in Haapsalu Cathedral and produced by Manfred Eicher.
A special release concert with Vox Clamantis takes place on September 11 at the Church of St John the Baptist in Kärdla, on the island of Hiiumaa, Estonia. Further details of the many musical events around Pärt’s 90th birthday can be found at the web site of the Arvo Pärt Centre: https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-90-sunnipaeva-aasta/
August 29: ECM New Series Releases Rolf Lislevand's new album Libro primo
August 29: ECM New Series Releases Rolf Lislevand's new album Libro primo
ECM New Series Releases
Rolf Lislevand: Libro primo
Works for archlute and chitarrone by Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini, Bernardo Gianoncelli and Diego Ortiz
ECM 2848
Release Date: August 29, 2025
“Il libro Primo”, a writer or a musician's first volume of works, can often hold the most inspired and radical creations of an artist. This recording is dedicated to the works of Italian composers for lute in the first half of the 17th century, largely published in their first printed books. – Rolf Lislevand (from the performer’s note)
On his newest recording for ECM’s New Series, lute virtuoso Rolf Lislevand turns to the revolutionary Baroque literature for archlute and chitarrone, interpreting the works of some of the most significant 16th-17th century lute composers. In striking solo performances, the Norwegian lute player explores the progressive nature of pieces by Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini, Bernardo Gianoncelli and Diego Ortiz. The modernity of this music’s melodic and rhythmic sensibility throughout can be surprising, not only substantiating Lislevand’s deeper dive into this repertoire, but also revealing a broad idiomatic reach that can still sound highly contemporary today.
“The new style marked a departure from traditional Renaissance polyphony,” Lislevand writes in the performer’s note accompanying the disc. The so-called nuove musiche gave “rise to unusually dissonant and bold harmonic idioms as well as an altogether newfound ability to express the emotional content of text accompanied by previously unheard notions of rhythmical intricacy.”
In a way, the album can be understood as a continuation of his last New Series recording, 2016’s La Mascarade, which saw him approach the works of Louis XIV court composers Robert de Visée and Francesco Corbetta in a programme that BBC Music Magazine called “a hauntingly beautiful musical chiaroscuro”. Turning its focus from France towards Baroque Italy, Libro primo too deals with the juxtaposition of light, bright sounds with obscurer, darker-toned shadings, respectively linked to the archlute and the chitarrone. As the repertoire and musical forms evolved during the 17th century, so did the instruments, with the newly invented lutes reflecting the contrast and tension between light and dark – the chitarrone (or theorbo) being inhabited by a somber, bass-heavy sound, while the archlute has a bright, overtone-rich character.
Lislevand takes historically informed liberties in his interpretations throughout the programme, improvising frequently, as was custom at the time, and even contributes his own personal study of the challenging Passacaglia form with his “Passacaglia al modo mio”. Delving deeper into the musical fabric of the time, he also decided on a different tuning for the archlute than is commonly used today, “giving the music an adventurous timbre, more in line with the nuove musiche.”
The Toccata was among the principal new forms in Baroque lute music, of which Kapsberger was a pioneer. Lislevand interprets several of his Toccatas here, delivering them with lyrical precision but also playful spontaneity, as he improvises connecting interpolations. The same improvisatory approach graces Foscarini’s Tasteggiata, which Lislevand transcribed from the Baroque guitar to the archlute, adding harmonic ideas and setting it in a rondeau form.
Two Recercardas by the Spaniard Diego Ortiz make up the only pre-17th century portion of the music included here. Their qualification for this otherwise strictly Italian Baroque programme is an unexpected inner-musical connection to the century younger pieces by Kapsberger. “In two different timelines,” Lislevand explains, “both composers employ unique rhythmical fantasy and skill in order to achieve expressivity.”
“As Baroque composers were contemporarily within their own time, playing their own compositions and improvising in performance according to the idiomatic set of tools available back then, so are we performers contemporarily within our own time today,” says Lislevand. “Caught in an ongoing creative process, we can’t help but incorporate ourselves into the flow of history by approaching the music from a constantly evolving point of view.” Thus, the Norwegian lute virtuoso, with his own expressive approach, brings this four centuries old music thoroughly into the present.
Recorded at Moosestudios, Norway between 2022 and 2023, and mixed in Munich in 2024, the album was produced by Rolf Lislevand and Manfred Eicher.
Sept. 25: Cellist Tamar Sagiv Performs at National Sawdust Album Release Concert Featuring Music from New Album Shades of Mourning
Sept. 25: Cellist Tamar Sagiv Performs at National Sawdust Album Release Concert Featuring Music from New Album Shades of Mourning
Left, Photo of Tamar Sagiv by Marije Van Den Breg available in hi-resolution here.
Cellist Tamar Sagiv Performs at National Sawdust
Album Release Concert Featuring Music from New Album
Shades of Mourning
September 25, 2025 at 7:30pm
National Sawdust | 80 N 6th St. | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets & Information
Worldwide Release Date: August 8, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Press download and CDs available upon request.
www.tamarsagiv.com | www.sonoluminus.com
On September 25, 2025, acclaimed New York City-based cellist and composer Tamar Sagiv will perform music from her highly anticipated new album, Shades of Mourning, at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY. The new album, which will be released on GRAMMY®-winning label Sono Luminus, will be out August 8, 2025 - pre-order here. The album features nine original compositions by Sagiv that explore the multifaceted nature of grief and mourning through deeply personal musical landscapes. Violinist Leerone Hakami and violist Ella Bukszpan collaborate with Sagiv on four of the tracks.
Described by New York Weekly as "an innovative cellist [whose] versatility sets her apart from her peers," Sagiv was drawn to music's unique ability to convey the nuance of complex emotions and lived experiences.
"I am writing these words while the Middle East, my place of birth, is bleeding. Like me, my friends, family, and neighbors who live on the other side of fences built to divide us carry excruciating pain that grows deeper as the wars continue,” Sagiv writes. “My grandfather, born in Syria and shaped by hardship, believed in peace until his last day. Because of him, I believe in peace, and I hope this is one belief I will never have to grieve. These experiences of personal loss, collective grief, and enduring hope became the foundation for the music in this album."
Shades of Mourning began in the most intimate of circumstances. "This album began, unknowingly, at my grandmother's deathbed," Sagiv writes in her liner notes. "I didn't realize then that the piece I wrote while she was taking her last breaths would grow into an album, nor did I yet know I was a composer." That first piece became the album's opening track – a passacaglia that Sagiv describes as "a farewell to a woman who shaped my life in ways I'm still uncovering."
Each work on the album illuminates different aspects of the grieving process, from profound loss to unexpected moments of renewal.
Roots explores heritage and identity with what Sagiv calls "something wild, unexpected, unapologetic," capturing the visceral connection between blood and soil, between individual identity and generational history. Roots was premiered at Sagiv’s Carnegie Hall debut in May 2023, and performed alongside her mentor, acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz, at the Cello Biennale Festival in Amsterdam.
Intermezzo, composed during an artist residency in the Catskills, emerged from Sagiv's experience of being immersed in the beauty of nature soon after her grandmother’s death. The piece is dedicated to Purcell Palmer, the founder of the artist residency, who Sagiv became close to and who passed away months later. Sagiv writes, “I wish she knew how profoundly she and her home affected me, how much healing I found in the sanctuary she created.”
And Maybe You Never Used to Be, inspired by Philip Glass's minimalist works, explores grief in new dimensions, going beyond personal loss to look at the shattering of friendships, ideas, and deeply held values through a four-movement string trio. Sagiv writes, “And maybe you never used to be – my first chamber music work – opens the collection with a question: what happens when the things we thought were certain begin to shatter?”
