Aug. 28: Composer Robert Sirota Releases Contrapassos New Album on Azica – World Premiere Recordings Performed by the Telegraph Quartet and Soprano Abigail Fischer

Composer Robert Sirota Releases Contrapassos
New Album on Azica Out August 28, 2026

World Premiere Recordings
Performed by the Telegraph Quartet and Soprano Abigail Fischer

Worldwide Release Date: August 28, 2026

Downloads and CDs available to press on request

“[Robert] Sirota’s compositional voice has a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite.”
– Anthony Tomassini, The New York Times

Robert Sirota | Telegraph Quartet | Abigail Fischer | Azica

Two of Robert Sirota’s chamber works, Contrapassos for String Quartet and Soprano (2019) and String Quartet No. 3, Wave Upon Wave (2018), will be released on August 28, 2026 on a new album on Azica Records. This is the eleventh album featuring Sirota’s music, and his second for Azica, following the release of 212: Symphony No. 1 earlier this year. Contrapassos, which was commissioned by the Sierra Chamber Society and includes text by Stevan Cavalier, is performed by the Telegraph Quartet with soprano Abigail Fischer. Wave Upon Wave is performed by the Telegraph Quartet.

Over five decades, Robert Sirota has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota’s musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.”

Sirota states: “Collaborating with the Telegraph Quartet and Abigail Fischer in the creation of these works has been a deeply rewarding and satisfying experience. After several years of delay, I am delighted that this recording is now a reality.”

Robert Sirota composed his third string quartet, Wave Upon Wave, in 2017. Commissioned by the Naumburg Foundation, the award-winning Telegraph Quartet gave the world premiere in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2018. Wave Upon Wave is the third work in a trilogy that Sirota began with his first string quartet, Triptych, in 2002. Sirota describes all three quartets as “a long journal entry reflecting a response to our times,” with Wave Upon Wave focusing on “our fears, our hopes, and our prayers that we will triumph over the forces of darkness which threaten to overwhelm us,” writes Sirota in his program notes. Of the sold out world premiere performance at Carnegie Hall, New York Daily Music described the work as, “chillingly cinematic.” The San Francisco Classical Voice described Wave Upon Wave as being shaped by a “variety of moods” and “heartbeat rhythms” throughout the work’s movements.

In 2019 Sirota composed Contrapassos. Due to the pandemic lockdown, the performance date endured almost as many changes as the music itself, which is inspired by the imagery of Dante. After several postponements of the initial 2020 world premiere, the Telegraph Quartet and soprano Abigail Fischer were finally able to come together and give the highly anticipated world premiere in July 2022.

“[Contrapassos] begins with memories of the quotidian joys of childhood, quickly turning to darkness and thoughts of early death by suicide, heart attacks in middle age, and final judgment,” says Sirota. “And yet throughout, there is the vigorous embrace of abundant life, of the beauty of our world, and of our striving for faith.” In performance, Contrapassos reflects a seamless collaboration between poetry, vocal, and instrumental music. 

Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Telegraph, and Blair String Quartets; the Neave, Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown music festivals; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Commissions for Sirota@70 in honor of his 70th birthday included works for Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis & the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, and Sierra Chamber Society.

Additional recent commissions include the music for Rising, an evening-length dance collaboration with choreographer Gabrielle Lamb, Pigeonwing Dance, and the Neave Trio; A Migrant’s Dream, a choral work commissioned by Judith Clurman for Essential Voices USA; Sirota’s third string quartet, Wave Upon Wave for the Naumburg Foundation; his fourth string quartet Contrapassos for the Sierra Chamber Society, Immigrant Songs for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; Luminous Bodies performed by Jeffrey Kahane and yMusic at the Sarasota Music Festival; Hafez Songs for Palladium Musicum; O Blessed Holy Trinity for choir and organ, for Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis; and his Cello Sonata No. 2, for Benjamin Larsen and Hyungjin Choi. Sirota’s arrangements of songs for Paul Simon and yMusic were performed on Simon’s farewell tour, including an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Sirota is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, United States Information Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center. His works are recorded on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Hal Leonard, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.

Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, Sirota served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University's School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the School’s composition faculty.

A native New Yorker, Sirota studied at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.

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

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

The Telegraph Quartet released its celebrated debut album Into The Light in 2018 and is currently recording an extensive three-album series titled 20th Century Vantage Points for Azica Records, exploring string quartets of the 20th century. The first volume, Divergent Paths (2022), features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. In August 2025, the Telegraph released the second volume, Edge of the Storm, which examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through string quartets by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Volume three will be released in fall 2027. In addition, the Telegraph releases recordings of the string quartets of Robert Sirota in summer 2026 (Azica Records) and of Kenji Bunch in spring 2027 (Phenotypic Records).

Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet is deeply committed to education, mentorship, and meaningful audience engagement. The ensemble has presented masterclasses globally, including for the Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and internationally at Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

As Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan, Telegraph has also launched an initiative designed to help emerging musicians bridge the gap between academic study and professional life. Through this program, selected chamber music students join the Quartet on tour, gaining professional experience by rehearsing, traveling, and performing alongside the ensemble.

The Quartet has also served as artists-in-residence at Gretna Music, the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, Telegraph launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. That same year, the ensemble created TeleLab, an online video series in which the musicians collectively explore and break down the individual components of selected string-quartet movements. TeleLab has since expanded into an in-person lecture-demonstration and performance program.

In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg specialist Henk Guittart in collaboration with the Arnold Schönberg Center, undertaking an in-depth study of Schoenberg’s complete string quartets.

For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.

About Abigail Fischer: Abigail Fischer is an internationally acclaimed American soprano celebrated for performances of exceptional emotional depth, dramatic honesty, and vocal artistry. The New York Times praised her “disarming intimacy,” and chief classical music critic Zachary Woolfe wrote, “Ms. Fischer sings with a passionate restraint that has no equal in her generation. You didn’t want her to stop.”

Known for her versatility across opera, concert repertoire, and contemporary music, Fischer has been featured at Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Ars Lyrica Houston, Da Camera of Houston, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Beijing Music Festival, Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, and the Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival. Her performances have taken her to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and major festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

As a defining interpreter of contemporary opera, Fischer created the leading role in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Song from the Uproar, and Du Yun and Royce Vavrek’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel’s Bone. She has premiered works by Nico Muhly, Elliott Carter, John Zorn, Bernard Rands, David Lang, Harold Meltzer, Robert Sirota, and performed Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjo and The Raven in Trento, Italy.

Fischer has enjoyed a vibrant concert career spanning Bach, Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Mahler, Berg and George Benjamin. Highlights include Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Magnificat, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder, and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. Before transitioning to soprano, Fischer spent fifteen years performing professionally as a mezzo soprano, singing repertoire from Dido and Aeneas, Cenerentola and Carmen, while also working as a professional choral singer and cellist in New York.

A graduate of Vassar College and the Eastman School of Music, Fischer also trained at the Marlboro Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Fischer’s work has expanded from interpreting the music of others to creating original musical experiences of her own. Today, through her Earthshine project, Fischer composes, performs, and facilitates immersive musical experiences integrating conscious breathwork, sound meditation, vocal improvisation, nervous system awareness, intuitive development, emotional energy release, shamanic journeying, inner child healing, shadow work, and voice activation. She has guided hundreds of individuals and groups through retreats, ceremonial concerts, and transformational experiences, continuing to explore music’s extraordinary capacity to awaken beauty, authenticity, healing, and wonder.

Contrapassos by Robert Sirota | Azica
Telegraph Quartet, Soprano Abigail Fischer
Release Date: August 28, 2026 (Worldwide)

String Quartet No. 3 - Wave Upon Wave

1. I. Relentless [5:07]
2. Interlude 1 Adagio Expressivo [1:20]
3. II. eighth note = 104 [3:22]
4. III. Rapido [2:24]
5. Interlude 2 Appassionata [0:49]
6. IV. quartet note = 72 [5:59]

Contrapassos

7. I. Dreamlike [4:37]
8. II. quarter note = 76 [3:56]
9. III. quartet note = 104, IV. quartet note = 60 [4:03]
10. V. Tempo Giusto, Dirgelike VI. quarter note = 96 [5:19]
11. VII. quarter note = 104 [1:40]
12. VIII. quarter note = 80 [2:52]

Total time [​​41:28]

Sept 4: ECM New Series Releases Samuel Beckett's Stirrings Still - Music by Trevor Bača, Narrated by Paul Griffiths, Performed by JACK Quartet

Samuel Beckett
Stirrings Still 

Text by Samuel Beckett
Music by Trevor Bača

Paul Griffiths, narrator
JACK Quartet: Christopher Otto, violin; Austin Wulliman, violin; John Pickford Richards, viola; Jay Campbell, violoncello

ECM New Series 2801
Release Date: September 4, 2026

Downloads and CDs available upon request.

Stirrings Still was Samuel Beckett’s last message in prose, completed in 1987, and first published the following year. More monologue than story, it comes from a narrator on the edge between life and what lies beyond, which might be a vast wheatfield seen in black-and-white, or might be a swirl of stumbling memories. 

Beckett cherished music, in particular the songs and string quartets of Franz Schubert. His writing is musical, in its meticulous phrasing, its use of repetition, and often its form. Stirrings Still is an example: a composition of interweavings and developments. 

The music, created for this release by composer Trevor Bača, is no accompaniment but rather a parallel stream, heard in alternation with the words, reflecting and contemplating what they have to say. Imagined for the musicianship of JACK Quartet, it is a stream into which the listener is drawn from time to time, not away from the words but more deeply into them, through another medium.

Trevor Bača was born in California in 1975 and grew up in Texas. His concerns as composer include “lost and secret texts, and the powers of musical storytelling.” Samuel Beckett’s protagonist, in the final section of Stirrings Still, hears something from deep within, a sentence with a word he cannot catch, and Bača’s writing for the string quartet conveys some of the intense yearning to grasp it.

Bača studied art, music, literature and languages at the University of Texas, composition and string techniques with Stefano Scodanibbio in Macerata, Italy, and composition with Julio Estrada in Mexico City. He holds a PhD in composition from Harvard University. His music has been played throughout the world, with recent performances in New York, Tokyo, Berlin and Barcelona. Bača's compositions have been anthologized as part of Notations 21, in which graphic and experimental manuscripts of a hundred  international composers are displayed and contrasted, and his scores have also been exhibited as art at the Chelsea Gallery in New York City and the Hutchins Gallery on Long Island. In 2019 he joined the faculty of the Department of Music at Yale University, where he lectures on 20th- and 21st-century music.

JACK Quartet was formed in 2005, its name an acronym of the initials of the founding members. Violist John Pickford Richards and violinist Christopher Otto were there from the beginning, with violinist Austin Wulliman and cellist Jay Campbell joining the quartet in 2016. They have established a reputation for their commitment to challenging contemporary repertoire and experimental chamber music – from Elliott Carter to John Zorn, from John Luther Adams to George E. Lewis – and enjoyed close working relationships with many composers.

Paul Griffiths, born in 1947 in Bridgend, Wales, is a British music critic, novelist and librettist, best known for his prolific writings on modern music. He wrote the libretto for Elliott Carter’s only opera What Next?, recorded for ECM New Series in 2000, as well as the libretti for Tan Dun’s opera Marco Polo, and Hans Abrahamsen’s opera let me tell you.  In 2003, ECM recorded his collaboration with cellist-composer-improviser Frances Marie Uitti, there is still time, subtitled "scenes for speaking voice and cello," which featured Griffiths as narrator of his own text. 

The author of more than twenty books on music as well as novels, a collection of short stories, and numerous liner notes, Paul Griffiths has received many awards and prizes for his work, including an OBE for services to music, literature and composition.

Stirrings Still was recorded in 2023 and 2024 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, and produced by Manfred Eicher, who has long been fascinated by the inherent musicality of Samuel Beckett’s writing.

Oct. 2: Ariel Quartet Completes Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle - Three Albums Over Two Years on Orchid Classics

Ariel Quartet Completes Monumental Beethoven String Quartet Cycle
Three Volumes Over Two Years

Third Volume to be Released Worldwide on October 2, 2026
on Orchid Classics

Special Box Set in 2027 will Honor Beethoven’s
Legacy 200 Years After His Passing

“The immediacy and commitment I noted in their playing in the first volume is even more evident here, with superb sound, dazzling fast passages and outstanding nuance, dynamics and phrasing.” – David Olds, The WholeNote on Vol. 2

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, volume two on November 7, 2025, with volume three arriving on October 2, 2026 and a special box set release in March 2027.

The Ariel Quartet’s first volume of this Beethoven Cycle was 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.” Of the second volume, Jean-Yves Duperron of The Classical Music Sentinel writes, “There's just something about the Ariel Quartet that draws life out of every note on the page.”

The third volume of the cycle, recorded across three CDs, includes Beethoven’s Late Quartets – String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127; String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131; String Quartet in A minor, Op.132; String Quartet in F major, Op.135; and String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130, including the ‘Große Fuge’ Op.133. The first single from the album, Allegro from String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131, will be released on September 18, 2026.

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.

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.

Of their history with Beethoven’s late quartets, the Ariel Quartet writes in this volume’s liner notes:

“Our journey with [Beethoven’s] late quartets began with Op.132 in 2004, and despite encountering sentiments that young musicians shouldn’t readily dive into these worlds this work quickly became one of our favorites to perform. Truthfully, this music does not ripen in us without performing it incessantly, and the notion that our deep love and respect for art should be expressed by staying away from it really makes more sense for a museum. How a given section, theme or movement relates, a tempo feels and a character comes to life will only truly be put to the test in a concert, where the moment is everything. We feel especially with this [third] Volume, that recording it is a touch like capturing a rare creature in Himalaya-like territory and displaying it in the zoo – ethically as debatable as choosing to declare that one specific version of any given phrase or character should persist. The sole reason to jump over one’s own artistic shadow and proceed nevertheless is to make a record in the spirit of how we feel these masterworks should come to life.”

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. 3
Ariel Quartet
Orchid Classics | Release Date: October 2, 2026

Disc 1: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127

1 Maestoso – Allegro [6:55]
2 Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile [15:54]
3 Scherzo, Vivace [9:13]
4 Allegro [7:34]

String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op.131

5 Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo [6:25]
6 Allegro molto vivace [3:07]
7 Allegro moderato [0:51]
8 Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile [13:59]
9 Presto [5:08]
10 Adagio quasi un poco andante [1:57]
11 Allegro [7:03]

Total time: [78:06]

Disc 2

String Quartet in A minor, Op.132

1 Assai sostenuto – Allegro [9:49]
2 Allegro ma non tanto [9:55]
3 Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lidischen Tonart. Molto adagio – Neue Kraft fühlend. Andante [17:33]
4 Alla marcia, assai vivace [2:23]
5 Allegro appassionato [6:46]

String Quartet in F major, Op.135

6 Allegretto [6:57]
7 Vivace [3:27]
8 Assai lento, cantate e tranquillo [7:34]
9 Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß: Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro [7:00]

Total time [71:24]

Disc 3

String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130

1 Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro [13:57]
2 Presto [2:01]
3 Poco scherzoso. Andante con moto ma non troppo [7.37]
4 Alla Danza tedesca. Allegro assai [3:40]
5 Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo [7:06]
6 Overtura. Allegro – Meno mosso e moderato – Allegro. Fuga* [16:13]

Total time [50:35]

Ariel Quartet:

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

* This movement was later published separately as Op.133 under the title Grande Fugue, tantôt libre, tantôt recherchée.

Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineer: Shauna Barravecchio, Jesse Lewis
Editing Engineer: Caroline Shaffer Robin, Shauna Barravecchio, Alexandre Robin, Thiago Wolf
Mix Engineer: Jesse Lewis
Denoise Engineer: Mark Alletag
Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Immersive Producer: Jesse Lewis
Immersive Mixing and Mastering Engineer: Christopher Moretti

© 2025 Orchid Music Limited

OUT TODAY: Guitarist Marcin Releases Live Sessions – New Sony Music Masterworks EP

EP Artwork (Download)

Marcin Releases Live Sessions
New EP on Sony Music Masterworks
Out Today - Listen Here

New Video: Art Of Guitar (Live) Feat. Yamandu Costa
Watch Here

Catch Marcin Live on His Art of Guitar World Tour
Tickets & Info Here

JULY 31 – NEW YORK, NY – Today, Marcin releases LIVE SESSIONS, a new EP of nine songs that capture the guitar mastermind’s extraordinary musicianship in its purest form — listen here. The EP was recorded live without an audience and showcases Marcin’s unique fusion of virtuosity, percussive guitar technique, and genre-defying arrangements. It features classics such as the Moonlight Sonata and Chopin Nocturne alongside original compositions, and his recent streaming hit Art of Guitar. Accompanying the EP is the release of a new live video for “Art of Guitar,” this time, featuring renowned Brazilian guitarist and composer, Yamandu Costa – watch here.

Of his new Live Sessions EP, Marcin notes: “As I'm working on my second studio record, I wanted to keep things fresh, so I decided to record a brand-new EP featuring live studio versions of my most engaging arrangements and compositions. It includes songs from Dragon In Harmony, as well as some older arrangements that I play at my shows. Meeting Yamandu Costa for this project was a highlight for me. I've been following him for a long time, and he's a real inspiration for me. Collaborating with him in Warsaw on a remix of “Art of Guitar” was a real honor. His performance on the song is fantastic, and I’m also excited about the new reworked elements added in this live version. I'm very proud of this release. It captures raw, unfiltered performances of songs I love to play, and I hope audiences enjoy listening to them.”

Fans can experience Marcin performing live on the final leg of his Art of Guitar World Tour, which kicks off in Asia on August 7, and includes stops in India, Thailand, China, Indonesia, as well as three sold out shows in his native Poland. For ticketing and information, please visit https://marcin.tix.to/tour.

LIVE SESSIONS: TRACKLIST

1. Just The Two Of Us (Live)
2. Smooth Operator (Live)
3. Tribute to Paco (Live)
4. Art of Guitar (Live), feat. Yamandu Costa
5. Chopin Nocturne (Live)
6. Toccata (Live)
7. Carmen (Live)
8. Bite Your Nails (Live)
9. Moonlight Sonata (Live)

ABOUT MARCIN

Named “one of the most talented guitarists of his generation” by Guitar World, Marcin is one of the pioneers of a new percussive style, rooted in flamenco and classical. With nods from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Guitar World, Premier Guitar and more, plus a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and his first-ever cover for Total Guitar, Marcin continues to captivate millions of fans and followers with his show-stopping guitar style across multiple platforms. In a few short yet explosive years, Marcin’s virtuosic technique has been championed by the likes of Tom Morello, Paul Stanley, Madonna, BTS’ Jungkook, Timbaland, Ty Dolla $ign and Wyclef Jean, to name a few.  In 2022, Marcin launched a signature guitar with Ibanez Guitars as an ambassador for the Japanese brand. The electrifying performances by this Polish-born musician extend far beyond the screen, selling out across Asia and Europe in weeks.  Marcin is currently on the road for his first-ever global headline Art of Guitar tour performing hits and music from his debut album, Dragon in Harmony (Sony Masterworks).

