Oct. 9: Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist David Crowell Releases New Album This World and Another – New Single Out Today

Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist David Crowell
Announces New Album This World and Another
Out on Better Company Records October 9

Featuring Pianist Vicky Chow, Guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi,
and Unheard-of Ensemble

New Single: Memories of the Imagined (II) is Out Today
Listen Here

“[David Crowell’s music] glistens, sparkles, and dances with joy.”
–John Lewis, The Guardian included in the “10 Best Contemporary Albums of 2024”

Pre-Order Available Now

CDs or press downloads available upon request.

DavidCrowellMusic.com | BetterCompanyRecords.com

New York, NY – New York-based composer, saxophonist, and guitarist David Crowell announces This World and Another, a new album to be released on October 9, 2026 via Better Company Records. The album features his music performed by pianist Vicky Chow, guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, Unheard-of Ensemble, and Crowell himself, and includes the works Memories of the Imagined, Exoplanet, and This World and Another. The first single from the album, Memories of the Imagined (II), is out today - listen here.

Following the release of Point / Cloud in 2024, which The Guardian describes as “music that glistens, sparkles, and dances with joy,” the works on Crowell’s new album This World and Another consider the passage of time and how human memories – which have both essential truths and misremembered details – shape our perception of chronological movement and recollection of the past. “I recorded samples of the acoustic instrumentalists in each piece and then processed them into the electronics you hear on the album,” Crowell says. He describes each piece as representing an alternative reality, and as the artists perform they encounter a vision of themselves in the electronics, heavily altered but recognizable in the same way that people understand the distorted reality of their dreams.

Over the album’s ten tracks, Crowell shares three new works. Memories of the Imagined, composed for Unheard-of Ensemble harkens back to Point / Cloud’s finale, 2 Hours in Zadar. Both pieces feature singing cellist Iva Casian-Lakos alongside electronics, but Memories of the Imagined diverges from its predecessor in how it channels the floating, ethereal atmosphere into a more driven, frequently pulse-based musical world. “As the music progresses,” says Crowell, “performers are drawn progressively deeper into the complex, hazy swirl of electronics, only to emerge from the dream with cathartic clarity.”

“The contemplative, introspective nature of Memories of the Imagined is largely cast aside in Exoplanet,” says Crowell. While the music retains a degree of manipulated sampling, Crowell’s alto and tenor saxophones, alongside Gregg Belisle-Chi’s expressive guitar, embrace a heavy bassline and distinct beat-oriented direction, placing nostalgic saxophone loops and padded chordal textures at the forefront alongside dynamic and lively improvisation.

For the finale and the album’s title work, pianist Vicky Chow demonstrates stunning virtuosity as she navigates a dichotomy of electronic sounds, from noisy interruptions and interjections to graceful and melodic loops. Chow takes her piano on a sonic journey lined with disparate textures – metallic, chiming, glassy – an inspiring demonstration of transformation that encourages introspection and reflection. Crowell describes Chow’s elegant performance as “winding its way through a varied and occasionally intimidating landscape, ending the album as it began, with a beautifully played, introspective solo piano passage.”

This World and Another is a multilayered expression of sound, experience, memory, and the relationships that exist between each. The music showcases how these elements connect with and shape one another, uncovering new perspectives and highlighting the unique worlds – both internal and external – that form in the wake of writing, performing, and interpreting the music and stories David Crowell is striving to tell.

About David Crowell: David Crowell’s work crosses stylistic boundaries, encompassing contemporary classical composition, improvisation, jazz, and experimental rock and pop. Artistic processes vary piece by piece, from composing purely for acoustic instruments to the use of electronics and manipulations of originally sampled sound. Improvisation plays an important role in generating material, either to exist on its own terms or for later development in a more deliberate compositional manner. The New York Times has called his music “coiled and contained, but pulsing with small, ecstatic fibrillations.” His music has been released on New Amsterdam, Better Company, Innova, National Sawdust Tracks, Coviello Classics, and Skirl.

Crowell’s music has been performed at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, Park Avenue Armory, Bravo! Vail, Lucerne Festival Spotlights Series, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dumbarton Oaks, Library of Congress, Phillips Collection, Kennedy Center REACH, Bang on a Can Summer Marathon, the London Jazz Festival, Cortona Sessions for New Music, Kultursommer Wien, Caramoor Festival, Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, American Music Festival (EMPAC), Tribeca New Music Festival, MATA Festival, National Sawdust, Merkin Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Barbes, and Joe’s Pub. Commissioning ensembles and institutions have included A Far Cry, JACK Quartet, Sandbox Percussion, New Morse Code, NOW Ensemble, icarus Quartet, Ensemble Illyrica, Dumbarton Oaks, Da Camera Los Angeles, Tribeca New MusicFestival, Arts at the Park, Boston Conservatory, University of Massachusetts, University of North Texas, University of Kentucky, and the University of Wisconsin.

Crowell’s music has been supported through composer fellowships, grants, and residencies at Dumbarton Oaks, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, I-Park Foundation, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Bang on a Can Summer Institute and the Mizzou International Composers Festival. He has presented numerous lectures on his work, including at Dumbarton Oaks, Manhattan School of Music, Duquesne University and California State University (Sacramento) where he was the featured composer at the Festival of New American Music.

As a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble (2007-16), and performing on saxophones and flute, Crowell toured four continents during the 2012-15 revival of Einstein on the Beach, cited by Alex Ross of The New Yorker as “the music event of the year ... a creation of timeless artifice ... whose beauty blazes on.” Crowell’s genre-defying, composer-led band, Empyrean Atlas, has been featured numerous times on WNYC’s New Sounds, and on Soundcheck for a live performance and interview with John Schaefer. Crowell received a PhD in composition at Stony Brook University and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Saxophone Performance from the Eastman School of Music.

Track List:

This World and Another
Music by David Crowell
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Better Company Records

Featuring David Crowell (Saxophone and Electronics), Vicky Chow (Piano), Gregg Belisle-Chi (Guitar), and Unheard-of Ensemble

1. Memories of the Imagined (I)
2. Memories of the Imagined (II)
3. Memories of the Imagined (III)
4. Memories of the Imagined (IV)

Performed By Unheard-Of Ensemble: Iva Casian-Lakos (Voice, Cello), Matheus Souza (Violin), Ford Fourqurean (Bass Clarinet), Daniel Anastasio (Piano).
Engineered By Mike Tierney at The Bunker, Brooklyn, NY.

5. Exoplanet

Performed by David Crowell (Saxophones), Gregg Belisle-Chi (Guitar).
Engineered by David Crowell at Kensington Manor, Brooklyn, NY.

6. This World and Another (I)
7. This World and Another (II)
8. This World and Another (Interlude)
9. This World and Another (III)
10. This World and Another (IV)

Performed by Vicky Chow (Piano).
Engineered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY.

Total Time: [43:24]

David Crowell, electronics and saxophone; Vicky Chow, piano; Gregg Belisle-Chi, guitar; Unheard-of Ensemble: Ford Fourqurean, clarinet; Matheus Souza, violin; Iva Casian-Lakos, voice & cello; Daniel Anastasio, piano

All music by David Crowell
Produced and Mixed by David Crowell

Additional Mixing on Exoplanet by Christopher Botta

Mastered by Christopher Botta.
Cover Art by Rebecca Crowell
Album Design by Carlo Costa

Oct. 9: Classical Soul Pianist Alexis Ffrench Releases New Album 24 on Sony Masterworks – New Single Before the World Sings Out Now

Pioneering Composer and Pianist
Alexis Ffrench

New Single: Before the World Sings
Out Now - Listen Here
Taken From Upcoming Album, 24

Worldwide Album Release Date: October 9, 2026
Pre-Save Here

New York, NY – Pioneering pianist, composer and chart-topping Classical Soul artist Alexis Ffrench has shared new single, Before the World Sings, out now from his forthcoming album 24 - listen here. The album is now scheduled for release on October 9, 2026 and available for pre-save here. Formed of 24 meticulously crafted piano pieces and intended as a musical companion to the clockwork regularity of everyday life, 24 unveils 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

PR Photo: Credit – Alex Lake (Download)

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/.

Reminder: California Symphony’s 40th Anniversary Season Launches with SIBELIUS, HIGDON, AND BARTÓK – AMERICAN CONNECTIONS - Sept 26-27

Photo by Kristen Loken. Hi res photos available here.

California Symphony’s 40th Anniversary Season Launches September 26 & 27 with SIBELIUS, HIGDON, AND BARTÓK – AMERICAN CONNECTIONS

Three works that premiered in the United States, a fitting nod as the nation marks its 250th anniversary and reflects on artistic ties across continents and generations

Led by Donato Cabrera, Artistic & Music Director
Featuring Julian Schwarz, Cello Soloist

In Concert September 26 at 7:30pm & September 27, 2026 at 4:00pm
At Walnut Creek's Lesher Center for the Arts
Tickets & Information

40th Anniversary Season Opening Celebration Dinner on September 27, 2026 at 6:00pm
Tickets & Information

WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony, led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera and Executive Director Lisa Dell, opens its 40th anniversary season with SIBELIUS, HIGDON, AND BARTÓK – AMERICAN CONNECTIONS on Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm and Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 4:00pm in the Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek). The concert, which features three works that were premiered in the United States, is a fitting nod as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. 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. On September 27, following the performance at 6:00pm, California Symphony celebrates its 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. Concert tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, one hour before each performance.

California Symphony’s season-opening performances explore American connections through music spanning the past century. 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 throughout its five movements.

“Our season opens with a concert that not only perfectly captures the spirit of adventure that California Symphony has had since its inception forty years ago, but also celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States,” Donato Cabrera says. “The U.S. has always drawn enormous strength from the diversity and individuality of the opinions and voices that can be heard here, when one chooses to listen. The three voices you will hear in this concert, Sibelius, Higdon, and Bartók, couldn't be more beautifully unique. The stories behind these works are fascinating in their own right. But what matters is the emotion these three composers infuse into every note, and that is what stays with you when you leave the concert hall.” 