My Clouds of Grief captures the inescapable heaviness that follows mourners through each day, when "colors drain from the world around you" and even laughter sounds distant and hollow. “I wanted the music to envelope listeners in this heaviness, to let them experience how it feels when grief becomes your constant companion, surrounding you in its seemingly infinite darkness,” writes Sagiv.
The End of Times creates delicate and lush colors and textures while grappling with existential questions about our final moments, whispered through veiled tones and gentle dissonances. Sagiv writes, “In this movement, I grapple with uncertainty. Will we find relief in our final moments, or will pain be our lasting legacy?”
Imaginary World envisions a refuge where no living creature suffers, and is Sagiv’s imagined response to ongoing wars and conflicts, where beings exist side by side despite disagreements and painful histories. She writes, “Inspired by Philip Glass’s Mishima Quartet, whose music offered me solace during dark times, I created this movement. May it bring you the same joy and comfort that this music brought me.”
The album concludes with Prelude and In My Blue, inspired by Chet Baker's Almost Blue and Bossa Nova rhythms. "I wanted to end this album not in sorrow, but with the same quiet hope that music has always given me," Sagiv explains. "The possibility that even after profound loss, we can still move forward. Together."
Tamar Sagiv is a cellist and composer whose musical language bridges classical tradition with contemporary expression. Her work explores themes of memory, identity, and emotional resonance, often drawing on personal experiences to create sound worlds that feel both intimate and universal.
About Tamar Sagiv: Originally from Northern Israel, Sagiv began her musical training at the Kfar Blum Music Center with Uri Chen and continued at the Israeli Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem with Prof. Hillel Zori. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the Buchmann Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and completed both her Master’s and Professional Diploma (PDPL) at the Mannes School of Music in New York City under Prof. Matt Haimovitz’s guidance.
As a performer, she has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Israel and Germany, and played at venues including Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, National Bohemian Hall, and the New York Public Library. Her music has been broadcast on Israeli National Radio since she was 16.
Sagiv has participated in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, and Frans Helmerson, and attended festivals across Israel, Europe, and the U.S. Her achievements have been recognized by awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the Ronen Foundation, and a Certificate of Honor from Maestro Zubin Mehta. In 2022, she performed the music of composer James Simon – who perished in Auschwitz – at Carnegie Hall.
Her debut album on Sono Luminus highlights her distinctive compositional voice and virtuosic playing, establishing her as a powerful new voice in contemporary classical music.
Oct. 24: Martin Fröst Announces B.A.C.H. – New Album of Works by J.S. Bach Arranged for Clarinet Released on Sony Classical
Oct. 24: Martin Fröst Announces B.A.C.H. – New Album of Works by J.S. Bach Arranged for Clarinet Released on Sony Classical
Martin Fröst Announces B.A.C.H.
New Album of Works by J.S. Bach Arranged for Clarinet
Released on Sony Classical
Out Today: Aria (Goldberg Variations) BWV 988,
Arr. for Clarinet and Bass - Listen Here
Album Release Date: October 24, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
“…a virtuosity and musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinettist – perhaps any instrumentalist – in my memory”
– The New York Times
Acclaimed Swedish clarinettist and conductor, Martin Fröst is proud to announce his brand-new album, B.A.C.H. dedicated to the music of J.S. Bach. Bach’s music has fascinated Fröst throughout his life, being enchanted and beguiled by its intimate form, even at a very young age. Although Bach never encountered the clarinet, this has proved no barrier for Martin Fröst, who has returned to Bach’s music time and time again throughout his illustrious career. In the past, Fröst devised performance programmes entitled ‘Beyond All Clarinet History’ (B.A.C.H.), which intertwined Bach’s timeless melodies with new arrangements and he returns to this original idea here with sparkling new interpretations both for clarinet and a variety of other instruments, such as bass, cello, and theorbo that form the linchpin of his new B.A.C.H. album, released by Sony Classical on October 24, 2025. New single, Aria (Goldberg Variations) BWV 988, Arr. for clarinet and bass, is accompanying today's announcement – listen here.
B.A.C.H. was recorded in an extraordinary setting: an old wooden chapel set in the Swedish countryside, purchased, restored, and turned into a studio and concert venue by Fröst himself and which provided the perfect environment for this extraordinary musical adventure which features a range of fascinating artists including Sebastien Dubé – double bass, Göran Fröst – viola, Anastasia Kobekina – cello and Jonas Nordberg – lute alongside a special guest appearance by Benny Andersson of ABBA on piano on the closing track.
Martin Fröst has spoken openly about his experience living with Ménière’s disease - an inner ear disorder - and it was during a particularly intense bout of the illness that he suddenly experienced the desire to perform JS Bach’s music again. Working in the converted chapel together with his brother, viola player Göran and alongside some close and trusted musician friends, Martin Fröst and the team crafted the arrangements as they rehearsed and by Christmas 2024, they were ready to record. It was an intense process, whereby everyone involved lived, ate, rehearsed, recorded and slept in the chapel, even producer, Hans Kipfer, who took up residence in the choir loft for the duration.
The choice of J.S. Bach’s music for the recording is based on some of Fröst’s favourite pieces that have been with him constantly throughout his own musical expeditions. The Prelude in C major, BWV 846, heard here in the form of the Ave Maria, is a remarkable musical exercise—both musically and technically—since one cannot play the clarinet for two minutes and forty-six seconds on a single breath. It’s a piece Fröst has been playing for as long as he can remember. The track also features the much-lauded young cellist Anastasia Kobekina, who features throughout a great deal of the recording.
Fröst has also chosen a few of the Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772–801), a collection of short pieces that connect various ideas. Here each piece is treated like an individual miniature, separate from the traditional context of the larger work and with the focus on the unique essence of each Invention, presented here as an invitation for personal exploration and contemplation.
The French Suite was a cherished companion throughout Fröst’s teenage years, and he still draws from it as a wellspring of inspiration for his clarinet playing, finding that its delicate balance of silence and sound resonates deeply within his instrument, forming a profound connection to Bach's music. With every breath, Fröst feels Bach’s essence as a gentle thread spanning time and space.
A truly special track concludes the recording. ABBA's Benny Andersson is a huge fan of classical music and especially the music of Bach. He agreed to join the proceedings, choosing a very special work for which Martin Fröst then composed a contrapuntal part, making for a deeply personal take on the second movement of Bach's Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056.
With this unique, inventive album, Martin Fröst guides the listener through the enduring landscape of Bach's music. It is an album born of moments of challenge, unexpected discovery, and profound collaboration. Its narrative of connection and the sheer joy of the music and of the collective music-making will hopefully resonate keenly with all who listen.