Connect With Marcin:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube

ART OF GUITAR TOUR DATES:
TICKETING AND INFO HERE

AUG 7 – Mumbai, India – NMACC
AUG 8 – Bengaluru, India – PCPA
AUG 9 – Delhi, India – Siri Fort Auditoriums
AUG 12 – Shillong, India – Latiri
AUG 15 – Bangkok, Thailand – MGI Hall (2)
AUG 18 – Hong Kong, China – Tung Po
AUG 20 – Haikou, China – Hainan Centre
AUG 22 – Jakarta, Indonesia – Lalala Festival
DEC 13 – Wrocław, Poland – Narodowe Forum Muzyki
DEC 22 – Warsaw, Poland – Palladium
DEC 23 – Warsaw, Poland – Palladium

# # # 

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

ECM to Release Steve Reich: Recordings on ECM - A 3-LP Box Set - In Honor of Reich's 90th Birthday

In Honor of Steve Reich's 90th Birthday, ECM Releases Steve Reich: Recordings on ECM

A 3-LP Box Set Including Reich's Albums That Were Released on the Label Between 1978-1982:

Music for 18 Musicians
Octet / Music for a Large Ensemble / Violin Phase
Tehillim

Presented as Facsimile Editions Housed in a High-Quality Cardboard Box with a Booklet Containing Photos from the Archives, Manuscript Pages and Liner Notes by Paul Griffiths

Available October 2, 2026 via ECM

Exclusive Preorder Starting on July 31, 2026 on ECM US Store

Compiling “some of the minimalist composer’s finest works, including the definitive recording of his undisputed masterpiece Music for 18 Musicians” (Pitchfork), Steve Reich: Recordings on ECM comprises the three Steve Reich albums that were released on the label between 1978-1982, presented as facsimile editions housed in a high-quality cardboard box with a booklet containing photos from the archives, manuscript pages and liner notes by Paul Griffiths.

Sourced from the original analogue master tapes and bearing the official AAA label, confirming their all-analogue provenance, these vinyl editions authentically re-introduced the listener to recordings that have since become staples in contemporary music. The works included on these three albums are Music for 18 Musicians, Octet, Music for a Large Ensemble, Violin Phase and Tehillim, tracing the influential early creative period of the composer and his development over the course of fifteen years. The box set arrives on the occasion of Reich’s 90th birthday in October 2026.

“About the famed ECM Recordings, much has already been written. Suffice to say that they confirm that Reich could convey the pulse and spirit of American urban life as brilliantly as Gershwin did 30 years earlier. Even the unity that arises from out of phase quasi-chaos is revelatory. Recorded 1976–1981, the works' emphasis on percussive sounds makes for anything but soothing background listening. It's all fabulous stuff. Although listening to multiple works in one sitting could possibly induce numbness – taken one at a time, they are as exhilarating as they are essential.” – Jason Victor Serinus, Stereophile Magazine

For more information on Steve Reich, please visit stevereich.com.

Emerald City Music Announces Eleventh Season for 2026-2027 with Fourteen Concerts from October 2026 to May 2027

High resolution press photos available here.

A New Decade for Emerald City Music:
Announcing Eleventh Season for 2026-2027

Fourteen Concerts from October 2026 through May 2027
in Seattle and Olympia, WA

Late Night Sessions Concert Series Returns for Second Season
Violinist Kristin Lee, Artistic Director; Sean Campbell, Executive Director

Season Subscriptions on Sale Now
Single Tickets on Sale in August

www.emeraldcitymusic.org

Seattle & Olympia, WA – Artistic Director and violinist Kristin Lee and Executive Director Sean Campbell are thrilled to announce the eleventh season of Emerald City Music (ECM), with fourteen Mainstage performances from October 16, 2026 through May 15, 2027 in Seattle and Olympia, plus the continuation of ECM’s Late Night Sessions and Chamber Music Karaoke. Emerald City Music is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Known for a casual environment combined with award-winning artists, ECM has gained increasing recognition since its founding in 2016. Season subscriptions are on sale now and single tickets will be on sale in August.

Through thrilling performances, community events, late-night collaborations and pre-concert conversations, every part of the season is shaped by Emerald City Music’s mission: making world-class music approachable, social, and deeply human. The Seattle Times reports: "ECM isn’t falling back on the tried-and-true, under the assumption that a new listener is an unadventurous, easily frightened-off listener. Instead, they’re betting that the tried-and-true could be precisely one of the barriers to sparking interest that classical-music organizations need to overcome."

“Welcome to a new decade of Emerald City Music!” says ECM Artistic Director Kristin Lee. “This next chapter of ECM is an especially exciting one as we deepen our commitment to creating meaningful impact through more performances, more opportunities for engaging with our audience, and more ways for all of us to experience the transformative power of music.

The 2026–27 season will also be shaped by very meaningful celebrations, including the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s passing and the 90th birthdays of two of America’s most influential composers. Through these, I look forward to exploring music on a deeper level while discovering human connections through the shared experience of live performance.”

“Every aspect of Emerald City Music’s eleventh season is centered around bringing audiences closer to the music, both as listeners and as participants,” says ECM Executive Director Sean Campbell. “Through impactful and intimate performances, thoughtful conversations, and opportunities for our communities to make music together, ECM continues to break down the barriers between artists and audiences, making world-class performance a personal and community-driven experience.”

ECM’s newest season explores a wide range of musical voices honoring major milestones including the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s passing with special November performances focused on his piano sonatas, performed by Gilles Vonsattel. In honor of their 90th birthdays, the season also reflects on the lasting influence of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, focusing on the expansive ways they’ve transformed how we think about sound, structure, and what music can be. In December, that spirit of experimentation comes to the forefront in an immersive program that challenges the very act of listening. The Evolution Series returns this season, co-curated by violinist and scholar Aaron Boyd, with a March program tracing the evolution of violin technique. In April, ECM’s commitment to collaboration continues with Animal Fire Theater, bringing music and Shakespeare into conversation through a vivid exploration of storytelling across art forms. Mainstage performances throughout the season will be held at ECM’s signature venues – in Seattle at 415 Westlake and in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts or Capital High School Performing Arts Center. This season, ECM is also proud to have a new partnership with Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Olympia.

This season focuses on expanded ways to gather around music. Chamber Music Karaoke returns to Seattle and makes its way to Olympia, inviting community members to be a part of joyful music-making. In Olympia, a new community concert series before each performance will spotlight local students and community members, creating more space for shared creativity and artistic exchange. In addition, ECM’s Late Night Sessions are back for a second season, featuring three new performances. This series embraces an intimate concert experience and directly follows the conclusion of selected mainstage performances, keeping the music going well into the night. ECM’s new Late Night Sessions will spotlight outstanding local musicians and offer audiences an eclectic mix of genres. Dates for this season’s Late Night Sessions will be announced in August.

The concept of the concert series as a platform where artists and audiences transform one another breathes life into every element of what ECM does – from the casual open-bar setting of its flagship Seattle concert experiences, to the enthusiastic communities that faithfully assemble in its concert halls in Olympia and beyond. At Emerald City Music concerts, the audience’s presence matters, transforming the artists, the community, and the future of classical music.
 

Emerald City Music’s Season 11 Mainstage Performances
 

Rhapsodic Musings

Friday, October 16, 2026 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, October 17, 2026 at Minnaert Center | ​​2011 Mottman Rd. SW | Olympia, WA

Kristin Lee, Rachel Lee Priday, James Garlick, Vanessa Moss, Blayne Barnes, violin | David Auerbach, Alexander Grimes, Katie Liu, viola | Efe Baltacigil, Christine Lee, Holly Reeves, cello | Will Langlie-Miletich, double bass

Emerald City Music’s 11th season opens with a vibrant, festive evening of string music, bringing together Seattle and Olympia’s most celebrated string instrumentalists. Featuring works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Antonín Dvořák, and Béla Bartók, the program showcases the virtuosity and power brought through the different formations of the string instruments. At its core is Elliott Carter’s short but electrifying work for solo violin, a striking centerpiece that gives the program its name.

Grażyna Bacewicz: Concerto for String Orchestra (1948)
Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105 (1895)
Elliott Carter: “Rhapsodic Musings” from Four Lauds for solo violin (2000)
Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra Sz. 113, BB. 118 (1939)

Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

Friday, November 13, 2026 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, November 14, 2026 at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd | 1601 North St. SE | Olympia, WA

Gilles Vonsattel, piano

Over two evenings in Seattle and Olympia, pianist Gilles Vonsattel offers an intimate journey through nine of Ludwig van Beethoven’s most beloved works, his piano sonatas, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s passing. Spanning his early, middle, and late periods, the two evenings will explore a distinct facet of his evolving voice, distilled through the singular presence of one artist at the piano. Each performance begins with a pre-concert lecture by Vonsattel, inviting audiences to listen more deeply and step inside the emotional and architectural world of these extraordinary works.

PROGRAM 1 (Seattle)

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Sonata No. 10 in G Major, op. 14, No. 2 (1798-1799)
Sonata No. 17 in D minor, op. 31, No. 2, The Tempest (1801-1802)
Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28, Pastoral (1801)
Sonata No. 22 in F Major, Op. 54 (1804)
Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, Appassionata (1803)

PROGRAM 2 (Olympia)

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49, No. 1 (1797)
Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2, No. 3 (1794-1795)
Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101 (1816)
Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 (1822)

Disassembly of Sound

Friday, December 4, 2026 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, December 5, 2026 at Capital High School | 2707 Conger Ave. NW | Olympia, WA

Sooyun Kim, piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute | Ji Hye Jung, percussion, toy piano, steel pan | Jordan Dodson, ukulele, guitar, banjo, mandolin

What is music? When is sound considered music? This program explores the answers to these obscure questions through works that dissolve the boundaries between silence, gesture, dance, and theater. John Cage’s 4’33” reframes listening itself, while Vinko Globokar’s ?Corporel transforms the performer’s body into both instrument and stage. Marin Marais’s Les Folies d’Espagne anchors the program in Baroque variation and dance, leading into Mauricio Kagel’s Serenade, which satirically reimagines classical performance conventions through theatrical invention.

John Cage: 4’33” (1952)
Vinko Globokar: ?Corporel (1984)
Marin Marais: Les Folies d’Espagne (1700)
Mauricio Kagel: Serenade (1994)

Quartet in Spotlight: Poiesis Quartet

Friday, February 12, 2027 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, February 13, 2027 at Minnaert Center | ​​2011 Mottman Rd. SW | Olympia, WA

Poiesis Quartet
Sarah Ma, Max Ball, violins | Jasper de Boor, viola | Drew Dansby, cello

The Poiesis Quartet, First Prize winner at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition, makes its debut on Emerald City Music’s stage. Formed at Oberlin Conservatory in 2022, the ensemble has been praised for its “multifaceted artistry” and “bold, forward-thinking programming” (The New York Times). For their debut, they present a program that considers music as a response to the political and human conditions of our time.

Michi Wiancko: To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores (2021)
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: String Quartet No. 1, “Calvary” (1956)
Jeff Scott: Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified* (2026)
Kevin Lau: String Quartet No. 7, “Surfacing” (2025)

Evolution Series: The Violin

Friday, March 12, 2027 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, March 13, 2027 at Minnaert Center | ​​2011 Mottman Rd. SW | Olympia, WA

Aaron Boyd, co-curator, violin, viola | Kristin Lee, Sean Lee, Tianyou Ma, violin | Hana Coho, cello | Jennifer Godfrey, double bass | Oksana Ejokina, piano, harpsichord

The Evolution Series returns this season, focusing on one of music’s most celebrated instruments: the violin. Remarkably, the violin has retained its fundamental form since its earliest development. Instead, composers and performers have continually expanded its possibilities, driving innovation through new techniques and fresh modes of expression. Guided by violinist and lecturer Aaron Boyd, the evening traces four centuries of development, revealing how early breakthroughs continue to shape and challenge its musical language today.

Pietro Locatelli: Caprice in D Major “Labyrinth” (1733)
J.S. Bach: Adagio and Fugue from Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin in C Major BWV 1005
Carlo Farina: Capriccio stravagante (1627)
Niccolo Paganini: Selections from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin (1802-1817)
John Cage: Selections from Freeman Etudes for Solo Violin (1977-1990)
Eugène Ysaÿe: Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 27, No. 2, “Jacques Thibaud” (1923)
Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer: Concertante for Four Violins, Op. 55 (c.1831)

Inspired by Shakespeare

Friday, April 9, 2027 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday April 10, 2027 at Minnaert Center | ​​2011 Mottman Rd. SW | Olympia, WA

Tony Arnold, soprano | Michael Stephen Brown, piano | Kristin Lee, Susie Park, violin | Melissa Reardon, viola | Raman Ramakrishnan, cello | Animal Fire Theater, artistic partner

Shakespeare’s words have long shaped not only literature, but the broader landscape of human expression across the arts. This program explores how composers across time have drawn from his plays and poetry, using the themes of love, illusion, tragedy, and transform them into music. In partnership with Animal Fire Theater, an actor-driven, all-volunteer company based in Olympia, the evening bridges theater and music, allowing each form to illuminate and reshape the other.

Henry Purcell: If Music Be the Food of Love arranged for Soprano and String Quartet (1692)
Brett Dean: String Quartet No. 2 “And once I played Ophelia” (2014)
Felix Mendelssohn / Sergei Rachmaninoff: “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1842, arr. 1933)
Felix Mendelssohn / Franz Liszt: “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (arr. Brown) (1842, arr. 2023)
William Shakespeare: Selected Readings from Romeo and Juliet (1597)
Sergei Prokofiev: Suite from Romeo and Juliet (arr. Lidia Baich / Matthias Fletzberger) (1935)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato from String Quartet No. 1 in F major (1797-1800)

Opus One

Friday, May 14, 2027 at 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday May 15, 2027 at Capital High School, 2707 Conger Ave. NW | Olympia, WA

Sahun Sam Hong, Wu Qian, piano | Kristin Lee, Chad Hoopes, violin | Matthew Lipman, viola | Nicholas Canellakis, cello

Every composer has a moment when they take the bold step of sharing their first work with the world- a gesture that is at once vulnerable yet defining. Even those we now revere as the “greatest” began with these early statements, testing boundaries, discovering their voice, and building the confidence to create what would follow. This program brings together such beginnings by Beethoven, Suk, Schumann, and Dohnányi, offering a glimpse into the origins of their artistic identities. Within these works, we encounter their imagination and individuality with each composer revealing a distinct voice already taking shape, even at the very start.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1, No. 1
Josef Suk: Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 1
Robert Schumann: “Abegg” Variations, Op. 1
Ernő Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1

For Emerald City Music’s Complete Schedule and Concert Details, visit www.emeraldcitymusic.org.

Emerald City Music’s 2026-2027 concerts take place on Fridays at 415 Westlake in Seattle, WA and on Saturdays at The Minnaert Center for the Arts in Olympia (2011 Mottman Rd.), Capital High School Performing Arts Center (2707 Conger Ave NW) or Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (1601 North Street SE). Season tickets and tickets to individual concerts are on sale now and in August respectively. Please visit www.emeraldcitymusic.org for more details.

About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director

Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who 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.”

As a soloist, 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.

About ECM

Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences across seven Mainstage productions annually. Each program visits Seattle in our home venue in South Lake Union (415 On Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), and Olympia in a variety of modern concert halls.

Committed to deepening relationships through music, ECM hosts Late Night Sessions, a Seattle-based series that builds bridges across genres and cultivates new audiences. ECM also presents Chamber Music Karaoke, free events in Seattle and Olympia where community musicians gather to read chamber music and perform works they have been preparing, all centered around connection, collaboration, and the joy of music-making.

ECM gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Artistic Director Kristin Lee –– a touring violinist awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and who is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center –– is regarded for her innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre’s boundary past common limits.

Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to push the boundaries of chamber music with accolades like Steve Reich’s iconic Music for 18 Musicians, Simeon ten Holt’s hypnotic Canto Ostinato, and the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group, Dreamers’ Circus. Recent highlights include partnerships with GRAMMY-winning Sandbox Percussion, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, University of Washington, Metropolis Ensemble, and East Coast Chamber Orchestra.

ECM values real, authentic connection and holds the belief that music possesses the innate power to bring people together from varying backgrounds and perspectives. Over the last decade, artists from every corner of the globe have visited Emerald City Music to prove just that: live performance centered around personal connection cultivates empathy, discovery, a sense of wonder, and community.

Follow ECM on Social Media

Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic

Announcing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series - 10 Performances at Calderwood Hall

Press photos available here.

Announcing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series

Ten Performances at Calderwood Hall from September through November

Information & Tickets:gardnermuseum.org/about/music
Tickets On Sale to the General Public on August 5, 2026

BOSTON, MA (July 29, 2026) – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announces its Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series, a ten-concert autumn season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel held on select Sundays at 1:30pm from September 13 through November 22, 2026. The season features world-class artists performing 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.

The Gardner Museum’s Fall Weekend Concert Series includes: violinist Rachel Barton Pine performing a recital of Brahms sonatas (September 13); acclaimed period-instrumentalist, violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, making her Calderwood Hall debut with collaborators from her Twelfth Night Ensemble (September 20; postponed from January due to the blizzard); a chamber music celebration honoring the late Scott Nickrenz, former Abrams Curator of Music at the Gardner, featuring Geneva Lewis and YooJin Jan, violins; Emma Wernig, viola; Jay Campbell, cello; and Conrad Tao, piano (September 27); the excellent Ivalas Quartet with music by Franz Schubert, George Walker, and Carlos Simon (October 4); Esther in the Age of Rembrandt performed by ACRONYM, in conjunction with the Gardner Museum’s exhibition (October 18); Celebrating Chrysanthemums, an exploration of the chrysanthemum as muse coinciding with the Museum’s annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation (October 25); Jamaican-British composer and pianist Eleanor Alberga with the Green Room Ensemble (November 1); the multiple prize-winning Poiesis Quartet (November 8); the Lysander Piano Trio in a wide ranging program spanning from Swedish violinist and composer Amanda Maier to South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen (November 15); and superstar harpsichordist Jean Rondeau in a survey of French Baroque music (November 22).

“We are delighted to announce our new season of concerts in Calderwood Hall,” says George Steel. “Two violinists kick things off: Rachell Ellen Wong, playing Baroque violin, and Rachel Barton Pine, playing Brahms on an instrument he himself selected. I am thrilled that, thanks to the generosity of his many admirers, we are launching a new annual concert in honor of the late Scott Nickrenz. Fittingly, it will be a barnburner, featuring the astounding and seldom-tackled Piano Quintet of Leo Ornstein. For the first time, we are also presenting a concert celebrating one of the Museum’s prized cultivars in conjunction with our John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation. This concert will be a feast for the senses! I hope you will join us for this glorious music, throughout our Fall season.”