The title of Sibelius’s The Oceanides refers to the nymphs in Greek mythology that inhabited the Mediterranean Sea, and the work traverses the calm ocean and an ominous storm, culminating in thundering waves. It was commissioned by an American patron of the arts, Carl Stoeckel, and premiered at the Norfolk Music Festival in Connecticut in 1914. Sibelius revised the work extensively on his way by ship across the Atlantic to conduct the new piece in Norfolk. After the performance, Stoeckel wrote, “Everyone who was fortunate enough to be in the audience agreed that it was the musical event of their lives, and after the performance of the last number there was an ovation to the composer which I have never seen equalled anywhere.”

Jennifer Higdon’s Cello Concerto, written for Julian Schwarz, who performs it with the California Symphony, was premiered in April 2026 by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The piece is in four virtuosic sections—“Poet,” “Dances,” “Fervent,” and “Lines.” In her program notes, Higdon writes, “When getting to know Julian’s playing, I was struck by the lyrical gift that he brings to the cello; I knew immediately that melody would be at the heart of this work… In the initial stages of composing, the first movement’s title of ‘Poet’ inspired the idea that all the movement titles should be related in a way that if those titles were lined up sequentially, I would have a little poem: Poet Dances Fervent Lines. It is an apt description of this piece, and of the magnificent history of this noble instrument, as well as a tribute to the gifted cellist, Julian Schwarz.”

Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra from 1943 is one of his best-loved works. In it, he showcases each section of the orchestra equally through virtuosic and soloistic writing. Bartók made numerous trips to the United States, remaining in the country from 1940 as he and his family fled the rise of fascism. A few years later while he was in the hospital due to what was later discovered to be leukemia, he received word of the commission for this piece and luckily for future listeners, rallied to compose it. The premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra the following year was a massive success and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra was an instant favorite. The piece embodies the composer’s guiding philosophy. Bartók described his purpose as serving the idea of “the brotherhood of peoples, brotherhood in spite of all wars and conflicts,” adding that he tried, “to the best of my ability—to serve this idea in my music.”

The performance on September 27 will be immediately followed by California Symphony’s 40th Anniversary Season Opening Celebration Dinner at Prime Steakhouse and Martini Garden (1719 Bonanza St., Walnut Creek), benefiting the orchestra’s music and education programs. The evening will begin at 6:00pm with a martini reception, where guests will mingle with California Symphony musicians, select featured artists from the 2026-27 season, and fellow supporters. Throughout the evening, guests will hear behind-the-scenes stories and share in the excitement of the season ahead. Proceeds directly support California Symphony’s upcoming season of inspiring performances, impactful community engagement programs, and free music education for under-resourced members of the community, reaching thousands of Contra Costa residents each year.

During the 2026-2027 season, California Symphony celebrates 40 years of bringing vibrant orchestral music to the Bay Area in five compelling programs over ten performances from September 2026 to May 2027, plus the return of California Symphony’s Holiday Traditions concerts in December 2026. 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.

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 and its innovative lifelong learning program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed. It will also continue and expand its community partnerships with the Amateur Music Network and the Trinity Center Walnut Creek.

FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT: 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.

Tickets include a free 30-minute pre-concert talk by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, one hour before each performance.

WHEN:
Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 7:30pm
Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 4pm 

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

CONCERT:
SIBELIUS, HIGDON, AND BARTÓK – AMERICAN CONNECTIONS
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony

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

TICKETS: Single tickets ($50-110) and student tickets ($25 for students 25 and under with valid Student ID) on sale now. Subscribe to a 5-, 4-, or 3-Concert Series for 20% savings on tickets. For more information or to purchase, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org or call (925) 280-2490.

PHOTOS: Available here

ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.

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

Oct 16: ECM New Series Releases Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica - Pages of a Biography

Gidon Kremer
Kremerata Baltica
Pages of a Biography 

Works by Arvo Pärt, Andrius Žlabys and Georgs Pelēcis
Gidon Kremer, violin
Kremerata Baltica

ECM New Series 2803
Release Date: October 16, 2026

Downloads and CDs available upon request

Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica ensemble continue the longstanding relationship with ECM’s New Series on Pages of a Biography, a programme of works by Georgs Pelēcis, Andrius Žlabys and Arvo Pärt. The three composers heard here are closely connected to Kremer’s work as an interpreter and advocate of Baltic music: Pelēcis and Žlabys have written works specifically for him and Kremerata Baltica, while Pärt’s music has been a constant presence throughout his artistic life.

The album opens with Pärt’s Passacaglia, written in 2007 for Kremer’s 70th birthday. Scored for two violins, vibraphone ad libitum and strings, it explores the relationship between a recurring harmonic pattern and the changing character of the violin line. For Kremer, the piece also establishes a direct connection with Tabula Rasa, Pärt’s 1977 composition which became the first album to be released on the New Series imprint in 1984.

The connection between Pärt and Kremer is both musical and biographical. Tabula Rasa was a decisive recording in the history of ECM’s New Series and in the international reception of Pärt’s music. More than four decades later, Passacaglia places Kremer once again inside a dialogue with the composer’s work, while Darf ich …, composed in 1999 for solo violin, tubular bell and strings, brings the programme to a more intimate conclusion. Kremer describes the latter as “almost a prayer” and as a reminder of the responsibility of the musician to serve something beyond the self.

Between the two Pärt works are pieces by two composers with particularly close connections to Kremer. The title work, Georgs Pelēcis’s Pages of a Biography, was written specifically for Kremer in 2007. Pelēcis and Kremer grew up together in Riga and later shared a room at the Moscow Conservatory. His concerto draws directly on memories of Kremer’s early career, from his prize-winning performances in Latvia and at the Queen Elisabeth Competition to his victories at the Tchaikovsky Competition and his interpretations of the Brahms, Elgar, Sibelius and Beethoven violin concertos. These memories become part of the musical material itself. Pelēcis incorporates quotations from the four concertos into the work, setting them against more dramatic episodes and passages for solo violin that he describes as “intimate pages from a personal diary”.

Andrius Žlabys’s Kaleidoscope of Lost Time, written between 2014 and 2020, is dedicated to Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica. Its five movements — Prelude, Scherzacaglia, Dissonance, Quarter=87 and Perpetuum — approach the idea of time from different perspectives. Žlabys describes the work as an attempt to capture “the feeling of time slipping away like sand through fingers”, transforming experiences of beauty and sadness into something that can be revisited through music. The violin writing was conceived with Kremer’s sound in mind from the earliest sketches.

Founded by Kremer in 1997, Kremerata Baltica brought together young musicians from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, giving a permanent form to his commitment to the musical culture of the region. Pages of a Biography continues this work through a programme in which the connections are unusually direct. It furthermore marks the anniversaries of both the ensemble, which turns 30 in 2027, and of Gidon Kremer himself, who’s 80th birthday celebrations in 2027 are inaugurated with this release.

It is thus an album in which Kremer’s artistic biography is not simply the subject of the music but part of its history. The pieces belong to different moments and generations, yet their connections — between composers and performer, between memory and the present — form a continuous thread through Kremer’s long association with the label.

Oct 2: ECM Releases 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

Available for Pre-Order Now via the 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.

Now Available on ECM New Series: 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.

Nov. 13: Anna Lapwood Releases Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost on Sony Music Masterworks – Featuring The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony

Anna Lapwood Unveils Her Most Ambitious Album Yet
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Featuring The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony
Anna Lapwood’s Transcription of Howard Shore’s Iconic Soundtrack

Worldwide Album Release Date: November 13, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now

Acclaimed organist Anna Lapwood returns with her new album, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, set for release on Friday, November 13, 2026 on Sony Music Masterworks, one that will whisk you away into a vividly realised world of fantastical characters, dark forests, looming mountains and tempestuous seas. Pre-order the album here.

One of the most gifted artists of her generation, Lapwood is famed for introducing the organ to millions of new fans through her interpretations of both classical and contemporary works. On this new record – her most ambitious to date – she dives into two of the most iconic film soundtracks, Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings and Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean, reimagining them as major works for organ and using them to showcase the Steinmeyer organ of Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim.

Ahead of the album, the first two tracks – Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All and The Shire/Concerning Hobbits, both taken from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Organ Symphony – arriving, Friday, September 11, and feature Lapwood singing in Elvish. Elsewhere on the album, Lapwood is joined on Rivendell and Song For Justice by the Nidaros Cathedral Girls’ Choir, conducted by Johanna Bjørkhaug.

The album grew out of a chance encounter in a New York City coffee shop, when a young girl called Katherine requested Concerning Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings. That ignited a spark which would eventually become Lapwood’s largest transcription project yet: The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony.

Lapwood says: “It has been the most extraordinary journey delving into JRR Tolkien's world in more detail, and into Howard Shore’s incredible scores. I knew that if I was going to do it, I would need to go all in! When I wrote the Pirates of the Caribbean Suite a couple of years ago it was my largest scale (and hardest!) transcription I had ever written. I feel like everything I learned from that informed The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony, which is by far the biggest project I’ve ever worked on and has completely transformed how I think about the organ. It has been such a beautiful process and has made me fall in love with the organ all over again!”

Transcribing everything by ear, Lapwood enlisted the help of fellow The Lord of the Rings fans to choose which movements to include, exploring Howard Shore’s motivic development while maintaining a clear sense of the story’s narrative arc. She also had the opportunity to speak with Howard Shore himself, who offered suggestions along the way. “Howard and his team have been so kind and generous with their time and support during this whole process, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to ask their advice!” she says.

Demonstrating her talent in concert halls around the world and drawing a huge and loyal following on social media, Lapwood shot to fame on TikTok and now has over 4 million followers across all platforms. She has been hailed as a sensation by the media, covered by major titles including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The New York Times with Tatler hailing her “the Taylor Swift of classical music”. “Social media has helped make me who I am as a performer” Lapwood has previously explained, “in that it’s made me realise that I’m allowed to be myself onstage. Now I actually feel like I’m the freest version of myself when I’m performing - and that’s a rather lovely thing”.

Lapwood trained at the Junior Royal Academy of Music on the piano, harp, viola, and violin. Naturally shy, she found music was one of the ways she could most easily communicate. At school in Oxford, she played 15 different instruments, four of them to Grade 8 standard. In 2012, she became the first woman in Magdalen College, Oxford’s 560-year history to be awarded an organ scholarship.