Track Listing:
1. Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria (Arr. for Clarinet and Bass by Martin Fröst and Sebastien Dubé) [04.49]
2. Sinfonia in G Major, BWV 796 (Arr. for Clarinet and Cello by Matthias Spindler) [00.47]
3. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 (Arr. for Clarinet and Theorbo by Martin Fröst and Jonas Nordberg) [02.26]
4. St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: No. 62. "Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden" (Arr. for Clarinets and Cello by Martin Fröst) [01.16]
5. Orchestral Suite No.3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air (Arr. for Clarinet, Theorbo and Bass by Martin Fröst, Jonas Nordberg and Sebastien Dubé) [04.48]
6. Invention No.10 in G Major, BWV 781 (Arr. for Clarinet and Viola by Göran Fröst) [00.46]
7. French Suite No.5 in G Major, BWV 816: III. Sarabande (Arr. for Clarinet and Theorbo by Martin Fröst and Jonas Nordberg) [03.59]
8. Sonata for Viola da Gamba in D Major, BWV 1028: I. Adagio (Arr. for Clarinet, Cello, and Bass by Martin Fröst, Anastasia Kobekina and Sebastien Dubé) [01.54]
9. Pastorale in F Major, BWV 590: III. Aria (Arr. for Clarinet and Theobo by Martin Fröst and Jonas Nordberg [02.43]
10. Invention No.4 in D Minor, BWV 775 (Arr. for Clarinet and Cello by Matthias Spindler) [00.55]
11. French Suite No.5 in G Major, BWV 816: I. Allemande (Arr. for Clarinet and Theorbo by Martin Fröst and Jonas Nordberg) [03.15]
12. Prelude in D Minor, BWV 851 (Arr. for Clarinet and Bass by Martin Fröst and Sebastien Dubé) [01.23]
13. Ave Maria (Meditation on the Prelude by J. S. Bach) (Arr. for Clarinet and Cello by Martin Fröst) [02.34]
14. Herr Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 335 (Arr. for Clarinet and Theobo by Martin Fröst and Jonas Nordberg) [01.33]
15. Invention No. 6 in E Major, BWV 777 (Arr. for Clarinet and Viola by Göran Fröst) [03.15]
16. Prelude in C-Sharp Major, BWV 872 (Arr. for Clarinet, Theorbo and Bass by Martin Fröst, Jonas Nordberg and Sebastien Dubé) [02.17]
17. Largo (after Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056) (Arr. for Clarinet and Piano by Martin Fröst and Benny Andersson) [03.05]
Out Today: Clarice Jensen's "In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness" - Album Coverage from NPR, The Strad, and More
Oct 17: 130701/FatCat Records Releases Clarice Jensen’s Fourth Solo Album In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
Album cover by DLT and press photos by Ebru Yildiz available here.
Clarice Jensen Releases New Album In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
Out Today October 17, 2025 on FatCat/130701 Records
"With this album, Jensen reminds us how past and present can combine in potent, emotionally charged ways – how Bach's old school traditions and our new age of electronics can make arresting bedfellows." – Tom Huizenga, NPR Music
NPR Music Review
NPR All Songs Considered
A Closer Listen Review
Sounds Vegan Review
The Strad Interview
Rock Sound Interview
Opening for Suzanne Ciani Presented by Age of Reflections this Fall
Information
Downloads and CDs available to press on request
"The Zen clarity of her sound recalls masters like Phill Niblock, evoking universes by honing in on narrow ranges of frequency. But the way Jensen shifts her drones, building them gradually and then hard-cutting to completely new tones, feels singular." – Pitchfork
www.claricejensen.com | www.fatcat.online/130701
Composer and cellist Clarice Jensen releases her fourth solo album, In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness, today October 17, 2025 via FatCat Records’ 130701 imprint. The new album showcases Jensen’s distinctive compositional approach, in which she improvises and layers her cello through shifting loops and a chain of electronic effects, exploring a series of rich, drone-based sound fields. Pulsing, visceral and full of color, her work is deeply immersive, marked by a wonderful sense of restraint and an almost hallucinatory clarity. Jensen recorded In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness as part of the Visiting Artist Programme at Studio Richter Mahr, the creative space co-founded by Yulia Mahr and Max Richter in Oxfordshire, England.
Jensen’s live performance schedule takes her across the country this summer and fall. She recently joined My Chemical Romance on their Long Live The Black Parade tour, performing a solo set in addition to playing with the band. This fall, she opens for Suzanne Ciani presented by Age of Reflections in Denver on November 15, San Francisco on November 21, New York on December 6, and Los Angeles on December 13, 2025. This summer she performed a solo show at Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City and with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Full concert schedule: www.claricejensen.com/events
Having made a solo move to the Berkshire Mountains in upstate New York in September 2020 after many years living in Brooklyn, Jensen found herself confronting and enjoying a newfound solitude as the non-stop movement and collaboration of city life as a musician had come to a standstill. The first LP she made post-move – Esthesis, released on 130701 in 2022 – is largely devoid of cello, synth heavy, and examines emotions in a self-conscious way from an isolated point of view that is nearly one-dimensional.
Jensen sets new parameters for In holiday clothing, placing the acoustic sound of the cello at the fore, and affecting the sound only through a few effects (octave displacement, delay, tremolo and looping). “It felt necessary to return to the rich acoustic sound of the cello that I've loved and produced for nearly my entire life, and to return to an expression of emotion that's multi-dimensional and sincere,” she notes.
As a soloist, Jensen endeavors to establish a new tradition of solo cello performance that integrates electronics with the storied and beloved performance practice intrinsic to the instrument. She places great importance on finding and working with effects pedals that integrate well with the cello (and avoids overt use of plugins or playback). Jensen considers the solo cello works of J.S. Bach as a central backdrop to this new album. Bach’s Solo Cello Suites display a rich range of voices created by one instrument. Having found ways to expand the sound and voice of the instrument through electronics, Jensen found it fitting to return to Bach's works – music she has played for many years – as a way to touch back in with the tradition of the instrument.
As a composer, Jensen insists that the programmatic elements of her albums align and ring true. This album’s title is taken from the quote from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, “… what steps forth, in holiday clothing, out of the great darkness." She writes, “the quote from Rilke had been bouncing around my mind for many years; the visualisation of musical ideas being born and echoing inside a ‘great darkness,’ then emerging ‘in holiday clothing’ felt very beautiful and tangible, and this essay, which to me is a manifesto in celebration of solitude, depicts what so many artists and composers experience when they endeavor solitary work. This album reflects a personal and conceptual exploration of what solo means.”
Previous Albums
The new album adds to Jensen’s growing discography. Her striking debut album For This From That Will Be Filled was released in April 2018 on the Berlin-based label Miasmah and followed in September 2019 by the "Drone Studies" EP, a cassette release via Geographic North. Signing to FatCat’s 130701 imprint in 2019, her sophomore album The experience of repetition as death was released April 2020. Naming it among the top 50 albums of 2020, NPR remarked "This collection of requiems for a dying mother ranks among the great ambient albums of the 21st century." Her album Esthesis was released in October 2022 and NPR ranked it among the Best Experimental Albums of the Year. Boomkat stated, “Jensen finds a fine line between in-the-moment, tactile precision and lingering hallucinatory afterimages that emerge from her improv/compositional system. The pieces betray an exquisite depth of feeling in Jensen’s diffractive rendering of shimmering layers and gently transitory movements,” with Magnetic Magazine reporting, “There is no doubt this album will impact people profoundly.”
Film Scores
Clarice Jensen’s music is a natural fit for film and she is increasingly in demand as a film and television composer. Her recent scores include Amber Sealey's No Man of God starring Elijah Wood which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival; Takeshi Fukunaga's Ainu Mosir, which premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; Fernanda Valadez's 2020 Sundance Film Festival award-winner Sin Señas Particulares (Identifying Features), for which Jensen was nominated for a 2021 Ariel Award for Best Original Music by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences; Caught in the Web: The Murders Behind Zona Divas (2024), a four-part Netflix documentary on femicide in Mexico from Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez; and A Want in Her, a documentary film from Myrid Carten which premiered at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2024.
Collaborators
A versatile collaborator, Jensen has recorded and performed with a host of stellar artists including Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Björk, Stars of the Lid, Dustin O’Halloran, Nico Muhly, Taylor Swift, Michael Stipe, the National and many others. In her role as the artistic director of ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), she has helped bring to life some of the most revered works of modern classical music, including pieces by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Gavin Bryars, and more.
