Dec. 5: Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Announces Jane Austen's Piano on Sony Classical – New Single Menuet by Händel Out Now

Expressive Young Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
Explores Jane Austen’s Musical World on New EP
Jane Austen’s Piano

New Single: Menuet by George Frideric Händel Out Today
Listen Here | Watch Music Video

Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the Beloved Author’s Birth in 2025

Worldwide Release Date: December 5, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now

To which books does a busy professional musician turn for relaxation in between the hectic whirl of rehearsals, performances and travel? 

In the case of young rising star pianist, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, whose debut album Fantasie was praised by Gramophone for its “poetry and confidence” and by BBC Music Magazine for its “sparkle and self-possession”, it’s the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817) that provide her with an unending source of enjoyment and contentment as well as revelry in the understated humour and social commentary contained therein.

So much so that Jeneba started to reflect on references to music in Jane Austen’s works and more broadly on the music of the time.  It started a new train of thought for her: known to be a pianist herself, with which music may Jane Austen have been familiar?  Which pieces might she have performed privately? 

Happily, Jeneba had two important lines of enquiry to follow: the original Austen family music book collection dating from Jane Austen’s lifetime is extant and was able to provide some direction.  Furthermore, Jane Austen is also very likely to have visited the annual local Hampshire Music Meeting, for which records exist. In fact, Jane Austen’s own piano teacher Dr George Chard, assistant organist at Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen is buried), was someone who helped organise the festival and curate the programme, all of which no doubt had a lasting musical influence on his private pupils. 

The result of Jeneba’s fascination with the music of Jane Austen’s time is this brand-new recording for solo piano: Jane Austen’s Piano, scheduled for release on December 5, 2025 via Sony Classical, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth on December 16, 1775. New single, Menuet by George Frideric Händel, is out now - listen here. Accompanying the announcement is a new music video as well - watch here.

The recording consists of six pieces overall, mirroring the fact that Jane Austen wrote six full, famous and much-loved novels: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (published in 1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Persuasion (1817) and Northanger Abbey (1817). 

Jane Austen’s Piano includes music hand-picked by Jeneba either because of its specific link to Jane Austen or for its significance to the time. It features music by George Frideric Händel (1732-1809), Joseph Haydn (1685-1759), George Kiallmark (1781-1835) and Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858) plus a bonus Jane Austen-related work composed by Dario Marianelli (b. 1963).

Jeneba has chosen Händel’s Suite in B flat major/Menuet and his Suite in D minor/Allemande for inclusion on the recording. Jane Austen would have been very familiar with Händel’s music, as his works were regularly featured at the local music festival and several arrangements of his vocal works formed part of her family’s own personal music collection.

In showcasing Haydn, Jeneba performs the Piano Sonata in C major, first published in 1780 but only published in London in 1792.  It is extra-special to Jeneba as a copy of this work in Jane Austen’s own hand appears in the Austen family music collection. It is therefore highly likely that the author herself performed this work.

As for music specifically referenced in Jane Austen’s work, Jeneba has included the Robin Adair Variations by British violinist and composer George Kiallmark, as mentioned in Jane Austen’s fourth novel ‘Emma’.  This version of the Irish folk tune appears in the Austen family music collection, signed by Jane’s sister, Cassandra and is likely the version Jane would have had in mind when referencing the piece in her novel.  Kiallmark was also someone well-known to the audiences of the local music festival, performing there in 1803 and 1805 and appointed by Jane’s teacher George Chard to be one of the principal instrumentalists at the event. 

Johann Baptist Cramer was a famous English pianist and composer of German origin, some of whose music is also contained in the Austen family music collection. He is the only composer to be named by Jane Austen in all her novels (also in ‘Emma’, referenced there as “something quite new”). His Etude No. 3 in A minor, although not in the family collection, is a welcome addition, introducing early flares of romanticism into Jane Austen’s mostly very classical piano literature. 

Finally, sitting alongside the music of the period is Dario Marianelli’s Dawn from his Oscar-nominated 2005 soundtrack to the film Pride and Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright. Jeneba has included it as a modern cinematic homage to Jane Austen’s world, bridging historical inspiration with contemporary interpretation, and also marking the 20th anniversary of the film.

About her new recording, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason notes: “I am an avid reader and from a very young age, I have thoroughly enjoyed Jane Austen’s novels and being immersed in the world that she inhabits.  When I read her books, I always find myself imagining a soundtrack to each novel. Curating this collection has therefore been such a joy, as the music has all been in my head for a very long time.”

Nov 15 & 16: California Symphony Presents BEETHOVEN’S EROICA Conducted by Donato Cabrera Featuring Pianist Robert Thies

Photo by Kristen Loken. Hi res photos available here.

California Symphony's 2025-2026 Season Continues with
BEETHOVEN’S EROICA

Celebrating the Triumph of the Human Spirit with
Jessie Montgomery’s Overture, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 featuring Soloist Robert Thies, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”

Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director
In Concert November 15 at 7:30pm & November 16 at 4:00pm
At Walnut Creek's Lesher Center for the Arts

Tickets & Information: www.californiasymphony.org

WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera continue the 2025-2026 season with BEETHOVEN’s EROICA – two concerts celebrating the triumph of the human spirit featuring Jessie Montgomery’s Overture, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 performed by the orchestra with GRAMMY-nominated pianist Robert Thies, and Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 3, “Eroica” on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 4:00pm at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek).

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

Donato Cabrera says, “Jessie Montgomery’s music has become a welcome and frequent visitor to the California Symphony stage. Her music has a unique rhythmic vitality, while at the same time exhibiting a deep sonority. Like all great composers, Ms. Montgomery seamlessly incorporates the sounds and styles that are not only surrounding her in the moment, but she also uses  sounds and styles from the past, and from all genres. Her Overture is a great example of this beautiful cornucopia. One of the oddest titles to be posthumously given to a piece of music - let’s face it, few now have seen the movie, Elvira Madigan - Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is brimming with his free and easy musical atmosphere, I am very excited to welcome back Robert Thies to play this exquisite concerto with us as he brings a sense of style and tone to the piano that is simply unmatched. While the Eroica isn’t Beethoven’s first symphony, it is the symphony that announced Beethoven’s arrival as the next great composer. I am always thrilled beyond measure to conduct this particular work because it is so dramatic in nature. It is like an opera without words.” 

Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose work interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness. Her profound works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful, and exploding with life” (The Washington Post), and she was named 2025 Classical Woman of the Year by the nationally broadcast radio program Performance Today. Montgomery describes her Overture as, “a one-movement orchestral tutti steeped in harmonic textures inspired by a fusion between jazz and American classical harmonies, Baroque rhythmic gestures, and polyphonic tension.”

Mozart composed his Piano Concerto No. 21 in 1785 during one of the most productive periods of his life, when he was writing piano concertos at an astonishing rate for his own performances as a soloist in Vienna. The work balances Mozart's characteristic elegance with moments of playful virtuosity, creating a conversation between piano and orchestra. For these performances, California Symphony welcomes back piano soloist Robert Thies, an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. Thies first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, he became the only American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s famed triumph in Moscow in 1958.

Premiered in 1805, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the Eroica, was revolutionary not only in its emotional scope but also in its sheer scale. At nearly 50 minutes, it was almost twice as long as any symphony that had come before it. Beethoven originally dedicated the work to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he admired as a champion of democratic ideals, but famously tore up the dedication page when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor. The funeral march in the second movement is powerfully beautiful, and the final movement demonstrates Beethoven's unparalleled ability to transform simple themes into profound musical statements.

Illustrating California Symphony’s signature approach to creating vibrant concerts, rich in storytelling and spanning the breadth of orchestral repertoire, the 2025-2026 season explores evocative programmatic music including Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Valentin Silvestrov’s Stille Musik; the fruitful intersection of jazz and classical in music by Jessie Montgomery, Friedrich Gulda, and George Gershwin; the monumental symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Jean Sibelius, and Alexander Borodin; the timelessness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart including excerpts from Don Giovanni; and world-class soloists in riveting concertos including pianist Robert Thies in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, Nathan Chan in Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto, violinists Jennifer Cho and Sam Weiser in Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and pianist Sofya Gulyak in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

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

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

Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. Season subscriptions and single tickets are available now. More information is available at CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, 12pm to 6pm).

FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT: California Symphony and Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera celebrate the triumph of the human spirit. These concerts open with the rich harmonies of GRAMMY-winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s Overture and continue with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 featuring pianist Robert Thies, closing with Ludwig van Beethoven’s towering Symphony No. 3 – the Eroica, a bold, powerful celebration of struggle, triumph, and humanity.

California Symphony takes the stuffiness out of the concert experience: Take selfies at the photo booth, order a signature cocktail, and sip at your seat. Tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera, starting one hour before the show.

WHEN:
Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 4:00pm

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

CONCERT:
BEETHOVEN’S EROICA
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony

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

TICKETS: Single tickets start at $50 and at $25 for students 25 and under. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Ticket Office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed – Sun, 12pm to 6pm).

PHOTOS: Available here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

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

Composer, Vocalist, and Producer Lisa Bielawa – 2025-2026 Season Highlights

Photo of Lisa Bielawa by Shawn Poynter available in high resolution here.

Composer, Vocalist, Producer Lisa Bielawa
2025-2026 Season Highlights

Knoxville Broadcast Presented by Big Ears
A Spatial Symphony for Hundreds of Musicians at World’s Fair Park in Knoxville, TN
October 17-18, 2025

Premiere Performances of Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE, by Tessa Lark
Louisville Orchestra Conducted by Teddy Abrams: October 24 & 25, 2025
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Music Director Cristian Mӑcelaru:
November 29 & 30, 2025

Composer Portrait Concert Presented by Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Performed by Contemporaneous & Lisa Bielawa Conducted by David Bloom
February 26, 2025

Appointed Howard Hanson Visiting Professor at the
Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester for 2025-2026

Currently at Work on Guggenheim Fellowship Project
La Ballonniste or Balloon: A Hot Air Opera

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

Complete Schedule: www.lisabielawa.net/calendar

Composer, producer, vocalist Lisa Bielawa, (b. 1968) is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and a Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition. She takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. Gramophone reports, “Bielawa is gaining gale force as a composer, churning out impeccably groomed works that at once evoke the layered precision of Vermeer and the conscious recklessness of Jackson Pollock.” Her music has been described as “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart,” by The New York Times, and “fluid and arresting ... at once dramatic and probing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Lisa Bielawa is established as one of today’s leading composers and performers, consistently incorporating community-making as part of her artistic vision. She has created music for public spaces in Lower Manhattan, a bridge over the Ohio River in Louisville, KY, the banks of the Tiber River in Rome, on the sites of former airfields in Berlin and San Francisco, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; she has composed and produced a twelve-episode, made-for-TV opera that features over 350 musicians and was filmed in locations across the country.

Lisa Bielawa’s 2025-2026 season features bold programming, new collaborations, and world premieres of several new works. Knoxville Broadcast, a new installment in Bielawa’s Broadcast series, will premiere on October 17 and 18, 2025 in Knoxville, TN in three site-specific performances at Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park presented by Big Ears. Violinist Tessa Lark will give the first two premiere performances of Bielawa’s Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE with two of the co-commissioning orchestras – the world premiere performances with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Teddy Abrams on October 24 and 25, 2025; and the Cincinnati premiere with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Cristian Mӑcelaru, on November 29 and 30, 2025. On February 26, 2026, Miller Theatre at Columbia University will present a Composer Portrait concert dedicated exclusively to Bielawa’s music, including the world premiere of a new work, all performed by Contemporaneous led by David Bloom, with Bielawa singing. Bielawa also serves as Howard Hanson Visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY for 2025-2026, where she will work with students who will be performing her music throughout the academic year.

On October 17 and 18, 2025, Knoxville Broadcast will be presented by Big Ears as part of its ongoing expansion beyond the festival stage with year-round engagement throughout Knoxville, TN. A large-scale, site-specific “spatial symphony,” created by Lisa Bielawa, Knoxville Broadcast will unite hundreds of musicians from across Knoxville in three free public performances at World’s Fair Park on Friday, October 17 at 6pm and Saturday, October 18 at 11am and 2pm. Knoxville Broadcast continues Bielawa’s celebrated series of Broadcast performances in Berlin, San Francisco, and Louisville, each rooted in the history and community of its location. The San Francisco Chronicle called her Crissy Broadcast “one of the most moving performances of the year … where all the boundaries we take for granted in musical life … are casually obliterated.”

For Knoxville, Bielawa has composed a new score inspired by the city’s landscape, voices, and musical traditions. More than 600 local musicians of all ages and backgrounds will take part, including the Appalachian Equality Chorus, Knoxville Community Band, Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Halls Middle School Bands, L&N Stem Academy Concert Band and Orchestra, Drums Up Guns Down, members of Nief-Norf, Hardin Valley Academy Guitar Ensemble, Roane State Community College Choir, and the University of Tennessee Gospel Choir. Three all-ages “pickup” groups—Sterchi String Band (old-time), Found Forte (youth percussion), and the Sunsphere Singers (intergenerational choir)—are also open to the public. Bielawa will weave in spoken and sung texts contributed by Knoxville residents, embedding their words and stories directly into the music.

"The abundance of musical cultures here makes Knoxville Broadcast unique among my large-scale urban celebrations,” says Bielawa. “From Appalachian traditional music and folk guitar to found object percussion and West African drumming, plus a vital tradition of school and community bands, orchestras, and choruses – it’s been an exciting adventure collaborating with this vibrant city!"

Following Knoxville Broadcast, Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto No. 2, PULSE, will have its world premiere performances by the Louisville Orchestra on October 24 and 25, 2025. The concerto will be premiered by the captivating violinist Tessa Lark, for whom Bielawa wrote the piece, and conducted by Louisville Orchestra Music Director Teddy Abrams. Lark will give the Cincinnati premiere of PULSE with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra later this fall on November 29 and 30, 2025, in concerts led by CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru. PULSE is co-commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; and Louisville Orchestra; with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica. Support has been provided by James Rosenfield, Justus Schlichting, Kari and Jon Ullman, New Music USA's Amplifying Voices Program, and the Loghaven Artist Residency.