George Steel’s music programming for the Museum 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 2026 Weekend Concert Series Overview

Acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine, praised by The New York Times for her “bravura technique and soulful musicianship,” opens the Gardner Museum’s 2026 Fall Weekend Concert Series on Sunday, September 13, returning to Calderwood Hall after her triumphant concert last season. Joined by pianist Matthew Hagle, she presents a recital of Johannes Brahms’s violin sonatas — including Brahms's own violin version of a sonata better known on clarinet, which Pine has been championing. She performs on the astonishing Guarneri "del Gesù" violin that Brahms himself selected for his chamber music partner, Marie Soldat-Roeger.

The long-awaited Boston debut of Twelfth Night Ensemble follows on Sunday, September 20, in a program postponed from January due to the blizzard. Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong—the only Baroque violinist to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant—joins harpsichordist David Belkovski and cellist Coleman Itzkoff in Baroque works by Nicola Matteis, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, John Eccles, Giuseppe Tartini, J.S. Bach, Jean-Marie Leclair, Francesco Maria Veracini, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, and Jacques Duphly, alongside contemporary composer Wanessa Dourado's Conto Bachiano from 2023. Inspired by Shakespeare’s play of the same name, Twelfth Night strives to invoke a spirit of boundless revelry, celebration, and community in their programming.

A new annual tradition begins on Sunday, September 27, with the inaugural Chamber Music Celebration, endowed to honor the life and work of the late Scott Nickrenz, the Gardner's first Abrams Curator of Music and a superb violist and chamber music impresario and evangelist. Violinists Geneva Lewis and YooJin Jang, violist Emma Wernig, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao present a wide-ranging program featuring music by Henry Purcell and Franz Joseph Haydn, Ruth Crawford Seeger's Suite No. 2 for Four Strings and Piano, and crowned by the thrilling Piano Quintet of Ukrainian-American composer Leo Ornstein, whose life bridged three centuries.

Franz Schubert's monumental “Death and the Maiden” quartet anchors the Ivalas Quartet's program on Sunday, October 4, paired with two American works: an early piece in George Walker's "American" style (Walker died only a few years ago at age 96) and An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave, a moving miniature by Carlos Simon, whose Requiem for the Enslaved had its Boston premiere at the Gardner Museum in 2022. Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty,” the Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception in 2017 with a mission to enrich the classical music world by spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers alongside the standard repertory.

In conjunction with the Museum's exhibition, ACRONYM presents Esther in the Age of Rembrandt on Sunday, October 18, offering rare performances of three Esther cantatas written during Rembrandt’s time. The program includes a work by the remarkable French composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, alongside music by Flemish composer Leonora Duarte, Jewish Mantuan composer Salamone Rossi, Giacomo Carissimi, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. ACRONYM will perform with a roster of vocal soloists as special guests: Amanda Forsythe and Teresa Wakim, sopranos; Kim Leeds, alto; Aaron Sheehan, tenor; and Jesse Blumberg, baritone.

The Gardner Museum’s annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation inspires Celebrating Chrysanthemums on Sunday, October 25, an exploration of the flower as artistic muse hosted by the Gardner’s Stanley P. Kozak Director of Horticulture Erika Rumbley and Abrams Curator of Music George Steel, who will also read related poems, letters, and horticultural texts. An all-star cast performs music by Jules Massenet, Léo Delibes, Giacomo Puccini, Scott Joplin, Dora Pejačević, Nikolai Harito, William Penn, Zbigniew Maciejowski, Ernesto Lecuona, Tōru Takemitsu, Xiaogang Ye, and Juantio Becenti.

Jamaican-British composer and pianist Eleanor Alberga, one of the most exciting composers writing in the U.K., takes the stage on Sunday, November 1 with the Green Room Ensemble — violinists Thomas Bowes and Nathan Meltzer, violist Jordan Bak, and cellist Sterling Elliott, who are all stars in their own right. The concert is part of the world premiere tour of Alberga’s Piano Quintet No. 2, “Stark” and will also include her String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Alberga has been commissioned by the BBC Proms, The Royal Opera, and Covent Garden, among many others.

Founded only in 2022, the Poiesis Quartet has already become a much-talked-about force in classical music. On Sunday, November 8, they tackle two landmarks of the repertoire—Ludwig van Beethoven's final string quartet (a work full of good humor despite having been written in trying circumstances) and Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 1. They also bring two recent works: Many Many Cadences, a bright and brilliant work by Sky Macklay, and Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified, a new commission from Jeff Scott, founding horn player of Imani Winds. The Poiesis Quartet was named among the best classical performances of 2025 by The New York Times.

Formed while its members were students at Juilliard, the Lysander Piano Trio performs on Sunday, November 15, featuring music by the remarkable Swedish violinist-composer Amanda Maier, who knew and worked with Brahms and Edvard Grieg. The program also includes works by Grieg and Antonín Dvořák, and Two Nguni Dances by South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, whom the Museum has commissioned in the past, and whose sophisticated style draws on sub-Saharan musical traditions, including those of the Xhosa clan, to which he belongs. The Lysander Piano Trio has been praised by The Washington Post for playing with, “an uncommon degree of heart-on-the-sleeve emotional frankness.”

The Gardner Museum’s Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series concludes on Sunday, November 22 with superstar harpsichordist Jean Rondeau—perhaps the world's most celebrated performer on the instrument—returning to Calderwood Hall for a survey of French Baroque treasures by Louis Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin, and Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer. Rondeau is a global ambassador for the harpsichord, and is at the forefront of bringing the instrument into the 21st century. The Washington Post raves, “He internalizes the music he plays so completely that any interpretive ambivalence or miscalculation is unthinkable. The sincerity and modesty of his delivery are the keys to its power.”

Fall 2026 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule

September 13 Rachel Barton Pine, violin
September 20: Twelfth Night Ensemble
September 27: Chamber Music Celebration
This annual concert celebrates the life and legacy of Scott Nickrenz, first Abrams Curator of Music at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
October 4: Ivalas Quartet
October 18: ACRONYM: Esther in the Age of Rembrandt
October 25: Celebrating Chrysanthemums
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
November 1: Eleanor Alberga with Green Room Ensemble
November 8: Poiesis Quartet
November 15: Lysander Piano Trio
November 22: Jean Rondeau, harpsichord

This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.

All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

Ticketing Information

Tickets ($25-$99) go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 10:00 am and 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 $25; Seniors $22; Students $15; Free for members, children 17 and under, and all named “Isabella” • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org

Music at the Gardner is supported by the Nora McNeely Hurley Foundation. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Scott Nickrenz 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, Joseph Mari, Sallie and Jim McGregor, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.

Newport Classical Announces 2026-2027 Chamber Series - Twelve Concerts from September 2026 through June 2027

Photos available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Announces 2026-2027 Chamber Series
Tickets on Sale August 4, 2026

Presenting a Vibrant Season of Twelve Concerts from September 2026 through June 2027

"a thriving musical community, generously supported by locals whose love of the arts equals their pride in the town's elegant past." – BBC Music Magazine

 Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org

Newport, RI (July 28, 2026) – Following its successful 57th annual summer festival, Newport Classical presents its sixth full-season Chamber Series held on select Fridays at 7:30pm, featuring twelve concerts held between September 2026 and June 2027, at the organization's home venue, Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.). Tickets will go on sale to the public on August 4, 2026 at www.newportclassical.org.

“What makes this Chamber Series especially exciting is its sheer variety: twelve concerts, each with a completely different instrumentation, exploring musical forms from sonata to valse to tango,” says Newport Classical Executive Director Oliver Inteeworn. “It’s a wonderful reminder of how endlessly inventive and alive classical music remains.”

Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series reaffirms Newport Classical's commitment to year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with complimentary wine generously provided by Gold's Wine and Spirits served during intermission. Both performers and audience members alike have described these concerts as some of their favorites. “The venue was the perfect place for a magical evening,” raved one attendee, while others have described their experiences as “amazing and very entertaining,” “riveting,” and “an absolute delight.”

Newport Classical's Chamber Series opens this fall on September 18 with returning favorites Invoke, a multi-instrumental quartet encompassing traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism, that Strings Magazine reports “cannot be contained by any one label.” Marking the nation's 250th anniversary, their program "American Voices" spotlights influential American composers including William Grant Still, Florence Price, and Duke Ellington alongside original works by the ensemble. On October 9, the rising Trio Azura, a recent Grand Prize and Gold Medal winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition that has been praised by Gramophone for “intelligence and imagination,” invites audiences to explore the world of the piano trio across eras from the Impressionist and Romantic works of Maurice Ravel and Felix Mendelssohn to the contemporary voice of Jennifer Higdon. The Boston-based Rasa String Quartet makes its Newport Classical debut on October 23 with "Portraits of an American Patchwork," a musical quilt that weaves together the cultural traditions that have shaped the nation’s identity, spanning jazz, bluegrass, Latin pop, Indigenous traditions, global folk music, and classical favorites, including music by Billy Strayhorn, Shelley Washington, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, William Grant Still, Hong Nan-pa, and Bad Bunny. Pianist Michael Leonardo Davidman, winner of the 2025 American Piano Awards and praised by Upstage for his “thunderous authority and loads of interpretive nuance,” makes his Newport debut on November 6 with a program of J.S. Bach, Franz Schubert, César Franck, and Franz Liszt. On November 20, Raphaël Feuillâtre, hailed as one of the leading classical guitarists of his generation, performs “Latin Passions,” a vibrant survey of Spanish and Latin American repertoire by Francisco Tárrega, Isaac Albéniz, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and more.

The Newport Classical Chamber Series continues in 2027 with cellist Sterling Elliott and pianist Elliot Wuu on January 29, in the sonatas of Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Elliott, a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, has been described by The Millbrook Independent as a cellist who has "risen beyond hopeful promise," while Wuu, a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, is recognized for his “power, speed and finesse” (Tribune Star). On February 19, flutist Anna Urrey and harpist Kristi Shade perform a program of Nino Rota, Lili Boulanger, Jules Mouquet, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Astor Piazzolla, exploring the coloristic possibilities of flute and harp across centuries and styles. Urrey has appeared at leading venues including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, and National Sawdust. A sought-after collaborator, Shade has appeared with artists ranging from Andrea Bocelli and John Legend to Florence + The Machine. The Dorian Wind Quintet, praised by the Los Angeles Times for delivering “chamber music as it was meant to be,” performs on March 12 in “Preludes and Variations,” pairing J.S. Bach chorale arrangements with Antonín Dvořák's Wind Quintet, Op. 105 and a set of Anniversary Variations by Richard Rodney Bennett, George Perle, Billy Childs, Bruce Adolphe, and Lee Hoiby on a theme from a wind quintet by Antonin Reicha written specifically for the Dorian Wind Quintet to celebrate the ensemble’s 40th anniversary.

Versatile artist Chelsea Guo, the first musician to win the Young Concert Artists auditions in both voice and piano, and hailed by Gramophone as “clearly a special talent,” takes the stage on April 9 in a program of Frédéric Chopin, Pauline Viardot, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, singing while accompanying herself on piano. On April 23, Newport Classical presents violinist Rubén Rengel and Friends, with pianist Gabriel Chakarji and percussionist Juan Diego Villalobos, who come together for an evening celebrating the music of Latin America, from their native Venezuela to the vibrant traditions displayed throughout the region. Rengel was the winner of the Robert F. Smith Prize at the 2018 Sphinx Competition, and has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and more. Accordionist Radu Ratoi, winner of the 2024 Young Concert Artists “Susan Wadsworth” International Auditions and recipient of Denmark’s prestigious Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, has established himself as a pioneer in expanding the accordion’s repertoire. He is joined by violinist Alexandra Tirsu, a 2021 ARD Competition prizewinner, on May 7 for a program of J.S. Bach, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Antonio Vivaldi, Astor Piazzolla, and more. The 2026-2027 Chamber Series concludes on June 4 with violinist Njioma Grevious, a Juilliard graduate and founding member of the Abeo Quartet, who appears regularly at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Concertgebouw. In Newport, she presents a program featuring the music of J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, W.A. Mozart, Oliver Messiaen, Edvard Grieg, and Clarence Cameron White. Grevious has been praised for her “violin pyrotechnics” and “sheer intensity” by the Washington Classical Review.

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

Single tickets start at $45 and packages are available. AARP members and their guests receive discounts on Chamber Series tickets and packages, and thanks to a generous grant from the Gruben Charitable Foundation, a limited number of free student tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

During the 2026-2027 season, Newport Classical will also present several free family-friendly Community Concerts at neighborhood-centered locations, generously sponsored by BankNewport, and holiday programs, which will be announced later this year. The 2027 Newport Classical Music Festival will take place from July 1-18, 2027.

Newport Classical 2026-2027 Chamber Series Schedule At-A-Glance:

September 18: Opening Night: Invoke performs "American Voices"
October 9: Trio Azura performs "Piano Trio Through Time"
October 23: Rasa String Quartet performs “Portraits of an American Patchwork”
November 6: Michael Leonardo Davidman, Gold Medalist of American Piano Awards
November 20: Guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre performs "Latin Passions"
January 29: Cello Sonatas with Sterling Elliott and Elliot Wuu
February 19: Anna Urrey & Kristi Shade perform Works for Flute and Harp
March 12: Dorian Wind Quintet performs "Preludes and Variations"
April 9: Voice and Piano with Chelsea Guo
April 23: Rubén Rengel and Friends
May 7: Radu Ratoi & Alexandra Tirsu perform Vivaldi, Piazzolla, and more
June 4: Chamber Series Finale: Violinist Njioma Grevious

Complete concert details can be found at www.newportclassical.org/concerts. All Chamber Series concerts are held on select Fridays at 7:30pm at Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn Street).

About Newport Classical

Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.

Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.

Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Enrichment and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools and community organizations 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. 

After a year-long community-driven process, and rooted in the organization’s mission “to celebrate the living art form of classical music in intimate and iconic locations,” Newport Classical released its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, presenting a clear roadmap to become a stronger, healthier, and more vibrant organization that enhances its programs and community engagement, promotes responsible financial growth and sustainability, and centers artistic excellence in every decision, as the organization aspires to open its doors even wider.

Sony Classical Releases Serge Koussevitzky: The Complete Boston Symphony Recordings (1928–1950) - 55 Albums Out Digitally November 20

Photographic portrait of Serge Koussevitzky (Garo)

Coming this Fall:
Serge Koussevitzky: The Complete Boston Symphony Recordings(1928–1950)

Historic Collection Encompassing 55 Albums To Be Released Digitally by Sony Classical in November 2026

Please note that this is a digital-only release. There will be no advance press copies or downloads available.

As the annual Tanglewood Music Festival marks its founder Serge Koussevitzky’s 152nd birth anniversary this weekend, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sony Classical announce the digital release this November of Serge Koussevitzky: The Complete Boston Symphony Recordings(1928–1950). The landmark collection encompasses all 55 albums recorded during Koussevitzky’s quarter-century tenure as the BSO’s conductor and music director and includes several first recordings of works the BSO premiered by composers that Koussevitzky championed like Prokofiev, Copland, and Harris. Also included are major works of the great symphonic canon by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Ravel, Schubert, Sibelius, Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and others. Set to be released globally on November 20 on the Sony Classical label, the complete Koussevitzky-BSO collection will be available to download and stream, newly remastered and presented in the highest quality audio across digital music platforms, made possible by the generosity of BSO donors.

The earliest album from November 1928 is the Boston Symphony’s very first electrical recording: Stravinsky’s Petroushka and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé suites. The latest recordings of the set, acclaimed performances of Sibelius’s Second Symphony and Grieg’s The Last Spring, were made on November 29, 1950, just six months before Koussevitzky died in Boston.

The highly anticipated collection offers many important works, notable guest soloists, and first recordings, among them:

• The first recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in its entirety and all of his Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites.

• The first recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (a later version featured Eleanor Roosevelt as narrator), his Symphony No. 5, and his Violin Concerto No. 2, with soloist Jascha Heifetz. The BSO gave the American premieres of all three works.

• The first studio recording of Copland's Appalachian Spring orchestral suite and the first recording of Lincoln Portrait.

• The first recording of Harris's Symphony No. 3, a BSO premiere regarded as among the most important mid-century American works.

• The first recording of Ravel's Koussevitzky-commissioned orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (BSO gave the American premiere under Koussevitzky) and one of the earliest recordings (1930) of Ravel’s Boléro.

• Koussevitzky was considered one of the great Tchaikovsky interpreters, and the collection includes the Tchaikovsky symphonies nos. 4, 5, and 6, as well as recordings of Romeo and Juliet and Francesca da Rimini.

• Mozart is represented by six symphonies as well as overtures from his operas; Dorothy Maynor sings an aria from The Magic Flute.

• A special highlight is an album on which Koussevitzky himself plays the double bass, including the beautiful slow movement from his own Double Bass Concerto.

More information about Serge Koussevitzky’s life and work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra may be found in the BSO’s online digital exhibits prepared during the celebration of the Koussevitzky 150 Celebration in 2024. Additional information about Sony Classical is available at Sony Classical.

Out Today: Second Single from Violinist Esther Abrami's Sony Classical Album Amour - Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet

Acclaimed Violinist Esther Abrami
Releases New Album Amour on Sony Classical

Album Marks Major Artistic Milestone For Abrami
Who Presents Her First Own Large-Scale Composition

Second Single "Love Theme" from Romeo and Juliet is Out Today
Listen Here

Worldwide Album Release Date: October 9, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now

Celebrated violinist and social media sensation Esther Abrami will release her new album Amour on October 9, 2026 on Sony Classical. The second single, out today, is "Love Theme" from Romeo and Juliet. Abrami and mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti join forces to present a truly unique interpretation of Nino Rota’s legendary love theme. Viotti’s voice adds a captivating new dimension to the piece, engaging in a duet with Abrami’s violin using vocalizations only. The track was recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Irene Delgado-Jiménez.

Marking a major artistic milestone, ‘Amour’ is the first album where Abrami presents an original own large-scale composition at its core: a self-written nine-part suite. Conceived as an intimate and deeply expressive exploration of love in all its forms, the work captures the full spectrum of emotions, from tenderness and passion to longing and heartbreak, and stands at the heart of a project that blends original music with newly reimagined works for violin and orchestra.

“With ‘Amour’, I wanted to explore love in all its forms – not just the joy and beauty, but also the vulnerability, the longing, the anger and the pain that often comes with it. Writing my own suite of nine movements allowed me to express a range of very personal emotions, while the other pieces on the album reflect how universal these feelings are across time and genres. Love is something that we all experience, for the best and the worst but at the end, that’s what connects us all. I hope this album resonates with anyone who listens to it”, says Esther Abrami.