Clarice Jensen: In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
FatCat Records/130701 | October 17, 2025
1. In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness - Part 1 [12:56]
2. From a to b [5:35]
3. 2,1 [4:11]
4. 1,2 [4:08]
5. In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness - Part 2 [8:35]
6. Unity [5:29]
Recorded at Studio Richter Mahr by Rupert Coulson, 30 October - 1 November 2024
Mastered by Alan Douches
Photography by Ebru Yildiz
Album art by DLT
Sept. 26: Ensemble Galilei Releases Special 2-CD Album There I Long to Be on Sono Luminus – Featuring Early, Traditional, and Original Music
Sept. 26: Ensemble Galilei Releases Special 2-CD Album There I Long to Be on Sono Luminus – Featuring Early, Traditional, and Original Music
Ensemble Galilei Releases There I Long to Be
New Album on Sono Luminus
Special 2-CD Set Celebrating Ensemble’s 35th Anniversary
Featuring Early and Traditional Music by Turlough O'Carolan, John Dowland, Pieter de Vois, and more and original music by Isaac Alderson, Jesse Langen, James Oxley and Carolyn Surrick
Worldwide Release: September 26, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Release Concerts in Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington, DC
“a genuine love for the music they're playing, an uplifting spirit in their performances, and not-a-little fond sentimentality toward their work” – Classical Candor
Downloads and CDs available to press on request
www.EGMusic.com | SonoLuminus.com
Iconic musician collective Ensemble Galilei announces its new album There I Long to Be, which will be released September 26, 2025 on Sono Luminus. This special 2-CD release coincides with Ensemble Galilei’s 35th anniversary and marks the group’s fourth recording with the GRAMMY®-winning label, following 2015’s From Whence We Came.
Ensemble Galilei is a small ensemble specializing in a wide range of music for their particular instrumentation, and includes Isaac Alderson (uilleann pipes, Irish flute, whistles, tenor saxophone), Jesse Langen (guitar), Kathryn Montoya (recorders, whistle, shawm), Jackie Moran (banjo, bodhrán, egg shaker; and founder Carolyn Surrick (viola da gamba). The group performs Renaissance and Baroque, Ancient and recent Celtic (including Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Galician music), and Irish music, including some works especially written for them. The ensemble is named after Vincenzo Galilei (ca. 1520-1592), a pioneer in the Greek-inspired movement that created “opera in musica.” He is credited as both simplifying and bringing passion back into music, and was also a leading theoretician of his time. (His son, Galileo Galilei, was the great astronomer.)
Featuring 47 tunes across 34 tracks on two discs, There I Long to Be contains an abundance of jigs, reels, traditional tunes, and early music, as well as works by members of the Ensemble. In addition to the five regular Ensemble members, this recording also features Hanneke Cassel (fiddle, and Ensemble Galilei emeritus member), Tim Langen (fiddle), Ronn McFarlane (lute), and James Oxley (tenor).
The project began as two albums, on parallel paths. One was new for Ensemble Galilei – an early music, classical album. The other was in line with the approach the Ensemble had embraced in its previous recordings. As Surrick put it, “For the first time, we were going to record an early music album in a conventional classical music style. Ensemble Galilei had always been known as a crossover group, meaning that while it was true that we performed early music, traditional music was always right around the corner. We never sought to achieve a level of historical performance practice that might engage early music audiences, until now.”
Recorded over the course of two years, the music on There I Long to Be encompasses a wide range of musical styles, cultures, and time periods – a combination of the musicians’ individual interests and the group’s focus. What unites it is an artistic vision that is inspired and undeterred, and unique to Ensemble Galilei. Sono Luminus CEO Collin Rae recognized this, and suggested embracing a 2-CD format to showcase the Ensemble’s full scope.
The new album adds to Ensemble Galilei’s extensive discography, which has attracted millions of streams on Spotify. Surrick writes, “I looked at our Spotify page for the first time and saw that we had millions of streams. Our big cities were Paris, Seattle, and London, and our demographic was predominantly people in their late teens, twenties, and early thirties, not our usual concert audience – they were listening and sharing with friends. This was happening all over the world.”
This discovery illustrated Ensemble Gailei’s mission of deeply connecting with humanity through music. As Surrick summarizes in this album’s liner notes, “In the end, if the musicians have brought their hearts, souls, and years of mastery, if the recording team has entered into the space with wisdom, tools, patience and good will, if LIndsey Nelson, our executive producer, is saying, ‘Sure, let’s book one more session to make this the very best it can possibly be’ then the opportunity exists for the listener to hear it all — the breath, the intention, the ensemble, the soloist, the fingers on the strings, the air as it comes out of the recorder, the hands on the regulators of the uilleann pipes, the tipper as it touches the head of the bodhran, the rosin on the fiddle’s bow, and feathered end of the note on a viola da gamba. It is all there.”
There I Long to Be is Ensemble Galilei’s sixteenth recording, adding to the group’s exceptional discography, which includes Music in the Great Hall (1992, Maggie’s Music); Ancient Noels (1993, Maggie’s Music); Following the Moon (1995, Dorian Discovery); The Mystic and the Muse (1997, Dorian/NPR Classics); Come, Gentle Night (2000, Telarc); From the Isles to the Courts (2001, Telarc); A Winter’s Night (2002, Maggie’s Music); Alta (2005, EG Records); From the Edge of the World (2007, EG Records); Notes from Across the Sea (2009, self-release); A Change of Worlds (2012, Sono Luminus); Surrounded by Angels (2013, Sono Luminus); From Whence We Came (2015, Sono Luminus); Flowers of the Forest (2018, Flowerpot Productions); A Solstice Gathering (2020, Flowerpot Productions).
Ensemble Galilei: There I Long to Be
Release Date: September 26, 2025 | Sono Luminus
Disc 1: [1-18]
[1] Planxty Hewlett - Turlough O’Carolan [6:06]
The Dusty Miller - Traditional Irish Slip Jig
The Last Minute - Isaac Alderson & Jesse Langen
[2] Come Away, Death - Tune: James Oxley [2:36]
Lyrics: Wm. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
[3] Lament for Owen Roe O’Neill - Turlough O’Carolan [4:34]
Allan Water - Playford Collection of 1700
Licke-potje - anon. with divisions by Kathryn Montoya
[4] Io son un Pellegrino - Giovanni da Firenze [1:45]
Serbian Wedding Dance - Traditional Serbian
[5] The Boys of Barr na Sraide - Sigerson Clifford [3:54]
[6] Fantasia no.3 - Pieter de Vois [1:32]
[7] Flow my teares - John Dowland [4:07]
[8] Life - Tobias Hume [2:25]
[9] Tweede Stuck - Christiaen Herwich [3:15]
[10] Gallarde Faraboscho - anon. [1:35]
[11] Bruach Na Carraige Báine - Traditional Irish [2:53]
[12] Venus Birds - John Bennet [3:17]
[13] Gjendine’s Bådlåt - Traditional Norwegian Lullaby [5:29]
Gjendine’s Waltz - Carolyn Surrick
[14] Cape Clear - Traditional Irish Air [4:44]
[15] Fantasia no. 2 - Pieter de Vois [1:09]
[16] Loftus Jones - Turlough O’Carolan [2:47]
[17] When that I was a Little Tiny Boy - Tune: The Gypsy Princess [2:27]
Lyrics: Wm. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
[18] Waltz no.1 - Isaac Alderson [2:41]
[Disc 1 Runtime: 58:06]
Disc 2: [19-34]
[19] Barn Dance no.1 - Isaac Alderson [3:52]
[20] Go Cristall teares - John Dowland [2:53]
[21] Frere Frapar - anon. [3:49]
Zesde Petit Brande - anon.
La Perichone - anon.