Then, when she was just 21, Lapwood became the youngest person ever to hold the position of Director of Music at Oxford or Cambridge, leading the choirs at Pembroke College, Cambridge. She stepped down in 2025, after nine years in the role to pursue a full-time career as a concert organist. She has performed with pop stars like RAYE and Florence & the Machine, opened for Ludovico Einaudi at the O2 arena, and has even given Tom Cruise an organ lesson at the Royal Albert Hall, where she is the Official Organist.

A lover of storytelling through the instrument, Lapwood introduces a new element on this album, singing in Elvish throughout The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but for me it was very important to the project. The Lord of the Rings isn’t just a story you read; it’s a world that you enter” she explains. “I really feel like I’ve lived it for the past year, as though I’ve been living in Middle Earth. I knew Howard Shore was a genius before I started this project, but the more you look at it and the more time you spend with his music, the more extraordinary it is.”

Lapwood has worked hard to shift the narrative around both the organ and classical music. With Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, she is keen to promote the intrinsic value of film music. “This is the music I played in my school orchestras, when I was growing up; it’s the music that made me want to compose,” she says. “It is incredible, intelligent, beautiful music, and I think it is deserving of so much respect! I’ve tried to treat it with that respect in creating this album, showing just how virtuosic if can be. Film music isn’t some secondary art form; it is essential to the success of the stories we know and love. For me, film music is the music that makes my heart sing.”

Hi res press shots – Credit Ben Wright

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost Tracklist:

1. I. Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
2. II. The Shire/Concerning Hobbits (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
3. III. A Knife in the Dark (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
4. IV. Rivendell (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
5. V. The Ring Goes South (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
6. VI. The Three Hunters (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
7. VII. The Grace of Undómiel (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
8. VIII. The Lighting of the Beacons (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
9. IX. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
10. X. A Far Green Country (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
11. XI. The Black Gate Opens (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
12. XII. For Frodo (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
13. XIII. The Crack of Doom (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
14. XIV. The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony)
15. Song For Justice
16. I. Hoist the Colours/Davy Jones (Suite from Pirates of the Caribbean)
17. II. Jack Sparrow (Suite from Pirates of the Caribbean)
18. III. One Day (Suite from Pirates of the Caribbean)
19. IV. Drink Up, Me Hearties, Yo Ho! (Suite from Pirates of the Caribbean)
20. Romantic Flight/Test Drive (from How to Train Your Dragon)

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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/

Caramoor Announces a New Collaboration with Juilliard Extension - Six Continuing Education Classes Dive Deeper into the Music Presented Onstage

Caramoor Announces a New Collaboration with Juilliard Extension

Six Classes Dive Deeper into the Themes Presented Onstage During Caramoor's Rosen House Concert Series and Summer Season

October 22, 2026 through April 7, 2027
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts | Rosen House
149 Girdle Ridge Road | Katonah, NY
Tickets & Information

KATONAH, NY – Caramoor, a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY, announces further expansion of its public programming through a new collaboration with Juilliard Extension, Juilliard’s flagship continuing education program. Caramoor and Juilliard Extension will offer a series of six classes between October 22, 2026 and April 7, 2027, giving audiences the opportunity to dive deeper into the themes presented on stage throughout Caramoor's Rosen House Concert Series and Summer Season. Classes can be taken individually or as an entire course. 

Participants will learn from acclaimed professors and lecturers and engage in thoughtful discussion with fellow music lovers. 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. 

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 runs from October through May, 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.

“…Caramoor has been dedicated to the proposition that cultural, mental and spiritual recreation…are necessary to the pursuit of happiness to all human beings. It…is my hope and intent that Caramoor shall be an artistic, music and educational center with lasting benefits to Bedford, the State and the Nation…” – Lucie Bigelow Rosen 

“We are committed to expanding how guests experience Caramoor beyond our concert offerings, with a deeper focus on lifelong learning,” said Gillian Fox, President and CEO of Caramoor. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Juilliard Extension to offer world-class continuing education directly to our community, welcoming everyone regardless of their prior musical background.”

“Juilliard Extension believes that engagement with the arts should continue across a lifetime,” said John-Morgan Bush, Dean of Juilliard Extension. “This collaboration with Caramoor brings together two institutions with a shared commitment to curiosity, music, and education. These classes invite audiences to go deeper into the music they hear on stage and build a richer connection to the works, artists, and ideas behind each performance.”

The Juilliard Extension program classes will take place in Caramoor’s Rosen House Music Room, and will include:

From Beethoven to Bartók: The Expanding World of Chamber Music
Thursday, October 22, 2026 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Across more than a century, chamber music transformed from an elegant form of domestic entertainment into one of the most powerful vehicles for personal expression in Western art. This lecture follows that evolution through the works of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartók, three composers who reimagined what could be said through a small ensemble of instruments. Beginning with Beethoven's bold reworking of Classical forms, moving through the warmth and grandeur of Brahms's late Romantic voice, and culminating in the haunting introspection of Bartók's final string quartet, participants will explore how chamber music became a laboratory for innovation and artistic risk. Along the way, we will examine the changing social and cultural worlds that shaped these works and consider why the string quartet remains one of music's most enduring genres.

This class, taught by Juilliard faculty member Sam Nester, is a great primer for the Evnin Rising Stars performance on November 1, 2026.

Sacred Songs, Folk Roots: The Making of the Christmas Carol
Thursday, November 19, 2026 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm 

Long before becoming synonymous with Christmas, carols originated in medieval Europe as lively folk dances structured around alternating stanzas and refrains. Over centuries, this versatile genre moved from communal revelry into sacred traditions, giving rise to some of the world's most cherished anthems. This lecture explores that rich evolution through the surprising backstories of several iconic carols, including “Veni Emmanuel,” which originated as a funeral chant; “O Tannenbaum,” a tribute to nature that doubled as a Civil War anthem; and “Stille Nacht,” written in a quiet Austrian village before famously echoing across a World War I battlefield. Together, these vignettes reveal how local folk customs and monastic devotion intersected to forge a global holiday tradition.

This class, taught by Juilliard Extension Music Theory and Analysis Chair Patrick Kreeger, is a great primer for the Christmas With Cantus performance on December 6, 2026.

Night, Memory, and Imagination: The Romantic Piano Tradition
Thursday, January 14, 2027 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

The piano became the defining instrument of the nineteenth century because it could capture both the grandest emotions and the most intimate reflections. Centered on the music of Chopin and the composers who inspired and followed him, this lecture explores the poetic traditions of the nocturne, ballade, and mazurka. Participants will discover how John Field established the nocturne as a musical genre, how Chopin transformed it into a vehicle for profound artistic expression, and how later composers such as Samuel Barber, Karol Szymanowski, and Thomas Adès engaged with this legacy. Through these works, we will consider how composers use music to evoke memory, storytelling, longing, and imagination, creating some of the most personal and enduring works in the piano repertoire.

This class, taught by Juilliard Extension instructor, Juilliard Creative Enterprise Fellow, and pianist Derek Wang, is a great primer for Inon Barnatan's performance on April 25, 2027.

Mendelssohn's Grand Tour: Travel, Discovery, and the Sound of Europe
Wednesday, February 24, 2027 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Grand Tour became a defining educational experience for Europe's young artists, writers, and aristocrats. Travel offered an opportunity to encounter great works of art, ancient ruins, dramatic landscapes, and vibrant musical traditions. The journey shaped taste, inspired creativity, and influenced a generation of cultural leaders. Felix Mendelssohn embraced this tradition with enthusiasm. His travels through Scotland, Italy, and across Europe inspired some of his finest orchestral works, including the Hebrides Overture, the Scottish Symphony, and the Italian Symphony. This lecture explores the places, people, and experiences that found their way into these beloved compositions through musical excerpts, letters, paintings, and historical context. 

This class, taught by a Juilliard Extension instructor, is a great primer for an upcoming Summer Season concert featuring Orchestra of St Luke's.

The String Quartet Across Three Centuries
Wednesday, March 24, 2027 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Few musical genres have proven as adaptable, resilient, and expressive as the string quartet. Spanning works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, and contemporary composer Reena Esmail, this lecture traces the remarkable journey of the quartet from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day. Participants will explore how successive generations of composers expanded the possibilities of the genre while maintaining a dialogue with tradition. Particular attention will be given to questions of cultural exchange, national identity, and musical inheritance, revealing how the string quartet continues to serve as a meeting place for history, innovation, and artistic imagination. 

This class, taught by Juilliard Extension instructor and cellist Mitchell Lyon, is a great primer for the Viano Quartet performance on April 4, 2027.

Music, Faith, and Power in the Baroque World
Wednesday, April 7, 2027 from 6:00 to 8:00pm 

The courts, churches, and noble households of seventeenth-century Europe were vibrant centers of artistic experimentation, where music served as both spiritual expression and political spectacle. Drawing on the repertoire performed by ACRONYM and countertenor Reginald Mobley, this lecture introduces participants to the rich musical world of the early Baroque. Through works by Monteverdi, Leonarda, Sances, Bertali, and others, we will examine how composers navigated the intersections of devotion, drama, and authority during a period of profound cultural transformation. Participants will also explore the rise of the countertenor voice, the emergence of new expressive styles, and the enduring influence of this remarkable era on Western musical culture.

This class, taught by Juilliard Extension's Chair of Music History Jonathan Yaeger, is a great primer for the ACRONYM and Reginald Mobley performance on April 11, 2027.

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 at 7:30pm: Pianist Aaron Diehl

Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 3:00pm: Renaissance Quartet

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, including the Rosen House Concert Series and Beyond the Music events: caramoor.org/events/calendar

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

In addition to the new collaboration with Juilliard, Caramoor has expanded its slate of community and family programming to include tours, teas, yoga and more, giving visitors a wide variety of ways to experience this unique setting in addition to its world-class concerts. 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. 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. 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 Sunset 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. 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. 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.