Beyond the central suite, ‘Amour’ brings together a diverse selection of iconic classical works about love, each newly arranged for solo violin and orchestra. A particular highlight of the album is Nino Rota’s ‘Romeo and Juliet: Love Theme’, featuring the celebrated mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti. Viotti’s vocals add a captivating dimension to the piece as she engages in a duet with Esther’s violin. The programme further includes epic versions for violin and orchestra of Céline Dion’sAll by Myself’ and Georges Bizet’sCarmen: L’amour est un oiseau rebelle from Habanera. New arrangements of Francis Poulenc’sLes chemins de l’amour, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits (Melodie), and the virtuosic intensity of Tomaso Antonio Vitali’s Chaconne in G minor add even more musical colours to this collection of works centred around love. The album also features a new version arranged by Esther Abrami of Charlie Chaplin’sDésillusion amoureuse from the movie “The Circus”, a poignant composition that reveals the legendary filmmaker’s deeply expressive musical voice.

Throughout her career, Esther Abrami has been known for her ability to connect classical music with a wide and diverse audience, bringing fresh perspectives to the repertoire. With ‘Amour’, she reaches a new artistic dimension, uniting her work as a composer with her unique voice as an interpreter, thus shaping a musical language that is unmistakably her own.

This new chapter in her career follows a period of exceptional success. Since the release of her album ‘Women’ in April 2025, Esther Abrami has become one of the most visible young artists in classical music. Especially in her home country, France, she has appeared on major television programmes, performing for millions of viewers and captivating audiences through a series of highly successful concerts. Her book ‘La musique est (aussi) une affaire de femmes’ has quickly become a genre bestseller and will be released in English and German in September under the title ‘Music is (also) a Women’s Affair’. In recognition of her artistic impact, she will receive an Opus Klassik Award 2026, the most important classical music prize in the German speaking world.

Amour features the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Irene Delgado-Jiménez and will be available for streaming and digital download in stereo and the immersive format Dolby Atmos. The album will also be released as CD and a limited-edition 2x Ecorecord InkPlosion Colour LP – pre-order here.

Amour - Track List

1. Désillusion amoureuse (Charlie Chaplin)
2. – 10. Amour Suite (Esther Abrami)
11. Romeo and Juliet: Love Theme (Nino Rota) – feat. Marina Viotti
12. All by Myself (Céline Dion)
13. Carmen: L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Bizet)
14. Moods, Impressions and Souvenirs, Op. 41: Lento (Fibich)
15. Les chemins de l’amour (Poulenc)
16. Orpheo and Euridice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits (Gluck)
17. Chaconne in G minor (Vitali)

* City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Irene Delgado-Jiménez

Oct. 2: Classical Soul Pianist Alexis Ffrench Releases New Album 24 on Sony Masterworks – New Single In Flight Out Today

PR Photo: Credit – Alex Lake (Download)

Pioneering Composer and Pianist 
Alexis Ffrench

New Single: In Flight
Out Today - Listen Here
Taken From Upcoming Album, 24

Worldwide Album Release Date: October 2, 2026
Pre-Save Here

New York, NY – Pioneering pianist, composer and chart-topping Classical Soul artist Alexis Ffrench has shared new single, In Flight, out now from his forthcoming album 24 - listen here. The album set for release on October 2, 2026 and available for pre-save here. 

Nine On Blue finds Alexis Ffrench stepping into a late‑night jazz trio, with piano, bass and drums in close conversation. Written for the 9pm chapter of his 24‑hour album, it weaves blue‑note harmony and rhythmic nods to David Brubeck and George Gershwin into an unmistakably Alexis Ffrench sound.

Formed of 24 meticulously crafted piano pieces and intended as a musical companion to the clockwork regularity of everyday life, 24unveils as an intimate and immersive snapshot of a singular day.

Gently guiding listeners from dawn to dusk – through the quiet of early morning into the busy heart of day and on to the evening’s golden hour – 24 is woven from daydreams, memories of human connection and the desire for authenticity amongst an ever evolving and increasingly simulated digital age. 

Made at legendary Provençal studio Miraval, owned by Brad Pitt and Damien Quintard, Ffrench recorded 24 during ten-days of near-total immersion on an array vintage of grand pianos, upright pianos and organs. Adding delicate ripples of percussion to the record’s kaleidoscopic sound, 24 also enlists a string ensemble featuring harp and upright bass.

Inspired in part by the many messages Ffrench has received from listeners throughout his career, 24 finds Ffrench reflecting on what his music means to those who find solace in it and the cherished moments it has served to soundtrack. He explains: “I wanted this album to reflect the everyday miracles in people’s lives.”

Throughout his career, Ffrench has asked one question above all others: “what do my listeners need from me?”  Now, with 24, the answer is both simple and profound: music to live by.

2026 also marks the 20th anniversary of Ffrench’s seminal debut album Piano Diaries. With each piece evoking the pull of a series of intimate and reflective moments, the record fuses cinematic simplicity with an emotionally direct and highly accessible composition that welcomes all listeners to step directly into Ffrench’s intimate and atmospheric world.

One of the world’s most exciting artists, Alexis Ffrench has played a pivotal role in bringing instrumental music to an ever-increasing audience. His accolades speak for themselves, with well over 1 billion streams across his catalogue, multiple No.1 albums and Gold-selling status in the USA for his single “Bluebird.” 

Whether he’s performing at the King’s Coronation Concert to an audience of over 18 million, scooping an ARIA Award for his Apple Music show Classical Connections, hosting brand-new Classic FM series “Music to Live By”, performing at major festivals and selling out venues worldwide, hosting masterclasses with schools & charitable organizations or putting his own spin on contemporary pop hits for his enthusiastic social media audience, Alexis is driven by the desire to make music accessible to all. 

Refusing to be penned in by genre, time period or the expectations of the kind of musician he should be, and rather than leaning into the traditional understanding of the ‘classical’ genre, Alexis instead leans outward – with his expansive perspective drawing on a multifarious mosaic of influences that takes his listeners by the hand and leads them on a journey through a world of possibility.

With the new album acting as a timelessly enchanting musical journey through the in numerous possibilities held inside one singular day, 24 is the first studio album from Alexis Ffrench since 2024’s Classical Soul Vol. 1 – welcoming in a contemplative and captivating new dawn for the forerunner of contemporary classical music.

Alexis Ffrench - New Album 24 out October 2, 2026
Listen to Nine on Blue and Pre-Save 24 here

About Alexis Ffrench

Alexis Ffrench is an artist with a special ability to create music for the soul. A pioneering superstar and trailblazer of ‘Classical Soul’, Alexis’ sound refuses to be penned in by genre, time period, or the expectations of the kind of musician he should be. Rather than leaning into the narrow, traditional understandings of ‘classical’, Alexis instead leans outward, expansive in his perspective, drawing on a multifarious mosaic of influences that takes the listener by the hand and leads them on a journey through a world of possibility.

Alexis’ accolades speak for themselves, as he has surpassed a staggering 1 billion streams across his catalogue, his record Evolution and his single ‘Bluebird’ achieved RIAA Gold status in the US.
 
A passionate advocate for music education, Alexis is the first-ever Artistic Director of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in its 133-year history. He is also Trustee and Governing Body Member and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, London, and Honorary Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge. Alexis is an Ambassador for Restore The Music, who work with state schools to provide funding to buy musical instruments and ensure every young person has access to music.

Alexis Ffrench Socials
Website | Instagram | X | TikTok | YouTube

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

GRAMMY®-Nominated A Far Cry Announces 20th Anniversary Season – Nine Thoughtfully Curated Programs from September 2026 through June 2027

Photo by Anja Schütz available in high resolution here.

GRAMMY®-Nominated A Far Cry Announces 20th Anniversary Season

Featuring Nine Thoughtfully Curated Programs Throughout the Boston Area from September 2026 through June 2027

“This conductorless chamber orchestra is one of Boston’s most admired musical groups.” – WBUR

Complete Schedule: afarcry.org/all-concerts

Season Subscriptions Available Now
Single Tickets On Sale August 12, 2026

Boston, MA – Described as a “world-wide phenomenon” by WBUR, Boston-based, multi-GRAMMY®-nominated chamber orchestra A Far Cry (AFC) has nurtured a distinct approach to music-making since its founding in 2007. The self-conducted ensemble is a democracy in which decisions are made collectively and leadership rotates among the players (“Criers”). This structure has led to consistently thoughtful, innovative programming and impactful collaborations with celebrated performers and composers. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, A Far Cry presents nine thoughtfully curated programs throughout the Boston area including a grand finale anniversary celebration, from September 2026 through June 2027 at venues including New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plan, Old South Church in Boston, First Church in Cambridge, and the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama.

A Far Cry was founded in 2007 on the belief that every voice deserves to be heard; so instead of one artistic director, the collective of musicians curate and submit program ideas inspired by individual curiosities, the greater musical community, and what is happening in the world at large. The result is a dynamic representation of music and collaborators across genres and backgrounds. The Criers believe it is this core value and sense of curiosity and mission that led The Boston Globe to write that, “even though A Far Cry has decisively established itself as a mainstay of the Boston musical community, something about it feels perpetually fresh with every performance.” In addition to its home season in Boston, the ensemble tours nationally, collaborates regularly with other world-class musicians throughout the country, and has twice been nominated for GRAMMY® Awards in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. The group’s recording of Rounds by Jessie Montgomery with pianist Awadagin Pratt on his album Stillpoint garnered Montgomery the GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2024.

A Far Cry’s 20th anniversary season makes room for Baroque and brand new music, for celebration and reflection, for old friends and first-time listeners alike, with something to satisfy every musical appetite. It includes four Mainstage Concerts, four Neighborhood Chamber Music Concerts, and one special Season 20 Celebration.

AFC’s 2026-2027 Mainstage Concerts include an expansion on the ensemble’s previous collaboration with GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, creating a newly re-imagined version of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (September 19, Jordan Hall), to be recorded for later commercial release; Mighty Fortress (November 7, Old South Church) featuring the Boston Children's Chorus and highlighting the strength that comes from unity with music by inti figgis-vizueta, J.S. Bach, and Julius Eastman; Heart Strings: The Most Beautiful Music in the World (February 12, Jordan Hall) celebrating Valentine’s Day and embracing the emotive richness of music for strings and harp by Johann Pachelbel, Elfrida Andree, George Walker, Pēteris Vasks, Gustav Mahler, and more, alongside spoken word by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah; and Side by Side: Absolute Cinema (April 10, Jordan Hall) highlighting music’s capacity to shape stories told on screen and beyond in selections by Tōru Takemitsu, Harold Arlen, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, plus the world premiere of a new work co-commissioned by A Far Cry and Project STEP from Quinn Mason, with students from the New England Conservatory and Project STEP.

AFC’s four 2026-2027 Neighborhood Chamber Music Concerts invite audiences into intimate musical spaces where stories, traditions, and communities come alive. Each concert highlights a different facet of connection across cultures, generations, and landscapes. Folie à deux explores the magic of musical partnerships with works by Akshaya Avril Tucker, Fabian Otten, Paul Wiancko, Caroline Shaw, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Osvaldo Golijov (October 24, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain and October 25, First Church in Cambridge); Brandenburgs celebrates the holiday season and honors the timelessness of masters from the Baroque era including J.S. Bach, Antoine Dauvergne, and Arcangelo Corelli (December 19, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain and December 20, First Church in Cambridge); Coming to Boston: From Haiti (January 9, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain and January 10, First Church in Cambridge) shines a light on figures integral to Boston’s history, as well as the beautiful culture and steadfast resolve of the Haitian community with music by Werner Jaegerhuber, Robert Durand, Jean “Rudy” Perrault, and Daniel Bernard Roumain, presented in collaboration with Haitian poet, educator, visual artist, and cultural activist Charlot Lucien; The Greatest (March 13, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain and March 14, First Church in Cambridge) uses music to consider the idea of greatness through a lens other than that of achievement, and features selections by Joseph Haydn, Valerie Coleman, Rebecca Clarke, and Osvaldo Golijov.

For its 20th anniversary grand finale on June 5, AFC presents Mix Tape for Boston: Costumes Change, Pulse Remains, transforming the Boston Center for the Arts’ Cyclorama into a spectacular space filled with live music, revelry, food, and drink. Inspired by the long tradition of the masked ball, and the irresistible pull of a great party, this spectacular event will blur the boundaries between concert and celebration.

Beyond the concert stage, A Far Cry continues its commitment to making music accessible and participatory through free community programs for listeners of all ages. Little Criers introduces young children and their caregivers to live chamber music through interactive performances, creative activities, and hands-on musical play. Listening Lab invites audiences to explore the art of listening through immersive performances with guided conversation, transforming them from passive listeners into active participants in the music-making process. Dates and details for the 2026–27 season will be announced soon.

Audiences beyond Boston can also experience Season 20 through A Far Cry's Virtual Passport, developed in partnership with Immersive Music Project. These cinematic livestreams and on-demand recordings place viewers within the ensemble, offering an intimate perspective to the concert experience. The Virtual Passport includes livestream and video-on-demand access to all four mainstage concerts, audio from all four neighborhood chamber performances, and additional subscriber benefits.

About A Far Cry

A Far Cry was founded in 2007 on the belief that every voice deserves to be heard; so instead of one artistic director, the collective of musicians (“Criers”) curate and submit program ideas inspired by individual curiosities, and what is happening in the world at large. The result is ensemble-playing at its most intimate, representing a diverse mix of music and collaborators.

A Far Cry has risen to the top of Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart and has twice been nominated for GRAMMY® Awards in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. The group’s recording of Rounds by Jessie Montgomery with pianist Awadagin Pratt on his album Stillpoint garnered Montgomery the GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2024. A Far Cry’s albums The Blue Hour (New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records) and A Gentleman of Istanbul (Crier Records) were also GRAMMY® nominees that year in the Best Engineered Album, Classical category. A Far Cry’s Crier Records launched auspiciously in 2014 with the GRAMMY®-nominated album Dreams and Prayers. The label’s second release, Law of Mosaics, was included on many top 10 lists, notably from The New Yorker’s Alex Ross and WQXR, which named A Far Cry as one of the "Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014.” The 2018 release Visions and Variations, received two GRAMMY nominations, including one for Best Chamber Music Performance.

A Far Cry’s omnivorous approach has led to collaborations with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Simone Dinnerstein, Dinuk Wijeratne, Davóne Tines, Roomful of Teeth, the Silk Road Ensemble, Vijay Iyer, and David Krakauer, to name a few. Highlights include new commissioning projects: Philip Glass’ third piano concerto with soloist Simone Dinnerstein, and The Blue Hour, “a gorgeous and remarkably unified work” (Washington Post) written by a collaborative of five leading female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider. The Blue Hour was released in partnership with New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records, and was named a Top 10 Album of the year by NPR. In 2023, the group recorded and toured pianist Awadagin Pratt’s Stillpoint project, which features music by Alvin Singleton, Jessie Montgomery, Judd Greenstein, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, and Tyshawn Sorey. The album, out on New Amsterdam, was called “perhaps the finest of his [Pratt’s] career” by NPR. In 2023, Crier Records also released Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol's A Gentleman of Istanbul, which the group commissioned in 2017. San Francisco Classical Voice called the work a “dazzling multicultural symphony.”

In addition to presenting its annual home series of nine programs at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and other locations throughout Boston, A Far Cry tours nationally and has performed at leading venues including The Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, Kaufman Music Center, the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, at Caramoor, the Ravinia Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival-Shalin Liu, Groton Hill Music Center, Newport Classical Music Festival, and many more.The Criers are proud to call Boston home, and maintain strong roots in the city. The group recently celebrated the conclusion of a 10-year residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Collaborating with local students through educational partnerships with the New England Conservatory and Project STEP, A Far Cry aims to pass on the spirit of collaboratively-empowered music to the next generation.

A Far Cry Season 20 — Concert Schedule

Mainstage Concert: Goldberg Variations with Pianist Simone Dinnerstein
Curated by Alex Fortes & Sarah Darling
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 at 7:30pm | New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough St., Boston)

A Far Cry and Simone Dinnerstein present a modern reimagining of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, expanding Bach’s iconic keyboard masterpiece in revelatory and unexpected ways into a living dialogue for piano and string orchestra. Created by Criers Alex Fortes and Sarah Darling with Dinnerstein, this arrangement draws out the hidden possibilities within each variation: a hint of trio sonata here, a French overture there, even a jazz-inflected bass line or a playful quodlibet. Solo piano and strings continually trade, mirror, and transform one another, revealing new colors, textures, and moments of surprise while remaining rooted in the brilliance of Bach’s original.

Johannes Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 arr. by Simone Dinnerstein, Alex Fortes and Sarah Darling

Neighborhood Chamber Music Concert: Folie à deux
Curated by Rafael Popper-Keizer
Saturday, October 24, 2026 at 3pm | St. John’s Episcopal Church (1 Roanoke Ave., Jamaica Plain)
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3pm | First Church Cambridge (11 Garden St., Cambridge)

French for the “madness of two,” Folie à deux explores the possibilities of musical partnership through six striking duos for violin, viola, cello, and marimba. Moving through every possible pairing of the ensemble’s four instruments, this program reveals how intimacy, tension, vulnerability, and joy can emerge when two voices come together. These vibrant works by contemporary composers range from the shimmering stillness of Akshaya Avril Tucker’s Breathing Sunlight to the mournful echoes of Osvaldo Golijov’ Mariel;, from the playful textures of Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt to the profound gravity of Penderecki’s Ciaccona. Together, they form a kaleidoscopic meditation on connection, memory, identity, and shared experience. By turns playful, sincere, grief-stricken, and ecstatic, Folie à deux celebrates the power—and necessity—of not going it alone.