Bielawa writes, “This concerto was conceived as a way of keeping my finger on the pulse of American life during a period of seismic change and self-examination. Composed over a six-month period starting just before the 2024 presidential election, it is also informed by my immersion during this time in our sentimental history as told through our traditional musics. Tessa Lark’s artistry draws from multiple musical traditions, from Old-time to jazz to the classical avant-garde. I have had the enviable opportunity to hear Tessa play in the Smoky Mountains with Appalachian traditional musicians, at the Blue Note in midtown Manhattan, and on concert stages in concertos and chamber music both new and old.”

On February 26, 2026, Lisa Bielawa will be featured in a Composer Portrait concert at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, with performances of her music by Contemporaneous conducted by Music and Co-Artistic Director David Bloom. The program includes Bielawa’s pieces Graffiti dell’amante (2010) and Incessabili Voce (2013) performed by Bielawa with Contemporaneous, plus the world premiere of a new work commissioned for the occasion by Miller Theatre. The new piece, written for seven instruments, will showcase the unique virtuosity of Contemporaneous and its conductor David Bloom, exploring the meeting ground between comedy and expansiveness. Bielawa’s Graffiti dell’amante is an open-ended musical-dramatic exploration of the multi-faceted predicament of the Lover inspired by Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments. Of Incessabili Voce, Bielawa writes: “In designing material for the voice, I thought about singing in church, the ecstatic singing of angels, the roar of soldiers, the mannerisms of Greek storytelling in the great oral tradition, the traditions of Gregorian and Anglican chant. The vocal part coaxes cries of various sorts out of the instruments. . . It is more of a dreamscape than a story, more cry than word.”

Lisa Bielawa’s music is frequently performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. She is currently at work on her Guggenheim Fellowship project, a hybrid film and live action opera called La Ballonniste or Balloon: A Hot Air Opera – a heartfelt comedy centering on 18th century French opera singer Élisabeth Tible, the first woman to fly in a hot air balloon. Bielawa’s music has recently been premiered at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, SHIFT Festival, Town Hall Seattle, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Summer Series in New York’s Central Park, National Sawdust, Le Poisson Rouge, Rouen Opera, Helsinki Music Center, Arsenal de Metz, Japan Society, and MAXXI Museum in Rome, among others. Orchestras that have championed her music include the Louisville Orchestra, The Knights, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, American Composers Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Orlando Philharmonic; she has also written for the combined forces of The Knights, San Francisco Girls Chorus, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Premieres of her work have been commissioned and presented by leading ensembles and organizations including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Big Ears, Miami String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Seattle Chamber Music Society, American Guild of Organists, American Pianists Association, California Music Center, Akademiska Sångföreningen (Helsinki), Paul Dresher Ensemble, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, the Washington and PRISM Saxophone Quartets, Ensemble Variances (commissioned by Radio France), and more. Bielawa’s music has been recorded on the Tzadik, Orange Mountain, Supertrain, Cedille, TROY, Innova, BMOP/sound, and Sono Luminus labels.

Bielawa is the recipient of the Music Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, an OPERA America Grant for Female Composers, a 2025 commission from The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, and is a 2025 New Music USA Amplifying Voices composer. She was named a William Randolph Hearst Visiting Artist Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society for 2018 and was Artist-in-Residence at Kaufman Music Center in New York for the 2020-2021 season. During the 2022-23 season, she was a member of the inaugural Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps.

For more information about Lisa Bielawa: LisaBielawa.net

Ariel Quartet Releases Volume Two of Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle - First Single Out Now

Ariel Quartet Continues Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle
Three Albums over Two Years

Culminating in 2027
Honoring Beethoven’s Legacy 200 Years After His Passing 

Volume Two to be Released Worldwide on November 7, 2025
On Orchid Classics 

First Single Out Now: LISTEN

“At moments on this lively first volume of its perusal of the complete Beethoven string quartets, the players of the Ariel Quartet come across like a living organism with a single central nervous system that transmits emotional impulses to every part of the body.”
– Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times, on Vol. 1

Review CDs and downloads available upon request. 

Ariel Quartet: www.arielquartet.com/the-cycle

Upcoming Performances: www.arielquartet.com/schedule

The Ariel Quartet (Alexandra Kazovsky, violin; Gershon Gerchikov, violin; Jan Grüning, viola; and Amit Even-Tov, cello) – distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned performances – will release the complete Beethoven String Quartets over two years on the Orchid Classics label, culminating in 2027, the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death. The Quartet released the first volume of the series on April 4, 2025, and will release volume two on November 7, 2025, with volume three arriving in June 2026 and a special box set release in March 2027.

Volume two of the cycle, recorded across three CDs, includes Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartets – String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1; String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3; and String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 – as well as his String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74; and String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op. 95, “Quartetto serioso.” The first single from the album, movement one of Op. 95, is available now.

The Ariel Quartet’s first volume of this Beethoven Cycle has been met with considerable critical acclaim, with positive reviews in The New York Times, Gramophone, The Whole Note, Classical Voice of North America, and more. Richard Wigmore wrote in Gramophone magazine that the album included, “supremely skillful, deeply considered performances . . . no one could deny the physical and intellectual energy of the Ariel’s playing, or their sheer technical brilliance.”

Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel Quartet has a long history with the quartets of Beethoven. His String Quartet in C minor, Op.18 No.4 was the very first piece that the group tackled together as thirteen year olds, and the members credit the work for hooking them on the genre, for life.

The Quartet recounts an early experience with Beethoven’s Op. 59, the Razumovsky Quartets, which left a long-lasting impression. They write, “A memorable milestone in our personal journey with Beethoven was a concert at Frankfurt’s Kaisersaal during the 1999-2000 season, where we performed all three Razumovsky Quartets in a single evening. At sixteen, we approached the challenge with youthful excitement, and through countless hours in rehearsal we began to understand the depth and demands of this music – gradually developing not only the stamina, but the artistic maturity required to bring over two hours of this intricate music to life. Youthful enthusiasm (let’s be honest: fearlessness) alone allowed us to commit to the repertoire for this important concert without hesitation – and luckily, all went well. In hindsight, preparing this music for increasingly demanding opportunities played a crucial role in forging a confident and lasting relationship with this extraordinary canon.”

In 2013 to mark its 15th anniversary, the Ariel Quartet performed its first complete Beethoven cycle – a landmark for the group, which has been performing Beethoven’s music since its inception. Since then, the Ariel has performed the complete cycle on six occasions throughout the United States and Europe. They view the complete quartets as part of their personal life-long journey reflected in Beethoven’s music – works that are interwoven with the evolution of the string quartet genre as well as the group’s own genesis story.

The Quartet writes:

“As interpreters, we love diving deeply into the music’s details and we leave no theoretical and contextual stone unturned. At the same time, we make sure to maintain our intuitive approach to the music: every work we learn is first sight-read without preparation, unlocking our purest emotional reactions to the music. These feelings are then carefully preserved, allowing us to channel them when all the technical work of putting things where they belong is done. The next stage is when the magic truly happens, and we feel lucky to have been experiencing this over and over since 1998: when the music meets the energy of the audience it starts to develop a life of its own, making each performance a once-in-a-lifetime event. This connection transforms both the music and ourselves, and it’s this immediacy and expressivity we aimed to capture in our recording.”

More about the Ariel Quartet: The Ariel Quartet was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. Recent highlights include the Quartet’s sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati. The Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad. 

The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today’s eminent and rising young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem String Quartets. The Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and performed frequently with pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartet-in-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.

Formerly the resident ensemble of the Professional String Quartet Training Program at the New England Conservatory, from which the players obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees, the Ariel was mentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz. It has won numerous international prizes in addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award: First Prize at the prestigious Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz/Austria, Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. About its performances at the Banff competition, the American Record Guide described the group as “a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power” and noted, in particular, their playing of Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, as “the pinnacle of the competition.”

The Ariel Quartet has received significant support from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund. Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.

Follow the Ariel Quartet:
www.instagram.com/arielquartet
www.facebook.com/ArielQuartet

ALBUM TRACK LISTING:
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 2
Ariel Quartet
Orchid Classics | Release Date: November 7, 2025

DISC 1: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 

String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1
1 Allegro [10:04]
2 Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando [8:55]
3 Adagio molto e mesto [13:10]
4 Thème Russe: Allegro [8:27] 

String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3
5 Introduzione: Andante con moto – Allegro vivace [10:48]
6 Andante con moto quasi allegretto [9:52]
7 Menuetto: Grazioso [5:12]
8 Allegro molto [6:09]

Total time: 72.41

DISC 2: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 

String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2
1 Allegro [13:55]
2 Molto adagio [12:36]
3 Allegretto [7:30]
4 Presto [5:29]

Total time: 39:33

DISC 3: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 

String Quartet No.10 in E-flat major, Op. 74
1 Poco adagio – Allegro [9:23]
2 Adagio ma non troppo [9:22]
3 Presto [5:02]
4 Allegretto con variazioni [6:45] 

String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, "Quartetto serioso"
5 Allegro con brio [4:15]
6 Allegretto ma non troppo [7:19]
7 Allegro assai vivace ma serioso [4:23]
8 Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto agitato – Allegro [4:36]

Total time: 51:11

Ariel Quartet:
Alexandra Kazovsky, violin
Gershon Gerchikov, violin
Jan Grüning, viola
Amit Even–Tov, cello 

Recorded at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music on 30 April & 1-3 May 2024 (Disc 1), 17-19 March 2025
(Disc 2) & 27-30 May 2025 (Disc 3)
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineer: Shauna Barravecchio
Assistant Engineer: Adam Sorley
Editing Engineers: Caroline Shaffer Robin, Alexandre Robin, Karl Doty & Thiago Wolf
Mix Engineer: Jesse Lewis
Denoise Engineers: Kyle Pyke & Mark Alletag
Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Authoring Engineer: Shauna Barravecchio
Cover & booklet photography: Marco Borggreve

© 2025 Orchid Music Limited

Oct. 24-25: World Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto PULSE – Performed by the Louisville Orchestra Featuring Violinist Tessa Lark Conducted by Music Director Teddy Abrams

Photo of Tessa Lark by Lauren Desberg available here & Lisa Bielawa by Shawn Poynter available here.

World Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto PULSE 
on October 24 & 25, 2025

Performed by the Louisville Orchestra
Conducted by Music Director Teddy Abrams
Featuring Violin Soloist Tessa Lark

Friday, October 24, 2025 at 11am and Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 7:30pm
Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center | 501 W. Main St. | Louisville, KY
Tickets & Information

Lisa Bielawa: www.lisabielawa.net | Tessa Lark: www.tessalark.com

Louisville, KY – Composer Lisa Bielawa’s new work, a violin concerto titled PULSE, will be given its world premiere performances by the Louisville Orchestra led by Music Director Teddy Abrams with violin soloist and Kentucky native Tessa Lark, on Friday, October 24, at 11am and Saturday, October 25, at 7:30pm at Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center. Lisa Bielawa is a familiar face to Louisville audiences – she lived in Louisville as an inaugural member of the Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps during the 2022-23 season. In addition to writing several works for the orchestra and touring throughout the state, Bielawa also composed and produced Louisville Broadcast with the Louisville Orchestra – a spatial symphony featuring hundreds of Louisville musicians performed outdoors at Shelby Park and the Big Four Bridge in spring 2023.

Of her new violin concerto, Bielawa writes, “This concerto was conceived as a way of keeping my finger on the pulse of American life during a period of seismic change and self-examination. Composed over a six-month period starting just before the 2024 presidential election, it is also informed by my immersion during this time in our sentimental history as told through our traditional musics. Tessa Lark’s artistry draws from multiple musical traditions, from Old-time to jazz to the classical avant-garde. I have had the enviable opportunity to hear Tessa play in the Smoky Mountains with Appalachian traditional musicians, at the Blue Note in midtown Manhattan, and on concert stages in concertos and chamber music both new and old.”

Lark, for whom Bielawa wrote this concerto, is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. Increasingly in demand in the classical realm, in 2020 she was nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. She is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.

PULSE was co-commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; and Louisville Orchestra; with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica. Support has also been provided by James Rosenfield, Justus Schlichting, Kari and Jon Ullman, New Music USA's Amplifying Voices Program, and the Loghaven Artist Residency. Tessa Lark will give the Cincinnati premiere of PULSE with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra later this fall on November 29 and 30, 2025, in concerts led by CSO Music Director Cristian Măcelaru.

In addition to PULSE, Lisa Bielawa’s 2025-2026 season features more bold programming, new collaborations, and world premieres of several new works. Knoxville Broadcast, a new installment in Bielawa’s Broadcast series, will premiere on October 17 and 18, 2025 in Knoxville, TN in three site-specific performances at Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park presented by Big Ears. On February 26, 2026, Miller Theatre at Columbia University in New York will present a Composer Portrait concert dedicated exclusively to Bielawa’s music, including the world premiere of a new work, all performed by Contemporaneous led by David Bloom, with Bielawa singing. She is also currently at work on her Guggenheim Fellowship project, a hybrid film and live action opera called La Ballonniste or Balloon: A Hot Air Opera – a heartfelt comedy centering on 18th century French opera singer Élisabeth Tible, the first woman to fly in a hot air balloon.

Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a Guggenheim Fellow and Rome Prize winner who takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. She has received awards and fellowships from the Koussevitzky Foundation, American Academy of Arts & Letters, OPERA America, American Antiquarian Society, Loghaven Artist Residency, and was part of the inaugural Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps. She received a Los Angeles Area Emmy nomination for her unprecedented, made-for-TV-and-online opera Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser. Her music has been premiered at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, SHIFT Festival, National Cathedral, Rouen Opera, MAXXI Museum in Rome, and Helsinki Music Center, among others. Orchestras that have championed her music include The Knights, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, ROCO, and the Orlando Philharmonic. Premieres of her work have been commissioned and presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Rider, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Radio France, Yerevan Concert Hall in Armenia, the Venice Architectural Biennale, American Music Week in Salzburg, the INFANT Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, and more. Bielawa consistently incorporates community-making as part of her artistic vision. She has created music for public spaces in Lower Manhattan, a bridge over the Ohio River in Louisville, KY, the banks of the Tiber River in Rome, on the sites of former airfields in Berlin and San Francisco, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the pandemic, Bielawa cultivated a virtual community using submitted testimonies and recorded voices from six continents through her work Broadcast from Home, now archived by the Library of Congress.