On November 8 as part of the Conversations at Caramoor series, Anthony Roth Costanzo, one of today’s leading opera singers, will celebrate his debut book, Countertenor (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, October 27, 2026). Part memoir, part cultural history, the book traces the countertenor voice from its origins in the castrati of the baroque era to its singular place in opera today, exploring how this extraordinary range continues to challenge our ideas of gender, identity, and sound itself. With the same wit and vitality that define his performances, Costanzo reflects on his own path as a singer, producer, and curator shaping the future of the art form. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of opera's most compelling voices speak candidly about the instrument that made his career. Copies of Countertenor will be available for purchase, with a book signing to follow the talk.

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

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.

About Juilliard

Founded in 1905, The Juilliard School is a world leader in performing arts education. The school’s mission is to cultivate excellence through the highest caliber of education in music, dance, and drama for gifted students from around the world, so they may achieve their fullest potential, expanding the reach and elevating the impact of the arts. Juilliard is led by Damian Woetzel, seventh president of the school, who has prioritized affordability and access to the highest level of artistic education while championing Juilliard’s tradition of excellence.

Located at Lincoln Center in New York City, Juilliard offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, drama (acting and playwriting), and music (classical, jazz, historical performance, and vocal arts). More than 800 artists from 42 states and 50 countries and regions are enrolled in Juilliard’s College Division, where they appear in more than 800 annual performances in the school’s five theaters; at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and David Geffen halls and at Carnegie Hall; as well as at other venues around New York City, the U.S., and the world. The continuum of learning at Juilliard also includes nearly 400 students from elementary through high school enrolled in the Preparatory Division—Pre-College and Music Advancement Program (MAP); MAP serves students from diverse backgrounds often underrepresented in the classical music field. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in Juilliard Extension, the flagship continuing education program taught both in person and remotely by a dedicated faculty of performers, creators, and scholars. Beyond its New York campus, Juilliard is defining new directions in performing arts education for a range of learners and enthusiasts through a global K–12 educational curricula and preparatory and graduate studies at The Tianjin Juilliard School in China. 

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

Oct. 23: Vocalist Tui Hirv and Composer / Guitarist Páll Ragnar Pálsson Release Layers – New Album on Sono Luminus

Vocalist Tui Hirv and Composer / Guitarist Páll Ragnar Pálsson
Release New Album Layers
Out on Sono Luminus October 23, 2026

Featuring Ambient Interpretations of Old Nordic Folk Songs
with Guest Artists Sóley, Skúli Sverrisson, Kaktus Einarsson, and Sander Saarmets

Worldwide Release Date: October 23, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now

Páll Ragnar Pálsson | Tui Hirv | Sono Luminus

On October 23, 2026, married duo, Estonian vocalist Tui Hirv and Icelandic composer and guitarist Páll Ragnar Pálsson, will release their new album, Layers, on Sono Luminus. This unique concept album brings together the spiritual and historical lineages of several Nordic folk songs, through thoughtful, ambient interpretations that consider the works in their entirety: compositional form, emotional direction, historical context, social significance, and cultural purpose.

Layers showcases the many sides of the history behind music both secular and sacred and how its place in the lives of those who hear it can vary based on the time, place, language, and meaning that surrounds the music when it’s found and integrated into daily life. Through this mindful and meticulously crafted recording, Pálsson and Hirv shed light on the power of folk music to be both a lasting record of people and times past, as well as a living, evolving demonstration of the perspective seen and felt by people of today’s vast and multicultural world.

The album contains 17 folk songs and hymns of various Nordic, Latin, and English origins: Nüüd hingvad inimesed (Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow); Bred dina vida vingar (Thy Holy Wings O Savior); Mitt hjerte alltid vanker (My Heart Will Always Wander); Hátíð fer af höndum ein (Joyous Tides Do Now Begin); There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue; Gjendines bådnlåt (Gjendine’s Lullaby); In the Bleak Midwinter; Nú kemur heimsins hjálparráð (Saviour of the Nations Come); Nüüd südant, inimene (Ye Sons of Men, Oh, Hearken); Jeesus kõige ülem hää (Jesus Is the Best of All Good Things); Kes Jumalat nii laseb teha (If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee); Oh Jeesus, Sinu valu (O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded); Ma vaatan üles mäele (I Gaze Up at the Hill); Kas sureb nii mu kõige armsam elu (Alas, Does My Most Beloved Life Thus Die?); Su hooleks ennast annan ma (My all I to my God commend); Nú er á himni og jörð (Now in Heaven and on Earth); and The Snow it Melts the Soonest.

Contemporary chamber music plays a significant part in Tui Hirv’s artistic profile. While in Estonia, she worked with new music ensembles and occasionally premiered pieces written for her by local composers. Hirv’s collaboration with her composer husband Páll Ragnar Pálsson has been especially fruitful, resulting in more than ten pieces for Hirv as soloist and ensembles of varying scale. They keep developing their musical language, walking new and unknown paths with every project.

After undergraduate studies at Iceland University of the Arts Páll Ragnar Pálsson obtained a Master‘s and doctoral degree from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2014. Dwelling in the musically intense environment of Tallinn and being a student of Helena Tulve added another cultural layer on Pálsson’s indie rock background from 1990‘s Reykjavik and made him the artist he is today. During his formative years as a guitar player, Pálsson’s sense of sound was refined in recording studios, perceiving music rather in masses of noise than melodic-harmonic patterns, rather in a physical and instinctive than an intellectual and analytical manner. Sounds and textures are thus still central to Pálsson’s music.

As artists that also share foundations in academia, Pálsson and Hirv have explored the long, winding paths of origin behind the songs on Layers and come to a deep understanding of where this music fits in the lives of people from different nations, spanning many generations. Layers of spiritual singing reach seamlessly from Estonia – across the Swedish-speaking areas of Estonia to mainland Sweden and Norway and overseas to Iceland – making a stop in England where similar cultural processes took place earlier. Latin hymns translate into local languages, blend into folk tradition, get picked up again, make their way into art music directly or indirectly, and become a source of inspiration once again.

“For centuries, spiritual singing was an inseparable part of everyday life of mankind,” Hirv explains. “It accompanied the course of day, course of life and course of year – acting as a kind of measure to keep in touch with the flow of time. There were songs to sleep and wake by, to pray for God‘s mercy in all situations possible, and to maintain a harmonious and modest life. These songs travelled through Europe mostly with the help of Protestant pastors and songbooks, but blended into local folk heritage in every parish. Different versions of well-known chorales create a unifying web across Western culture while maintaining a distinct, irreplicable voice of the isolated communities. These songs, either straight from songbooks or transcribed during field trips by scholars of the early 20th century, make up the core of Layers.”

In their endeavor to connect these folk songs with modern day musicality and stylization, like many before them, Pálsson and Hirv chose carefully where to uphold and where to bend the lines of traditional conventions of western music, which give each song its original musical character and social purpose.

“We encounter these songs in an environment where boundaries between social classes, styles of music, scenes and venues get blurred over and over, each time according to a whole different logic,” Hirv says. “We break a few canons, clichés and customs by approaching spiritual hymns with modern equipment, still making the vocals sound natural, timeless and unprocessed, vulnerable and enlightened. In our arrangements, we are aware of the tradition but treat the material with playfulness and a slight sense of irresponsibility. This is the layer we add to the heritage that has shaped our identities as individuals and nations, keeping the very core of human knowledge and spiritual existence alive and relevant.”

Beyond their intention to balance the history of the past and their creativity in the present, Pálsson and Hirv’s arrangements add yet another layer to the hymn tradition.

Hirv explains in the album’s liner notes: “As a melodic element, we use notated transcriptions that educated musicians wrote down on their field trips to record the disappearing vocal heritage of Estonian villages. A big part of Estonian folklore is spiritual and has its roots in the Lutheran tradition. Going to church on Sundays and praising the Lord at home was a general practice. It was a natural part of existence equally in the ethnic Estonian and Swedish communities that lived side by side for many centuries. Texts were written down in psalmbooks but the melodies were learned by ear and passed on within the family.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, during the wave of national awakening, the Estonian student fraternity of Tartu University organized a wide-spread expedition of folk-song gathering all over Estonia that lasted for a number of summers. Secular songs were considered more original and valuable at the time than the ones developed from Lutheran hymns. For Estonian professional music life later on, the folk hymns have proved an invaluable source of inspiration and tokens of identity at difficult times. They underline Estonia‘s connection to Western culture while maintaining an irreplicable, unifying voice.”

More about Tui Hirv: Singer and musicologist Tui Hirv was born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1984. Tui Hirv graduated from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with a BA degree in singing in 2007 and MA in musicology in 2009. From an early age and until moving to Iceland in 2013 she was very active in Estonia’s vivid and highly professional scene of choral music. For a period of time she was a member of some of the most renowned vocal groups such as Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Vox Clamantis. Both ensembles place great emphasis on the music of Arvo Pärt, their fellow Estonian and one of the most performed composers at a global scale. Both ensembles have extensive international reach and regularly record albums for leading labels such as ECM New Series and Harmonia Mundi. The 2014 ECM release of Adam’s Lament led by EPCC’s founding conductor Tõnu Kaljuste contains a version of Pärt’s L’Abbé Agathon for choir and chamber orchestra where Tui Hirv sings lead. The album received the GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance.

More about Páll Ragnar Pálsson: Páll Ragnar Pálsson has ongoing collaborations with artists all over the world and his music has been performed by internationally renowned ensembles and orchestras in sought-after venues. In recent years, Páll has collaborated on several occasions with Sono Luminus. Atonement with a selection of chamber pieces was released in 2020, while Concurrence, a collaboration with Icelandic Symphony Orchestra featuring Quake was nominated for the GRAMMYAward in 2021. The Icelandic motion picture Quake directed by Tinna Hrafnsdóttir featured original music by Páll and Eðvard Egilsson, released on an album named Skjálfti by Sono Luminus in 2023. One of the highlights of recent years was the premiere of Páll’s first symphony in April 2026 at the Harpa concert house in Reykjavík commissioned by Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Eva Ollikainen.