Akshaya Avril Tucker: Breathing Sunlight
Fabian Otten: L’Assillo
Paul Wiancko: American Haiku
Caroline Shaw: Limestone and Felt
Krzysztof Penderecki: Ciaccona
Osvaldo Golijov: Mariel

Mainstage Concert: Mighty Fortress featuring Boston Children's Chorus
With Ariadne Greif, soprano; Clare McNamara, alto; Brian Giebler, tenor; and Max Tipton, bass
Curated by Alex Fortes
Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 7:30pm | Old South Church (645 Boylston St., Boston)

A Far Cry gathers musicians and audiences inside the soaring sanctuary of Old South Church for an evening centered on themes of human resilience. The program connects three visionary works across centuries: inti figgis-vizueta’s Talamh (land), Johann Sebastian Bach triumphant Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”), and Julius Eastman’s monumental Gay Guerrilla, which transforms the famous hymn into a bold, ecstatic meditation on endurance and liberation. Performed by the combined forces of orchestra, chorus, soloists, and organ, Mighty Fortress celebrates the strength we discover when we listen, sing, and stand together.

inti figgis-vizueta: Talamh (land)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God), BWV 80
Julius Eastman: Gay Guerrilla

Neighborhood Chamber Music Concert: Brandenburgs
Curated by Jae Cosmos Lee
Saturday, December 19, 2026 at 3pm | St. John’s Episcopal Church (1 Roanoke Ave., Jamaica Plain)
Sunday, December 20, 2026 at 3pm | First Church in Cambridge (11 Garden St., Cambridge)

Ring in the holiday season with an afternoon of radiant baroque music. Centered around two of Bach’s beloved Brandenburg Concertos, this luminous program invites listeners to slow down, gather with loved ones, and experience the warmth and brilliance of music made in community. Alongside Bach’s exuberant concerti, Antoine Dauvergne’s sparkling Concert de Simphonies brings elegance and charm, while Corelli’s admired Christmas Concerto captures the wonder and anticipation of Christmas morning. Festive, vibrant, and full of heart, this seasonal tradition offers a moment of joy, reflection, and togetherness on the brink of the winter solstice.

J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048
Antoine Dauvergne: Concert de Simphonies No. 4 in A major, Op. 4/2
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concert No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051
Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 (“Christmas Concerto”)

Neighborhood Chamber Music Concert: Coming to Boston: From Haiti
Curated by Francesca McNeeley in Collaboration with Charlot Lucien
Saturday, January 9, 2027 at 3pm | St. John’s Episcopal Church (1 Roanoke Ave., Jamaica Plain)
Sunday, January 10, 2027 at 3pm | First Church in Cambridge (11 Garden St., Cambridge)

Coming to Boston spotlights the stories of those who have shaped—and been shaped by—this city. In From Haiti, music, history, and cultural identity converge in a powerful program celebrating Haitian artistry, resilience, and diasporic connection. Werner Jaegerhuber’s Plainte nocturne draws from Haitian folk melodies and nocturnal songs of lament, while Robert Durand’s String Quartet No. 1 blends echoes of Dvořák and Smetana with the rhythms and spirit of Haitian méringue. Haitian American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain’s electrifying String Quartet No. 1, “X” channels the urgency, anger, and transformational power inspired by Malcolm X, while Jean “Rudy” Perrault’s music explores the cultural origins and deeper meaning behind the Haitian zonbi tradition. This program will be presented in collaboration with Charlot Lucien—Haitian poet, educator, visual artist, and cultural activist—helping weave together music, storytelling, and reflection into an afternoon centered on cultural exchange, memory, and community.

Werner Jaegerhuber: Plainte nocturne #1
Robert Durand: String Quartet No. 1
Jean “Rudy” Perrault: Movements from String Quartet No. 2 Z.O.E. (“Zombie Origin and Evolution”)
Daniel Bernard Roumain: String Quartet No. 1 “X”
With additional music by Ludovic Lamothe and Dickens Princivil

Mainstage Concert: Heart Strings: The Most Beautiful Music in the World
Featuring spoken word performances by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah
Curated by Rafael Popper-Keizer
Friday, February 12, 2027 at 7:30pm | New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough St., Boston)

For this year’s annual Heart Strings program, A Far Cry’s most thoughtful and sentimental curator, Rafael Popper-Keizer, invites audiences into an evening of unabashedly gorgeous music for strings and harp: music of tenderness, longing, melancholy, devotion, and transcendent beauty. From the familiar warmth of Pachelbel’s Canon in D to the aching serenity of Mahler’s Adagietto, the program gathers luminous works that tug unapologetically at the heartstrings. Along the way, George Walker’s deeply moving Lyric for Strings mourns and remembers; Pēteris Vasks’ Lonely Angel offers balm for an aching world; and Schoenberg’s lush Notturno shimmers with late-night romance and dreamlike intimacy. Music by Elfrida Andrée, Gerald Finzi, and Fikret Amirov rounds out a program that moves fluidly between ardor, nostalgia, vulnerability, and wonder. Interwoven throughout the evening will be live, spoken word performances by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, whose poetry responds to the music in real time, creating a dialogue between sound, love, and human connection. Following the performance, audiences are invited to continue the evening over champagne, sweets, and conversation—because perhaps the most beautiful part of a concert is discovering we are not alone.

Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D Major
Elfrida Andree: Andante quasi recitativo
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Fikret Amirov: Symphony for String Orchestra, mvt. 1
Schoenberg: Notturno for string orchestra and harp
Finzi: Prelude for String Orchestra in F minor Op. 25
Pēteris Vasks: Vientulais Enģelis for solo violin and string orchestra
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor; mvt. 4 Adagietto

Neighborhood Chamber Music Concert: The Greatest
Curated by Megumi Stohs Lewis
Saturday, March 13, 2027 at 3pm | St. John’s Episcopal Church (1 Roanoke Ave., Jamaica Plain)
Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 3pm | First Church in Cambridge (11 Garden St., Cambridge)

What makes someone—or something—great? Inspired in part by Valerie Coleman’s Shotgun Houses, a musical tribute to Muhammad Ali, this chamber program explores greatness not simply as triumph or fame, but as attention, vitality, generosity, and love. Haydn’s “Quinten” Quartet transforms the most elemental building blocks of music into something endlessly inventive and alive. Rebecca Clarke’s luminous Pastorale offers a moment of intimacy and reflection, while Coleman’s exhilarating portrait of Ali celebrates the power of community and living with conviction. The program closes with Osvaldo Golijov’s Ever Yours, inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo and dedicated to enduring friendship and artistic devotion. Together, these works ask us to consider another kind of greatness: not greatness that stands above others, but greatness that notices, connects, and leaves the world more vibrant than it found it.

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in D minor Op.76, No.2, “Quinten”
Valerie Coleman: Shotgun Houses for Clarinet & String Quartet
Rebecca Clarke: Pastorale for Clarinet & Viola
Osvaldo Golijov: Ever Yours

Mainstage Concert: Side by Side: Absolute Cinema
Featuring Students from New England Conservatory and Project STEP
Curated by Hannah Collins
Saturday, April 10, 2027 at 5pm | New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough St., Boston)

In A Far Cry’s annual Side by Side, the Criers partner with students from Project STEP and New England Conservatory for a joyous performance celebrating the next generation of artists—and the mentors, teachers, families, and friends who help them grow. This year’s program, Absolute Cinema, explores another influential force that shapes us: music’s pivotal role in the stories we tell on screen and beyond. From Tōru Takemitsu’s atmospheric Three Film Scores to Harold Arlen’s iconic Somewhere Over the Rainbow, this program draws focus on music’s ability to transport us, define moments, and stay with us for a lifetime. The concert also features the world premiere of a new work by composer Quinn Mason co-commissioned by A Far Cry and Project STEP, alongside Korngold’s lush and cinematic Symphonic Serenade.

With a special 5:00pm start time, Absolute Cinema invites audiences of all ages to make an evening of it—bringing families, students, teachers, and music lovers together to celebrate the next generation of artists and the stories that connect us all.

Tōru Takemitsu: Three Film Scores
Quinn Mason: New commission by A Far Cry; World premiere with ProjectSTEP
Harold Arlen: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Symphonic Serenade in B-flat major, Op. 39

Season 20 Celebration: Mix Tape for Boston: Costumes Change, Pulse Remains
Curated by Clara Lyon
Saturday, June 5, 2027 at 7:30pm | The Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama (539 Tremont St., Boston)

For A Far Cry’s milestone Season 20 gala, the orchestra transforms the BCA Cyclorama into a spectacular evening of live music, revelry, food, drink, and delightful abandon. Inspired by the long tradition of the masked ball—and the irresistible pull of a great party—Costumes Change, Pulse Remains blurs the boundaries between concert and celebration. Spanning centuries of dance music, this genre-bending mixtape reveals unexpected connections between Baroque splendor, Romantic drama, and disco ecstasy. From chandeliers to mirror balls, from gavottes to groove, the pulse remains the same: music that brings people together, moves bodies, and invites transformation. Expect costumes. Expect surprises. Expect to dance. Repertoire and special guests will be announced closer to the event, but audiences can look forward to A Far Cry’s signature approach to programming—bringing the same energy, artistry, and curiosity to Mozart and Chic, Berlioz and the Bee Gees.

A Far Cry’s full performance calendar: afarcry.org/all-concerts

For more information about A Far Cry: afarcry.org/group-bio

Oct. 2: ensemble132 Announces Masques and Marionettes Steinway & Sons Debut Album – Featuring New Arrangements of Stravinsky's Petrushka and Robert Schumann’s Carnaval

ensemble132 Announces Masques and Marionettes
Steinway & Sons Debut Album Out October 2, 2026

Featuring New Chamber Arrangements of
Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Robert Schumann’s Carnaval

Worldwide Release Date: October 2, 2026

ensemble132 | Steinway & Sons

Internationally acclaimed chamber music collective ensemble132 (Sahun Sam Hong, Co-Artistic Director, arranger, piano; Zachary Mowitz, Co-Artistic Director, cello; Abi Fayette, violin; Maria Ioudenitch, violin; and Luther Warren, viola) announces its new album and Steinway & Sons recording debut, Masques and Marionettes. The album is scheduled for release on October 2, 2026.

A convergence of world-class artists from around the globe, ensemble132 unites with a shared mission to reimagine the chamber music landscape. The only group of its kind to continually create and premiere new standards in the chamber music repertoire with its artist-crafted arrangements, ensemble132 excites the imagination of audiences with its uniquely genre-defying programs and programming.

This artistic vision is on full display with Masques and Marionettes, as Sahun Sam Hong, Co-Artistic Director of ensemble132, pianist, and arranger for the album, embraces intricate and adventurous energy in new imaginings of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka for piano quintet, Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9 for piano quartet; as well as Stravinsky’s Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont and Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22, each performed by different ensemble members.

“The music featured on Masques and Marionettes is a truly collaborative creation through and through,” writes Hong in the album’s liner notes. “By design, ensemble132 is a fluid collective; every rehearsal and performance is a fresh inquiry into a composer’s intent, our own evolving sonic landscape, and the nature of musical inevitability.”

In the time leading up to the creation of this album, Hong writes that a single principle steered and shaped how he approached his work writing arrangements for the ensemble: “Great music transcends the confines of instrumentation.” He and the rest of ensemble132 would come to know the depth of what “confines” could mean during the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020, which descended not long after ensemble132’s founding in fall 2019. However, the disruption and instability brought on by the pandemic itself ended up providing a sense of clarity for the ensemble and a sense of purpose to fuel their musical collaboration, strengthening their bond as an evolving group.

“During those unpredictable early days of the pandemic,” Hong says, “our close-knit musical family, then based in Boston, used our music-making as a means of connecting with one another, channeling our collective emotions and anxieties of a world in flux.”

Much the way the world turned to creativity and imagination to find reprieve from the fixed realities of social separation, on Masques and Marionettes, ensemble132 dives into the fantastical, the visionary, the intangible, and the boundless, through the poetry of Balmont, and the music of Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Igor Stravinsky.

“Konstantin Balmont’s poetry is steeped in the sensory, the fleeting, and the ethereal,” writes Hong, who explains that Balmont’s poems were included as part of the album “for their distinctive storytelling qualities, reflecting Stravinsky’s vision of storytelling.”

Stravinsky’s Petrushka meanwhile, explores the vast plains of imagination through the story of a puppet empowered by magic and sorcery. Mirroring the iconic harmonic clash of the “Petrushka chord,” the music is filled with wonderful contrasts – its complex rhythms, beautifully simple folk tunes, enchanting textures, jarring distortions make the piece uniquely evocative.

Robert Schumann chose to explore creative possibilities while looking inward. He juxtaposed his musical ideas with figures of his real life relationships with his closest friends and colleagues. Schumann then concludes his Carnaval with another fanciful scenario, driven by an imaginary music society called des Davidsbündler (the League of David), who triumph over the Philistines – a symbol for the music critics of Schumann’s time. Clara Schumann’s Romances take a much more intensely introspective dive into the open and abstract nature of human emotions, brought forth through the unique lens of each pair of ensemble132 artists.

Throughout each of these works, ensemble132 comes together to find new ways to embody the characters, places, feelings, motives, and stories reflected in the music – a goal with the potential to ever evolve, alongside the group’s own dynamics and shifting perspectives with the passage of time. “My hope,” writes Hong, “is that these virtuosic arrangements not only expand the chamber repertoire but push both the players and the listener to rethink the relationship between the artist and their instrument.”

Ensemble132’s debut album fits seamlessly with its mission. Chamber ballets, transcriptions of symphonies and jazz standards, and orchestrations of solo works comprise just a few of ensemble132’s programming highlights. Each member of ensemble132’s dynamic roster brings their unique blend of uncompromising individuality and collaborative spirit to traditional masterworks as well as unearthed gems. The artists of ensemble132 have collaborated closely at music festivals such as Marlboro, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Verbier, and Taos, and appear regularly with ensembles such as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Catalyst Quartet, Borromeo Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. They are prizewinners at major competitions such as the Paganini, Joseph Joachim, Tibor Varga, Sibelius, Primrose, Beethoven Vienna, Vendome Prize, and American Pianists Awards. In 2025, ensemble132 became a Steinway Ensemble and was awarded an Artistic Projects Award from Chamber Music America.

ensemble132
Masques and Marionnettes
Release Date: October 2, 2026 | Steinway & Sons

Tracklist:

Igor Stravinsky: Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont (arr. Sahun Hong)

[1] Forget-me-nots (Nyezabudochka-tsvyetochek) [1:27]
[2] The Dove (Golub) [2:01]

Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka for piano quintet (arr. Sahun Hong)

[3] Petrushka, Scene I: The Shrovetide Fair [5:20]
[4] Petrushka, Scene I (The Magic Trick) [2:05]
[5] Petrushka, Scene I (Russian Dance) [2:49]
[6] Petrushka, Scene II: Petrushka's Room [4:21]
[7] Petrushka, Scene III: The Moor's Room [2:44]
[8] Petrushka, Scene III (Dance of the Ballerina) [0:45]
[9] Petrushka, Scene III (Waltz) [3:02]
[10] Petrushka, Scene IV: The Fair Towards Evening [1:12]
[11] Petrushka, Scene IV (Wet-Nurses' Dance) [2:24]
[12] Petrushka, Scene IV (Peasant with Bear) [1:42]
[13] Petrushka, Scene IV (Gypsies) [0:55]
[14] Petrushka, Scene IV (Dance of the Coachmen) [2:08]
[15] Petrushka, Scene IV (Masqueraders) [2:04]

Clara Schumann: Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22

[16] Andante molto [3:08]
[17] Allegretto [3:10]
[18] Leidenschaftlich schnell [3:55]

Robert Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9 for piano quartet (arr. Sahun Hong)

[19] Préambule [2:16]
[20] Pierrot [1:54]
[21] Arlequin [1:05]
[22] Valse noble [2:09]
[23] Eusebius [1:59]
[24] Florestan [1:02]
[25] Coquette [1:53]
[26] Réplique [0:50]
[27] Sphinxes [0:39]
[28] Papillons [0:46]
[29] A.S.C.H. - S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes) [0:51]
[30] Chiarina [1:27]
[31] Chopin [1:05]
[32] Estrella [0:34]
[33] Reconnaissance [1:43]
[34] Pantalon et Colombine [0:58]
[35] Valse allemande [0:56]
[36] Paganini – Tempo I ma più vivo [1:23]
[37] Aveu [1:16]
[38] Promenade [2:19]
[39] Pause [0:18]
[40] Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins [3:47]

Total Time: 1:16:46

Sahun Sam Hong, Co-Artistic Director, arranger, piano
Zachary Mowitz, Co-Artistic Director, cello
Abi Fayette, violin
Maria Ioudenitch, violin
Luther Warren, viola

Executive Producers: Eric Feidner, Jon Feidner, Vivian Chiu
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineer: Christopher Moretti
Mixing: Christopher Moretti
Mastering: Jesse Lewis
Piano Technician: Paul Rattigan
Art Direction: Jackie Fugere
Cover Design: Timea Kolozsvary
Booklet Design, Cover to Cover Design, Anilda Carrasquillo
Project Coordinator: Renée Oakford
Recorded August 14-17, 2025 at Futura Productions, Roslindale, Massachusetts

ensemble132 is a recipient of a 2025 grant from Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects
program, funded through the generosity of The Howard Gilman Foundation, for the Recording.

GRAMMY-Winning Experiential Orchestra Announces 2026-2027 NYC Season - Beauty in the Face of Adversity

GRAMMY®️-Winning Experiential Orchestra (EXO) Announces 2026-2027 Season Beauty in the Face of Adversity

James Blachly, Music Director

An Embrace of Sound: The Music of Anna Clyne
Featuring Cellist Inbal Segev in the New York City Premiere of Dance
Friday, October 23, 2026 at 8pm
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music | 450 W. 37th St., New York, NY

Music in a Time of War
Featuring Violist Paul Neubauer, Pianist Stewart Goodyear, and Violinist Michelle Barzel Ross
Music by Herbert Howells, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Samuel Barber, and Ralph Vaughan-Williams
Saturday, February 20, 2027 at 7:30pm
Roulette Intermedium | 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY

Strength Through Song: Choral Music of Arvo Pärt
Saturday, May 22, 2027 at 7:30pm
The New York Society for Ethical Culture | 2 W 64th St., New York, NY

Brad Balliet’s A Field Guide to Imaginary Birds
Spring 2027 Outdoors at Inwood Hill Park | Payson Ave. &, Seaman Ave., New York, NY
Details TBA

www.experientialorchestra.org

New York, NY – The GRAMMY®️-winning Experiential Orchestra (EXO) announces its 2026-2027 season, Beauty in the Face of Adversity, running from October 2026 through June 2027. Led by founding Music Director James Blachly, EXO presents four immersive programs, each reflecting the mission of the orchestra – 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. Subscription sales begin July 21, 2026 and individual tickets will be available starting August 25, 2026.

Clockwise L-R: Stewart Goodyear by Anita Zvonar, James Blachly by Allison Stock, Inbal Segev by Bri Elledge, Paul Neubauer by Rosalie O’Connor, Michelle Barzel Ross by Samira Bouaou. Press photos available in high resolution here.

The season opens on October 23, 2026 with An Embrace of Sound, a celebration of the music of composer Anna Clyne, including the New York City premiere of her Dancefor Cello and Orchestra, featuring cellist Inbal Segev (who commissioned and recorded the work), as well as Clyne’s This Midnight Hour and Within Her Arms, at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th St., New York, NY). On February 20, 2027 at Roulette Intermedium (509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY), EXO presents Music in a Time of War, a concert featuring three acclaimed soloists: Paul Neubauer, Stewart Goodyear, and Michelle Barzel Ross. On May 22, 2027 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (2 W 64th St., New York, NY), EXO performs the choral music of Arvo Pärt, expanding the orchestra’s ongoing relationship with the Estonian composer. 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 outdoors at Inwood Hill Park in Spring2027 (details TBA).