Oct. 23-25: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Performs Three Concerts in West Hartford, CT and Worcester, MA

Photo of Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn by Grayson Dantzic available in high resolution here.

GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein 
Performs Three Concerts in West Hartford, CT and Worcester, MA
October 23-25, 2025

Performing Music from New Bach Album Complicité
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Library of Congress’s Concert Series

Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 7:30pm
Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn: Music from New Album Complicité
with CONCORA at the University of Hartford
Presented by the Richard P. Garmany Concert Series
Tickets & Information

Friday, October 24, 2025 at 8pm
Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn: Music from New Album Complicité
with Mezzo-Soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano & CONCORA at Mechanics Hall
Presented by Music Worcester as part of BACHtoberfest 2025
Tickets & Information

Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 8pm
Simone Dinnerstein and Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach
Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord and Inventions and Sinfonias at Mechanics Hall
Presented by Music Worcester as part of BACHtoberfest 2025
Tickets & Information

Complicité is Out Now on Supertrain Records
Listen to Simone Dinnerstein on NPR’s Morning Edition

Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com

Hartford, CT; Worcester, MA – GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein – who is described by The Washington Post as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity” – will give three performances centered around the music of J.S. Bach on October 23, 24, and 25, 2025, presented by the Richard P. Garmany Concert Series at the University of Hartford (October 23) and by Music Worcester as part of BACHtoberfest 2025 (October 24 and 25).

On Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 7:30pm, Dinnerstein performs with Baroklyn – the string ensemble she founded and directs – in music from their new Bach album, Complicité, plus Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E Major, BWV 1060. The concert will also feature CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists). The performance, presented by the Garmany Concert Series, will take place in Millard Auditorium at the University of Hartford (200 Bloomfield Ave., Hartford, CT). They will repeat the program as part of Music Worcester’s BACHtoberfest on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 8pm at Mechanics Hall (321 Main St., Worcester, MA). As part of both programs, Dinnerstein will be making her conducting debut, conducting Cantata BWV 9 and movements from Cantatas 99, 22, and 182 with CONCORA and Baroklyn.

With her longtime friend and musical colleague, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, Dinnerstein will also perform a second concert as part of Music Worcester’s BACHtoberfest at Mechanics Hall on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 8pm. The program features Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord and his Inventions and Sinfonias.

Simone Dinnerstein is well known for her distinctive musical voice and for her expressive performances of music by J.S. Bach. She 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.”

Her new album with Baroklyn, Complicité, includes Dinnerstein and Baroklyn’s arrangement of Bach’s chorale Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf, BWV 617; Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053; J.S. Bach: Der Leib war in der Erden, BWV 161 (arr. Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn); Bach’s Cantata 170, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust with continuo realization by Philip Lasser, featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano; and In the Air, Lasser’s recomposition of Bach’s Air on the G String.

The deeply felt recording has been warmly received by listeners – Complicité has already been streamed over 1 million times. Gramophone describes Dinnerstein’s performance as “full of life, engagement and detail.” Of the new album, Textura writes: “Not only are the performances terrific, the music impresses for being more than faithful replications of existing scores but instead arresting re-imaginings that take Bach's pieces into dynamic new realms.” Read the album press release here and listen here.

Dinnerstein says of her group Baroklyn, “Baroklyn is a group of string players which I lead from the piano. We’re a community that shares the artistic vision that is most important to me, that music should be creative and new. Rehearsal is important to us, and I’ve been influenced by theater practice in which we listen to each other and pass musical ideas and phrases within the group. We rehearse and perform in a semi-circle around the piano and I rearrange parts to emphasize lines, voices and imitative qualities to create a sense of dialogue.” The ensemble’s name is a portmanteau of Baroque and Brooklyn, Dinnerstein’s home borough.

Coinciding with the album’s release, Dinnerstein spoke with NPR’s Morning Edition about the project, as well as about her experience with performance anxiety and the way that playing with the sheet music on an iPad has resolved this for her. Of her work with Baroklyn, she said, “It's like a sharing circle, and you hear everybody's individuality, their individual sound as it gets passed around.” Listen to the NPR interview here.

Simone Dinnerstein and Alexis Pia Gerlach are not only musical collaborators but also dear friends. “Alexis and I have been playing chamber music together since our tweens as students at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division,” says Dinnerstein. “Playing with her feels like breathing.” For their October 25 concert, they will perform a program that includes Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1027-1029; Inventions, BWV 772-786, and Sinfonias, BWV 787-801.

Dinnerstein recorded an album of Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias in 2014 for Sony Classical. BBC Music Magazine described Dinnerstein’s performance on the album as: “stylish, crisply articulated.” She says, “The first keyboard pieces of Bach that I remember hearing were his Inventions, when I was nine years old. The music seemed impossibly expressive and virtuosic at the time, and wholly beyond my abilities. Here were two continuous and independent voices, neither of which was subservient to the other. Until then I had thought of music as melody and accompaniment. Instrumental training is as much a training in how to listen as in how to play. In the text that accompanies the Inventions, Bach calls them ‘an honest guide.’ His Inventions and Sinfonias are marvels in demonstrating just how potent counterpoint is as an aid to expression, and how powerful a cantabile voice can be when surrounded by contradiction and elaboration. These small masterpieces have snippets of dances in them, laments and celebrations, simplicity and complexity.”

Simone Dinnerstein served as Music Worcester's first Artist-In-Residence during its 2018-2019 season. During her residency she performed at beloved Worcester music venues including Mechanics Hall, The Hanover Theatre, and Tuckerman Hall as both a soloist and ensemble leader with groups including Pam Tanowitz Dance, A Far Cry, and The Havana Lyceum Orchestra. Additionally, she brought her "Bach-Packing" program to several of Worcester's public elementary schools throughout the season to work directly with students in the classroom. She was awarded the Key To The City by Worcester mayor Joe Petty in May of 2019 following the completion of her Residency with Music Worcester.

More about Simone Dinnerstein: 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 fifteen albums, all of which have topped the Billboard classical charts. Her first fourteen albums were recorded with 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. Her most recent recording Complicité (Supertrain Records, 2025), 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. 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.

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 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 and the Cleveland Orchestra.

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.

Oct. 26: Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Music on Madison – Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados

Photo by Dario Acosta available in high resolution here.

Pianist Charlotte Hu Presented by Music on Madison
Performing the Music of Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados

Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 3pm
Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church
921 Madison Avenue | New York, NY
Tickets and information

“praises follow her all around the world” – International Piano

charlottehu.com

New York, NY – Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu will be presented in concert by Music on Madison on Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 3pm. The performance will be held at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (921 Madison Avenue). Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) has been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for her dazzling virtuosity, captivating musicianship, and magnetic stage presence.

With a fierce dedication to making classical music more accessible, Hu presents captivating programs that tell human stories inclusive of gender and race. By juxtaposing audience favorites with underperformed treasures and newly commissioned works, Charlotte Hu’s recitals consistently offer musical and narrative contrasts that encourage people to listen deeply and discover anew the work of even the most well-known composers.

For this concert presented by Music on Madison, Hu will perform a program dedicated to the music of Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados. This program connects Hu’s past and future, as the Romantic era Polish pianist and composer was the primary inspiration behind her debut solo album Chopin, released on ArchiMusic in 2011. The recording was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan's prestigious Golden Melody Award.

Conversely, Granados serves as the inspiration for Hu’s next album – her second on the PENTATONE label following 2024’s Liszt: Metamorphosis – which will be released in June 2026. Focusing on Granados’ Goyescas Suite (1911), Hu brings the vibrant, expressive, and emotionally rich melodies from this work to the live ambiance of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. The complete concert program will include: Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie in A-Flat Major, Op. 61; Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60; selections of Mazurkas; and Polonaise "Heroic," Op. 53; as well as Goyescas No. 1: "Los requiebros" (Compliments/Flattery); No. 2: "Coloquio en la reja" (Conversation at the Window); and No. 3: "El fandango de candil" (Fandango by Candlelight) by Granados.

Hu says of this emotive program:

“I'm excited to share two composers who have become closest to my heart throughout my artistic journey: Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados. What fascinates me about both is how they each found their unique voice within the Romantic tradition - while both were immersed in 19th-century Paris, they remained deeply connected to their roots. Chopin brings that elegant, introspective Polish soul to everything he touches, while Granados captures something so passionate and brilliantly expressive about the Spanish spirit.

This program features some of Chopin's most treasured late works - his Barcarolle and the Polonaise-Fantasie - alongside three pieces from Granados's incredible and rarely performed Goyescas suite. I'm particularly thrilled about the Granados selections because they're part of my upcoming PENTATONE album, set for release on June 5, 2026. It's wonderful to be able to share this music with the audience at Music on Madison fresh from the studio!”

More about Charlotte Hu: As a soloist, Charlotte Hu has astounded audiences across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing sold-out concerts at many of the world’s most prestigious venues — including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Osaka’s Symphony Hall. She is a frequent guest at music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ruhr-Klavier Festival, and Oregon Bach Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Taiwan Philharmonic, among others. Recent and upcoming highlights for Charlotte Hu include performances presented by Newport Classical, the Mansion at Strathmore, the Gilmore Piano Festival, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Taipei Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Center, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Taichung Opera House.

An active recording artist, Charlotte Hu’s debut album of Chopin works on ArchiMusic was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Melody Award, and recordings released on Naxos/CAG Records and BMOP/sound with Boston Modern Orchestra Project have received overwhelming critical acclaim. Her Rachmaninoff album on Centaur/Naxos received a five-star review by the U.K.’s Pianist magazine, which called it “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.” Her latest album, Liszt Metamorphosis, was released by PENTATONE in July 2024. In June 2026, Charlotte will release her next album on PENTATONE, which will feature Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite in its entirety.

Charlotte Hu is the founder of two piano festivals across two continents: the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei and the PYPA Piano Festival in Philadelphia. Now in its 13th year, PYPA has become an important fixture in the classical music world, cultivating a deeper appreciation for classical music and serving as a cultural bridge between East and West.

At the heart of Charlotte’s success is a story of strength, dedication, and resilience that has powered her dream of becoming a world-class artist. Moving to the United States from Taiwan at age 14 without her parents to begin studies at The Juilliard School was the first of many challenges Charlotte has overcome in building her illustrious career — one that’s included winning top prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, performing on classical music’s biggest stages, and fostering the next generation of musicians as an advocate for classical music through entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives. A tireless advocate for humanity, Charlotte raised $27,000 for youth education charities through a Hope Charity Concert live-streamed on her Facebook page in June 2020. The online concert reached more than 140,000 people across the globe.

A Steinway Artist, Charlotte Hu serves as an associate professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and as an artist in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, in addition to her busy performance schedule. She is a frequent guest artist, leading master classes and artist residencies at universities and music festivals worldwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Germany’s Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media, where she studied with Herbert Stessin, Sergei Babayan, and Karl-Heinz Kammerling, respectively.

For more information, visit www.charlottehu.com

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu, who the Jerusalem Post describes as having “superstar quality” and being “musical, energetic, and full of flair,” is presented in concert by Music on Madison. Hu will perform a program featuring the music of Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Charlotte Hu
Presented by Music on Madison
What: Music by Frédéric Chopin and Enrique Granados
When: Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 3pm
Where: Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, 921 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10021
Tickets and information: mapc.com/music/sams

Oct. 26: Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Jun Cho Perform American Sketches – Presented by The Phillips Collection

L-R Violinist Kristin Lee, Pianist Jun Cho

Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Jun Cho
Perform American Sketches in Washington D.C.
Presented by The Phillips Collection

Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 4pm
The Phillips Collection | 1600 21st Street NW | Washington, DC
Sold Out (Rush Tickets and Standby Tickets Only)
More Information

Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com | Jun Cho: www.junchopiano.com

Listen to American Sketches

Washington DC – On Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 4pm, violinist Kristin Lee – praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy” – will perform with pianist Jun Cho in a concert presented by The Phillips Collection (1600 21st Street NW). Coinciding with The Phillips Collection’s exhibition Out of Many: Reframing an American Art Collection (November 8, 2025-February 15, 2026), the program features music from Kristin Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches, released on First Hand Records last year.

Out of Many tells a dynamic story of how artists have imagined and depicted American identity. Like the exhibition, American Sketches presents a panoramic view of America’s musical landscape, reflecting the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history. The album and concert program also encompass Lee’s journey as an American as well as the journeys of the composers she has selected. The concert is part of Phillips Music, the museum’s renowned Sunday Concerts series, now in its 85th season. For over 80 years, Phillips Music has presented exceptional young musicians alongside an international roster of acclaimed performers in the intimate, art-filled setting of the museum’s Music Room. A cornerstone of Washington, DC’s classical music scene, the series continues to champion both classic repertoire and innovative new works.

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

For her American Sketches program at The Phillips Collection, Kristin Lee will perform Four Southland Sketches by H.T. Burleigh (1866-1949); Non-Poem 4 by Jonathan Ragonese (b.1989); Sonata No. 2 “Poeme Mystique” by Ernst Bloch (1880-1959); But Not For Me (arr. Jeremy Jordan) by George Gershwin (1898-1937); Lament (arr. Jeremy Jordan) by J.J. Johnson (1924-2001); The Entertainer (arr. Jeremy Jordan); by Scott Joplin (1868-1917); Romance by Amy Beach (1867-1944) and Fantasy on Themes from Porgy and Bess (arr. Frolov) by George Gershwin (1898-1937).

American Sketches embraces the beauty of cultural diversity in the U.S. The album has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select repertoire for the album that would express her pride in the country she now calls her own.

Performing on a violin crafted in Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano, in addition to her solo appearances, Kristin Lee tours throughout the world as a member of New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including in Italy, Croatia, Germany, Taiwan, and across the U.S. Always up for adventure, at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, Lee has performed in such unexpected places as rafting down the Colorado River, in a natural rock grotto, and in the magical landscape of the red rock canyons of the area.

As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. In 2026, she makes her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall performing her program American Sketches with pianist John Novacek. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly in New York at Lincoln Center and on tour.

In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is a devoted educator. She has served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and she has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Lee is also the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State.

Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation.

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

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” will perform with pianist Jun Cho in American Sketches, a concert inspired by Lee’s debut album of the same title, which reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. The concert, presented by The Phillips Collection, will include works by H.T. Burleigh, Jonathan Ragonese, Ernst Bloch, George Gershwin, J.J. Johnson, Scott Joplin; and Amy Beach.