[22] Love is the Cause of My Mourning from A Curious Collection of Scots Tunes - Miss Noble Turlough O’Carolan [4:22]
[23] His Golden Lockes - John Dowland [3:30]
[24] Sliabh Geal gCua - Slow Air, c. Pádraig Ó Miléadha [6:26]
Aggie Whyte’s - Traditional Irish Reel
The Old Blackthorn Stick - Traditional Irish Reel
[25] As I Roved Out - Traditional Irish [3:44]
[26] The Leaving of St. Kilda - Willie Ross [3:43]
[27] Au joly bois - Claudin de Sermisy [1:37]
[28] Suzanna Galliard - John Dowland [1:51]
[29] Vierde Carileen - Cornelis Kist, divisions, Jacob Van Eyck [1:59]
[30] Onques Amour - Thomas Crecquillon [3:28]
divisions by Giovanni Bassano
[31] Jesus in Thy Dying Woes - Swedish Litany [1:29]
[32] Beware Fair Maids - William Corkine [2:24]
[33] Old Simon the King - from The Division Flute [2:46]
[34] Fair Maid of Barra - Traditional Scottish Pipe Tune [4:35]
The Sporting Pitchfork - Traditional Irish Jig
Scattery Island - Traditional Irish Slide
[Disc 2 Runtime: 53:14]
[Total Time: 1:51:20]
Lindsey R. Nelson, Executive Producer
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Robert Friedrich, Five/Four Productions, LLC®
Collin J. Rae, Executive Producer
Produced by Dan Merceruio
Joshua Frey, Layout
Carolyn Surrick, Liner Notes
Photography: Bernard McWilliams
Cover Art: Amy Fenton-Shine
About Ensemble Galilei: The principal is simple and exquisite: put five, brilliant and collaborative musicians in a room, empower them equally, and then set them free. And when they choose a piece of music, it is not the tune’s provenance that matters, not its musicological era, nor its country of origin. It is the story being told, leading to the journey that the musicians embark upon, together.
Predictably, Scottish fiddlers will bring Scottish music. Irish pipers may bring slow airs, jigs and reels. Early music wind players might bring 17th century variations. But then, the harper brings a Polska from Sweden. The gamba player brings a drone that apparently has its origins at the center of the earth, and after 35 years of being an instrumental ensemble, someone starts to sing. Go figure.
A new melody shows up, written in grief. Another, written in love. The words of Frederick Douglass are set to a tune by Turlough O’Carolan, a poem by Jim Harrison, set to a hymn from Southern Harmony. The connective tissue is not a genre, it is a passion. Theirs is commitment to remarkable music making, and indeed, this is where Ensemble Galilei dwells, sharing the journey with audiences, decade after decade.
Aug. 22: Sony Classical Releases Fourth Album in Beethoven For Three Series with Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma
Aug. 22: Sony Classical Releases Fourth Album in Beethoven For Three Series with Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma
Album Artwork (Download)
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma
Announce Fourth Album in Beethoven For Three Series on Sony Classical
Symphony No. 1 / Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost” / Op. 11 Gassenhauer
Symphony No. 1: III. Menuetto. Allegro Molto e Vivace
Out Now | Listen Here
Album Release Date: August 22, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma announce the fourth album in their Beethoven for Three series, out August 22, 2025 on Sony Classical and available for pre-order now. Featuring Symphony No. 1 (Op. 21) and the Ghost (Op. 70, No. 1) and Gassenhauer (Op. 11) piano trios, this new recording marks another milestone in three friends’ journey through the marvels of one extraordinary composer. Accompanying today’s album news is the first single – the Minuet from Beethoven’s First Symphony – listen here.
Beethoven for Three features three artists in pursuit of the essential elements of Beethoven's musical language, presenting his most iconic symphonies in trio arrangements. By performing the symphonies on three instruments alongside the composer’s canonical piano trios, the artists give audiences a rare look at Beethoven's compositional language at its most intimate and raw—all while conveying the power and immediacy of his orchestral works.
From the symphony that gave the world its first glimpse of Beethoven's revolutionary voice, carefully reinterpreted for piano, violin, and cello by Shai Wosner, to the singular “Ghost” trio and cheerful “Gassenhauer” trio, this newly-announced recording presents more than a decade of the composer's output and evolution distilled to brilliant fundamentals by the longtime friends, collaborators, and musical explorers.
“We all feel that being able to participate in a symphony is such a wonderful thing to do,” says Ma. “One of the things that has separated people since recording began is the categories that we put people in, in which chamber musicians, orchestra players, people who play concertos, people who do transcriptions, people who compose, people who conduct, are all viewed as separate categories with no overlap. That siloed thinking discourages actual creativity and collaboration between people. And so we feel that one of the things that is really important to do today is to actually go back to the first principles of music, the simple interaction between friends who want to do something together."
Beethoven for Three has its origins in the 2021 Tanglewood Music Festival, where Ax, Kavakos, and Ma first played Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 in trio format. The performance was an instant success, and the first release in the series, Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5, was recorded soon after. Gramophone highlighted their recording of Symphony No. 5, noting that “the performance by Ax, Kavakos and Ma is not just aptly intense—the opening Allegro con brio is as involving as any orchestral performance I've heard—but also incredibly sensitive to the music’s crucial juxtapositions, as one can hear in the Andante con moto, where they so deftly balance delicacy and heroic swagger—note the vulnerability in Kavakos's tone at 1'42"—in a way that I find deeply moving."
The second installment in the project, Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” and Op. 1, No. 3 was released in 2022 to further acclaim. The Strad noted that "the blend and balance between these three hugely experienced players is just about ideal in the relaxed outer movements [of Symphony No. 6] and in the ‘Scene by the Brook’, while the ‘Peasants’ Merrymaking’ is as rustic and playful as the ‘Storm’ is disruptive...They are just as urbane and sophisticated in the C minor Piano Trio...This is Ax’s stamping ground and he brings his string-playing friends along with him for a performance that beguiles and delights from beginning to end."
Their third, a pairing of the unforgettable "Archduke" trio with his fourth symphony, arranged for piano, violin, and cello by Shai Wosner, was released in 2024. "Ax’s ten fingers provide most of the symphony’s harmonic support, leaving Ma and Kavakos free to concentrate on melodic charms and quirks," wrote The Times. "All unite in ensemble verve and kaleidoscopic hues: qualities that equally mark Beethoven’s Archduke trio of 1811, which follows... intimate chamber music playing doesn’t come much better than this."
Ax, Kavakos, and Ma first performed together as a trio at the 2014 Tanglewood Festival, playing a program of Brahms's piano trios. Their first recording effort, Brahms: The Piano Trios, was released in 2017 to universal critical acclaim; Gramophone observed that "These performances get straight to the heart of Brahms’s music, relishing its pull of opposites," while Limelight noted, "There’s no doubting the ardour that these players bring to the music, which is delivered with an eye to creating broad, sweeping phrases … there are plenty of opportunities to swoon along the way.”
They return to Tanglewood once more on August 3 for an all-Beethoven recital centered on a performance of Symphony No. 3, arranged for piano quartet by Shai Wosner. Also on the program are the Leonore Overture No. 3—also arranged for piano quartet by Wosner—and the "Gassenhauer" trio; violist Antoine Tamestit joins for the Leonore overture and Symphony.
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/.
Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 1 / Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost” / Op. 11 “Gassenhauer”
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, & Yo-Yo Ma
Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
1 I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
2 II. Andante cantabile con moto
3 III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace
4 IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace
Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1, Ghost
5 I. Allegro vivace e con brio
6 II. Largo assai ed espressivo
7 III. Presto
Piano Trio No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 11, Gassenhauer
8 I. Allegro con brio
9 II. Adagio
10 III. Tema: Pria ch'io l'impegno. Allegretto
Sept. 26: Cellist Anastasia Kobekina Releases New Album of Bach's Cello Suites on Sony Classical – Suite No. 5 ‘Sarabande’ Out Today
Cellist Anastasia Kobekina Releases New Album of Bach's Cello Suites on Sony Classical
Cellist Anastasia Kobekina Records Bach’s Cello Suites
for New Album to be Released on Sony Classical
New Single: Suite No. 5 ‘Sarabande’ Out Today
Worldwide Release Date: September 26, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
“There might not yet be as many recordings of Bach’s cello suites as there are stars in the sky, but there are certainly as many ways of interpreting this monumental music, both in performance and philosophically.”