Layers: Tui Hirv and Páll Ragnar Pálsson
Release Date: October 23, 2026 | Sono Luminus

Tracklist:

1. Nüüd hingvad inimesed (Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow)[3:55]
2. Bred dina vida vingar (Thy Holy Wings O Savior)[3:05]
3. Mitt hjerte alltid vanker (My Heart Will Always Wander)[4:47]
4. Hátíð fer af höndum ein (Joyous Tides Do Now Begin)[2:49]
5. There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue [3:53]
6. Gjendines bådnlåt (Gjendine’s Lullaby)[3:40]
7. In the Bleak Midwinter [3:36]
8. Nú kemur heimsins hjálparráð (Saviour of the Nations Come)[3:25]
9. Nüüd südant, inimene (Ye Sons of Men, Oh, Hearken) [5:07]
10. Jeesus kõige ülem hää (Jesus Is the Best of All Good Things)[3:04]
11. Kes Jumalat nii laseb teha (If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)[3:54]
12. Oh Jeesus, Sinu valu (O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded)[3:21]
13. Ma vaatan üles mäele (I Gaze Up at the Hill)[4:01]
14. Kas sureb nii mu kõige armsam elu (Alas, Does My Most Beloved Life Thus Die?)[5:05]
15. Su hooleks ennast annan ma (My all I to my God commend)[3:10]
16. Nú er á himni og jörð (Now in Heaven and on Earth)[2:30]
17. The Snow it Melts the Soonest [3:36]

Total Time: [63:02]

Páll Ragnar Pálsson, Composer, Guitars, Electronics
Tui Hirv, Vocals, Piano (tracks 9, 17)
Sóley Stefánsdóttir, Accordion (track 17)
Skúli Sverrisson, Bass (track 10)
Kaktus Einarsson, Trumpet (track 12)
Sander Saarmets Electronics (track 8)

Executive Producers: Páll Ragnar Pálsson and Tui Hirv
Arrangements: Tui Hirv and Páll Ragnar Pálsson
Recorded and Produced: Páll Ragnar Pálsson
Mixing: Eðvarð Egilsson
Mastering: Daniel Shores
Layout: Joshua Frey
Liner Notes: Tui Hirv and Páll Ragnar Pálsson
Artwork on cover: Valgerður Briem (1914-2002)
Artist portrait: Brynjar Gunnarsson
Recorded in Vesturbær, Reykjavík throughout 2025

Sept. 28: The Birch Festival: Fall Edition 2026 – Encounter: The Bach Suites and Ravel

L-R: Cellist Jan Vogler, Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, Actor Tamara Hickey

The Birch Festival: Fall Edition 2026
Encounter: The Bach Suites and Ravel

Yevgeny Kutik, Artistic Director & Rachel Barker, Executive Director

Featured Performance:
Cellist Jan Vogler, Actor and Writer Tamara Hickey, and Violinist Yevgeny Kutik

Monday, September 28, 2026 at 7pm
First Congregational Church Stockbridge | 4 Main Street | Stockbridge, MA
Tickets and Registration Information: www.thebirchfestival.org

Stockbridge, MA — The arrival of the fall season will be brightened by the return of the The Birch Festival to Stockbridge, MA, which presents a featured performance on Monday, September 28, 2026 at 7pm. Birch Festival Artistic Director and esteemed violinist Yevgeny Kutik welcomes acclaimed cellist Jan Vogler and award-winning actor and writer Tamara Hickey, for a collaborative concert at First Congregational Church Stockbridge (4 Main Street). The program will include J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites Nos. 1 and 6, Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, and Handel-Halvorsen’s Passacaglia. Berkshire County Students and a guardian may attend the concert for free. Prior to the concert, the artists will also be presenting a private workshop for students in local public schools.

This fall’s featured performance, Encounter: The Bach Suites and Ravel, traces a journey from solitude to encounter, and from encounter to transformation. With the musicianship of iconic cellist Jan Vogler, a voice emerges, unfolding in Bach’s first cello suite, before Ravel brings violin and cello into a vivid exchange of tension and discovery. The journey returns to Bach with his sixth suite: the original solitary voice transformed by everything that has come before. Completing the encounter, both violin and cello come together at the end in the exuberant union of Handel–Halvorsen’s Passacaglia. Joining Vogler and Kutik will be the Berkshires’ own Tamara Hickey of Shakespeare & Company for special readings before each piece. Interwoven with the music of Bach and Ravel, these readings will help trace the evening’s themes of Beginnings, Encounter, and Transcendence—bringing music and words together in what will be a particularly special Birch performance. Hickey is an award-winning actor, writer, and theater-maker whose work spans theater, film, and television in the U.S. and Canada. Based in the Berkshires, she is a company member of Shakespeare & Company and creates original theater through her production company, MetaGirl Productions.

“Jan Vogler brings extraordinary artistry and a deeply personal connection to Bach’s Cello Suites, and I’m thrilled to welcome him to the Berkshires for this special program, pairing Bach with Ravel’s gorgeous Sonata for Violin and Cello,” says Birch Festival Artistic Director Yevgeny Kutik. “With Tamara’s readings woven throughout the evening, and the opportunity to bring these artists into our local schools, this is a wonderful expression of what we hope to offer through Birch: discovery, connection, and music that brings our community together.”

The Birch Festival was founded in 2022 by Lenox-based husband-and-wife team Yevgeny Kutik, an internationally renowned violinist who serves as Artistic Director, and Rachel Barker, who is the non-profit organization’s Executive Director. The Birch Festival promotes and propels distinct voices in music, whether through new composition or creative interpretation of old favorites. It offers leading musicians a chance to play and establish relationships in the Berkshires, while recognizing the importance of their work by offering compensation that sustains and values their efforts in this industry. The Birch Festival’s mission is to bring world-leading musicians for artist residencies in Berkshire County schools, and work in tandem with local business and cultural partnerships. Kutik, a Belarusian-Jewish refugee resettled in Pittsfield by the Jewish Federation in the 1990s, named the festival for his grandmother Sima Berezkina, whose last name means “birch tree.” With significance in many global cultures, birch trees symbolize growth, resilience, and adaptability – qualities that Sima embodied.

The Birch Festival will also be presenting its spring festival on Friday, May 14, 2027, in partnership with the Tanglewood Learning Institute, presenting the Boston Conservatory at Berklee Percussion Ensemble in a performance featuring Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra. Tickets are on sale now and more information can be found here.

Follow The Birch Festival on Social Media

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebirchfestival
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-birch-festival/

The Birch Festival’s Fall 2026 Schedule:

Bach & Birds
Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (472 W Mountain Rd, Lenox, MA 01240)
Monday, September 28, 2026 at 9:30am
Registration: www.massaudubon.org/programs/pleasant-valley/104320-bach-birds

As part of its Fall 2026 edition, The Birch Festival will partner with Mass Audubon to present Bach & Birds, a free pop-up performance at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox, Massachusetts. Cellist Jan Vogler will perform excerpts from Bach’s Cello Suites and share insights into these transformative works, surrounded by an exhibition of watercolor paintings of birds from around the world by artist Robin Crofut-Brittingham. The performance will take place in Pleasant Valley’s historic barn, a fully accessible program space. Accessible parking and seating will be available, and coffee will be provided. Made possible through the generous support of an anonymous donor and the partnership between The Birch Festival and Mass Audubon, Bach & Birds is free and open to the public.

The Birch Festival Featured Performance – Encounter: The Bach Suites and Ravel
Monday, September 28, 2026 at 7pm
First Congregational Church Stockbridge (4 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA 01262)
Tickets: www.thebirchfestival.org

Violinist and Birch Festival Artistic Director and Co-Founder Yevgeny Kutik comes together with acclaimed cellist Jan Vogler and award-winning actor and writer Tamar Hickey to perform the emotive and thought-provoking works by J.S. Bach and Maurice Ravel, as well as Johan Halvorsen’s interpretation of Frederic Handel’s Passacaglia, in a program inspired by the themes of solitude, encounter, and transformation. Berkshire County Students and a guardian may attend for free.

About the Artists & Festival Directors:

About Yevgeny Kutik: With a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique” (The New York Times), violinist Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of both standard works and newly composed repertoire. A native of Minsk, Belarus, Kutik began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and immigrated to the U.S. with his family at the age of five. An advocate for the Jewish Federations of North America, the organization that assisted his family in coming to the US, he regularly speaks and performs across the country to promote the assistance of refugees from around the world. Kutik’s discography, all on Marquis Classics, includes The Death of Juliet and Other Tales (2021), Meditations on Family (Marquis Classics 2019), Words Fail (2016), Music from the Suitcase (2014), and Sounds of Defiance (2012). Committed to the music of our time, Kutik regularly gives premiere and repeat performances of major works by today’s most celebrated composers.  For more information, please visit www.yevgenykutik.com. 

About Rachel Barker: Rachel Barker is an educator and writer. Barker has been awarded spots in writers workshops for both nonfiction and fiction, including the Key West Literary Seminar, the Aspen Institute's Aspen Summer Words, and multiple residencies with Write On, Door County. She has consulted and presented for a number of organizations throughout the country, including the Yale Council for African Studies, Flint Institute of Music, Boston University's African Studies Center, Primary Source, and the Wayland/Weston Interfaith Council on Teaching Religion in Schools. Rachel Barker’s MEd. is from Boston College, where she graduated with a focus on social justice and teaching English language learners. Her undergraduate degree in Anthropology is from Boston University, and she currently studies Religion at Harvard University.

About Jan Vogler: Jan Vogler’s distinguished career has brought him together with renowned conductors and internationally acclaimed orchestras around the world, such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His great ability allowed him to explore the sound boundaries of the cello and to establish an intensive dialogue with contemporary composers and artists. This includes regular world premieres, including works by Tigran Mansurian (with WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Semyon Bychkov), John Harbison (with Mira Wang and the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Udo Zimmermann (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra), Wolfgang Rihm (Double Concerto with Mira Wang), Jörg Widman (Cello Concerto Dunkle Saiten, dedicated to Jan Vogler himself), Nico Muhly, Sven Helbig and Zhou-Long (Drei Kontinente – Konzert für Cello und Orchester, composed for Jan Vogler) and Sean Shepherd (On a Clear Day based on a cycle of poems by Ulla Hahn, for cello, choirs and orchestra, which was premiered in 2023 with the Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano). The New York Times praises his “soulful, richly hued playing” and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung grants him the ability “to make his cello speak like a singing voice.”