Concert details:

Who: Violinist Kristin Lee and Pianist Jun Cho Presented by The Phillips Collection
What: American Sketches
When: Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 4pm
Where: The Phillips Collection 1600 21st Street NW, Washington DC, 20009
Tickets: Sold Out - Rush and Standby Tickets Only
More Information: www.phillipscollection.org/event/2025-10-26-kristin-lee-and-jun-cho

Sarah Kirkland Snider’s First Opera HILDEGARD Premieres at Los Angeles Opera at The Wallis (Nov 5-9) and PROTOTYPE in NYC (Jan 9-17)

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s First Opera HILDEGARD

Rolling World Premiere Performances:
Los Angeles Opera at The Wallis – November 5-9, 2025
PROTOTYPE in NYC at BRIC Arts Media – January 9-17, 2026
Plus Aspen Music Festival Summer 2026 

Co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects & Aspen Music Festival and School 

Schedule: www.sarahkirklandsnider.com/events

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, deemed “one of new music’s leading names” (Gramophone), writes music of direct expression and dramatic narrative that has been hailed as “rapturous” (The New York Times) and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). With an attention to detail that is “as intricate and exquisite as a spider’s web” (BBC Music Magazine), her music synthesizes diverse influences to render a nuanced command of immersive storytelling. Snider’s first opera, HILDEGARD, for which she also wrote the libretto, will be presented in rolling world premieres by Los Angeles Opera (November 5-9, 2025) and PROTOTYPE Festival in New York (January 9-17, 2026), with subsequent performances at the Aspen Music Festival and School (Summer 2026, details TBA). 

Co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and the Aspen Music Festival and School, HILDEGARD is a work of operatic historical fiction about twelfth-century German Benedictine abbess/polymath St. Hildegard von Bingen. Set in 1147, the opera follows Hildegard as she receives visions from God. While transcribing these visions for Papal evaluation – a process that will decide her prophet or heretic – she enlists the young convalescent Richardis von Stade to illustrate the manuscript. As they develop a transformative collaboration that awakens them in ways both profound and unexpected, the two women must confront the powers that would see them erased from history rather than authoring it. At the same time, Hildegard is haunted by mysterious visions she cannot explain, forcing her to grapple with unacknowledged truths she can no longer deny. 

Inspired by historical events and the writings of Hildegard von Bingen, HILDEGARD is a meditation on the desire for connection – to spirituality, to humanity, and to our most authentic sense of self – and the conflicts that can compete therein.

For eight years, Snider extensively researched Hildegard's life and work, as well as Benedictine monastic culture and the broader socio-political history of Hildegard’s time. Snider also visited Eibingen Abbey and the ruins of Disibodenberg Monastery, and consulted with renowned Hildegard scholar Barbara Newman. Snider chose to write the libretto herself so that she could develop the text and music simultaneously, and because she had a clear idea of how she wanted to tell Hildegard’s story. 

Snider says, “I have chronic migraine, and first learned about Hildegard von Bingen through reading Oliver Sacks’s book Migraine, in which Sacks popularized a theory suggesting that Hildegard’s visions were a result of migraine. I immediately wanted to know more. Thus began a twenty-five-year fascination with Hildegard – her music, visions, and astonishing story. I was awestruck by her triumph over self-doubt, illness, and the otherwise impenetrable social barriers of her time to become the first woman in the history of the Catholic Church to speak and write in the name of God. I wanted to share this story while exploring aspects of her philosophy and the more mysterious realm of her visions, and I thought it would be interesting to do this through the prism of her relationship with fellow nun Richardis von Stade, with whom she shared an impassioned yet complicated love. Opera is an art form that excites me most when it deals with complex, layered emotions. I wanted to explore not only the struggle for intellectual and artistic expression in an oppressive environment, but also what happens when the human desire for connection comes into conflict with socially conditioned notions of right and wrong. Hildegard overcame extraordinary obstacles to lead a self-directed, creatively expansive life. I hope that my treatment of her story will resonate with anyone who has chafed against power structures or societal norms in pursuit of living their authentic truth.”

Beth Morrison is the creative producer of HILDEGARD and Beth Morrison Projects is the producer. The opera is directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer with music director Gabriel Crouch, and stars Nola Richardson (Hildegard von Bingen), Mikaela Bennett (Richardis von Stade), Raha Mirzadegan (Angel), Blythe Gaissert (Margravine von Stade), Roy Hage (Volmar), Patrick Bessenbacher (Mechthild), David Adam Moore (Abbot Cuno), and Paul Chwe MinChul An (Otto). The Los Angeles Opera production will feature LA Opera Orchestra instrumentalists, while the PROTOTYPE performances will feature NOVUS. The creative team comprises Marsha Ginsberg, scenic designer; Molly Irelan, costume designer; Pablo Santiago, lighting designer; Deborah Johnson, projection designer; Drew Sensue-Weinstein, sound designer; and Annie Jin Wang, dramaturg.

Of the approach to the production, director Elkhanah Pulitzer says, “The piece is a blend of influences inspired by Medieval religious paintings and iconography, and Hildegard’s own artwork put through a filter of minimalist, modern design. We emphasize symbolic representation and spirituality while breaking with some of the tropes one carries in mind associated with monastic life in the 12th century. The veil between what is real and what lies in the realm of mystery and metaphor is also celebrated in the work, inspired by Hildegard’s visions.”

With two grants from Opera America, HILDEGARD has been workshopped at Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts Atelier program (2023), Opera Fusion: New Works at Cincinnati Opera (2024), and Mannes College of Music (2025).

Photo by Anja Schutz available in high resolution here.

About Sarah Kirkland Snider:

Sarah Kirkland Snider’s music has been commissioned and/or performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Cleveland Orchestra; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra; New York Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; Philharmonia Orchestra; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Residentie Orkest; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Emerson String Quartet; Renée Fleming and Will Liverman; Deutsche Grammophon for mezzo Emily D’Angelo; percussionist Colin Currie; eighth blackbird; A Far Cry; and Roomful of Teeth, among many others. The winner of the 2014 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Lebenbom Competition, Snider’s recent works include Forward Into Light, an orchestral commission for the New York Philharmonic inspired by American women suffragists; Drink the Wild Ayre, the final commission by the legendary Emerson String Quartet; Mass for the Endangered, a Trinity Wall Street-commissioned prayer for the environment for choir and ensemble, programmed by dozens of choirs the world over; and Embrace, an orchestral ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

Snider’s music will be performed around the world during the 2025-2026 season in cities including Paris, France; Offenbach, Germany; Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia; and Antwerp, Belgium; as well as across the United States from Brooklyn, New York and Baltimore, Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Berkeley, California. In addition, in February 2026 Sarah Kirkland Snider will release her fifth full-length LP, a new, all-orchestral album titled Forward Into Light produced by multi-Grammy-winning producer Silas Brown and recorded by Andrew Cyr and the Metropolis Ensemble, which features her work Forward Into Light; the string orchestra version of Drink the Wild Ayre; Eye of Mnemosyne, commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic; and Something for the Dark, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The album will be co-released by the label that Snider co-founded, New Amsterdam Records, and Nonesuch Records. 

Snider’s four full-length LPs – The Blue Hour (Nonesuch/NewAmsterdam, 2022), Mass for the Endangered (Nonesuch/NewAmsterdam, 2020), Unremembered (New Amsterdam, 2015), and Penelope (New Amsterdam, 2010) – have garnered year-end nods and critical acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Gramophone Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Music Magazine, The Nation, and many others. A founding Co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based non-profit New Amsterdam Records, Sarah Kirkland Snider has an M.M.and Artist’s Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She was a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University in fall 2023. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. 

For more information about Sarah Kirkland Snider: www.sarahkirklandsnider.com/bio

Oct 26: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents Rachel Barton Pine Performing on Violin and the Museum's Historic Viola d’Amore

Photo of Rachel Barton Pine by Lisa Marie Mazzucco. Press photos available here.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents Rachel Barton Pine
Performing on Violin and Viola d’Amore

Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 1:30pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall
25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Information: gardnermuseum.org/calendar/rachel-barton-pine-10.26.25

“Striking and charismatic . . . she demonstrated a bravura technique and soulful musicianship.” — The New York Times

For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com

BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Fall 2025 Weekend Concert Series, presenting Rachel Barton Pine, described by The Washington Post as "display[ing] a power and confidence that puts her in the top echelon,” on Sunday, October 26 at 1:30pm. Pine will give a very special recital with pianist Matthew Hagle, performing on her own violin and viola d’amore, as well as on the Gardner Museum’s extraordinary 18th century viola d’amore, which she tested at the Museum last year.

The Gardner Museum’s viola d’amore, which was last played in concert in the 1980s, was crafted in the 1770s by Tomaso Eberle in Naples, Italy, and is on display in the Yellow Room. The instrument was given to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1903 by composer Charles Martin Loeffler, who was her close friend and central to music programming at the Museum. Championed by composers as varied as Vivaldi, Haydn, and Bernstein, the viola d’amore developed from roots in Middle Eastern music. The Museum’s instrument has seven bowed strings and additional sympathetic strings, which add a silvery glow to its sound.

On October 26, Rachel Barton Pine will perform selections by Vivaldi, Telemann, and Haydn for viola d’amore, as well as two works composed by Loeffler—his Mescolanza “Olla Podrida” and Norske Land. On violin, she will perform Brahms’s Violin Sonata and Sarasate’s Introduction and Tarantella.

With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Rachel Barton Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music. Her discography consists of over 40 recordings, including 25 for Cedille Records, and her many recital appearances have included Davos, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Marlboro, Ravinia, Salzburg, Bravo! Vail, and Wolf Trap. She performs regularly with world’s foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Vienna Symphony Orchestras.

Pine began playing the viola d’amore in 2007. "Reading about the history of the great violinists of the past, going back to the 1700s, I was struck by the fact that the greatest virtuosos of their era were also known as great players of the viola d'amore as well," she said in an interview with Violinist.com. In 2015, she released a widely praised album, Vivaldi’s Complete Viola d’Amore Concertos, performing on the complex instrument. Classics Today reported, “When played with perfect intonation such as we might expect from Rachel Barton Pine, the result is captivatingly mellow and expressive, even in virtuoso passages.”

A multiinstrumentalist, in addition to the violin and viola d’amore, Rachel Barton Pine also plays Renaissance violin, Baroque violin, the Medieval rebec, electric violin, and more.

The Gardner Museum’s viola d’amore (Tomaso Eberle; Naples, 1725-1792). More information here.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Fall 2025 Weekend Concert Series is an eleven-concert autumn season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel running from September 13 through November 23, 2025, which features world-class artists in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intense and intentional listening experience.

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

Fall 2025 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule

September 13-14: ACRONYM - The Complete Brandenburg Concertos by J.S. Bach
September 21: Junction Trio Plays John Zorn
September 28: Catalyst String Quartet
October 5: Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott, cello
October 19: Miranda Cuckson, violin, and Blair McMillen, piano
October 26: Rachel Barton Pine, violin and viola d'amore
November 2: Claire Chase, flutes, with Aisslinn Nosky, violin, Katinka Kleijn, cello, and Alex Peh, piano and harpsichord
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
November 9: Clayton Stephenson, piano
This program is performed in memory of Willona Sinclair.
November 16: Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano with Myra Huang, piano
This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.
November 23: Michelle Cann, piano

All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm (except ACRONYM, which performs on both Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 pm) in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

Ticketing Information

Tickets ($20-$85) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. All concert tickets include Museum admission. 

About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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

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

Music at the Gardner is supported by Nora McNeely Hurley / Manitou Fund. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Oct. 29: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn Perform at the Library of Congress for 100th Anniversary of Concert Series

Photo of Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn by Grayson Dantzic available in high resolution here.

GRAMMY®-Nominated Pianist Simone Dinnerstein 
and Baroklyn with Mezzo-Soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and Oboist Katherine Needleman

Presented by Library of Congress

Performing Music from New Bach Album Complicité
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Library of Congress’s Concert Series

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 8pm
Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium
10 1st Street SE | Washington D.C.
Tickets & Information

Complicité is Out Now on Supertrain Records

Listen to Simone Dinnerstein on NPR’s Morning Edition

Simone Dinnerstein: www.simonedinnerstein.com

New York, NY – On Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 8pm, GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein – described by The New York Times as “colorful and idiosyncratic” – performs with Baroklyn, the string ensemble she founded and directs, in music from their recent Bach album Complicité. Presented by Library of Congress in the Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium (10 1st Street SE) Washington D.C., the concert also features mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and oboist Katherine Needleman with Dinnerstein and Baroklyn

Simone Dinnerstein is well known for her distinctive musical voice and for her expressive performances of music by J.S. Bach. She 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.”

For her most recent performance at the Library of Congress in February 2024, Dinnerstein celebrated the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the U.S. Air Force Band. Her October 29 performance commemorates the centennial anniversary of the Library of Congress's Concert Series. In celebration of the milestone, Dinnerstein will begin the concert program performing a solo piano arrangement of Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, the same chorale that opened the LOC’s concert series in October 1925, when it was performed on the organ. In a special letter to organist Lynnwood Farnam–the first musician to play in the Coolidge Auditorium–that the Library of Congress shared with Dinnerstein, the message describes an approach to programming that is very similar to that which Dinnerstein applies to her performances – thinking of a concert feeling like a "service" (as it's put in the letter), with one piece continuing into the next without applause. Dinnerstein and Baroklyn’s performance thoughtfully connects the concert series’ past with the present.

Letter from the Library of Congress written by Music Division Chief Carl Engel  

Following the opening of the concert, the program will feature music from Complicité, including Dinnerstein and Baroklyn’s arrangement of Bach’s chorale Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf, BWV 617; Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053; J.S. Bach: Der Leib war in der Erden, BWV 161 (arr. Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn); Bach’s Cantata 170, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust with continuo realization by Philip Lasser; and In the Air, Lasser’s recomposition of Bach’s Air on the G String.

The deeply felt recording has been warmly-received by listeners – Complicité has already been streamed over 1 million times. Gramophone describes Dinnerstein’s performance as “full of life, engagement and detail.” Of the new album, Textura writes: “Not only are the performances terrific, the music impresses for being more than faithful replications of existing scores but instead arresting re-imaginings that take Bach's pieces into dynamic new realms.” Read the album press release here and listen here.