An extraordinary two years for Anastasia Kobekina, who reaches a high point in September when Sony Classical releases the trailblazing cellist’s recording of Bach’s iconic Cello Suites on September 26, 2025. Pre-order is available now. Accompanying today’s announcement is the release of Suite No. 5 ‘Sarabande’ - listen here.
Kobekina’s career has been gathering momentum since her receipt in 2024 of both the Leonard Bernstein Award and an Opus Klassik Award and the release of the full length documentary ‘Jetzt oder nie!’ through ARD.
Taking on Bach’s set of six suites for solo cello – an Everest for cellists – she aims to open up ‘a shared space for interpretation, mine and yours.’ As with her previous album for Sony Classical, the hugely acclaimed Venice, Kobekina promises a fresh view of familiar music. She performs on period instruments, bringing a historically informed perspective to these iconic works.
Bach’s Cello Suites represent the music that has accompanied Kobekina the longest and which has performed most frequently. ‘The dialectic nature of Bach’s suites – their internal dialogue and contradictions – has always fascinated me,’ says
Kobekina. ‘The language is abstract, architectural, rational, logical, and at the same time passionate, emotional, and deeply personal to the performer.’
The works themselves represent the baroque composer’s most inwardly concentrated and revered music. Each consists of a prelude and a suite of dance movements. Adding to the work’s iconic status is the mystery behind its creation. No autograph score exists – only a copy, in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach, the composer’s second wife – while the work’s original recipient remains unknown.
Kobekina studied baroque cello with Kristin von der Goltz in Frankfurt. Her singular intelligence is brought to bear on Bach’s suites, which increasingly straddle the realms of classical art and popular culture. Courtesy of her ‘almost overwhelming sincerity’ (The Strad) and her formidable musicianship, Kobekina’s playing reaches beyond technique into the realms of direct communication. ‘At times,’ wrote Gramophone of her album Venice, ‘you forget you are listening to a cello at all.’
Kobekina is a former BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Butoni Trust Artist, and signed to Sony Classical in 2024. In February 2025, the German television channel ARD broadcast a four-part documentary about her, Anastasia Kobekina: Now or Never. She returns to the BBC Proms in London this summer, having debuted in 2024, when she also made her first appearance with the Czech Philharmonic under its Music Director, Jakub Hrůša. In the summer of 2025, Kobekina will be artist-in-residence at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Beethovenfest Bonn.
‘She is the embodiment of grace.’
Le Monde
‘Kobekina plays with gorgeous elegance and effortlessly wide lines’
Der Tagesspiegel
DOCUMENTARY ‘JETZT ODER NIE’ WATCH HERE
ANASTASIA KOBEKINA LIVE DATES
July –September Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele (Residency), Germany
July 5 Wonderfeel, Netherlands
July 24 Gstaad, Switzerland
July 26-August 1 Verbier Festival, Switzerland
August 2-3 Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival, Germany
August 7 Rheingau-Musikfestival, Germany
August 8 BBC Proms, London, UK
August 22 Wismar, Germany
August 24 France
August 27 Helsinki, Finland
Sept 5 Musikfest Bremen, Germany
Sept 6-21 Beethoven Festival, Bonn (Residency), Germany
Sept 10 BBC Proms, London, UK
Sept 27 Wigmore Hall, London, UK
Sept 29 Canterbury, UK
Sept 30 Leicester, UK
WEBSITE
https://www.kobekina.info
July 12: Newport Classical Presents GRAMMY®-winning Soprano Karen Slack in African Queens – An Evening of Music and Storytelling
July 12: Newport Classical Presents GRAMMY®-winning Soprano Karen Slack in African Queens – An Evening of Music and Storytelling
Karen Slack, Credit: Kia Caldwell
Newport Classical Music Festival Presents
Soprano Karen Slack in African Queens
An Evening of Music and Storytelling
Co-Commissioned by Newport Classical
Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 8pm
The Breakers | 44 Ochre Point Ave | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information
“One of opera’s strongest voices at present—both as a singer and a shaper of its culture”
– The Washington Post
www.newportclassical.org/music-festival
Newport, RI – The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival presents GRAMMY® Award-winning soprano Karen Slack in African Queens on Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 8pm in The Breakers (44 Ochre Point Ave). Co-commissioned by Newport Classical, the extraordinary evening of music and storytelling features Slack’s operatic virtuosity in a powerful selection of new works by both African and American composers. “One of the nation’s most celebrated sopranos” (Trilloquy), Karen Slack is joined by pianist Kevin J. Miller for this collaborative song cycle, which shines a spotlight on seven fierce African Queens, whose legacies as rulers and warriors have often been overlooked in the West, with each piece reflecting their beauty, passion, humility, and power.
The evening centers around eight new songs written for Slack by some of today’s most acclaimed composers including Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson. Each new vocal work on the program is woven together through interspersed narrative text by Lorene Cary, Alicia Haymer, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, and Creative Collaborator for the African Queens project Jay Saint Flono.
Newport Classical has commissioned and presented several world premieres of works as part of its ongoing commission initiative as a commitment to the future of classical music, including works by Cris Derksen, Clarice Assad, Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, and Curtis Stewart. African Queens is made possible through the generous support of Suzanna and John Laramee in loving memory of Toni D. Green and in honor of her family and friends. Newport Classical is proud to be among the early presenters of this important new work.
In addition to Newport Classical, African Queens was co-commissioned for Karen Slack by the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, Washington Performing Arts, and The 92nd Street Y in New York.
From July 4-22, 2025, the Newport Classical Music Festival offers an unparalleled experience, combining 29 intimate concerts featuring over 100 artists with the grandeur and opulence of 11 iconic venues, making the City by the Sea an ultimate summer destination for live music. For 56 years, Newport Classical has united artists and audiences to experience the joy of music and the connections it inspires, offering concertgoers the opportunity to discover new composers or experience timeless works offered from a fresh perspective.
Highlights this year include Opening Night featuring pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung; two evenings with Broadway star Jessica Vosk; performances by pianists Inon Barnatan, Sara Davis Buechner, and Wynona Wang; soprano Karen Slack's African Queens project co-commissioned by Newport Classical; the US premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang co-commissioned by Newport Classical; performances by world-class artists including violinist Leila Josefowicz, The Westerlies, Third Coast Percussion, Attacca Quartet, Twelfth Night, and more; Opera Night: An American Tapestry; and Closing Night with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and violinist Stefan Jackiw.
About Karen Slack
Praised for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), GRAMMY® Award-winning soprano Karen Slack is celebrated as both an extraordinary performer and a change-maker in classical music.
Highlighting Slack’s 2024-2025 season is the nationwide tour of her new commissioning project, African Queens, a recital of new art songs by Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson. In July 2024, she released her debut commercial recording, Beyond the Years, alongside pianist Michelle Cann and ONEcomposer on Azica Records, and the project won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
Slack has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera and many others. In concert, her credits include the Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, Bergen Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia Orchestra. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in May 2024.
A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and 2025 MPower Artist Grant, Slack is an Artistic Advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra and Astral Artists and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In the 2024-2025 season, she serves as Artist-in-Residence at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College.
A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program. Learn more at www.karenslack.com.
About Newport Classical
Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.
Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.
Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music 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.