Experiential Orchestra Music Director James Blachly says, “This season brings together extraordinary composers, internationally acclaimed soloists, and beautiful venues to create concerts that we hope will speak directly to our audience from a place of strength and comfort. In October, we embrace the way that Anna Clyne's music is uniquely attuned to the way we can turn to music and poetry in life's hardest moments. In February, we turn to several of the most celebrated 20th century composers and their personal responses to the cost of war. And in May, we see how the choral music of Arvo Pärt fits within the context of the Estonian Singing Revolution – when an entire nation rose together through the power of song.”

EXO’s season opening concert on October 23, 2026, An Embrace of Sound, is a celebration of the music of Anna Clyne. It features the New York City premiere of Clyne’s Dance for Cello and Orchestra, performed with Inbal Segev, for whom it was written. The program also includes Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, an evocative tour de force for orchestra, which was written in part as a response to the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Juan Ramón Jiménez. Clyne’s Within Her Arms, written in the wake of the death of her mother, opens the program, with the EXO strings surrounding the audience at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in a sound embrace. 

Music in a Time of War on February 20, 2027 at Roulette Intermedium presents four powerful works that reflect on the cost of war. Internationally acclaimed violist Paul Neubauer performs Herbert Howells’s gorgeous and rarely performed Elegy for viola, string quartet and string orchestra; GRAMMY-nominated pianist Stewart Goodyear performs Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s 1973 composition Grass, a reflection on the Korean War; and violinist Michelle Barzel Ross performs Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, orchestrated in the direct aftermath of the First World War, during which Williams served as a stretcher carrier (inspired by his love of the poetry of Walt Whitman). Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, composed in 1938 as the world marched towards global conflict, completes the program.

EXO has established a deep relationship with the music of Arvo Pärt through previous concerts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. On May 22, 2027 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, EXO presents Strength Through Song: Choral Music of Arvo Pärt,a program that pairs the Estonian composer’s profound sacred choral works and works for string quartet, including Estonian folk songs that formed a part of the Estonian Singing Revolution, a movement that helped the small Baltic country face the adversity of occupation by the USSR. The concert will include Pärt’s works Drei Hirtenkinder, Silouan’s Song (for SATB Chorus), Nunc Dimittis, Psalom for String Quartet,Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, Most Holy Mother of God, Estonian Lullaby, Fratres for String Quartet, “Prayer after the Kanon” from Kanon Pokajanen, and Da Pacem.

Finally, in Spring 2027 (details TBA), EXO will again present Brad Balliet’s A Field Guide to Imaginary Birds outdoors in Inwood Hill 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 to forge transformative concerts in community, where 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 concert at The Library of Congress in Washington, DC; an immersive performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs with cellist Andrew Yee and soprano Sarah Brailey; and an ongoing close relationship with the Arvo Pärt Centre, Michael Pärt, and the Estonian Embassy in yearly presentations of the music of Arvo Pärt. 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, Concertmasters Alex Fortes and Henry Wang, Personnel Manager Arthur Sato, and Artistic Advisor Patrick Castillo.

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.

OUT NOW: Sony Classical Releases 2026 Summer Night Concert with The Vienna Philharmonic and Bass-Baritone Sir Bryn Terfel – Conducted by Lorenzo Viotti

Sony Classical Releases The 2026 Summer Night Concert
with The Vienna Philharmonic, Conducted by Lorenzo Viotti
Bass-Baritone Sir Bryn Terfel

Out Now - Listen Here

Album Release Dates:
Digital / CD / DVD and Blue-Ray: Out Now

Sony Classical and the Vienna Philharmonic are for the very first time, offering innovative music products on the occasion of the successful 2026 Summer Night Concert from the grounds of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace.  

The Vienna Philharmonic’s 2026 Summer Night Concert – released by Sony Classical on CD, DVD, Blu-ray and digitally – is out now - listen here.

The 2026 Summer Night Concert was held on June 19, 2026 before an audience of 50,000 enthusiastic fans. This open-air concert by the Vienna Philharmonic has been held annually since 2008 and, as always, the grounds of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Schönbrunn Palace have provided a magical backdrop.

This concert was also the first occasion on which the Vienna Philharmonic and Sony Classical presented a range of innovative music products with an NFC chip as part of their joint partnership deal. These products were sold on site by Michaela Pretul and Andreas Poglitsch from the Viennese specialist music firm of Major Babies Entertainment. The products in question are valuable caps in nine different colors and a scarf embroidered with the venerable orchestra’s logo linked via an NFC chip to a digital musical experience. If a smartphone is held next to the chip, a limited-access web application will open, allowing users to stream and download concert highlights from the last few years as well as find out more about the evening’s program and test their knowledge of the Summer Night Concert by means of a quiz. As soon as the recording of the concert has been mixed, this too will be available to be streamed and downloaded. The latest information about the Vienna Philharmonic is also available on this app.

The President of Sony Classical, Per Hauber, has said in a statement: “Together with the Vienna Philharmonic we have developed a product format that allows audiences to experience classical music in the most up-to-date ways outside the formal setting of a concert hall. This combination of innovation and a living tradition is very special. It also reflects the spirit not only of the Summer Night Concert but also of the Vienna Philharmonic and Sony Classical. We are immensely grateful to the Vienna Philharmonic and to the organizers of the Summer Night Concert for their inspirational partnership and for the opportunity to develop a product like this one.”

Daniel Froschauer, the Chairman of the orchestra’s board of directors, adds: “For the Vienna Philharmonic, it is of central importance that we keep our finger on the pulse of the times and continue to present our musical tradition in new and exciting ways. Thanks to these innovative products and ideas Sony Classical is supporting us in our desire to inspire our audiences all over again.”

Held at the height of the summer in a uniquely memorable atmosphere, the 2026 Summer Night Concert was conducted for the first time in its history by Lorenzo Viotti and witnessed the Vienna Philharmonic presenting a varied program full of musical highlights that included gripping scenes from Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, Verdi’s Falstaff and Wagner’s Das Rheingold. The evening’s soloist was Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, who added a very special note of his own with Tevye’s “If I Were A Rich Man” from Jerry Bock’s phenomenally successful musical Fiddler on the Roof. A further high point was undoubtedly the appearance of the Vienna State Ballet in the Second Suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. The Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert is one of the world’s most important classical music events and is broadcast on the radio, on television and online. Millions of viewers from over eighty countries have been able to follow the concert online, on television and on the radio.

Sept. 11: Pianist Lucas Debargue Releases Gershwin Variations New Album on Sony Classical – New Singles Out Today

Pianist Lucas Debargue Releases New Album on Sony Classical Gershwin Variations

New Singles Out Today:
Rhapsody in Blue – Molto moderato
But Not For Me, in F – Prelude
Listen Here

Worldwide Album Release Date: September 11, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now

In Concert at Ladies Morning Musical Club in Montreal on October 25, 2026
In Concert at Lincoln Center in New York City on October 29, 2026

Lucas Debargue presents Gershwin Variations, an ambitious tribute to George Gershwin in two parts: One recorded with the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Elim Chan, the other devoted to the pianist's original creations inspired by Gershwin's songs.

Internationally acclaimed pianist Lucas Debargue's Gershwin Variations stand as an ambitious and unprecedented project, born from the desire to explore a radically different universe after recording Scarlatti sonatas and the complete solo piano works of Fauré. This double album – to be released September 11, 2026 on Sony Classical and for which pre-order is available now – is an ode to George Gershwin, an unclassifiable composer standing at the crossroads of classical music and jazz, whose singularity inspired Lucas to create a work equally impossible to categorize.

The album is divided into two parts, both equally grandiose and virtuosic… yet each with its own distinct identity.

The first part, recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris on Stephen Paulello’s unique SP/287 piano, features some of Gershwin’s most iconic works, including the Concerto in F with the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Elim Chan, the Three Preludes for Piano, and a highly personal version of Rhapsody in Blue, enriched with the pianist’s own cadenzas.

The second part, recorded at the Paulello Studio, is entirely devoted to twelve virtuosic études composed by Lucas from Gershwin’s most popular songs, spanning all chromatic keys. This cycle represents the most ambitious creation of his career as a pianist to date, affirming a deep commitment to freedom and invention, while placing itself in the tradition of the great composers who wrote their own études.

The Gershwin Variations is neither a classical album nor a jazz album, but a hybrid work reflecting the anticonformist spirit and the American dream embodied by Gershwin. Lucas offers a bold and poetic reinterpretation in which counterpoint, shifting harmonies, and unconventional rhythms reveal the richness of Gershwin’s melodies. He invites listeners to rediscover a repertoire where popularity is never synonymous with triviality, and where music becomes a space for freedom, daring, and vitality.

Lucas Debargue says: “I wanted to create an album that captures the spirit of constant transformation that breathes life into music in general—and into Gershwin’s music in particular. It features moments of spontaneous improvisation, original compositions, and interpretive choices that leave no trace in the original scores. That is why I decided to title it Gershwin Variations.”

TRACKLIST

CD 1

Rhapsody in Blue, 3 Preludes, Concerto in F
Lucas Debargue – piano
Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra
Elim Chan – conductor

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

1. Prelude I - Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
2. Piano Concerto in F - I. Allegro
3. Piano Concerto in F - II. Adagio – Andante con moto
4. Piano Concerto in F - III. Allegro agitato
5. Prelude II - Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
6. Rhapsody in blue - Molto moderato (Cadenzas: Lucas Debargue)
7. Rhapsody in blue - Meno mosso e poco scherzando (Cadenzas: Lucas Debargue)
8. Rhapsody in blue - Andantino moderato (Cadenzas: Lucas Debargue)
9. Rhapsody in blue -- Agitato e misterioso (Cadenzas: Lucas Debargue)
10. Prelude III - Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

[Total Time: 55:02]

CD 2

12 Virtuoso Etudes on Gershwin Songs
Lucas Debargue, piano

Lucas Debargue
1. Embraceable You - Rumba, in E
2. Fascinating Rhythm - Valse, in A
3. Someone To Watch Over Me, in D - Pavane
4. Someone To Watch Over Me, in D - Gaillarde
5. It Ain’t Necessarily So, in G - Fantaisie
6. It Ain’t Necessarily So, in G - Chaconne
7. It Ain’t Necessarily So, in G - Fugue
8. Liza - Gavotte § Double, in C
9. But Not For Me, in F – Prelude
10. But Not For Me, in F – Perpetuum Mobile ****
11. I Want To Stay Here (I love you Porgy) Adagio Dekadent, in B-flat
12. The Man I Love - Mirage, in E-flat
13. They Can’t Take That Away From Me - Romance, in A-flat
14. I Got Rhythm (I Really Got Rhythm !) - Boom Bap, in D-flat - Part I
15. I Got Rhythm (I Really Got Rhythm !) - Boom Bap, in D-flat - Part II
16. I Got Rhythm (I Really Got Rhythm !) - Boom Bap, in D-flat - Part III
17. Lady Be Good - Berceuse, in F-sharp

Summertime - 20 Concert Variations & Finale, on a Theme of George Gershwin, in B
18. Summertime - Introduction
19. Summertime - Thème
20. Summertime - Variation 1: Tempestoso
21. Summertime - Variation 2: Tango
22. Summertime - Variation 3: Scherzino
23. Summertime - Variation 4: Polonaise
24. Summertime - Variation 5: Féroce
25. Summertime - Variation 6: Scintillante
26. Summertime - Variation 7: Nocturne
27. Summertime - Variation 8: Marcia Funèbre
28. Summertime - Variation 9: Sicilienne
29. Summertime - Variation 10: Intermezzo
30. Summertime - Variation 11: Reggae
31. Summertime - Variation 12: Con Fuoco
32. Summertime - Variation 13: Caccia
33. Summertime - Variation 14: Choral
34. Summertime - Variation 15: Toccatina
35. Summertime - Variation 16: Bossa Nova
36. Summertime - Variation 17: Largo Recitativo
37. Summertime - Variation 18: Teneramente
38. Summertime - Variation 19: Fugue
39. Summertime - Variation 20: Tarentelle
40. Summertime – Finale: Alla Marcia

[Total Time: 55:29]

ABOUT LUCAS DEBARGUE

Website
YouTube
Facebook
Spotify

OUT TODAY: Composer Robert Sirota's 212: Symphony No. 1 Released on CD – World Premiere Recording and Azica Debut

Composer Robert Sirota's 212: Symphony No. 1 
Out Today on CD via Azica Records

World Premiere Recording of Sirota’s Symphonic Work
Performed by Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by George Manahan

Downloads and CDs available to press on request

“[Robert] Sirota’s compositional voice has a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite.”
– Anthony Tomassini, The New York Times

Robert Sirota | Manhattan School of Music |Azica Records

Today, July 17, 2026, the world premiere recording of composer Robert Sirota’s 212: Symphony No. 1 is available on CD. The tenth album featuring Sirota’s music, and his first for Azica Records, 212: Symphony No. 1 is performed by Manhattan School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra led by celebrated conductor George Manahan. Over five decades, Robert Sirota has developed a distinctive voice, clearly discernible in all of his work – whether symphonic, choral, stage, or chamber music. Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Allan Kozinn asserts: “Sirota’s musical language is personal and undogmatic, in the sense that instead of aligning himself with any of the competing contemporary styles, he follows his own internal musical compass.”

Robert Sirota composed 212: Symphony No. 1 in 2007. Of the work’s world premiere, Anthony Tomassini wrote in TheNew York Times, “Although the overall musical language of this score recalls the American neo-classicists, Mr. Sirota’s compositional voice has a distinctive tartness and rhythmic bite. Thick, astringent chromatic harmonies come in tightly bound chords to create nervous sonorities. Yet the textures are always lucid; details come through.”

Named after the iconic area code, the work is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Sirota’s father, Harry Sirota, whom Robert describes as, “a truly great New Yorker.”

When starting work on the piece, Sirota came to the realization that writing music inspired by the borough of Manhattan required an extended, multi-movement work as the chosen musical form. He states in his program note that “nothing less” would suffice, going on to write, “In framing the four movements of this 25-minute work, I have tried to portray Manhattan as I have experienced it: a place of incomparable majesty, vitality, tragedy, and hope.”

Over the work’s four movements, Sirota takes listeners on a journey through the borough – the approach to Manhattan’s iconic skyline (“Approaches”); the sound and unique energy of the subway (“Do Not Hold Doors”); grief for the tragedy of September 11 (“Lamentation”); and finally, concluding with a hopeful hymn for the city (“O Manhattan”).

Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the US and Europe; ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Sequitur, yMusic, Chameleon Arts, and Dinosaur Annex; the Chiara, American, Telegraph, and Blair String Quartets; the Neave, Peabody, Concord, and Webster Trios; and at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, and Cooperstown music festivals; Bowdoin Gamper and Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Mizzou International Composers Festival. Commissions for Sirota@70 in honor of his 70th birthday included works for Thomas Pellaton, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis & the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, and Sierra Chamber Society.

Additional recent commissions include the music for Rising, an evening-length dance collaboration with choreographer Gabrielle Lamb, Pigeonwing Dance, and the Neave Trio; A Migrant’s Dream, a choral work commissioned by Judith Clurman for Essential Voices USA; Sirota’s third string quartet, Wave Upon Wave for the Naumburg Foundation; his fourth string quartet Contrapassos for the Sierra Chamber Society, Immigrant Songs for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; Luminous Bodies performed by Jeffrey Kahane and yMusic at the Sarasota Music Festival; Hafez Songs for Palladium Musicum; O Blessed Holy Trinity for choir and organ, for Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis; and his Cello Sonata No. 2, for Benjamin Larsen and Hyungjin Choi. Sirota’s arrangements of songs for Paul Simon and yMusic were performed on Simon’s farewell tour, including an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Sirota is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, United States Information Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the American Music Center. His works are recorded on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and the Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels. His music is published by Muzzy Ridge Music, Hal Leonard, MorningStar, Theodore Presser, and To the Fore.

Before becoming Director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 1995, Sirota served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University and Director of Boston University's School of Music. From 2005-2012, he was the President of Manhattan School of Music, where he was also a member of the School’s composition faculty.

A native New Yorker, Sirota studied at Juilliard, Oberlin, and Harvard and divides his time between New York and Searsmont, Maine with his wife, Episcopal priest and organist Victoria Sirota. They frequently collaborate on new works, with Victoria as librettist and performer, at times also working with their children, Jonah and Nadia, both world-class violists.

George Manahan has had an esteemed career embracing everything from opera to the concert stage, the traditional to the contemporary. In the 2025-26 season Manahan made his debut with the Sacramento Philharmonic. In the previous season he debuted at New Orleans Opera for Tosca and Opera Colorado for La Bohème and returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Die Fledermaus.

Manahan continues his commitment to working with young musicians as Director of Orchestral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music. He is the 2012 winner of the Ditson Conductor’s Award, established in 1945 by the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. It is the oldest award honoring conductors for their support of American music. Previous recipients include James Levine, Christopher Keene, Leopold Stowkowsky, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, and Alan Gilbert. He has also served as Music Director of New York City Opera, Portland Opera, and American Composers’ Orchestra.

His many appearances on television include productions of La Bohème, Lizzie Borden, and Tosca on PBS. Live from Lincoln Center’s telecast of New York City Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly under his direction won a 2007 Emmy Award. George’s wide-ranging recording activities include the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Tehillim for ECM; recordings of Edward Thomas’s Desire Under the Elms, which was nominated for a Grammy; Joe Jackson’s Will Power; and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. His enthusiasm for contemporary music continues today; he has conducted numerous world premieres, including Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, David Lang’s Modern Painters, Hans Werner Henze’s The English Cat, and Terence Blanchard’s Champion. As Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (VA) for twelve years, he was honored four times by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) for his commitment to new music.

He received his formal musical training at the Manhattan School of Music, studying conducting with Anton Coppola and George Schick, and was appointed to the faculty of the school upon his graduation, at which time The Juilliard School awarded him a fellowship as Assistant Conductor with the American Opera Center. Manahan was chosen as the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony and he made his opera debut with the Santa Fe Opera, conducting the American premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Von Heute Auf Morgen.

212: Symphony No. 1 by Robert Sirota| Azica
George Manahan, Conductor | Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra
Release Date: April 17, 2026 (Worldwide)

212: Symphony No. 1

1. I: Approaches [6:25]
2. II: Do Not Hold Doors [3:31]
3. III: Lamentation [8:19]
4. IV: O Manhattan [7:28]

Total time [​​25:44]

Recorded live on October 17–18, 2024 at Neidorff – Karpati Hall, Manhattan School of Music
Produced by: Robert Sirota and Manhattan School of Music
Engineered and edited by: Dan Rorke, MSM Chief Recording Engineer, the Orto Center for Distance Learning and Recording Arts
Assistant Engineering by: Bryant Blackburn
Mastered by: Alan Bise
Graphic Design by: Monica Mussulin

California Symphony's 40th Anniversary Season Led by Artistic & Music Director Donato Cabrera - Tickets Now Available

Photo by Kristen Loken. Hi res photos available here.

CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY 40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director

Celebrating Four Decades of Innovative Programming and Community

Single Tickets Now Available

40th Anniversary Season Opening Celebration Dinner on September 27, 2026

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

Single Tickets Now Available: CaliforniaSymphony.org

WALNUT CREEK, CA (July 15, 2026) – California Symphony, led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera and Executive Director Lisa Dell celebrates 40 years of bringing vibrant orchestral music to the Bay Area – in five compelling programs over ten performances at Hoffman Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts from September 2026 to May 2027, plus the return of California Symphony’s Holiday Traditions concerts in December 2026. This season, California Symphony also welcomes its next Composer-in-Residence, Paul Novak, who will write three new works for the orchestra over the course of his three-season residency. On September 27, 2026, California Symphony will celebrate this milestone season with a special 40th Anniversary Season Opening Celebration Dinner at Prime Steakhouse and Martini Garden in Walnut Creek, raising funds for the organization’s music and education programs.

California Symphony's signature programming approaches orchestral music as storytelling, and this season explores American connections across continents and generations; musical contemporaries from Russia and America; the grandeur of the Enlightenment era in Paris; California innovators alongside Beethoven's bold optimism; and evocative orchestral landscapes from Spain, Mexico, and Italy. World-class soloists join the orchestra in riveting concertos, including cellist Julian Schwarz in Jennifer Higdon's Cello Concerto, clarinetist Cory Tiffin in Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto, violinist Helen Kim in John Adams' Violin Concerto, and pianist Tanya Gabrielian in Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain. 

Donato Cabrera says, “This season reflects on the artistic connections that have shaped orchestral music across time and place. From Sibelius's ocean-inspired journey to America, to the musical dialogue between Haydn and Mozart in Enlightenment Paris, to California's own pioneering composers like Cowell and Adams, these programs trace how music can capture and interpret the world around us, turning landscape, memory, and cultural identity into sound. I'm thrilled to welcome Paul Novak as our new Composer-in-Residence and to share these extraordinary works with our incredible soloists and this world-class orchestra.” 

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

During the 2026-2027 season, California Symphony will continue to serve its community beyond the stage through its nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds (September 2026 through May 2027) and will expand its innovative lifelong learning program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed to two communities in Lafayette and San Ramon (July 2026). It will also continue and expand its community partnerships with the Amateur Music Network and the Trinity Center Walnut Creek.

California Symphony Names Paul Novak 2026-2029 Composer-in-Residence

California Symphony will welcome Paul Novak as its next Composer-in-Residence, from fall 2026 through spring 2029. California Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Program is unusual in that it gives early-career professional composers or graduate students in composition the opportunity to work with a professional orchestra over an extended period, composing a new orchestral work each season for three seasons and visiting the orchestra and community multiple times in order to build experience and relationships. Unique to this residency, Cabrera and the full orchestra offer three 30-minute workshops, providing an opportunity for the composer to experiment with sound and ideas in real time. The program has become one of the most sought-after in the country, with past participants going on to win major honors and awards, including GRAMMY Awards, the Rome Prize, the Barlow Prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, and more.

Paul Novak’s "spellbinding" (Washington Post) music immerses listeners in shimmering and subtly crafted musical worlds full of color, motion, light, and magic. His recent projects engage with dreams and memory, queer identity, climate change and the natural world, and psychosomatic illness. He has been commissioned by and collaborated with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and musicians around the world, and he has received awards from the Fromm Foundation, Barlow Endowment, ASCAP, BMI, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and more. Novak is the co-artistic director and flutist of Chicago-based ensemble Mycelium New Music and a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago.

“I'm so honored to be the next Composer-in-Residence of the California Symphony,” Novak says. “I look forward to collaborating with this fantastic and forward-thinking orchestra, which has a legacy of championing contemporary music, and following in the footsteps of some of my favorite composers. As a composer, I strongly believe in the power of music to build community, and I can't wait to connect with audiences in Walnut Creek and share my music with them.”

Composer Pierre Jalbert, who was California Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence from 1999 to 2002, says, “I was elated to learn that Paul Novak will be the next California Symphony Composer-in-Residence. Paul is an extremely talented composer and his music is full of energy, color, and drama. Many years ago, the residency had a huge impact on me as a composer and I know that Paul will gain so much from it as well. It was through this residency with the California Symphony and Barry Jekowsky that my music eventually traveled to the Boston Symphony, London Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and around the world. Having an orchestra read and try out different ideas is a composer's dream, and the practical as well as sonic lessons are lifelong. Congratulations to Paul and I look forward to hearing his new works!” 

California Symphony 2026-2027 Concert Schedule: 

SIBELIUS, HIGDON, AND BARTÓK – American Connections
Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 4pm 

Jean Sibelius: The Oceanides (1914)
Jennifer Higdon: Cello Concerto (Northern California Premiere)
Julian Schwarz, cello
Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (1943)

California Symphony opens its 40th anniversary season with a program celebrating American connections. All three works on the program share a common thread: they were premiered in the United States, a fitting nod as the nation marks its 250th anniversary and reflects on artistic ties across continents and generations. Finnish composer Jean Sibelius composed The Oceanides in 1914 for his only trip to America, creating a vivid representation that was hailed at its U.S. premiere as "the finest evocation of the sea." GRAMMY Award-winning American composer Jennifer Higdon's Cello Concerto receives its Northern California premiere, performed by the cellist for whom it was written, Julian Schwarz. The concerto showcases Higdon's distinctive voice—lyrical, rhythmically vibrant, and deeply expressive. Hungarian composer Béla Bartók fled to America during World War II, and while living in New York in 1943, composed his Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by conductor Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A true showpiece, the work turns every instrument in the orchestra into a soloist, offering dazzling displays across all five movements. From the serenity of Sibelius's ocean to Higdon's fresh contemporary voice and Bartók's exhilarating finale, this program offers a vivid musical arc. 

FROM TCHAIKOVSKY TO COPLAND – Classical Contemporaries
Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 4pm 

Anton Arensky: Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky (1894)
Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto (1948)
Cory Tiffin, clarinet
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings (1936)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings (1880)

California Symphony's November concerts explore the relationships between musical contemporaries across Russia and America. Russian composer Anton Arensky's Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky from 1894 honors his teacher Tchaikovsky, creating a direct musical and historical connection. The variations are based on a theme from Tchaikovsky's song Legend, transforming it into a work of lyrical beauty and emotional depth. Tchaikovsky's own Serenade for Strings from 1880 remains one of his most enduring and personal works, praised by the composer himself as "a piece from the heart." American composer Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto from 1948 was commissioned and premiered by jazz legend Benny Goodman, and fuses a lyrical and expressive first movement with a second movement influenced by popular music from North and South America, connected by a spectacular cadenza for the soloist. California Symphony's new principal clarinet, Cory Tiffin, takes center stage in this virtuosic showcase. Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings from 1936, with its hauntingly beautiful melody, is one of the most recognizable pieces in American music, heard in concerts, films, and national moments of reflection. The program highlights how musical contemporaries influenced one another: Arensky paid tribute to his mentor while shaping his own lyrical Russian style, while Barber and Copland explored complementary visions of American music, from Barber's expressive lyricism to Copland's folk-inspired "Americana." 

HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
Friday, December 18, 2026 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 19, 2026 at 2pm
Performances at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church

California Symphony’s holiday concerts are back by popular demand! Brass, percussion, and organ bring the season’s music into sharp focus, moving from quiet reflection to rhythmic celebration. Familiar carols such as Hark! the Herald Angels Sing and Carol of the Bells sit alongside selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, creating a program that spans centuries of holiday tradition. Sacred and folk influences come together in clear, resonant arrangements that highlight both the power and the intimacy of these seasonal works, offering a direct and uplifting way to experience the music of the season. 

MOZART AND HAYDN IN PARIS – Music of the Enlightenment
Saturday, January 23, 2027 at 7:30pm
Sunday, January 24, 2027 at 4pm 

François Joseph Gossec: Symphony No. 2 in G Major (published 1769)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony. No. 31 in D Major (1778)
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Symphony No. 1 in G Major (published 1779)
Franz Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 85 in B-flat Major (1785)

California Symphony's first concerts in 2027 transport audiences to the vital musical world of late 18th-century Paris, where these four composers moved in overlapping artistic circles. Belgian-born composer François Joseph Gossec helped shape the early symphonic tradition in France, where opera had long dominated, and his Symphony No. 2 , published in 1769, demonstrates his skill in crafting elegant and balanced instrumental works. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 31, the “Paris” Symphony from 1778, was written for a public concert series and showcases his flair for vibrant, energetic orchestration and dramatic contrasts. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a virtuoso violinist and composer from the Caribbean island of Guadalupe whose music is being revived after centuries of neglect. He not only performed under Gossec's baton but also led his own orchestra. Around 1786, he commissioned and conducted the premiere of Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 85 in Paris. Known as “La Reine” (“The Queen”) because Queen Marie Antoinette particularly admired it, Haydn's symphony reveals his gift for wit, surprise, and inventive musical conversation. These composers contributed to a thriving cultural landscape where ideas, styles, and innovations traveled quickly among performers and audiences, making Paris a true center of the musical Enlightenment.

BEETHOVEN’S SECOND – Cowell, Adams, & Beethoven: Masterful Mavericks
Saturday, March 13, 2027 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 4pm

Henry Cowell: Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10 (1955)
John Adams: Violin Concerto (1993)
Helen Kim, violin
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major (1802)

California Symphony's March concerts celebrate bold innovators across three centuries. San Francisco-born composer Henry Cowell was a pioneering American modernist whose Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10 from 1955 blends mid-18th-century fuguing techniques—a distinctly American tradition—with modern rhythms and expressive harmonies. The result is music that feels both rooted in history and thoroughly contemporary. Fellow Californian John Adams' Violin Concerto from 1993 pulses with minimalist energy, contrasting soaring lyricism with dazzling virtuosity as the solo violin interacts with colorful orchestral textures. The second movement's chaconne is inspired by Pachelbel's famous canon, while the finale erupts in rhythmic drive and electric energy. Violinist Helen Kim, praised as "astoundingly gifted" (San Francisco Chronicle), brings technical brilliance and expressive depth to this demanding concerto. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Symphony No. 2 in 1802 during a personal crisis—he was coming to terms with his hearing loss—yet the work radiates optimism, wit, and energy. The symphony represents Beethoven at a turning point, with the first hints of the heroic style that would define his later works. The musical connections resonate throughout: Cowell and Adams both draw on historical structures while Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 shares the bright, uplifting key of D major, subtly echoing this shared tonal center.

PINES OF ROME – Orchestral Landscapes
Saturday, May 8, 2027 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 9, 2027 at 4pm 

Paul Novak: World Premiere
Composer-in-Residence
Manuel de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1909-15)
Tanya Gabrielian, piano
Manuel Ponce: Chapultepec (1929, rev. 1934)
Ottorino Respighi: Pines of Rome (1924)

California Symphony's season finale concerts feature landscapes from Spain, Mexico, and Italy, showcasing composers' abilities to transform place and memory into sweeping orchestral narratives. The program opens with the world premiere of a new work by Composer-in-Residence Paul Novak, whose shimmering, colorful music creates immersive sonic worlds. Spanish composer Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain blends impressionistic textures with flamenco-inspired rhythms, creating evocative, luminous soundscapes that capture the mystery and romance of Andalusian gardens at night. Bay Area native Tanya Gabrielian brings expressive lyricism and technical brilliance to this concerto-like work for piano and orchestra. Mexican composer Manuel Ponce's Chapultepec celebrates the iconic park in Mexico City, blending folk influences with classical elegance in a work that evokes Mexico's rich cultural heritage. Italian composer Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome from 1924 uses the full orchestra to conjure vivid imagery, from dawn in the park to nocturnal city streets to the ancient Appian Way, showcasing Respighi's coloristic mastery. Across three countries, this program highlights music's power to evoke place, atmosphere, and memory.

Concert Details:

Locations: All concerts except for Holiday Traditions are held at Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts; 1601 Civic Drive; Walnut Creek, CA. Holiday Traditions concerts are held at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church; 1801 Lacassie Ave.; Walnut Creek, CA.

Ticket Information: 5-Concert Subscriptions concerts start at $200 and are available now. 3- and 4-Concert subscriptions go on sale in late May, and single tickets ($50-110) and student tickets ($25 for students 25 and under with valid Student ID) on sale in July. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call (925) 280-2490.

About the California Symphony:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

California Symphony’s 2026-27 season is sponsored by the Lesher Foundation.

Caramoor Announces Rosen House Concert Series - 21 Classical, Jazz, Folk, and Global Music Concerts - October 2026 to May 2027

Press photos available here.

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Announces 2026-2027 Rosen House Concert Series

Featuring 21 Classical, Jazz, Folk, and Global Music Concerts from October 2026 through May 2027 in the Music Room of the Historic Rosen House

Plus Expanded Public Programming and a New Collaboration with Juilliard Extension

“a year-round powerhouse of cultural activity” – BBC Music Magazine

Information & Tickets: caramoor.org

Tickets on Sale July 21 at 10:00am
(Member Pre-Sale Runs from July 14 to 20) 

Getting to Caramoor from NYC: Caramoor is an approximately one-hour ride on Metro-North from Grand Central to Katonah, NY.

KATONAH, NY – Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY, announces the 2026-2027 season of its intimate Rosen House Concert Series, which includes twenty-one performances featuring classical, jazz, folk, and global music held from October 2026 through May 2027. Caramoor also continues its commitment to mentoring the next generation of classical musicians with its annual Evnin Rising Stars and Schwab Vocal Rising Stars programs, as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, held this season by the Renaissance String Quartet. In addition, Caramoor will offer expanded public programs, going Beyond the Music with Yoga, Teas, Talks and More and giving the community more opportunities to engage with this special location. These include a new collaboration with Juilliard Extension, Juilliard’s flagship program for nonmatriculated students, presenting the inaugural set of six faculty-led lectures complementing the Rosen House Concert Series. 

Caramoor, once the estate of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, is one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performance, cultural engagement, and exploration. Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series is held in the exquisite Music Room of the historic home – a Mediterranean-style villa from 1939 filled with treasures from around the world. Audiences enjoy performances by some of today’s most in-demand artists in the same living room salon setting where the Rosens once entertained their many friends. The estate’s gardens and grounds are also open year round to visitors, free of charge, for picnicking and walking daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

2026-2027 Rosen House Concerts Series 

Nobuntu
Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7:30pm

Nobuntu, the internationally acclaimed female a cappella quartet from Zimbabwe, brings its vibrant artistry to Caramoor for the first time. Nobuntu’s inventive performances range from traditional Zimbabwean songs to Afro-Jazz and Gospel, utilizing pure voices along with traditional dance and percussion. Named for an African concept valuing humility, love, and unity, the award-winning ensemble preserves its cultural heritage while championing music's power to transcend social and economic boundaries. Beyond the group’s extensive international tours and three studio recordings, Nobuntu leads vital community initiatives at home, empowering a new generation of young women in the arts. 

Bandits on the Run
Friday, October 16, 2026 at 7:30pm
Presented in collaboration with City Winery

Bandits on the Run is an indie-folk-pop-Americana outfit consisting of three lead singers who also play guitar, cello, suitcase drum, accordion, and various toy instruments. They hail from Brooklyn and are known for their vivacious performance style, genre-defying sound, soaring harmonies, and ability to make music-magic happen everywhere from subway platforms to concert halls. Their three-part harmonies have been heard filling iconic venues while opening for The Wood Brothers’ 2025 East Coast tour, on the main stages at Colorado’s Rocky Mount Folks Fest and Michigan’s Blissfest, and in a sold-out residency at Manhattan’s Bowery Electric. 

Countertenor Iestyn Davies and Harpist Oliver Wass
Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 3:00pm

Celebrated British countertenor Iestyn Davies is known for his vocal beauty and technical dexterity. An esteemed Handelian, he is a GRAMMY-winner and recipient of multiple Gramophone awards, with appearances at The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Carnegie Hall. He earned an Olivier Award nomination for his performance in the play Farinelli and the King in London and New York. In 2022, Davies appeared with lutenist Thomas Dunford in the Music Room, and now he returns with Oliver Wass, the first harpist ever to win the prestigious Guildhall Gold Medal, for a recital of works by Dowland, Purcell, Handel, Gluck, Monteverdi and more. 

Pianist Jonathan Biss
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00pm

Pianist Jonathan Biss is recognized globally for his impeccable taste and formidable technique. He has appeared as a soloist with the foremost ensembles of the world, including the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Boston Symphony, and the Royal Concertgebouw. Biss is particularly renowned for his deep engagement with the music of Beethoven. He has recorded the complete piano sonatas of the composer, created a widely viewed Coursera lecture series, spearheaded the Beethoven/5 commissioning project, and is the author of the acclaimed book Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven. Beyond his extensive touring and advocacy for newly commissioned works, Biss serves as the Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and the recipient of numerous prestigious honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Gilmore Young Artist Award. At Caramoor, he will present his program Words Fail! featuring selections from Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Janáček’s “Words Fail!” from On the Overgrown Path, Kurtág’s “Quiet talk with the Devil” and “Silence” from Játékok, Amy Beth Kirsten’s (speak to me), and Schumann’s Variations on an Original Theme and Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17.

Evnin Rising Stars
Saturday, October 31, 2026 at 3:00pm
Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 3:00pm

These two performances feature participants in Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program, which has nurtured emerging talent since 1992. Each year, the program’s Artistic Director Marcy Rosen identifies some of the most promising musicians at the cusp of their careers, bringing them to Caramoor for a weeklong chamber music residency with distinguished artist mentors. In addition to Rosen, this year’s mentors are violinist Soovin Kim and violist Dmitri Murrath, both alumni of the Evnin Rising Stars program. The 2026 Evnin Rising Stars are Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin; Stephen Kim, violin; Julian Rhee, violin; Laura Liu, viola; Emad Zolfaghari, viola; Andrew Byun, cello; Annie Jacobs-Perkins, cello; and Albert Cano Smit, piano. The Evnin Rising Stars and the artist mentors will perform chamber music by Mozart, Janáček, and Franck on October 31 and music by Beethoven, Bartók, and Brahms on November 1. Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.