Dinnerstein says of her group Baroklyn, “Baroklyn is a group of string players which I lead from the piano. We’re a community that shares the artistic vision that is most important to me, that music should be creative and new. Rehearsal is important to us, and I’ve been influenced by theater practice in which we listen to each other and pass musical ideas and phrases within the group. We rehearse and perform in a semi-circle around the piano and I rearrange parts to emphasize lines, voices and imitative qualities to create a sense of dialogue.” The ensemble’s name is a portmanteau of Baroque and Brooklyn, Dinnerstein’s home borough.

Coinciding with the album’s release, Dinnerstein spoke with NPR’s Morning Edition about the project, as well as about her experience with performance anxiety and the way that playing with the sheet music on an iPad has resolved this for her. Of her work with Baroklyn, she said, “It's like a sharing circle, and you hear everybody's individuality, their individual sound as it gets passed around.” Listen to the NPR interview here.

Of the album’s title, Dinnerstein says, “Complicité is a term that I first heard from my son, who studied the teachings of the French theatre practitioner, Jacques Lecoq. Three important ideas that Lecoq communicated to his students were le jeu (playfulness), complicité (togetherness), and disponsibilité (openness). I was so intrigued by these ideas, and the different exercises that my son learned in order to cultivate these skills within ensemble acting, that I decided to try a Lecoq approach with my own musical ensemble, Baroklyn.” 

More about Simone Dinnerstein: 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 fifteen albums, all of which have topped the Billboard classical charts. Her first fourteen albums were recorded with 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. Her most recent recording Complicité

(Supertrain Records, 2025), 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. 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.

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 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 and the Cleveland Orchestra.

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 performs with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, oboist Katherine Needleman, and Baroklyn – the string ensemble Dinnerstein founded and directs – are presented in concert by the Library of Congress. The performance will open with an arrangement of Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, the same chorale that opened the LOC’s concert series in October 1925, commemorating the centennial anniversary of the series. The program will also feature music by J.S. Bach and Philip Lasser from Complicité, Dinnerstein and Baroklyn’s new Bach album.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein with Baroklyn, Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, and Oboist Katherine Needleman
Presented by the Library of Congress
What: Music from Dinnerstein’s new Bach album Complicité and an arrangement of Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, celebrating the centennial anniversary of the LOC’s Concert Series
When: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 8pm
Where: Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium (LJG45E), 10 1st Street SE, Washington, DC 20540
Tickets and Information: loc.gov/item/event-417408/simone-dinnerstein-jennifer-johnson-cano-katherine-needleman-and-baroklyn/2025-10-29/

Oct. 18: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik is Featured Soloist with La Crosse Symphony Orchestra – Conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt

Photo of Yevgeny Kutik by Griffin Harrington available in hi-resolution here.

Violinist Yevgeny Kutik Performs as Featured Soloist
with La Crosse Symphony Orchestra

in Violin Concerto in D Major by Jean Sibelius
Conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt

October 18, 2025 at 7:30pm
Viterbo Fine Arts Center | 929 Jackson Street | La Crosse, WI
Tickets and More Information

“polished dexterity and genteel, old-world charm” – WQXR

www.yevgenykutik.com

La Crosse, WI — On Saturday October 18, 2025 at 7:30pm, violinist Yevgeny Kutik, who The New York Times describes as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” is the featured soloist with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra (LSO), conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt. Kutik will perform Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D Major. The concert will also include America the Beautiful by composer Samuel A. Ward and lyricist Katharine Lee Bates, and Symphony in F Minor, Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms.

Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of standard works as well as rarely heard and newly composed repertoire.

Kutik says, “I’m so thrilled to be returning to La Crosse to perform with my dear friend and collaborator, Alexander Platt. Playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto is always an inspiration—the way the score swings between white-hot technical fireworks and vast, icy landscapes is nothing short of genius. It’s no wonder this masterpiece is considered one of the greatest works ever written for the violin.

Jean Sibelius, who said he originally wanted to become “a celebrated violinist,” found that despite his passion for and extreme commitment to learning the instrument from age 14, his musical gifts were more suited for composing. Written between 1902–04, the three movement violin concerto demands a high degree of technical skill and performance. Its expressive but notably dark mood of the work stood out at the time it was first performed. The Finnish composer’s artistic instinct led him to revise the work and write what has come to be regarded as one of the most extraordinary violin concertos of the 20th century.”

More about Yevgeny Kutik: Committed to the music of our time, Kutik regularly gives premiere and repeat performances of major works by today’s most celebrated composers. This season, he gives the world premiere of a new work by Jonathan Leshnoff with pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner presented by Newport Classical. In January 2025, he made his debut with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, led by Michelle Merrill, in a performance of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2. In 2022 at the Tanglewood Music Festival, he gave the world premiere of Cântico, a work for solo violin by Andreia Pinto Correia co-commissioned for Kutik by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, he debuted with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin, performing the world premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Violin Concerto, written for him. The concerto is based on Schwantner’s earlier work, The Poet’s Hour – Soliloquy for Violin, which Kutik recorded on episode six of Gerard Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra, released on DVD by Naxos and broadcast nationally on PBS.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Yevgeny Kutik immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of five. His 2014 album, Music from the Suitcase: A Collection of Russian Miniatures (Marquis Classics), features music he found in his family’s suitcase after immigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1990, and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Classical chart. The album garnered critical acclaim and was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and in The New York Times. Kutik’s recent releases on Marquis include The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021) and Meditations on Family (2019), for which he commissioned eight composers to translate a personal family photo into a short musical miniature – a project featured on the cover of Strings magazine. Kutik’s other recordings include his debut album, Sounds of Defiance (2012), and Words Fail (2016), both released to critical acclaim.  

Other recent performance highlights include debuts at the Kennedy Center presented by Washington Performing Arts, and at the Ravinia Festival, as well as recital appearances as part of the Dame Myra Hess Concerts Chicago; at UCLA; Peoples' Symphony Concerts, Kaufman Music Center, and National Sawdust in New York City; the Embassy Series and The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.; and at the Lobkowicz Collections Prague presented by Prince William Lobkowicz. Festival performances have included the Tanglewood Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele in Germany, and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.  

Kutik made his major orchestral debut in 2003 with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops as the First Prize recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, and has since performed with orchestras throughout the country including the Rochester (NY) and Dayton Philharmonics; the Detroit, New Haven, Asheville, and Wyoming symphony orchestras; and more. Abroad, he has appeared with Germany’s Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and WDR Rundfunk Orchestra Köln, Montenegro’s Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Japan’s Tokyo Vivaldi Ensemble, and the Cape Town Philharmonic in South Africa.

Passionate about his heritage and its influence on his artistry, Kutik is an advocate for the Jewish Federations of North America, the organization that assisted his family in coming to the United States, and regularly speaks and performs across the United States to both raise awareness and promote the assistance of refugees from around the world.  

Yevgeny Kutik began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and went on to study with Zinaida Gilels, Shirley Givens, Roman Totenberg, and Donald Weilerstein. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory. Kutik is ​​the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Birch Festival – a festival built around connecting and integrating leading musicians with the Berkshire community, while highlighting the unique and original stories of those who make up the Berkshires. His violin was crafted in Italy in 1915 by Stefano Scarampella.  For more information, please visit www.yevgenykutik.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, described as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” (The New York Times) is the featured soloist in a performance with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra (LSO), conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt. Kutik will perform Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D Major, known as one of the greatest of the 20th century. The concert program will also include America the Beautiful by composer Samuel A. Ward and lyricist Katharine Lee Bates, and Symphony in F Minor, Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms, arranged in honor of the LSO’s 125th Anniversary by Daron Hagen.

Concert details:

Who: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik
Presented by La Crosse Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt
What: Music by Jean Sibelius, Samuel A. Ward and Katharine Lee Bates, Johannes Brahms, and Daron Hagen
When: Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Viterbo Fine Arts Center, 929 Jackson Street, La Crosse, WI 54601
Tickets and information: www.lacrossesymphony.org/event/opening-night-and-a-world-premiere/

GRAMMY-winning Experiential Orchestra and Music Director James Blachly Announce 25-26 Season Including US Premieres by Arvo Pärt, Music in the Crypt at Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and More

James Blachly and EXO at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Photo by Allison Stock.

Press photos available in high resolution here.

GRAMMY®️-winning Experiential Orchestra (EXO) Announces 2025-2026 Season

James Blachly, Music Director

Toward the Sea: A Concert for Climate Change Awareness
Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 5pm
All Souls Unitarian Church | 1157 Lexington Ave., New York, NY
Tickets: www.experientialorchestra.com/calendar/toward-the-sea 

Silence and Sound: Arvo Pärt’s Music for Strings
Featuring the US Premieres of Pärt’s Sequentia and Für Lennart in memoriam
Thursday & Friday, February 19 & 20, 2026 at 7:30pm
Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 3:30pm
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. James Chapel
1047 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY
Tickets: www.experientialorchestra.com/calendar/silence-and-sound-arvo-parts-music-for-strings

Music in the Crypt: Out of the Shadows
Friday, April 10, 2026 at 7:30pm & Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 5pm and 7:30pm
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Crypt
1047 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY
Tickets: www.experientialorchestra.com/calendar/music-in-the-crypt---out-of-the-shadows

Brad Balliet’s A Field Guide to Imaginary Birds
Spring 2026 Outdoors at Prospect Park
Details TBA

New York, NY – The GRAMMY®️-winning Experiential Orchestra (EXO) announces its 2025-2026 season, titled Origins, running from November 2025 through May 2026. Led by founding Music Director James Blachly, EXO presents four immersive programs, each reflecting the origins and mission of the organization – to curate programs that embrace the unique acoustics and characters of each venue, creating a one-of-a-kind listening environment and a new experience of sound.

EXO’s season begins on November 2, 2025 with Toward the Sea: A Concert for Climate Change Awareness co-curated by James Blachly and EXO Creative Partner flutist Catherine Gregory, at All Souls Unitarian Church (1157 Lexington Ave., NYC). From February 19-21, 2026, EXO presents Silence and Sound: Arvo Pärt’s Music for Strings in partnership with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the intimate St. James Chapel (1047 Amsterdam Ave., NYC). On April 10 and 11, 2026, also in partnership with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, EXO presents Music in the Crypt: Out of the Shadows in the rarely accessible Crypt at the Cathedral (1047 Amsterdam Ave., NYC), featuring music chosen especially for this mysterious and shadowy space. The final event of the season is a reprise of EXO’s celebrated collaboration with composer Brad Balliett in his A Field Guide to Imaginary Birds, to be held once again outdoors in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in spring 2026 (details TBA). 

“This season is a celebration of all that led us to the creation of this ensemble, from our first concerts in New York City to our continuation of our exploration of the music of Arvo Pärt, which has become a specialty of the ensemble,” says James Blachly. “I am honored to present two programs in February and April at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where so much of my own artistic life has its origins, and to be performing each program three times, as we explore two stunning and intimate spaces within the vast expansive space of the Cathedral. And we continue to celebrate our tradition of creative collaboration with our Creative Partner, flutist Catherine Gregory, who has co-curated our program Toward the Sea: A Concert for Climate Change Awareness in November.”

EXO’s season opening concert on November 2, Toward the Sea: A Concert for Climate Change Awareness, reflects on the urgency for environmental protection of the ocean and features music inspired by the sea. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Oceana, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans.This immersive performance is designed for the unique acoustics of All Souls Unitarian Church – the same church that Herman Melville attended in the 19th century. Co-curated by James Blachly and EXO Creative Partner Catherine Gregory, the concert includes Blachly’s songs Delight and Insular Tahiti, commissioned for All Souls Unitarian Church with texts drawn from Moby Dick; frequent EXO collaborator, violinist and composer Michelle Ross’s meditative composition The Whale Song; a reimagined version of Maurice Ravel’s Une barque sur l’ocean performed by pianist David Kaplan with strings surrounding the audience; Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea II with Catherine Gregory and virtuoso harpist Bridget Kibbey (a piece commissioned by Greenpeace and inspired by Moby Dick); and a performance of Welsh composer Grace Williams’s energetic Sea Sketches, a little known tour-de-force for string orchestra and a reflection of the sea’s power. The concert concludes with George Crumb’s landmark work Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Three Masked Players (Electric Flute, Electric Cello and Amplified Piano) featuring Catherine Gregory, flute; Mihai Marica, cello; and David Kaplan, piano. 

In three performances from February 19-21, 2026, EXO and James Blachly present Silence and Sound: Arvo Pärt’s Music for Strings at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in St. James Chapel, joining the worldwide celebration of the iconic Estonian composer’s 90th birthday season. Blachly and EXO bring their deep connection to the music of Pärt, building on their capacity concerts of his music at The Metropolitan Museum’s Temple of Dendur in 2021 and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 2023. This season, EXO invites listeners to explore the unique acoustics of the largest chapel of the Cathedral, where each note will reflect and reverberate – a meditation in stone, wood, and silence, as well as sound and space. Blachly has carefully curated this program of music for strings and percussion, which includes some of Pärt’s most beloved works – Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Vater Unser – as well as the US premieres of his Pärt’s Sequentia and Für Lennart in memoriam. Pärt composed Sequentia in 2014 for the production Adam’s Passion and dedicated the work to Robert Wilson. The program will also include Pärt’s Orient & Occident, Psalom, Silouan’s Song, and Da pacem Domine. Orient & Occident was composed in 2000, and is based on the text of Credo, the Nicene Creed in the Church Slavonic language – one of the few religious texts that are the same in the Western and Eastern Church.

Blachly says, “I chose Sequentia for this program because of the extraordinarily delicate way the percussion interacts with both the strings and silence, and how those sonorities will ring in this space.”

On April 10 and 11, 2026, EXO presents three performances of Music in the Crypt: Out of the Shadows in the seldomly seen Crypt at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. During these concerts, EXO and Blachly invite audiences to listen deeply in a profound and mysterious setting. Blachly selected the works to be performed on these concerts especially for the unique acoustics and atmosphere of the Crypt. The program features Franz Schreker’s Intermezzo, Caroline Shaw’s Punctum for string orchestra, Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code, Blachly’s Work for Strings, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132 Mvt 3, Heiliger Dankgesang, arranged by Blachly for string orchestra. With these concerts, EXO continues its ongoing exploration of the relationship between sound and architecture throughout the Cathedral. The performances are also a homecoming for Blachly – more than 20 years ago, he recorded his first string quartet in this very space.