July 21, Aug. 4: Jupiter Quartet Brings Family Chemistry to Two Collaborations at Bowdoin International Music Festival
Jupiter Quartet Brings Family Chemistry to Two Collaborations at Bowdoin International Music Festival
Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at https://www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/jupiter-string
Jupiter String Quartet Brings Family Chemistry
to Two Special Collaborations at Bowdoin International Music Festival
with Ying Quartet and pianist Jon Nakamatsu
Monday, July 21 at 7:30pm: Jupiter Quartet and Ying Quartet
Sold Out, Free Livestream Available
More Information
Monday, August 4 at 7:30pm: Jupiter Quartet and Pianist Jon Nakamatsu
Studzinski Recital Hall | 12 Campus Road S. | Brunswick, ME
Tickets and Information
Free Livestream for Both Performances: www.bowdoinfestival.org/festivalive
“an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
Brunswick, ME – The internationally esteemed Jupiter String Quartet, a uniquely intimate ensemble built around family bonds, will present two distinctive collaborative programs at the 2025 Bowdoin International Music Festival this summer. The quartet – featuring sisters Meg and Liz Freivogel (violin and viola), Meg’s husband Daniel McDonough (cello), and violinist Nelson Lee – brings their signature blend of technical excellence and familial chemistry to performances on July 21 and August 4.
July 21, 7:30pm: The Jupiter joins forces with longtime collaborators, the Ying Quartet, for an evening of large-scale chamber works including Richard Strauss's Sextet from Capriccio, Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, and Antonín Dvořák's String Quintet No. 2. This performance is sold out, but will be livestreamed free at www.bowdoinfestival.org/festivalive.
August 4, 7:30pm: The quartet teams up with celebrated pianist Jon Nakamatsu for a program featuring Johannes Brahms's String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Carlos Simon's Warmth from Other Suns, and César Franck's Piano Quintet in F Minor. Tickets and information: www.bowdoinfestival.org/event/jupiter-quartet-2025/
Both concerts take place at Studzinski Recital Hall, 12 Campus Road South, Brunswick, ME.
Since forming in 2001, the Jupiter String Quartet has turned their unique family dynamic into a musical strength. The personal connections that bind them – sisters who grew up making music together, a marriage that deepened musical partnership – create an intuitive ensemble communication that audiences consistently notice. Their performances exude an energy that feels friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, bringing their close-knit musical relationships to the stage.
The Jupiter Quartet has been a regular presence at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, where their collaborative spirit aligns perfectly with the Festival's mission of bringing together exceptional musicians from around the world. Their partnership with the Ying Quartet spans multiple Festival seasons, creating the kind of musical friendships that produce memorable performances.
“It is always an immense pleasure, and one of the highlights of our year, to return to the Bowdoin Festival music community, especially when we get to play with longtime friends and colleagues like Jon Nakamatsu and Phil and David Ying! The Festival has a uniquely enthusiastic and warm atmosphere, and we always come away feeling refreshed both musically and personally.”
More about the Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter String 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, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Music Festival, 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 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 quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
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.
About the Bowdoin International Music Festival: The Bowdoin International Music Festival is one of the world’s premier music institutes. The Festival engages exceptional students and enthusiastic audiences through world-class education and performances. Each summer, 275 students from across the globe attend the Festival to study with distinguished faculty and guest artists, and the Festival presents 200 events, including concerts, masterclasses, composer lectures, and community programs. Over its 61-year history, the Festival has established itself as a vital force throughout the music world. The Festival is an independent non-profit organization. Learn more at bowdoinfestival.org.
Aug. 22: Telegraph Quartet Announces Edge of the Storm – New Album on Azica Records
Aug. 22: Telegraph Quartet Announces Edge of the Storm – New Album on Azica Records
The Telegraph Quartet Announces New Album on Azica Records
20th Century Vantage Points Volume 2: Edge of the Storm
Music From the World War II Years by Bacewicz, Britten, Weinberg
Worldwide Release: August 22, 2025
“precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication” – The Strad
Downloads and CDs available to press on request
The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) announces its new album, Edge of the Storm, to be released on August 22, 2025 on Azica Records. Edge of the Storm follows the Telegraph Quartet's acclaimed 2023 album Divergent Paths as the second volume in its 20th-Century Vantage Points series. Where the first volume featuring the quartets of Ravel and Schoenberg explored the century's opening decade of unbridled creativity, this new installment examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
On Edge of the Storm, the Telegraph delves into the brief but historically significant ten-year period of 1941-51. As Kai Christiansen writes in the liner notes, “Each composer featured on the album lived a unique wartime life that unmistakably influenced their equally unique quartet masterworks of the period.” Together, these quartets form a powerful triptych of wartime experience: Britten's exile and displacement, Weinberg's direct confrontation with genocide and loss, and Bacewicz's emergence from underground resistance into post-war renewal. Each composer's unique response to this defining historical moment creates a cohesive artistic statement about creativity's persistence through one of humanity's darkest periods.
Grażyna Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 4 (1951) emerges from the cautiously hopeful aftermath of war. During the German occupation, Bacewicz was part of the Underground Union of Musicians that sustained Polish musical life. After her family fled following the Warsaw uprising, she completed this quartet as a work commissioned by the Underground Union. It became an immediate success, capturing both the trauma and resilience of the post-war period.
Benjamin Britten's String Quartet No. 1 (1941) was written early in the war while Britten lived in exile as a conscientious objector. Having sailed to America in 1939 with Peter Pears both because of the war and for new opportunities as a composer, Britten wrote this "American" work while processing his displacement and the unfolding global tragedy. Some of the quartet's textures and moods foreshadow his later opera Peter Grimes, born from discoveries made during this pivotal wartime period.
Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 (1946) represents perhaps the most direct artistic response to wartime trauma. Written just after the war's end, it processes Weinberg's devastating personal losses – the disappearance of his parents and sister (who he later learned were murdered at Trawniki concentration camp), his father-in-law "disappeared" in Stalin's purges. The composer himself declared: “Many of my works are related to the theme of war... I regard it as my moral duty to write about the war, about the horrors that befell mankind.” Weinberg’s sixth quartet was deemed "not recommended for publication" by Soviet authorities and remained unperformed for 60 years until its 2006 premiere by the Quatuor Danel. The Telegraph Quartet was coached on the piece by Quatuor Danel's second violinist Gilles Millet in 2019.
This powerful exploration of music born from conflict continues the Telegraph Quartet's compelling discography, which in addition to 2023’s Divergent Paths, also includes the group’s full length debut, Into the Light, featuring a gripping set of works by Leon Kirchner, Anton Webern, and Benjamin Britten. Strings Magazine described the Telegraph Quartet’s performance of Britten's Three Divertimenti as “sparkl[ing] with brilliant humor,” calling the full recording an “exciting new disc.” AllMusic describes the ensemble as an “adventurous group,” stating that Into the Light “[put] the Telegraph Quartet on the map.”
Celebrated by the San Francisco Chronicle as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail,” and seen as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape," the Telegraph Quartet’s sophisticated blend of meticulous technicality and emotive chemistry has led the group to connect with audiences from all walks of life, bringing their memorable musicality to concert halls, classrooms, and vineyards alike.