Highlights of Jan Vogler’s career as a soloist are concerts with the New York Philharmonic – both in New York and Dresden at the occasion of the reopening of the rebuilt Dresdner Frauenkirche under the direction of Lorin Maazel in 2005 –, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh and Montréal Symphony Orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’ Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic as well as with The Knights. He collaborates with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, Sir Antonio Pappano, Marin Alsop, Valery Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck and Kent Nagano.

About Tamara Hickey: Tamara Hickey (she/her) is a 500-hour certified trauma-sensitive yoga instructor who integrates biomechanics, pain science, and somatic movement to guide students toward strength, resilience, and ease. Current role with WAM: Teaching Artist for Yoga Cry It Out event WAM Theatre: First WAM theatre collaboration Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Henry 6, Part II, Much Ado About Nothing, Times Stands Still, Heisenberg, The Tempest, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company); Appropriate (SpeakEasy Stage); God’s Ear, Henry VIII, Pericles, Living in Exile (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Cabaret (A.R.T.) Additional artistic credits: Film/TV: Defending Jacob, Mother/Android, John & The Hole, The Equalizer 2, The Judge, Olive Kitteridge, Bull.

Creative inspiration: Hickey’s 13 year old daughter, going to the theatre Community Engagement/Activist work: Tamara leads classes and workshops at Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness, Miraval Berkshires, and through her online yoga studio, The Action Space. She is currently pursuing a two-year Meditation Certification with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Membership/Affiliations: SAG-AFTRA, AEA, Yoga Alliance Selected training: MFA in Theatre from American Repertory Theatre Awards/proudest achievements: Elliot Norton Award (Best Actress, Best Production) God’s Ear; Tamara recently created, starred in, and produced a one-woman show THIS IS IT with Kate Kohler Amory, which led to the founding of their production company, MetaGirl Productions. Final word: Collaboration is Queen.

OUT NOW: New Single from Violinist Esther Abrami's Sony Classical Album Amour - All by Myself by Céline Dion

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

New Single: All by Myself by Céline Dion
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. New single, All by Myself by Céline Dion is out now.

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

Sept. 18: Cellist Sol Gabetta Releases New Album on Sony Classical – Saint-Saëns & Lalo: Cello Concertos with Les Siècles New Single Out Now

Sol Gabetta Releases New Album on Sony Classical Saint-Saëns & Lalo: Cello Concertos with Les Siècles

New Single Out Now - Listen Here
II. Intermezzo. Andantino con moto – Allegro presto
from Cello Concerto in D Minor by Édouard Lalo

Worldwide Release Date: September 18, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now

On September 18, 2026, cellist Sol Gabetta’s new album Saint-Saëns & Lalo: Cello Concertos will be released on Sony Classical – pre-order is available now. Recorded with the French orchestra Les Siècles, performing on period instruments, the cellist presents Camille Saint-Saëns’ two Cello Concertos alongside Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D minor—three cornerstone works of the Romantic cello repertoire. New single, II. Intermezzo. Andantino con moto – Allegro presto from Cello Concerto in D Minor by Édouard Lalo, is out now - listen here.

Bringing together historically informed orchestral sound with her own distinctive voice, Sol Gabetta explores the contrasting musical worlds of these concertos. Saint-Saëns’ First Concerto and Lalo’s concerto, composed within a span of just a few years, both place a strong emphasis on the orchestra, creating a dynamic dialogue between soloist and ensemble. By contrast, Saint-Saëns’ Second Concerto—written three decades later—emerges as a highly virtuosic and structurally expansive work that demands exceptional technical and expressive range from the soloist.

Known for her expressive intensity and clarity of interpretation, Sol Gabetta shapes each of these works with a strong sense of narrative and colour, highlighting their lyrical qualities while bringing out their distinctive characters. The collaboration with Les Siècles adds a further dimension to the recording, offering a sound palette that reflects the stylistic context of the late 19th century while remaining vivid and immediate.

Saint-Saëns & Lalo: Cello Concertos by Sol Gabetta with Les Siècles will be available from September 18, 2026 on CD, as well as for download and streaming in Stereo and in Dolby Atmos.

Sol Gabetta is one of the leading cellists of her generation, internationally acclaimed for her expressive playing and wide-ranging repertoire. She performs regularly with major orchestras and conductors worldwide and is known for her close engagement with both core repertoire and lesser-known works. She appears with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, and is a frequent guest at major international venues and festivals including the Lucerne Festival and New York’s Lincoln Center. Following her recent return to the United States, she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic and appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, while her international touring activity has also taken her to Asia, including appearances at the BBC Proms Japan. Sol Gabetta performs on a rare Matteo Goffriller cello from 1730.

Repertoire:

Camille Saint-Saëns:
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegretto con moto
III. Molto allegro

Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 119
I. Allegro moderato e maestoso – Andante sostenuto
II. Allegro non troppo – Cadenza – Molto allegro

Édouard Lalo:
Cello Concerto in D Minor
I. Prélude. Lento – Allegro maestoso
II. Intermezzo. Andantino con moto – Allegro presto
III. Introduction. Andante – Allegro vivace

Oct. 2: ensemble132 Releases Masques and Marionettes Steinway & Sons Debut – New Single: The Shrovetide Fair is Gramophone Video of the Day

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

Gramophone VIdeo of the Day
Stravinsky's Petrushka, Scene I: The Shrovetide Fair 
Watch Here

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.

New single, The Shrovetide Fair by Igor Stravinsky, is Gramophone's Video of the Day – watch here.

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’sPetrushka 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. 9for 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.

Oct 29: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum presents Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain performed by Alarm Will Sound on Thursday Night Music Series

Alarm Will Sound, photo by Michael Clayville. Press photos available here.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Continues Thursday Night Music

A New Series of Concerts Held on Thursday Nights at Calderwood Hall 

October 29: Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain
Performed by Alarm Will Sound, Conducted by Alan Pierson

Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 7 pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall | 25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/about/music

BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its bold new concert series, Thursday Night Music, curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel and held on select Thursday evenings. Thursday Night Music brings a different energy to the concert hall than the afternoon performances of the Museum’s Weekend Concert Series, featuring edgier, more experimental work. With no intermissions, open seating, and a relaxed atmosphere, these single-set performances offer immersive and adventurous listening experiences. All concerts take place 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 intimate and intense acoustic environment.

The next Thursday Night Music concert on October 29, 2026 features the kinetic ensemble Alarm Will Sound conducted by Alan Pierson performing Georg Friedrich Haas’s masterpiece in vain, a 70-minute work for 24 players, much of which is played in complete darkness. Haas wrote in vain in 2000 in response to the rise of far-right parties in his native Austria in 1999. The piece is described as a “modern masterpiece” by Alex Ross in his influential book The Rest is Noise. 

“in vain is Haas’s reflection on this situation: music in which peace is repeatedly achieved, only to again and again unravel. The work begins with a maelstrom of descending notes and dissonant, unsettled harmonies which eventually settles into a static and dark place,” writes Alan Pierson in his notes for this performance. “The darkness here is not merely musical—the opening's dissonant harmonies freezing into slowly diverging unisons—but also literal: This is the first of two sections of the work performed in darkness. Haas uses darkness to catalyze novel kinds of listening and playing: With the players unable to see their music, the conductor, or one another, Haas had to develop unconventional ways for musicians to play together.”

Georg Friedrich Haas is one of the major European composers of his generation. His music synthesizes in a highly original way the Austrian tradition of grand orchestral statement with forward-looking interests in harmonic color and microtonal tuning that stem from both French spectralism and a strand of American experimentalism. The result is an exploratory, uncompromising music that is also sensuously attractive. His music appeals to unusually diverse constituencies, from avant-garde composers for its microtonal investigations to casual listeners for its spacious forms and euphonious harmony. Haas has been on Columbia University’s composition faculty since 2013. 

Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member band committed to innovative performances and recordings of today’s music. They have established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic skill in the world's leading concert halls. Their performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity” by The Financial Times and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times reports that Alarm Will Sound is “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene.” The group has an extensive discography, and in 2026, won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their recording of Donnacha Dennehy's Land Of Winter.

Alarm Will Sound's performance of Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain is made possible with the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Ticketing Information

Tickets are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617-278-5156. For additional information including about accessibility, please contact boxoffice@isgm.org.

Performances take place in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

About Music at the Gardner

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. 

About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

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

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

Thursday Night Music at the Gardner is sponsored by Barbara and Amos Hostetter.

Sept. 25: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik Performs as Featured Soloist with the Louisville Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor Conducted by Ziwei Ma

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

Violinist Yevgeny Kutik Performs as Featured Soloist
with the Louisville Orchestra

in Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63
Conducted by Ziwei Ma

Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Ogle Center at IU Southeast | 4201 Grant Line Rd. | New Albany, IN
Tickets and More Information

“balanced passion with nuance” – The Strad on Yevgeny Kutik

www.yevgenykutik.com

Louisville, KY — On Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm, violinist Yevgeny Kutik, who The New York Times describes as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” is the featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Ziwei Ma. Kutik will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63. The concert will also feature Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 by Johannes Brahms.

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

Kutik holds a special place in his heart for Prokofiev’s work—especially the concerto featured on this program—particularly because of the awe-inspiring personal experience Kutik had while first learning it, which shaped how Kutik came to view and appreciate the 20th century composer as Kutik grew into the artist he is today.

Kutik explains: “It was a particularly memorable violin lesson with my teacher, Roman Totenberg, as we worked on Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Born in 1911, Roman was a violinist and pedagogue, a man whose monumental career put him at the forefront of some of the most important cultural and artistic developments of the 20th century. As the lesson concluded, he very casually mentioned, ‘You know, I once met Prokofiev.’.”

Roman had met Prokofiev at a nightclub in Paris, where artists went to play bridge, to smoke, and to drink. Roman approached Sergei Prokofiev, and said, ‘Mr. Prokofiev, I would love to discuss your music if you might have a spare several minutes.’ Prokofiev simply stared at Roman, and after a moment, replied dryly, ‘You know, I’d rather we just play cards.’