Finally, in spring 2026 (details TBA), EXO will again present Brad Balliet’s A Field Guide to Imaginary Birds outdoors in Prospect Park. This is an immersive, experiential program designed with families and bird-lovers in mind, in which participants will discover the songs of seven remarkable imaginary birds.
 

About Experiential Orchestra:

The GRAMMY®️-winning Experiential Orchestra (EXO) brings audiences close to the music by engaging listeners through imaginative, immersive, and interactive concert experiences. Founded by Music Director James Blachly in 2009, EXO’s performances and recordings have been described as “strikingly persuasive” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “immaculate” by Musical America, and have been praised for having “luscious tone and poise” by Classics Today. 

EXO was founded on collaboration and co-creation, and each curated performance is imbued with a generous spirit of celebration, facilitating the exploration of what Blachly calls, “a new experience of sound” by audiences. The orchestra’s performances take place in and outside the concert hall with audiences invited to participate in unorthodox ways. EXO has performed the music of Arvo Pärt in the Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, invited audiences to dance during Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker at National Sawdust, enveloped the audience in concerts at Lincoln Center with audience and orchestra members sitting together, and presented  Symphonie fantastique and Petrushka with circus choreography at The Muse in Brooklyn.

Recent highlights have included a subscription concert at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, an immersive performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs with cellist Andrew Yee and soprano Sarah Brailey, and the New York premiere of Julia Perry’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with soloist Curtis Stewart. In January 2024, EXO performed Pärt’s masterwork Passio at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, offering audiences the opportunity to experience the concert while reclining on yoga mats. In March 2024, the orchestra co-presented a four-day Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival in New York, coinciding with Perry’s 100th birthday that month.

EXO is known for imaginative and groundbreaking programming that frequently advocates for under-celebrated masterpieces and composers. The orchestra’s world premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison (1930) was released on Chandos Records in 2020 to international critical acclaim in The New York Times, Gramophone, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and many other publications. The album won the GRAMMY for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album in 2021 – the first GRAMMY ever awarded for Smyth’s music. EXO’s world premiere recording of Julia Perry’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Curtis Stewart, was released on the Bright Shiny Things label in March 2024 and earned two GRAMMY nominations.

EXO is led by Founder and Music Director James Blachly, General Manager Sandy Choi, Creative Partner Catherine Gregory, Concertmasters Alex Fortes and Henry Wang, Personnel Manager Arthur Sato, and Artistic Advisors Patrick Castillo, Brad Balliett, and Doug Balliett. Leila Amineddoleh serves as Board Chair.

About Founding Music Director James Blachly: 

James Blachly is a GRAMMY®-winning conductor dedicated to enriching the concert experience by connecting with audiences in memorable and meaningful ways. James Blachly serves as Music Director of Experiential Orchestra and Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. He is a versatile guest conductor in diverse repertoire for orchestras including New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and WDR Funkhausorchester. A strong supporter of composers of our time, Blachly has commissioned and premiered more than 40 works by composers including Jessie Montgomery, Courtney Bryan, Viet Cuong, Michi Wiancko, Kate Copeland Ettinger, Tommy Daugherty, Patrick Castillo, Brad and Doug Balliett, and many others. In recent seasons, he has collaborated with soloists Daniel Hope, Paul Jacobs, Julia Bullock, Dashon Burton, Michelle Cann, Andrew Yee, Curtis Stewart, Simone Porter, and more. In addition to his work with Experiential Orchestra, with the Johnstown Symphony, Blachly has conducted the orchestra at the Flight 93 Memorial for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, in a former steel mill in a concert that was featured on Katie Couric’s America Inside Out, at the First Summit Arena at the War Memorial, and in eight seasons the orchestra has increased season ticket sales and annual giving each by more than 50%. In 2021, he received a commendation by the City of Johnstown and the Johnstown chapter of the NAACP. In recent seasons, Blachly has introduced an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and youth concert. For more information, visit www.jamesblachly.com.

Oct 10: ECM New Series Releases Meredith Monk's Cellular Songs - First Single Out Today

ECM New Series Releases

Meredith Monk: Cellular Songs

First Single Lullaby for Lise Out Now
Listen: https://ecm.lnk.to/CellularSongs

Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble

Meredith Monk, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Allison Sniffin, voices; John Hollenbeck, vibraphone, percussion, crotales; Allison Sniffin, piano, violin 

ECM New Series 2751
Release Date: October 10, 2025

Press downloads available upon request.

“As artists, we're all contending with what to do at a time like this. I wanted to make a piece that can be experienced as an alternative possibility of human behavior, where the values are cooperation, interdependence, and kindness, as an antidote to the values that are being propagated right now." – Meredith Monk

Cellular Songs is the first Meredith Monk release with ECM since the extensive box-set Meredith Monk: The Recordings in 2022 and the first recording of new music since 2016’s On Behalf of Nature. It is also the second part of an interdisciplinary trilogy of performance works by Meredith Monk that began with On Behalf of Nature, a meditation on the precarious state of our global ecology. Cellular Songs turns attention to the very fabric of life itself, and evokes such biological processes as layering, replication, division and mutation. Monk drew inspiration, she has noted, from reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by physician and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, struck by the notion that “a cell is like a miraculous prototype of cooperation, offering an alternative culture or template of human behavior to one of competition and destruction.”

Cellular Songs features the women of the acclaimed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble (Monk, Ellen Fisher, Katie Geissinger, Joanna Lynn-Jacobs and Allison Sniffin), and some of Monk’s most adventurous and daring writing for voice. The work, at once playful and contemplative, conjures cycles of birth and death throughout. “Some of the pieces have much more dissonance and chromatic harmonies, and the forms are almost like three-dimensional sculptures,” Monk notes. “Earlier, my music had much more to do with layering. Now you can almost see or hear the piece rotating as if it were a sculpture in space, though it's a musical form."

With voices and body percussion among the primary resources, Monk underlines her aim to “boil down what I am doing to its essence”. Songs are wordless, with the exception of “Happy Woman”, which also incorporates piano, violin and vibraphone by Allison Sniffin and John Hollenbeck.

Cellular Songs was premiered at the BAM Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, New York in March 2018. The Financial Times hailed the work as a “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” and “an antidote to the troubled times we live in.”

In the album’s liner notes, writer Bonnie Marranca takes up this theme: “Art takes many forms to address global crises as a way of comprehending reality. Monk’s work has chosen a path different than the response that is a direct statement of conditions, following instead her Buddhist grounding in art as spiritual practice (…) Her work honors the human need for the feelings of love and joy and beauty. In the integrity of its regard, Cellular Songs is of this world but also beyond this world, like all poetic works of the imagination.”

Meredith Monk has been an ECM recording artist since 1981. In 2022, Meredith Monk: The Recordings, a box set of her New Series albums from Dolmen Music to On Behalf of Nature was issued in celebration of her 80th birthday, in an edition incorporating texts, photos, scores and more. In 2023 the full scope of Monk’s interdisciplinary work was the subject of major exhibitions at Munich’s Haus der Kunst and Oude Kerk Amsterdam.

Cellular Songs was recorded at New York’s Power Station in 2022 and 2024.

In 2024-2025 Meredith Monk celebrated her 60th Performance Season with a host of events centered in New York City, including the North American premiere of Indra’s Net, the third part of the trilogy of works exploring our relationship with the natural world. This fall she will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Music at the Venice Biennale.

CD booklet includes performance photography by notes by Julieta Cervantes and liner notes by Bonnie Marranca, whose previous publications include the book Conversations with Meredith Monk (New York 2014, revised 2020).

Further information: www.meredithmonk.org

Oct 17: ECM New Series Releases Zehetmair Quartett's Recording of Johannes Brahms' String Quartets, Op. 51

ECM New Series Releases

Zehetmair Quartett
Johannes Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51

Thomas Zehetmair, violin; Jakub Jakowicz, violin; Ruth Killius, viola; Christian Elliott, violoncello

ECM New Series 2765
Release Date: October 17, 2025

Press downloads available upon request.

A central fixture in the world of string quartets for the past thirty years, the Zehetmair Quartett’s ECM recordings of Schumann, Hindemith, Bartók and Hartmann have received luminous praise—Gramophone lauded their Schumann as “Record of the Year”, while The Sunday Times described their Hindemith and Bartók performances as “playing of huge finesse in both pieces,” calling them “a real benchmark”. For this newest entry into their New Series catalogue, the ensemble turns to Johannes Brahms’s first two string quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 and 2 – works of mature reflection and dramatic urgency that reveal Brahms’s mastery of form. Recorded with the Zehetmair Quartett’s characteristic intensity and richly expressive depth, the performances capture fresh and deeply felt readings of these cornerstone chamber works.

On paper, the two quartets appear to be the very first ones Johannes Brahms ever wrote. In reality however, the composer had actually come up with roughly 20 quartets prior to these two, or so he confided to a close friend. Brahms ended up torching all initial drafts, making Op. 51 his first two of a total three published quartets – all works, which challenge the previously established compositional practices in the genre. In his liner essay, Wolfgang Stähr observes their progressive quality closely, noting how especially in the first of the two – the C minor quartet – „Brahms blurs the boundaries between movements by continually developing already familiar material… He does not think in terms of traditional, defined themes; rather, he reveals musical aspects such as the dotted rhythm, which takes on a life of its own and asserts itself prominently throughout the entire quartet, driving melodies upward, plunging them into the abyss, or holding them captive in endless repetitions.”

The Zehetmair Quartett has consistently explored both the core Romantic repertoire and more contemporary composers throughout its New Series tenure; in the present context though, their 2003 performance of Schumann’s first and third quartets (ECM 1793) offers a striking analogue (celebrated by the Financial Times as a “reference recording”). Here once again Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius, in this incarnation of the quartet joined by violinist Jakub Jakowicz and violoncellist Christian Elliott, prove a rare mastery of two cornerstone 19th century works.

In reference to Beethoven, Brahms famously said: "You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!" In casting both his first string quartet and symphony in C minor, the key so indelibly marked by Beethoven’s most towering creations, Brahms may have sought both to honour the master and to wrest himself free from his shadow. With their powerful approach, full of sparkling dynamics, the Zehetmair Quartett here reveals the full potential of how profoundly Brahms succeeded at both.

Regrettably, it is the last of the quartet’s recordings to feature cellist Christian Elliott (1984-2025). “It was a joy to work with him on the ever-changing character of the voices, to sense the meaning of every phrase and bring it to life. The void he leaves behind is painful – Christian, we miss you.”

Recorded at Konzerthaus Blaibach in 2021, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher. The booklet includes a liner essay by Wolfgang Stähr in German and English.

*

Founded in 1994 by the Austrian conductor and violinist Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartett counts among the most esteemed string quartets worldwide. Highly regarded for its thoughtful, distinctive interpretations, the quartet perform with great expressive intensity. Alongside the standard repertoire, the foursome is equally compelling in its profound understanding of contemporary music.

First introduced to ECM’s New Series through the Lockenhaus Edition in 1985, the quartet has since gone from strength to strength: Its New Series recordings of Bartók’s Fourth and Hartmann’s First String Quartet, as well as Schumann’s First and Third, have received prestigious awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the Gramophone Award (Record of the Year), the Edison Award, and the Klara Award for Best International Production of the Year.

The quartet’s recording of Hindemith’s String Quartet No. 4 and Bartók’s No. 5 again won the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, while The Guardian said “in the Hindemith the Zehetmair Quartet really have set a new benchmark.” In November 2014, the quartet was honoured with the Paul Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau in recognition of its outstanding musical achievements and contributions to the composer’s legacy. In 2013, a recording with works by Beethoven, Bruckner, Hartmann, and Holliger followed (“an amazing variety of sonorities” – BBC Music Magazine).

Anthony Cheung Featured in Miller Theatre Composer Portrait Concert on Nov 13; New Album Featuring Orchestral Piece Volta Out Nov 14

Photo by Jodi Hilton for Miller Theatre, available in high resolution upon request.

Anthony Cheung Featured in Miller Theatre Composer Portrait Concert at Columbia University

 Performances by Yarn/Wire, Claire Chase, JACK Quartet, and Anthony Cheung

Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 7:30pm
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
2960 Broadway (at 116th Street) | New York, NY
Tickets & Information 

New Album on New Focus Recordings Features Cheung’s Volta
Recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project Conducted by Gil Rose
Release Date: November 14, 2025

“intensely colourful, exquisitely wrought ensemble-writing” – Gramophone

“[Anthony Cheung] is an alert, cool pianist, and played with focus and clarity” – The New York Times

Anthony Cheung’s Performance Schedule: www.acheungmusic.com/schedule

New York, NY – On Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 7:30pm, composer and pianist Anthony Cheung will be featured on a Composer Portrait Concert at Miller Theatre at Columbia University, with performances of his music by Yarn/Wire, Claire Chase, JACK Quartet, and Cheung at the piano. The program includes an Improvised Intro on keyboards performed by Cheung, Twice Removed performed by JACK Quartet, Tactile Values performed by Yarn/Wire, and The Real Book of Fake Tunes performed by flutist Claire Chase and JACK Quartet.

Twice Removed, a piece the JACK Quartet commissioned and premiered in fall 2024 in celebration of its 20th anniversary, is a set of reflections on artworks that are themselves responses to other works. Each movement draws inspiration from a different artistic dialogue: “Stretto House” responds to Steven Holl's architecture inspired by Bartók's music; “830 Fireplace Road” engages with John Yau's poetic variations on Jackson Pollock’s words; “Meditation on Motion” reflects on Dean Rader’s poems about Cy Twombly's visual art; and “Journey to Mount Tamalpais” contemplates Etel Adnan's written and visual meditations on the iconic Marin Hills peak. A recording by JACK will follow in 2026.

Tactile Values for two pianos/keyboards and two percussionists is dedicated to the musicians of Yarn/Wire, and explores concepts of dimensionality and sensory translation, drawing inspiration from Bernard Berenson's writings on how painters construct third dimensions through “tactile values” and Carolee Schneemann's ideas about transforming bodily experiences into “painterly, tactile translation edited as a music of frames.” Watch a video from the 2023 TIME:SPANS Festival of Yarn/Wire’s performance of the work.