Telegraph Quartet: Edge of the Storm
20th Century Vantage Points, Vol. 2
Release Date: August 22, 2025 | Azica Records
[1-3] Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969): String Quartet No. 4 (1951) [19:51]
[1] I. Andante-Allegro moderato [9:06]
[2] II. Andante [4:59]
[3] III. Allegro giocoso [5:46]
[4-7] Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 in D major (1941) [26:07]
[4] I. Andante sostenuto-Allegro vivo [9:16]
[5] II. Allegretto con slancio [3:04]
[6] III. Andante calmo [9:49]
[7] IV. Molto vivace [3:58]
[8-13] Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996): String Quartet No. 6, Op. 35 in E minor (1946) [30:45]
[8] I. Allegro semplice [6:35]
[9] II. Presto agitato - attacca [2:31]
[10] III. Allegro con fuoco - attacca [1:48]
[11] IV. Adagio [7:40]
[12] V. Moderato commodo [5:25]
[13] VI. Andante maestoso [6:46]
[Total Time: 76:43]
Recorded and Produced by Alan Bise
Cover image: Twilight | Wassily Kandinsky | Used by permission
Graphic Design: Monica Mussulin ©2025 Azica Records
Published by Azica Records 2025
About the Telegraph Quartet: The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire and contemporary, non-standard works alike. 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. 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.
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.
Aug 12: Composer Tina Davidson's Memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken - Released as Audiobook Featuring Her Music
Aug 12: Composer Tina Davidson's Memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken - Released as Audiobook Featuring Her Music
Composer Tina Davidson's Memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken
Available in Audiobook Format on August 12, 2025
Read by Davidson & Featuring Her Music Woven Throughout
Published by Boyle & Dalton
"Let Your Heart Be Broken is a consummate read in its entirety, exploring with uncommon sensitivity and poetic insight the fundamentals of love, forgiveness, creativity, and what it takes to emerge from the inner darkness into a vast vista of light, rooted in the life-tested truth that 'we are, in the end, a measure of the love we leave behind.'" – Maria Popova, The Marginalian
"an unequivocally poetic memoir on love, loss, and music" – Hugh Morris, VAN Magazine
More Information: www.tinadavidson.com/let-your-heart-be-broken
Composer and author Tina Davidson’s memoir, Let Your Heart Be Broken, will be available in audiobook format on all major platforms starting August 12, 2025 via publisher Boyle & Dalton. The audiobook, read by Davidson herself, features her music woven throughout, interspersed in sections where she discusses the compositions’ creation. This rare look inside a composer’s creative process juxtaposes recordings of Davidson’s music, memories, journal entries, and insights into the life of an artist and mother at work. Let Your Heart Be Broken was published in hardback and paperback in 2023.
“Part of my commitment as a composer is to bring others into my musical world, both through the music itself and by writing about my creative process,” says Tina Davidson. “By weaving my compositions into the chapters of this audiobook containing my journals, I'm creating a bridge between my inner creative practice and the finished work, opening the door for listeners to understand and connect more deeply.”
Davidson, a highly regarded American composer, creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyrical dignity. Lauded for her authentic voice, The New York Times has praised her “vivid ear for harmony and colors.”
Her extraordinary life story begins with her adoption at age three-and-a-half from Sweden by a visiting American professor. As the oldest of five children, she lived in Turkey, Germany, and Israel before becoming a prolific pianist and composer.
But something about her birth remained hidden—until she returned to Sweden years later and contacted the adoption agency. "Come," said the voice on the phone, "I have information for you." Along her life journey, Davidson meets Ernest Hemingway and Carl Sandburg, survives an attack by nomads in Turkey, and learns her birth father is a world-famous scientist.
“To create this memoir, I relied heavily on my memory, family stories of my childhood, and pulled from my journals, editing for clarity,” Davidson writes. “These I piece together side by side like patchwork – my growing up next to my artistic process, my evolving understanding of my life and origins next to the music I create. Writing, however, is more vulnerable, truer to life's storytelling. Composing is in a world of its own – both emotion and energy; I camouflage myself, wrap myself in a language that has no direct translation. Writing reveals me naked.”
Throughout, there is the thread of music, an ebb and a crescendo of a journey out of the past and into the present, through darkness and into the light. Compositions highlighted in Davidson’s remarkable memoir include her pieces It Is My Heart Singing for string quartet and piano (1996); Fire on the Mountain for vibraphone, marimba, and piano (1993); I Hear the Mermaids Singing for violin, cello, and piano (1990); Bleached Thread, Sister Thread for string quartet (1991); Cassandra Sings, written for the Kronos Quartet in 1989; and more. These works and others are embedded in the new audiobook.
“Rarely does a composer tie together life events and inner creative propulsion in a narrative that speaks directly to their audience. Ms. Davidson’s music is lyrical and vulnerable, as is her voice in words. Her book will allow listeners and musicians alike to build their own connections to Ms. Davidson’s work in all of its forms.”
– Hilary Hahn, violinist
“Whether she is writing about the hauntings of childhood or the day-to-day practical work of a leading American composer, Tina Davidson writes with precision and poetry, bringing us into her remarkable life.”
– Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning music writer
“Tina Davidson’s book, Let Your Heart Be Broken, is a poignant telling of a life inextricably entwined in the art of making music. It is a rare peek into the inner workings of the mind and its desires, joys, and fears, and how that affects the process of wrestling notes onto a page; a memoir filled with the twists and turns of the soul, it is a rewarding read.”
– Jennifer Higdon, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
Read excerpts from Davidson’s memoir on her blog: www.tinadavidson.com/blog
About Tina Davidson: Opera News describes Tina Davidson’s music as “transfigured beauty,” and the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that she writes “real music, with structure, mood, novelty and harmonic sophistication – with haunting melodies that grow out of complex, repetitive rhythms.”
Over her forty-five year career, Davidson has been commissioned by well-known ensembles such as National Symphony Orchestra, OperaDelaware, Roanoke Symphony, VocalEssence, Kronos Quartet, Cassatt Quartet, and public television (WHYY-TV). Her music has been widely performed by many orchestras and ensembles, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Relâche Ensemble, and Orchestra 2001.
Davidson was commissioned by Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn as part of her In 27 Pieces project. The work, Blue Curve of the Earth, was released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2013, and again in 2018 on Hahn’s new album, Retrospective.
Long-term residencies play a major role in Davidson’s career. As composer-in-residence with the Fleisher Art Memorial (1998-2001), she was commissioned to write for the Cassatt Quartet, Voces Novae et Antiquae, and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also created the city-wide Young Composers program to teach inner city children how to write music through instrument building, improvisation, and graphic notation. She was composer-in-residence as part of the innovative Meet The Composer “New Residencies” with OperaDelaware, the Newark Symphony and the YWCA in Delaware (1994-97). During this residency, she wrote the critically acclaimed full-length opera, Billy and Zelda, as well as created community partner programs for homeless women, and with students at a local elementary school.
The recipient of numerous prestigious grants and fellowships, Davidson was the first classical composer to receive a $50,000 Pew Fellowship. She has been awarded four Artist’s Fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, CAP grants from the American Music Center and numerous Meet the Composer grants. Her work, Transparent Victims, was selected by the American Public Radio as part of the International Rostrum of Composers, held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Tina Davidson’s music can be heard on Deutsche Grammophon, Albany Records, CRI, Mikrokosmik, Callisto, and Opus One recording labels. Her second solo album, It is My Heart Singing, was released on Albany Records and features three works for strings performed by the Cassatt Quartet. I Hear the Mermaids Singing was released on CRI’s Emergency Music label and includes six of her chamber works.
Tina Davidson was born in Stockholm, Sweden and grew up in Oneonta, NY and Pittsburgh, PA. She received her BA in piano and composition from Bennington College in 1976 where she studied with Henry Brant, Louis Calabro, Vivian Fine and Lionel Nowak. She founded the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Composers Forum and served as its director from 1999-2001. She was president of the New Music Alliance, a national organization, which has been responsible for the New Music America Festivals. She organized a nation-wide festival entitled “New Music Across America,” which ran in 18 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In 1992 she wrote a widely-circulated article on women in music for Ms Magazine. She lives in central Pennsylvania.