I imagined Prokofiev and my teacher, a young man at the time, playing cards well into the night, swapping stories and telling tales. Roman’s memory of this night never left me. I’ve played a lot of Prokofiev’s music since that violin lesson years ago. More than anything, I’m drawn to the humanity behind the music—to the extraordinary storyteller who paints such vivid pictures that one cannot help but be instantly drawn in and captivated. It is like sitting down with a great book and letting a new world unfold before you, as if by magic.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik, described as having a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,” (The New York Times) is the featured soloist in a performance with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Ziwei Ma. Kutik will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63. The concert program will also feature a performance of Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 by Johannes Brahms.

Concert details:

Who: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik
Presented by the Louisville Orchestra
Conducted by Ziwei Ma
What: Music by Sergei Prokofiev and Johannes Brahms
When: Friday, September 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: Ogle Center at IU Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Rd, New Albany, IN 47150
Tickets and information: https://www.louisvilleorchestra.org/events/detail/prokofiev-brahms-25735

Oct. 4: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light – Presented by Point Reyes Dance Palace

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

Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light
at Point Reyes Dance Palace

Featuring the Music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel

Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 4pm | Point Reyes Dance Palace Main Hall
503 B Street | Point Reyes Station, CA
Tickets and More Information

“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music”
–NPR Music

Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert

www.sarahcahill.com

Point Reyes Station, CA – Pianist Sarah Cahill, called “as tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of” by the San Francisco Chronicle, is presented in concert by Point Reyes Dance Palace on Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 4pm in the Main Hall (503 B Street). Cahill performed her program Mistica for her last visit to Point Reyes Dance Palace in 2025.

For this concert, Cahill will perform a new program titled No Ordinary Light, an emotive project focused on the theme of homage and loss. No Ordinary Light explores how composers over the centuries have paid homage to one another, cherishing and immortalizing through music. This program also honors the experience of personal grief as well as celebrating the memories of our loved ones. New commissioned works are by Samuel Adams, in memory of his mentor and godfather Ingram Marshall, and Clarice Jensen’s Homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, combined with classical and 20th century works. This concert program will also feature the music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel. 

“It's always such a joy to perform at the Point Reyes Dance Palace, a beautiful community space with a welcoming audience,” says Cahill.

"The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light."
– Jawaharlal Nehru on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

About the Music on the Program

During the 17th century, Jean-Henri d’Anglebert was a prominent figure in the rising popularity of the harpsichord over the lute. The growing momentum of the former amid the public was further ushered along by Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, the man widely considered to be the father of the French harpsichord school. Chambonnières and his teachings would go on to bolster the recognition of musicians like Louis Couperin, Nicolas Lebègue, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Jacques Hardel, as well as Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, which may be the reason behind why d’Anglebert wrote the Tombeau de M. de Chambonnières, seemingly a gesture of homage from student to teacher upon the latter’s passing.

Tom Constanten is best known for being the first keyboard player for the Grateful Dead. He and Phil Lesh (bassist for the Grateful Dead) studied composition at Mills College with Luciano Berio. Constanten is a classically trained pianist whose playful compositions often conceal encrypted messages and what he calls “time release humor.” In 1977 he wrote a waltz called Dejavalse, and later revisited the material with new approaches. At Mills College, he befriended fellow student William Bolcom, and dedicated Dejavalise to him in 1985. The score is inscribed “to/for (six-eight, who do we appreciate) Bill Bolcom.”

Robert Helps composed Hommage à Fauré as part of Trois Hommages (1972), a trilogy of works and one of his most popular and often recorded works. The first two pieces, which include à Fauré and à Rachmaninoff, expand upon the opulent pianism and poignant harmonies that are hallmarks of the composers to which each piece pays tribute.

Commissioned by Cahill, Samuel Adams’ solo piano work, Prelude (Hammer the Sky Bright), is a tribute to composer Ingram Marshall (1942–2022). A former resident of the San Francisco Bay area, Ingram Marshall’s work greatly influenced a number of composers and musicians from the area, including Adams – who studied with Marshall and considered him his mentor – and Cahill, who frequently performs Marshall's music and commissioned several works from him. Adams says of the work: “Prelude: Hammer the Sky Bright pays tribute to Ingram’s free-form, unpredictable sense of structure and highly impressionistic, almost ambient musical surfaces. His music often embraced the idea that form can be gradual and elusive—like late Sibelius—with the secrets of a piece only occasionally appearing close to its surface, like sunken cathedrals.”

American composer William Bolcom wrote a set of three Ghost Rags for piano, with the first of the trio written in 1970 as a tribute to Bolcom’s late father, whose spirit Bolcom said he often felt nearby while working on the piece. The three works collectively explore the experience of grief and loss, with the first rag being one of the most well-known contemporary rags, particularly of the ragtime revival in the 1970s. The first rag moves with a poised, emotive, lyrical style, fittingly echoing the feeling behind the title of Graceful Ghost Rag.

Gabriel Fauré composed his Barcarolles over a period of four decades, and they show the evolution of his distinct compositional voice. The barcarolle was a traditional boat song of the Venetian gondoliers – its characteristics are a rhythm copying the gondolier’s stroke in the water and a moderate 6/8 time. Fauré used the title of barcarolle but didn’t adhere religiously to the form. One important thing to note about Fauré was that he was ambidextrous – could use both right and left hands equally well – and this comes through in the barcarolles. In more than one piece, the melody is in the middle register, with the high and low registers being used for accompaniment of the central melody. One writer compared this to a mirror image on the water where the major image is in the middle, with reflections at the top and bottom.

The brilliant Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes premiered great works by his good friend Ravel (Gaspard de la Nuit and Jeux d’eau) and Debussy, and was Francis Poulenc’s piano teacher. He composed four Hommages, for Ravel, Fauré, Satie, and Léon-Paul Fargue. The title of his tribute to Fauré, En Verlaine mineur, refers to Fauré’s songs setting poetry by Paul Verlaine, and there is a quote from one of Fauré’s songs embedded in this poignant minuet.

Clarice Jensen says of Ryuichi Sakamoto and how he influences her work: “I count myself so lucky to have met and recorded for Ryuichi Sakamoto in New York City. His music, persona and person inspired me with their sincerity and beauty, depicting at once simplicity and complicated, deep emotion. Despite working with him only a few times, I feel he was a teacher of sorts, and still lives as an archetype for me, inspiring me to not shy from expressing or creating beauty. Each of the movements for Sarah [Cahill] has an embedded motif from Sakamoto's work: Earth - Andata, Fire - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Water - solari.”

In addition to being an adventurous composer and skilled percussionist, Lou Harrison was fond of writing music in honor of his colleagues, friends, and fellow musicians he admired. Homage to Milhaud is inspired by Darius Milhaud, who, like Harrison, was a longtime teacher at Mills College in Oakland. Harrison wrote his Fugue to David Tudor at Black Mountain College while he was teaching there. Harrison often worked with David Tudor, who was himself a pioneering pianist-composer.

Cahill commissioned ​​Maggi Payne’s Holding Pattern in 2001 to honor the centennial birth year of pioneering composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Of Holding Pattern, Payne says: “When Sarah Cahill approached me with the prospect of composing a work for piano in tribute to Ruth Crawford Seeger, particularly in reference to the Nine Preludes which Sarah had just recorded, I was intrigued. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s interest in timbre, particularly as represented in Prelude 6 and 9, spurred this brief work. This delicate timbral exploration’s last sustained notes are those that begin Prelude 6. The Mystico marking of Prelude 6 and the Tranquillo of Prelude 9 are reflected in the character of Holding Pattern.”

Zenobia Powell Perry was a composer, professor, and civil rights activist of African American and Creek Indian heritage. She composed Homage in 1990. The work utilizes a variety of different textures and techniques, including octaves, dense chords, and chromaticism. Homage is dedicated to Perry's former teacher William Dawson for his ninetieth birthday, and is based on the spiritual “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned.”

Francois Couperin’s works tend to bear picturesque titles and reflect certain moods or energies in the way they unfold. Le Tic-Toc-Choc, ou Les Maillotins, is one of the most well known works of harpsichord repertoire. Though also performed on the modern piano, the work still embodies its topical reference with clever artistic style. The music is written in such a way as to mirror the rhythmic precision of a clock and the references little hammers or mallets. The experience of hearing this piece brings to mind the passage of time in a very direct and palatable way. Les Amusements is another of Couperin’s compositions originally for solo harpsichord and despite the somber air of the melody, the work nonetheless conveys a parallel sense of warmth and subtle sweetness more in line with its title.

Maurice Ravel composed Le Tombeau de Couperin between 1914 and 1917, during and after World War I – a devastating conflict in which Ravel took direct part as a truck driver in the French Army, thus feeling the impact of the war first hand. The music is not only a memorialization of Francois Couperin but the suite is also dedicated to six dear friends of Ravel lost at the cost of the war. Each of the six movements is dedicated to one of those friends and the lives they lived.

About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).

Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Metropolitan Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.

Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 6 to 8pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of,” is presented in concert by Point Reyes Dance Palace performing No Ordinary Light, an emotive new commissioning project devoted to the theme of homage. The program will feature music by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by Point Reyes Dance Palace
What: No Ordinary Light - Featuring the Music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel
When: Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 4pm
Where: Point Reyes Dance Palace Main Hall, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
Tickets and More information: https://dancepalace.org/event/sarah-cahill-no-ordinary-light-piano-concert/

Oct. 11: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs No Ordinary Light – Presented by the Myra Foundation as part of Concerts in the Galleries Series

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

Myra Foundation Presents:
Concerts in the Galleries with Pianist Sarah Cahill
Performing No Ordinary Light

Featuring the Music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel

Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2pm | 261 Centennial Dr. Stop 7305 | Grand Forks, ND
Tickets and More Information

“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music”
–NPR Music

Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert

www.sarahcahill.com

Grand Forks, ND – Pianist Sarah Cahill, “as tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of” (San Francisco Chronicle), is presented by the Myra Foundation as part of its Concerts in the GalleriesSeries on Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2pm at the North Dakota Museum of Art (261 Centennial Dr.). Cahill is a beloved guest artist at this institution, having performed six times in this series, as well as giving a marathon performance of her ongoing investigative project, The Future is Female, in 2018.