Cheung composed The Real Book of Fake Tunes for Claire Chase and the Spektral Quartet in 2015. He writes that the title references, “the infamous Real Book that has served as a gateway anthology and/or gig enabler for so many aspiring jazz musicians since the 70s [but] belies a formal architecture of five movements with distinctive characteristics.” The piece was recorded by Chase and the Spektral Quartet for their 2020 Experiments in Living album, and Alex Ross, writing in The New Yorker, described it as, “akin to the contrapuntal games of the Schoenberg,” while Jed Distler in Classics Today characterized it as, “a textural tour-de-force, where flutist Claire Chase’s amazing command of extended techniques assiduously integrate within the composer’s boundless gestural arsenal.”

Also this fall, Anthony Cheung’s recent orchestral piece Volta will be included on a new album featuring Brown University faculty, to be released on November 14, 2025 on the New Focus Recordings label, recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) conducted by Gil Rose. Cheung writes of Volta:

“I sketched this piece unprompted and uncommissioned over a two-week burst during the fall of 2022, turning away from other projects at hand and eschewing rationality and practicality. Over the next two summers, and following two nine-month stretches of inactivity, I finally completed the orchestration in July 2024. The first half of the piece is characterized by dramatic and volatile events, including melodies that are spun out of turbulence, dance-like passages, and dense columns of chords. While there is indeed a dramatic shift toward an interior, private world about halfway through the piece, the ending was left open until the last stage of writing. It took another turn, affected by personal and world events, an inexorable accumulation recalling the opening that threatens to come full circle, but swiftly swerves away once more.”

For more information, and to preview the recording, visit New Focus Recordings on Bandcamp.

Anthony Cheung writes music that explores the senses, a wide palette of instrumental play and affect, improvisational traditions, and multiple layers of textural meaning. Praised for “instrumental sensuality” (Chicago Tribune), Cheung’s work reveals an interest in the ambiguity of sound sources and constantly shifting transformations of tuning and timbre. Critic Paul Griffiths writes that his music’s precision “is responsible for a wealth of sonic magic.” Cheung is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, and First Prize at the Dutilleux Competition, among other awards and honors. He served as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra from 2015-17, and was a co-founder, pianist, and artistic director of New York’s Talea Ensemble.

Anthony Cheung’s 2025-2026 concert season features milestone performances and premieres by world-class musicians and leading venues including Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Elim Chan, New York’s Miller Theatre at Columbia University, Berkeley’s Cal Performances, American Modern Opera Company, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, flutist Claire Chase, pianist Gloria Cheng, tenor Paul Appleby, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and more.

Anthony Cheung’s music has been commissioned by leading groups such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, ICE, Yarn/Wire, Atlas Ensemble, and American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), and performed by the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW, and more. His recent projects have included Well with New Chamber Ballet, the field remembers with the Parker Quartet and Fleur Barron, and premieres with JACK Quartet and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Cheung has also written for flutists Claire Chase and Denis Bouriakov, the Escher and Spektral Quartets, violinists Miranda Cuckson and Jennifer Koh, and pianists Gilles Vonsattel, David Kaplan, Shai Wosner, and Joel Fan.

Cheung’s recordings include five portrait discs: All Roads (New Focus, 2022), Music for Film, Sculpture, and Captions (Kairos, 2022), Cycles and Arrows (New Focus, 2018), Dystemporal (Wergo, 2016), and Roundabouts (Ensemble Modern Medien 2014). His music and performances have also appeared on Warner Classics (performed by Bertrand Chamayou), Tzadik, and Mode.

Anthony Cheung received a BA in Music and History from Harvard and a doctorate from Columbia University, and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard. He previously taught at the University of Chicago and is an Associate Professor of Music at Brown University, where he teaches courses on topics ranging from theory and composition to the jazz orchestra and Asian musical modernisms.

About Anthony Cheung: www.acheungmusic.com/about
Anthony Cheung’s Schedule of Performances: www.acheungmusic.com/schedule 

Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s 2025-2026 Season Highlights

Photo by Anna Maggy. High resolution photos available here.

Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s 2025-2026 Season Highlights

2025-2026 Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

Iceland Symphony Orchestra European Tour Featuring ARCHORA
Conducted by Eva Ollikainen

Continued Country and Local Premieres of Major Orchestral Works
Before we fall, METACOSMOS, AIŌN, CATAMORPHOSIS, ARCHORA

“[Thorvaldsdottir] has carved her own corner in contemporary music by creating symphonic works of sustained brilliance.” – The Times

Schedule: www.annathorvalds.com/performances 

Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s “seemingly boundless textural imagination” (The New York Times) and striking sound world has made her “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music” (NPR). Her 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.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s 2025-2026 season (September 2025 to June 2026) features performances of her music in more than 13 countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. This season, Thorvaldsdottir’s works will be performed by 16 orchestras in 11 countries, with several of them – including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra – performing multiple works. Her current schedule is available on her website and will be updated with additional performances throughout the year.

Following her appointment as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s Creative Chair last season, Thorvaldsdottir has been appointed Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) for the 2025-2026 season. From September 2025 to June 2026, the orchestra presents a number of her large orchestral pieces. The season began on 5 September with the Finnish premiere of Thorvaldsdottir’s Aeriality (2010) conducted by HPO Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jukka-Pekka Saraste. On 16 January 2026, the HPO will give the Finnish premiere of Thorvaldsdottir’s cello concerto, Before we fall, which the orchestra co-commissioned. Johannes Moser will be the cello soloist, and Sarasate will lead the performance. On 4-5 February, the HPO, conducted by Pekka Kuusisto, will perform CATAMORPHOSIS and on 27 February 2026, the HPO conducted by Eva Ollikainen performs Thorvaldsdottir’s AIŌN paired with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Of her role with the HPO, Anna Thorvaldsdottir says, “It is such a pleasure to be Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and to be a part of the orchestra’s devotion to bringing the audience a carefully curated combination of new and recent music along with the older repertoire. Writing for the orchestra is a deep passion of mine, organically reflecting how I hear music and work with combinations of materials.”

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s "volcanic" (The Times) cello concerto Before we fall (2025) is her latest large-scale orchestral work. Written for cellist Johannes Moser, the concerto is co-commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, BBC Proms, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Odense Symphony Orchestra. Of its world premiere by the San Francisco Symphony led by Dalia Stasevska in May 2025, the San Francisco Chronicle raved, “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.” The UK premiere at the BBC Proms by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ollikainen was similarly praised, with The Guardian reporting that “the concerto has an elemental, immersive quality, its symphonic textures seeming at times to breath as if a living organism.”

Anna’s other large orchestral works Dreaming (2008), Aeriality (2010), METACOSMOS (2017), AIŌN (2018), CATAMORPHOSIS (2020), and ARCHORA (2022) continue to receive country and local premieres as well as repeat performances throughout the world:

ARCHORA will have at least nineteen performances this season, with its premiere in The Netherlands performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (17-18 September). The BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform ARCHORA, conducted by Dalia Stasevska, at the Barbican in London (8 October); the Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est, conducted by Léo Warynski, will perform at Arsenal de Metz in Metz, France (14-15 November); the Frankfurt Radio Symphony performs the piece, conducted by Tabita Berglund, at the hr-Sendesaal in Frankfurt, Germany (20-22 November); Tabitha Berglund also conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in two performances at Music Hall in Cincinnati, OH (6-7 February); and The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra will perform the work, conducted by Berglund at Olavshallen in Trondheim, Norway (5 March). The Iceland Symphony Orchestra will perform ARCHORA on its upcoming European tour conducted by Eva Ollikainen, with concerts at Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Spain (18 March); Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland (20 March); Casino Bern in Bern, Switzerland (21 March); the Tonhalle Zürich in Zürich, Switzerland (22 March); in Heidelberg, Germany (24 March); and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany (26 March). There will be two spring performances in Switzerland performed by the Basel Sinfonietta conducted by Titus Engel, at Stadtcasino Basel in Basel (3 May) and at the Kölner Philharmonie (10 May). Of the world premiere of ARCHORA, The Guardian reported, “Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music is about mass and density, how different planes of sounds collide and combine, and how intricately detailed textures evolve over time. Those qualities make the orchestra the obvious medium for her work, and it has largely been through her sequence of strikingly effective orchestral scores that the Iceland-born composer has become recognised as one of the most distinctive voices in European music today." ARCHORA was commissioned by the BBC Proms and co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Klangspuren Schwaz, and was premiered in August 2022 at the BBC Proms by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Ollikainen in a concert selected as among The Guardian’s Classical Highlights of 2022.

METACOSMOS will be performed at least ten times this season, with six of those performances (18, 22, 28, 30 April; and 1, 6 May) as part of choreographer Wayne McGregor’s work Untitled featuring Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestral works METACOSMOS and CATAMORPHOSIS, performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Koen Kessels. Other performances will include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Tabita Berglund at the Berlin Philharmonie (12 October) and Gürzenich-Orchester Köln conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the Kölner Philharmonie (10-12 May). METACOSMOS was premiered by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2018 and in Europe by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert in January 2019. The Boston Globe reported, “There is possibly no other composer working today who is so adept at channeling the massive forces of nature, and given a full orchestral sound palette to play with, [Thorvaldsdottir] goes wild. Writing lines that ride the knife edge of order and chaos and giving poetic but direct suggestions to the musicians, she immerses listeners in eerie, irresistible landscapes of sound.”

AIŌN was commissioned by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Of the piece, The New York Times wrote, “Among the many wonders of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music – exquisitely honed timbres, an intricate play of shadow and light – perhaps the most mysterious is the way it can sound so static yet be in a state of constant (if sometimes glacial) change … This craftsmanship – a meticulous fusion of pacing, structure and coloring – is also at work in the three-movement AIŌN … Thorvaldsdottir is incapable of writing music that doesn’t immediately transfix an open-eared listener.” In addition to the HPO’s performance in February, the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christian Øland will perform AIŌN at Musikhuset in Aarhus, Denmark (23 April).

CATAMORPHOSIS will be performed at least nine times throughout the 2025-2026 season, as part of Thorvaldsdottir’s HPO residency (4-5 February), by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kirill Karabits at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London (8 April), and alongside ARCHORA with choreography by Wayne McGregor at the Royal Opera House in London (18, 22, 28, 30 April; and 1, 6 May). CATAMORPHOSIS, premiered in 2021, was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Of the piece The Guardian reported, “Thorvaldsdottir’s impressive new work was detailed and powerful ... Lasting around 20 minutes, it’s a single movement of restrained power, a continuum of shifting, colliding layers of sound, which are minutely detailed in the score yet manage to seem simultaneously massive and delicate as they move from dense chromaticism to moments of almost lucid tonality ... this scrupulously prepared and wonderfully performed premiere showed that it’s a piece that stands entirely on its own feet, creating an utterly convincing musical world.”

Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestral work Dreaming will be performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Halls, at Tampere Hall in Tampere, Finland (13 February). The 2008 work was premiered by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bernharður Wilkins in 2010. Gramophone writes of the piece, “Dreaming is an imposing monolith that emerges from silence and recedes back into it, speaking of natural desolation, severe beauty and precarious tectonics in between.” The work was recorded and released on Rhízōma, Thorvaldsdottir’s debut portrait album, in 2011 on Innova Recordings.

In addition, Thorvaldsdottir’s large ensemble piece Aequilibria will be performed by the Australian National Academy of Music conducted by Steven Schick at the Abbotsford Convent in Abbotsford, Australia on 20 September and on 3 October by Juilliard’s Axiom ensemble, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky in New York City. Aequilibria was commissioned by BIT20 Ensemble and recorded by International Contemporary Ensemble on Sono Luminus. The Wall Street Journal writes of the piece, “A cello drone gives way to busy, distant-sounding string and wind passages; brass writing moves between ominous, sustained tone, textured buzzing and Wagnerian heft, and a mournful alto flute line hovers briefly over a bleak ensemble texture. Shortly before the piece ends, unexpected percussion bursts and delicate piano tracery push the music toward an eerie landscape – a musical equivalent of magical realism.”

Another of Thorvalsdottir’s large ensemble pieces, Hrím, will be performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s Ensemble 10:10 conducted by Geoffrey Paterson at the Tung Auditorium in Liverpool on 8 October. Hrím was premiered by CAPUT Ensemble at the National Gallery of Iceland in 2010. The piece is inspired by the notion of dispersion, represented as release and echoing in the sense that single elements in the music are released and spread through the ensemble in various ways throughout the process of the piece. The music is in one short movement. Of Hrím, the New York Times writes, “[Hrím] perfectly encapsulates her uncanny knack for conjuring the natural world. … Not through quaint, picturesque mimicry, but with potent evocations of elemental power, flux and potential.”

Thorvaldsdottir’s chamber ensemble music will also be performed throughout the world during the 2025-2026 season. Shades of Silence (2013) will be performed by Nordic Affect – for whom the work was written – at Mengi in Reykjavik, Iceland on 18 September and at the NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, Poland on 21 September. Ensemble Jackalope will also perform the work at the Leeds Conservatory on 10 February. Members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – pianist Junyan Chen, violinist Thelma Handy, violist Nadia Debono, and cellist Alexander Holladay – will perform the work at the Tung Auditorium in Liverpool on 3 June 2026. Additional chamber ensemble works performed this season include Ró, performed by Broken Frames Syndicate at Produktionshaus NAXOS in Frankfurt (5 September) and at Konzerthaus Blaibach in Blaibach, Germany (14 September); Entropic Arrows performed by Athelas Sinfonietta, conducted by Bjarni Frímann, at Nordatlantens Brygge in Copenhagen (25 October); Illumine performed by the Jakobstad Sinfonietta at Schaumansalen in Jakobstad, Finland (19 November); Fields performed by TM+ ensemble, conducted by Pascal Adoumbou, at Opéra de Massy in Paris (25 November); Ad Genua, performed by the Phoenix Chorale, conducted by Christopher Gabbitas, at the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts in Scottsdale, AZ (24-25 January 2026); and Spectra performed by the Winter Quartet at Symphony Center in Chicago as part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series (24 March 2026). In addition to these performances, Thorvaldsdottir’s choral works continue to be performed by choirs, professional and amateur alike, all over the world.