Pianist Aaron Diehl
Friday, November 6, 2026, 7:30pm
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center

Pianist Aaron Diehl has quietly re-defined the lines between jazz and classical, and built a global career around his nuanced, understated approach to music-making. He has collaborated with musical giants such as Wynton Marsalis, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Philip Glass. Diehl serves as the Artistic Director of the Jazz in July Festival at 92NY and frequently performs as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra. A familiar presence at Caramoor, Diehl recorded his debut solo album, Live at Caramoor, at the venue in 2008 and most recently returned for a performance with The Knights of Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite, following his landmark recording of the work in 2023.

Renaissance String Quartet
Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 3:00pm
2026-2027 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence

The Renaissance String Quartet makes the first of three appearances at Caramoor as part of Caramoor’s  yearlong mentorship program dedicated to supporting rising ensembles. Founded in 2021 by violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass, the quartet was built on over a decade of friendship formed at The Perlman Music Program and The Juilliard School. Driven by a desire to reimagine the capacity of the string quartet, the ensemble commands a diverse repertoire of classic, underrepresented, and new works to champion an inclusive vision for the future of classical music. As recipients of a 2024 Salon de Virtuosi career grant, the quartet has performed extensively across the globe, featuring recent international debuts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and Muziekhaven in Amsterdam alongside dynamic collaborations and educational residencies spanning from Princeton University to Kingston, Jamaica. At Caramoor, the Renaissance Quartet will perform W.A. Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546; Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor; and Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 1. Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.

Guitarist Julian Lage – Benefit Concert
Saturday, December 5, 2026 at 8:00pm

Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and “highest category of improvising musicians” (The New Yorker), Julian Lage is known for blending jazz traditions with American roots music through virtuosic technique and improvisation. A former child prodigy who performed at the 2000 GRAMMYs, he has released acclaimed albums from his GRAMMY-nominated debut Sounding Point to his 2026 Blue Note release Scenes from Above. 

A pre-concert Benefit Dinner in the Formal Dining Room offers a way to support Caramoor in a meaningful way. Attendees will enjoy a three-course meal, fine wine, and conversation with Caramoor's most ardent supporters. Select concert tickets also include a post-concert reception with Julian Lage. 

Christmas with Cantus
Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 2:00pm and 4:00pm

Now in its 32nd season, the widely acclaimed low-voice ensemble Cantus is known for its trademark warmth, blend, and innovative programming. Lessons and Carols for Our Time invites audiences to a rich, contemplative holiday experience that merges tradition with timely resonance. Cantus reimagines the beloved format of Lessons and Carols, exploring themes of hope, peace, and unity through classic carols, music from around the world, and a captivating blend of poetry curated by award-winning author Michael Kleber-Diggs.

Celebrate the season with the timeless beauty of carols such as “Silent Night” and “I Saw Three Ships,” alongside recent works from bold, fresh compositional voices like Zanaida Robles and Marian L. Harrison. The program unfolds with a dynamic range of emotions and textures, featuring pieces by Rachmaninoff, Ariel Ramirez, and Eric Whitacre that spark reflections on faith and humanity. At once classic and modern, Lessons and Carols for Our Time is a heartfelt program that evokes the spirit of celebration and reflection.

Schwab Vocal Rising Stars
Sunday, March 7, 2027 at 3:00pm

The spring Rosen House Concert Series opens with the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars’ culminating performance. Every year, Schwab Vocal Rising Stars’s Artistic Director Steven Blier selects four promising singers and a pianist for a week-long Caramoor residency with Blier and Associate Artistic Director Bénédicte Jourdois that includes daily coaching, rehearsals, and workshops, culminating in this concert in the Music Room. Together they will present Guilty Pleasures, a program of secrets, admonitions, parables, guilt, and delights from many cultures and centuries. This bracing dive into the Seven Deadly Sins (with a side tour to some sweeter peccadillos) includes songs by Strauss, Britten, John Jacob Niles, Brahms, and Irving Berlin. Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.

Viano Quartet
Sunday, April 4, 2027 at 3:00pm

The Viano Quartet has quickly soared to international acclaim as a dynamic and in demand string ensemble. Formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, the group achieved major recognition after winning First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2025. Equally committed to classical masterworks and contemporary repertoire, the ensemble actively collaborates with leading modern composers. The discography of the quartet highlights a diverse range across traditional and modern eras, featuring the 2023 debut EP Portraits and the 2025 full-length album Voyager. The quartet also shares a deep passion for chamber music education by working with young artists at leading music institutions around the world. At Caramoor, the Viano Quartet will give the New York premiere of String Quartet No. 2: Dhara by celebrated composer Reena Esmail, whose music weaves together the traditions of Hindustani and Western classical music, alongside Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, selections from Dvořák’s Cypresses, and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor.

The Summer Camargo Quintet
Friday, April 9, 2027 at 7:30pm
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center

Twenty-four-year-old jazz trumpeter Summer Camargo is a composer and bandleader recently named a "25 for the Future" rising jazz star by DownBeat magazine. In 2022 she became the newest and youngest member of the Saturday Night Live house band, and is also enjoying her most recent role as a band member in Broadway’s new musical, Just in Time. She is a regular performer at notable New York City jazz clubs like Dizzy’s and Birdland, as well as a member of the Mingus Big Band. Camargo has toured with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on the Big Band Holidays tour, performed with Jon Batiste at the Newport Jazz Festival, was a guest artist at Wynton at 60, and performed her original composition “Alalazoo” at the 2022 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala.

ACRONYM
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Sunday, April 11, 2027 at 3:00pm

GRAMMY-nominated American countertenor Reginald Mobley and the acclaimed Baroque band ACRONYM join forces for Lasciatemi Morire: Songs of Love, Death and Devotion. Globally renowned for his purity of tone and deft interpretations of early music, Mobley regularly performs with top orchestras across the globe and serves as a leading advocate for diversity in classical programming. He shares the stage with ACRONYM, an early music string ensemble dedicated to premiering forgotten instrumental works of the seventeenth century. Since forming in 2012, the ensemble has released numerous critically acclaimed albums and captivated audiences with their consummate style. Together, they present a historically rich program featuring vocal and instrumental compositions by Claudio Monteverdi, Barbara Strozzi, Antonio Vivaldi, Isabella Leonarda, and other notable figures of the Baroque era.

The Other Mozart
Sylvia Milo, creator & actress
Nathan Davis, composer & sound designer
Phyllis Chen, composer
Saturday, April 17, 2027 at 7:30pm
Sunday, April 18, 2027 at 3:00pm 

The Other Mozart is an award-winning play telling the true, forgotten story of Nannerl Mozart, the sister of Amadeus – a prodigy, keyboard virtuoso and composer, who performed throughout Europe with her brother to equal acclaim, but her work and her story faded away, lost to history. Created, written and performed by Sylvia Milo, The Other Mozart had a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run in New York City at HERE Arts Center, earning Drama Desk and Off Broadway Alliance nominations. It also had eight New York Innovative Theatre (NYIT) nominations, winning Outstanding Solo Performance and Original Music. It has had over 350 performances worldwide to date. The New York Times describes the play as “strikingly beautiful,” while The Los Angeles Times raves, “With an emotional precision that captures and rewards attention throughout, Sylvia Milo rescues Nannerl’s genius."

Pianist Inon Barnatan
Sunday, April 25, 2027 at 3:00pm

Recognized as a highly admired pianist of his generation, Inon Barnatan has established a uniquely varied career as a soloist, curator, and collaborator. He performs regularly with leading orchestras worldwide and served as the inaugural Artist in Association of the New York Philharmonic. The versatile musician has appeared with prominent ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. As a curator, he serves as the Music Director for the SummerFest of the La Jolla Music Society. He maintains close partnerships in chamber music, frequently performing alongside cellist Alisa Weilerstein and soprano Renée Fleming. At Caramoor, Barnatan presents a program framed by Chopin's Four Ballades, which creates a dialogue across time between Chopin, his influences, and his successors. It includes music by the originator of the nocturne as a solo piano piece, Irish composer John Field; Samuel Barber (whose Nocturne, Op. 33 is an homage to Field); along with mazurkas by Karol Szymanowski and Thomas Ades, revealing how Chopin’s incorporation of Polish idioms continued to inspire composers in the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Renaissance String Quartet
Sunday, May 2 , 2027 at 3:00pm
2026-27 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence

For its second of three performances as the 2026-27 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, the Renaissance String Quartet presents a program that places Mozart and Ravel in dialogue with a bold new work by founding cellist Daniel Hass, reflecting the ensemble’s commitment to both classical mastery and contemporary creation. The program features the world premiere of Suite for String Quartet by Hass, paired with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589 and Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under. 

Sister Sadie
Friday, May 7, 2027 at 7:30pm
Presented in collaboration with City Winery 

Sister Sadie is a GRAMMY-nominated all female bluegrass supergroup renowned for its hard driving acoustic sound and breathtaking vocal harmonies. Formed after a spontaneous jam session at the legendary Station Inn in Nashville, the acclaimed ensemble quickly made history as the first all female band to win the prestigious Entertainer of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2020. Having also secured multiple Vocal Group of the Year titles from the organization, the band bridges the gap between traditional mountain music and a vibrant contemporary edge. Delivering fiery and high energy performances with exceptional instrumental prowess, Sister Sadie continues to tour extensively and captivate audiences at major music festivals and historic concert venues across the nation.

Vocalist Mandy Gonzalez
Friday, May 14, 2027 at 7:30pm
Cabaret in the Music Room

Mandy Gonzalez is an accomplished film, television, and stage actor celebrated for her starring roles on Broadway. She is widely known for her portrayal of Nina Rosario in the original cast of In the Heights, as well as her acclaimed performances as Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton and Elphaba in Wicked. Beyond her extensive theatrical credits, Gonzalez is a familiar presence on television with recurring roles in programs such as Madam Secretary and Quantico. As a versatile recording artist and concert performer, she released her debut solo album Fearless, which features a title track written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Her captivating cabaret performances showcase a dynamic vocal range and a deeply personal storytelling style. Gonzalez is also the founder of the Fearless Squad, a community focused on inclusivity and positivity, and she brings this inspiring energy to audiences worldwide.

Beyond the Music: Yoga, Teas, Talks, & More 

Caramoor has expanded its slate of community and family programming, giving visitors more ways to experience this unique setting in addition to its world-class concerts. Highlights for the 2026-2027 season include the continuation through September 5 of Caramoor’s 2026 Rosen House Focus Tour: Inside Lucie's Wardrobe on Fridays and Saturdays, inviting visitors to discover Lucie Rosen's fashions through a docent-led experience. For the first time in over thirty years, Lucie’s unique fashions are displayed in the Rosen House, enlivened by photos and new research. In related programming, on Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 7:00pm in the Music Room at the Rosen House, Caramoor presents Conversations at Caramoor: Spotlight on Lucie’s Jewelry. Beth Carver Wees, Curator Emerita of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and co-author of Marcus & Company: Three Generations of New York Jewelers, will place Lucie’s jewelry into historic context and speak about the well-known Manhattan jewelers of the Rosens’ era.

After September 5, 2026 Caramoor offers Rosen House Signature Tours on Fridays and Saturdays, inviting visitors to explore the historic Rosen House through a docent-led experience which shares the stories behind the House’s carefully assembled treasures, including Asian and Renaissance art, period rooms imported from European villas and châteaux, and architectural details that reveal the Rosens’ global tastes and vision for a home that celebrates beauty and culture.

Caramoor will also continue its popular Afternoon Teas, offering a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with crème fraîche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a selection of fragrant teas. Afternoon Tea was one of the English traditions Lucie Rosen enjoyed during her time living in England in the early 1910s. She kept up the practice of inviting friends and guests to tea for many years, using the time for conversation and for planning concerts and other social events. Tea is served in the Music Room, a unique opportunity to relax with friends and family in a breathtaking historic setting.

In addition, Caramoor invites the community to unwind and restore in a serene setting with Yoga in the Sunken Garden in September and Yoga in the Music Room in January. This special yoga series is designed to nurture both body and mind. Each session offers a gentle, mindful practice led by an experienced instructor, with an emphasis on breath, alignment, and presence. Whether you are new to yoga or returning to your mat, these sessions provide a peaceful way to end your day while experiencing Caramoor from a new perspective.

Caramoor also offers family activities in all seasons including making Halloween treats and winter wreaths during Halloween Dessert Decorating Kids Cooking Class and Winter Wreath-Making for Families. In 2027, Young Artists at Caramoor workshops return to let kids explore new media and the forms it can take. Caramoor also offers Rosen House Studio Nights: Art and Aperitifs for adults on select Wednesday evenings, with themes including ceramic tile painting, stained glass mosaics, and jewelry design.

Check the Caramoor website for the schedule of Beyond the Music programs, which is announced on a rolling basis: caramoor.org/events/beyond-the-music

New Collaboration with Juilliard Extension: Six Faculty-Led Lectures at Caramoor

New this season, Caramoor is teaming up with Juilliard to offer a series of six Extension courses, open to all, offering audiences the opportunity to dive deeper into the themes presented on stage throughout the Rosen House Concert Series. Participants will learn from some of the most acclaimed professors and lecturers and engage in thoughtful discussion with fellow music lovers. Classes can be taken individually or as an entire series. Topics include Beethoven to Bartók: The Expanding World of Chamber Music; The String Quartet Across Three Centuries; Music, Faith, and Power in the Baroque World; and more. Details will be announced soon.

About Caramoor

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY. Once the home of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor has evolved into one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performances, cultural engagement, and exploration – a sanctuary for music, art, and nature.

Each year, Caramoor presents an exciting array of concerts across genres – from classical, opera, and chamber music to jazz, American roots, global sounds, and the American songbook. Caramoor’s acclaimed Summer Season brings audiences together for unforgettable outdoor performances from June into August in five distinct settings (the Venetian Theater, Friends Field, Spanish Courtyard, Sunken Garden, and the Music Room), while the intimate Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May in the historic Rosen House, a Mediterranean-style villa listed on the National Register of Historic Places and filled with treasures from around the world. With a mission to engage audiences of all ages, Caramoor also offers a selection of concerts and programs for families and our youngest listeners. 

Caramoor is a place where music, history, and nature come together to create moments of beauty and connection for all who visit. In addition to hearing concerts, visitors to Caramoor can tour the spectacular Rosen House, explore its intriguing collections, enjoy a picnic, and experience the lush gardens and grounds – including Caramoor’s unique collection of site-specific Sound Art, permanently installed sound sculptures that draw inspiration from their environment. Caramoor also offers a formal afternoon tea service year-round in the Music Room (by reservation), the seasonal concessions Bravo Bar, and a selection of public programs such as yoga, art classes, and large-scale community events.

Ticketing Information

Concert tickets are available for purchase online at caramoor.org; by phone at 914.232.1252 Tuesdays through Fridays from 10am-4pm; and on site from the Box Office two hours before each performance.

Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road in Katonah, NY. 

How to get to Caramoor: caramoor.org/visit-us/amenities

More information about visiting Caramoor: caramoor.org/visit

At-a-Glance Calendar: 2026-27 Rosen House Concert Series Performances 

Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7:30pm: Nobuntu
Friday, October 16, 2026 at 7:30pm: Bandits on the Run
Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 3:00pm: Countertenor Iestyn Davies and Harpist Oliver Wass
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00pm: Pianist Jonathan Biss
Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 3:00pm: Evnin Rising Stars
Friday, November 6, 2026, 7:30pm: Aaron Diehl
Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 3:00pm: Renaissance Quartet
Saturday, December 5, 2026 at 8:00pm: Guitarist Julian Lage - Benefit Concert
Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 2:00pm and 4:00pm: Christmas with Cantus
Sunday, March 7, 2027 at 3:00pm: Schwab Vocal Rising Stars
Sunday, April 4, 2027 at 3:00pm: Viano Quartet
Friday, April 9, 2027 at 7:30pm: The Summer Camargo Quintet
Sunday, April 11, 2027 at 3:00pm: ACRONYM and Countertenor Reginald Mobley
Saturday April 17, 2027 at 7:30pm and Sunday, April 18, 2027 at 3:00pm: The Other Mozart with Creator & Actress Sylvia Milo
Sunday, April 25, 2027 at 3:00pm: Pianist Inon Barnatan
Sunday, May 2, 2027 at 3:00pm: Renaissance Quartet
Friday, May 7, 2027 at 7:30pm: Sister Sadie
Friday, May 14, 2027 at 7:30pm: Cabaret in the Music Room with Vocalist Mandy Gonzalez

For Caramoor’s complete schedule: caramoor.org/events

Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series runs from October through May, held in the exquisite Music Room of the Rosens’ historic home – a Mediterranean-style villa from 1939 filled with treasures from around the world. Photo by Gabe Palacio available in high resolution here.

Aug. 9: West Coast Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s PULSE Feat. Violin Soloist Tessa Lark Conducted by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru – Presented by The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

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

West Coast Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto PULSE on August 9, 2026

Featuring Violin Soloist Tessa Lark
with The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra

Conducted by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru
Presented by The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 7pm
Civic Auditorium | 307 Church St. | Santa Cruz, CA
Tickets and More Information

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

Santa Cruz, CA – Composer Lisa Bielawa’s new violin concerto, PULSE, will receive its West Coast premiere performed by The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra conducted by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru on Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 7pm at the Civic Auditorium (307 Church St). The performance is presented as part of The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, for its Grand Finale night, Hope As Our Banner.The featured violin soloist will be Tessa Lark, for whom the piece was written. The program will also include Ascending Creatures (West Coast premiere) byEunike Tanzil, Rainbow Promise (U.S. premiere) by Elena Kats-Chernin, and Wanderlust (West Coast premiere) by Sean Shepherd.

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.

In addition to PULSE, Lisa Bielawa’s 2025-2026 season has featured more bold programming, new collaborations, and world premieres of several new works. Knoxville Broadcast, a new installment in Bielawa’s Broadcast series, premiered 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 presented a Composer Portrait concert dedicated exclusively to Bielawa’s music, including the world premiere of Balloon Variations, a new work, all performed by Contemporaneous led by David Bloom, with Bielawa singing. 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 is also a Howard Hanson Visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music for this academic year. Her newest “spatial symphony,” Rochester Broadcast, was performed outdoors at Parcel 5 in Rochester on April 18, 2026.

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. Bielawa’s 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.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Composer Lisa Bielawa’s new violin concerto, PULSE, will have its West Coast premiere as part of The Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, performed by The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru with violin soloist Tessa Lark. The program will also include Ascending Creatures (West Coast premiere)Eunike Tanzil, Rainbow Promise (U.S. premiere) by Elena Kats-Chernin, and Wanderlust (West Coast premiere) by Sean Shepherd.

Concert details:

What: PULSE - a new violin concerto by Lisa Bielawa - West Coast Premiere
Presented by The Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music
Who: The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru with Violin Soloist Tessa Lark
When: Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 7pm
Where: Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Tickets More information: cabrillomusic.org/events-calendar/hope-as-our-banner-grand-finale-2026-cabrillo-festival