Also this season, Thorvaldsdottir concludes 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.

For Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s complete performance calendar, visit www.annathorvalds.com/performances.

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.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music 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.

The music of Anna Thorvaldsdottir is published by Chester Music, part of Wise Music Group.

For more information about Anna Thorvaldsdottir: www.annathorvalds.com/bio

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Weekend Concert Series in October - Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott, Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen, Rachel Barton Pine

Clockwise from top left: Sphinx Virtuosi, Sterling Elliott, Blair McMillen, Miranda Cuckson, Rachel Barton Pine.
Press photos available here.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Weekend Concert Series
October Performances

October 5: Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott
October 19: Miranda Cuckson and Blair McMillen
October 26: Rachel Barton Pine

“The museum’s handsome Calderwood Hall remains one of the city’s most uniquely intimate and acoustically stunning venues." – A.Z. Madonna, The Boston Globe

Information & Tickets: gardnermuseum.org/about/music

For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com

BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Fall 2025 Weekend Concert Series with three performances in October. This eleven-concert autumn season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel runs from September 13 through November 23, 2025, and features world-class artists in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intense and intentional listening experience.

On Sunday, October 5 at 1:30 pm, the blazing 22-member Sphinx Virtuosi, praised for its “elegant ascent into the upper ranks of string orchestras” by The Strad, returns to the Gardner Museum for a performance featuring cellist Sterling Elliott in a program spanning the Americas—from biracial Cuban composer and violinist José White Lafitte, to Argentine Alberto Ginastera, to the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. The concert will include two Boston premieres of newly commissioned works by Quenton Blache and Jessie Montgomery. Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic, self-conducted chamber orchestra and the flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to transforming the arts. Comprising 18 of the nation’s most accomplished professional string players, Sphinx Virtuosi is redefining classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and cultural leadership. Cellist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Throughout his young career, he has already appeared with major orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, and more.

A musician’s musician, violinist Miranda Cuckson comes to the Gardner Museum with pianist Blair McMillen on Sunday, October 19 at 1:30 pm to present a program comprising nearly 200 years of violin music—from Beethoven’s Sonata in G, Op. 30, No. 3 (1802) to Lili Boulanger’s D'un matin de printemps (1918) to Jamaican-British composer Eleanor Alberga’s The Wild Blue Yonder (1995). The centerpiece of the concert is Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80 (1946), an ideal showcase for Cuckson’s virtuosity and range of expressive colors. In the past few years, Miranda Cuckson has given celebrated concerto debuts at the Vienna Musikverein (playing Georg Friedrich Haas’ Violin Concerto No. 2, which she premiered in four countries), and with John Adams at the Ojai Music Festival. She has been a featured performer internationally at Wien Modern, Grafenegg, Lincoln Center, St. Paul’s Liquid Music, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and more.

Rachel Barton Pine, praised for her “bravura technique and soulful musicianship” by the New York Times, returns to the Gardner Museum on Sunday, October 26 at 1:30pm for a special recital on her own violin and viola d’amore. She will also perform on the Gardner Museum’s extraordinary 18th century viola d’amore (on display in the Yellow Room), which she tested at the Museum last fall. The instrument, which was last played in concert in the 1980s, was crafted in the 1770s and given to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1903 by composer Charles Martin Loeffler, who was her close friend and central to music programming at the Museum. Pine will perform selections by Vivaldi, Telemann, and Haydn for viola d’amore, as well as two works composed by Loeffler—his Mescolanza “Olla Podrida” and Norske Land. On violin, she will perform Brahms’ Violin Sonata and Sarasate’s Introduction and Tarantella. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Rachel Barton Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music. Her discography consists of over 40 recordings, including 25 for Cedille Records, and her many recital appearances have included Davos, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Marlboro, Ravinia, Salzburg, Bravo! Vail, and Wolf Trap.

George Steel’s programming for the Fall 2025 Weekend Concert Series continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds.

Fall 2025 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule 

September 13-14: ACRONYM - The Complete Brandenburg Concertos by J.S. Bach
September 21: Junction Trio Plays John Zorn
September 28: Catalyst String Quartet
October 5: Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott, cello
October 19: Miranda Cuckson, violin, and Blair McMillen, piano
October 26: Rachel Barton Pine, violin and viola d'amore
November 2: Claire Chase, flutes, with Aisslinn Nosky, violin, Katinka Kleijn, cello, and Alex Peh, piano and harpsichord
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
November 9: Clayton Stephenson, piano
This program is performed in memory of Willona Sinclair.
November 16: Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano with Myra Huang, piano
This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.
November 23: Michelle Cann, piano 

All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm (except ACRONYM, which performs on both Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 pm) in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

Ticketing Information

Tickets ($20-$85) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. All concert tickets include Museum admission.

About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115 • Hours: Open Weekends from 10 am to 5 pm, Weekdays from 11am to 5 pm and Thursdays until 9 pm, Closed Tuesdays. • Admission: Adults $22; Seniors $20; Students $15; Free for members, children 17 and under, everyone on their birthday, and all named “Isabella” • $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ticket • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org 

Music at the Gardner is supported by Nora McNeely Hurley / Manitou Fund. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Newport Classical Continues Chamber Series with Two October Concerts - Violinist Blake Pouliot with Pianist Henry Kramer and Trio Zimbalist

L-R: Blake Pouliot, Henry Kramer, Trio Zimbalist. Photos available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Continues 2025-2026 Chamber Series

Violinist Blake Pouliot & Pianist Henry Kramer perform Schumann and Dvořák
Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:30pm

Trio Zimbalist performs Beethoven
Friday, October 17, 2025 7:30pm

Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org

Newport, RI – Newport Classical continues its fifth full-season Chamber Series, which features twelve concerts held on select Fridays between September 2025 and June 2026 at the organization’s home venue, the Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.), with the two concerts in October. Violinist Blake Pouliot and pianist Henry Kramer perform on Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:30pm and Trio Zimbalist performs on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:30pm.

Celebrated for his “radiant sound and high-powered virtuosity” (Los Angeles Times), violinist Blake Pouliot brings his expressive and assured style to Newport on October 3. Joining Pouliot, and making a welcome return to Newport Classical, is acclaimed pianist Henry Kramer, praised by The New York Times for his “astonishingly confident technique.” Together, they deliver a Romantic program featuring Schumann’s stormy Violin Sonata No. 1, Dvořák’s spirited Zigeunerlieder, and the sweeping drama of Chausson’s Poème, promising an evening of captivating contrasts. The duo made their Carnegie Hall debut together this past May, and Pouliot has also recently made debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and more. He first performed as a soloist with orchestra at age eleven, and the Toronto Star describes him as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime.”

Watch Violinist Blake Pouliot:

Newport Classical welcomes Trio Zimbalist to Rhode Island in their Newport Classical debut on October 17. Trio Zimbalist has won over audiences and critics alike with what EfSyn (Greece) calls “precision and feverish intensity.” Praised for the “liveliness and vigor” of their playing and performances that are simply “pure enjoyment!” (Athinorama), the trio brings vibrant energy and deep musical expression to every note. They present a program that begins with George Xiaoyuan Fu’s Piano Trio, followed by two iconic works: Smetana’s deeply emotional Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15, a powerful reflection on love and loss, and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, the beloved “Archduke,” full of warmth, grace, and grandeur. The members of the trio – violinist Josef Špaček, cellist Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, and pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu – are all distinguished alumni of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In demand across Europe and the U.S. as soloists, chamber musicians, and recitalists, they form an inimitable ensemble with repertoire spanning Romantic masterworks to today’s most lauded composers. The trio takes its name from famed violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist, a towering presence at the Curtis Institute of Music as faculty and director for a combined forty years. Trio Zimbalist carries on the violinist’s storied legacy through its commitment to artistic excellence.

Watch Trio Zimbalist:

Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. 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 when the doors open at 7:00pm and again 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 visit a local school or organization to present their talents and meaningfully engage with students and community members of all ages through Newport Classical's Music Enrichment and Engagement Initiative.

Up next, Newport Classical presents a free Community Concert, designed especially for families – classical guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan presents his New Lullaby Project (comfy PJs and stuffed animals welcome) on October 12 at Emmanuel Church. The Chamber Series continues on November 7, with Taiwanese American pianist Charlotte Hu, celebrated as a "first-class talent" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) with "superstar quality" (Jerusalem Post), embarking on a compelling journey through Chopin's expressive world. 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 begins in 2026 with cellist Jonathan Swensen making his highly anticipated return on January 23 following his memorable 2024 debut as a Festival Artist. 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) and 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 instrumentalists and vocalists 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 Esmail, Ian Clarke, and Yuko Uebayashi.

The 2026 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 2-19, 2026.

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.

Pianist Charlotte Hu Announces 2025-2026 Season Highlights

Photo by Dario Acosta available in high resolution here.

Pianist Charlotte Hu Announces 2025-2026 Season Highlights

Recitals Presented by The Gilmore, Newport Classical, Strathmore, Music on Madison in NYC, Boston Conservatory at Berklee,Taipei Concert Hall, & more

New PENTATONE Album Featuring the Complete Goyescas by Enrique Granados Coming June 5, 2026

Charlotte Hu’s 2025-2026 Programming Showcases Four Major Focuses:
Spanish Repertoire, the Music of Chopin, Pioneering Women Composers, and the Music of Pauline Viardot

“praises follow her all around the world” – International Piano
“a superb pianist” – Philadelphia Inquirer

Complete Schedule: charlottehu.com/calendar

Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) has been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for her dazzling virtuosity, riveting musicianship, and magnetic stage presence. Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung describes Hu’s playing as “extremely confident and physically strong.” She possesses, writes the Jerusalem Post, “superstar quality – musical, energetic and full of flair.”

With a vast repertoire encompassing the works of composers from the 18th Century to the modern era, Charlotte Hu presents compelling programs that juxtapose audience favorites with underperformed treasures and new commissions. As a soloist, Hu has captivated audiences across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing sold-out concerts at many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Taipei National Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Hong Kong Cultural Center, the Taichung Opera House, and Osaka’s Symphony Hall. She is a frequent guest at music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Ruhr-Klavier Festival, and Oregon Bach Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

Charlotte Hu's 2025-2026 season showcases four major focuses – Spanish repertoire, the music of Chopin, works by pioneering women composers, and a new project for The Gilmore featuring the music of Chopin paired with the music of French composer and mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot. She performs in recitals presented by The Gilmore, Newport Classical, Music on Madison in New York City, Strathmore, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and the Taipei Concert Hall, among others.

In October 2025, Hu will record her next album – her second for the PENTATONE label – with producer Everett Porter of Polyhymnia at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep (MCO) in Hilversum, The Netherlands. The new album, which will feature Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite in its entirety, will be released on June 5, 2026. It follows Hu’s PENTATONE debut recording, Liszt: Metamorphosis, which was released July 2024. International Piano wrote that Metamorphosis “showcases some truly beautiful piano playing, while BBC Music Magazine describes the album as “a splendid introduction to a talented pianist.” Hu will be performing music from her forthcoming Goyescas recording throughout the upcoming season, including presented by the Puffin Cultural Forum (Teaneck, NJ; October 9, 2025); Music on Madison (New York, NY; October 26, 2025); Lynn University (Boca Raton, FL; December 6, 2025); Hemet Concert Association (Hemet, CA; April 12, 2026); Cheboygan Chamberfest (Cheboygan, MI; May 23, 2026); and Taipei National Concert Hall (Taipei, Taiwan; June 24, 2026).

During the 2025-2026 season, Charlotte Hu will work with The Gilmore, serving as an Artist Teacher for The Gilmore International Piano Festival and collaborating on a new program with soprano Raquel Gonzalez. Hu will showcase the music of French composer and mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot paired with music by Viardot’s close friend, Frédéric Chopin. It features a selection of Viardot’s solo piano works and her songs for soprano and piano, as well as her arrangements of Chopin’s Mazurkas for voice and piano.

Also this season, returning to the repertoire of her 2011 debut solo album, Chopin, Hu celebrates the music of the beloved Polish composer and virtuoso pianist Frédéric Chopin by performing selections from his Mazurkas and Nocturnes; Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58; Variations on “Là ci darem la mano,” Op. 2; Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57; Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60; and Polonaise “Heroic,” Op. 53. Hu performs music by Chopin presented by Music on Madison (New York, NY; October 26, 2025); Newport Classical (Newport, RI; November 7, 2025); The Gilmore (Kalamazoo, MI; November 19, 2025); Lynn University (Boca Raton, FL; December 6, 2025); and the Jamestown Community Piano Concert Series (Jamestown, RI; January 18, 2026); Hemet Concert Association (Hemet, CA; April 12, 2026); and Cheboygan Chamberfest (Cheboygan, MI; May 23, 2026).

In spring 2026, Charlotte Hu brings her artistry and versatility to Women Pioneers – a program highlighting the significant legacy of women composers from the early 19th century to today, from important historical women composers including Lili Boulanger, Fanny Mendelssohn, Pauline Viardot, and Margaret Bonds to some of today’s most in-demand composers such as Jennifer Higdon, Lera Auerbach, and Unsuk Chin. Featuring music of contrasting forms, styles, and influences, Women Pioneers offers fascinating connections and fresh perspectives on the role of women in Western music history. Hu will perform the program at Boston Conservatory at Berklee (Boston, MA; March 26, 2026) and Strathmore’s Music at the Mansion (North Bethesda, MD; April 2, 2026).

A Steinway Artist, Charlotte Hu serves as an associate professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and as an artist in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is also the founder and artistic director of the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei and the Philadelphia Young Pianists' Academy (PYPA). Now in its 13th year, PYPA provides concert opportunities for young pianists while serving as an important cultural bridge between East and West.

In addition to her recordings for PENTATONE, Hu’s debut album, Chopin, was released on ArchiMusic in April 2011 and was named Best Classical Album of the Year by Taiwan's prestigious Golden Melody Award. Her recordings released on CAG/Naxos and BMOP/sound have received overwhelming critical acclaim. Her Rachmaninoff album on Centaur/Naxos received a five-star review by the U.K.'s Pianist magazine, which called the album “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.”

Concert details are available on Charlotte Hu’s performance calendar: charlottehu.com/calendar

For more information about Charlotte Hu: charlottehu.com/biography