This year, Cahill will perform a new program titled No Ordinary Light, an emotive project focused on the theme of homage and loss. No Ordinary Light explores how composers over the centuries have paid homage to one another, cherishing and immortalizing through music. This program also honors the experience of personal grief as well as celebrating the memories of our loved ones. This concert is dedicated to the memory of Laurel Reuter, the visionary founder and longtime director of the North Dakota Museum of Art. New commissioned works are by Samuel Adams, in memory of his mentor and godfather Ingram Marshall, and Clarice Jensen’s Homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, combined with classical and 20th century works. This concert program will also feature the music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel. Cahill's residency at the museum includes school outreach activities and a master class.

"The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light."
– Jawaharlal Nehru on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

“The North Dakota Museum of Art is one of the most beautiful and inspiring contemporary art museums in the country, and it's always a great pleasure to perform there in the world-class concert series,” says Cahill.

About the Music on the Program

During the 17th century, Jean-Henri d’Anglebert was a prominent figure in the rising popularity of the harpsichord over the lute. The growing momentum of the former amid the public was further ushered along by Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, the man widely considered to be the father of the French harpsichord school. Chambonnières and his teachings would go on to bolster the recognition of musicians like Louis Couperin, Nicolas Lebègue, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Jacques Hardel, as well as Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, which may be the reason behind why d’Anglebert wrote the Tombeau de M. de Chambonnières, seemingly a gesture of homage from student to teacher upon the latter’s passing.

Tom Constanten is best known for being the first keyboard player for the Grateful Dead. He and Phil Lesh (bassist for the Grateful Dead) studied composition at Mills College with Luciano Berio. Constanten is a classically trained pianist whose playful compositions often conceal encrypted messages and what he calls “time release humor.” In 1977 he wrote a waltz called Dejavalse, and later revisited the material with new approaches. At Mills College, he befriended fellow student William Bolcom, and dedicated Dejavalise to him in 1985. The score is inscribed “to/for (six-eight, who do we appreciate) Bill Bolcom.”

Robert Helps composed Hommage à Fauré as part of Trois Hommages (1972), a trilogy of works and one of his most popular and often recorded works. The first two pieces, which include à Fauré and à Rachmaninoff, expand upon the opulent pianism and poignant harmonies that are hallmarks of the composers to which each piece pays tribute.

Commissioned by Cahill, Samuel Adams’ solo piano work, Prelude (Hammer the Sky Bright), is a tribute to composer Ingram Marshall (1942–2022). A former resident of the San Francisco Bay area, Ingram Marshall’s work greatly influenced a number of composers and musicians from the area, including Adams – who studied with Marshall and considered him his mentor – and Cahill, who frequently performs Marshall's music and commissioned several works from him. Adams says of the work: “Prelude: Hammer the Sky Bright pays tribute to Ingram’s free-form, unpredictable sense of structure and highly impressionistic, almost ambient musical surfaces. His music often embraced the idea that form can be gradual and elusive—like late Sibelius—with the secrets of a piece only occasionally appearing close to its surface, like sunken cathedrals.”

American composer William Bolcom wrote a set of three Ghost Rags for piano, with the first of the trio written in 1970 as a tribute to Bolcom’s late father, whose spirit Bolcom said he often felt nearby while working on the piece. The three works collectively explore the experience of grief and loss, with the first rag being one of the most well-known contemporary rags, particularly of the ragtime revival in the 1970s. The first rag moves with a poised, emotive, lyrical style, fittingly echoing the feeling behind the title of Graceful Ghost Rag.

Gabriel Fauré composed his Barcarolles over a period of four decades, and they show the evolution of his distinct compositional voice. The barcarolle was a traditional boat song of the Venetian gondoliers – its characteristics are a rhythm copying the gondolier’s stroke in the water and a moderate 6/8 time. Fauré used the title of barcarolle but didn’t adhere religiously to the form. One important thing to note about Fauré was that he was ambidextrous – could use both right and left hands equally well – and this comes through in the barcarolles. In more than one piece, the melody is in the middle register, with the high and low registers being used for accompaniment of the central melody. One writer compared this to a mirror image on the water where the major image is in the middle, with reflections at the top and bottom.

The brilliant Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes premiered great works by his good friend Ravel (Gaspard de la Nuit and Jeux d’eau) and Debussy, and was Francis Poulenc’s piano teacher. He composed four Hommages, for Ravel, Fauré, Satie, and Léon-Paul Fargue. The title of his tribute to Fauré, En Verlaine mineur, refers to Fauré’s songs setting poetry by Paul Verlaine, and there is a quote from one of Fauré’s songs embedded in this poignant minuet.

Clarice Jensen says of Ryuichi Sakamoto and how he influences her work: “I count myself so lucky to have met and recorded for Ryuichi Sakamoto in New York City. His music, persona and person inspired me with their sincerity and beauty, depicting at once simplicity and complicated, deep emotion. Despite working with him only a few times, I feel he was a teacher of sorts, and still lives as an archetype for me, inspiring me to not shy from expressing or creating beauty. Each of the movements for Sarah [Cahill] has an embedded motif from Sakamoto's work: Earth - Andata, Fire - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Water - solari.”

In addition to being an adventurous composer and skilled percussionist, Lou Harrison was fond of writing music in honor of his colleagues, friends, and fellow musicians he admired. Homage to Milhaud is inspired by Darius Milhaud, who, like Harrison, was a longtime teacher at Mills College in Oakland. Harrison wrote his Fugue to David Tudor at Black Mountain College while he was teaching there. Harrison often worked with David Tudor, who was himself a pioneering pianist-composer.

Cahill commissioned ​​Maggi Payne’s Holding Pattern in 2001 to honor the centennial birth year of pioneering composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Of Holding Pattern, Payne says: “When Sarah Cahill approached me with the prospect of composing a work for piano in tribute to Ruth Crawford Seeger, particularly in reference to the Nine Preludes which Sarah had just recorded, I was intrigued. Ruth Crawford Seeger’s interest in timbre, particularly as represented in Prelude 6 and 9, spurred this brief work. This delicate timbral exploration’s last sustained notes are those that begin Prelude 6. The Mystico marking of Prelude 6 and the Tranquillo of Prelude 9 are reflected in the character of Holding Pattern.”

Zenobia Powell Perry was a composer, professor, and civil rights activist of African American and Creek Indian heritage. She composed Homage in 1990. The work utilizes a variety of different textures and techniques, including octaves, dense chords, and chromaticism. Homage is dedicated to Perry's former teacher William Dawson for his ninetieth birthday, and is based on the spiritual “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned.”

Francois Couperin’s works tend to bear picturesque titles and reflect certain moods or energies in the way they unfold. Le Tic-Toc-Choc, ou Les Maillotins, is one of the most well known works of harpsichord repertoire. Though also performed on the modern piano, the work still embodies its topical reference with clever artistic style. The music is written in such a way as to mirror the rhythmic precision of a clock and the references little hammers or mallets. The experience of hearing this piece brings to mind the passage of time in a very direct and palatable way. Les Amusements is another of Couperin’s compositions originally for solo harpsichord and despite the somber air of the melody, the work nonetheless conveys a parallel sense of warmth and subtle sweetness more in line with its title.

Maurice Ravel composed Le Tombeau de Couperin between 1914 and 1917, during and after World War I – a devastating conflict in which Ravel took direct part as a truck driver in the French Army, thus feeling the impact of the war first hand. The music is not only a memorialization of Francois Couperin but the suite is also dedicated to six dear friends of Ravel lost at the cost of the war. Each of the six movements is dedicated to one of those friends and the lives they lived.

About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).

Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Metropolitan Museum, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.

Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings.

Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 6 to 8pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “tenacious and committed an advocate as any composer could dream of,” will perform on the Myra Foundation’s Concerts in the Galleries Series at the North Dakota Museum of Art. Cahill will perform No Ordinary Light, an emotive new commissioning project devoted to the theme of homage. The program will feature music by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel.

Concert details:

Who: Pianist Sarah Cahill
Presented by the Myra Foundation as part of the Concerts in the Galleries Series
What: No Ordinary Light - Featuring the Music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Gabriel Fauré, Ricardo Viñes, Robert Helps, Samuel Adams, William Bolcom, Tom Constanten, Clarice Jensen, Lou Harrison, Maggi Payne, Zenobia Powell Perry, François Couperin, and Maurice Ravel
When: Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2pm
Where: North Dakota Museum of Art, 261 Centennial Dr., Stop 7305 Grand Forks, ND 58202
Tickets and More information: https://dancepalace.org/event/sarah-cahill-no-ordinary-light-piano-concert/

Oct. 2: Caramoor Opens 2026-2027 Rosen House Concert Series with Zimbabwean A Capella Quartet Nobuntu

Photo of Nobuntu by SaDee. Press photos available here.

Caramoor Opens 2026-2027 Rosen House Concert Series
with Zimbabwean A Capella Quartet Nobuntu

Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7:30pm
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts | Rosen House
149 Girdle Ridge Drive | Katonah, NY
Tickets & Information

“[Nobuntu’s] sound was mesmeric. It was a unique, contralto blended unison, its richness the result of years of discipline and training.” – The Royal Gazette

“rich voices and exhilarating rhythms” – Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Nobuntu

KATONAH, NY – Caramoor, a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY, launches its intimate 2026-2027 Rosen House Concert Series with a performance by Zimbabwean a capella ensemble Nobuntu, on Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7:30pm. 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 runs from October through May, 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.

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 Zimbabwean songs to Afro-Jazz and Gospel, utilizing pure voices along with percussion such as the Mbira (thumb piano) and organic, and traditional, authentic dance movements. 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.

About Nobuntu

Nobuntu was nominated for Best Musician of the Year at the Zimbabwe International Women Awards in London in 2015 and are currently a two-time winner for the Best Imbube Group at the Bulawayo Arts Awards 2017 and 2019. In the last few seasons, the group has performed at festivals and concert halls in Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic and throughout the African continent. The ensemble was a huge critical success at “Trans-Vocal” in Frankfurt and “Voice Mania” in Vienna. Their first tour to Canada, in 2016, included performances in Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Victoria.

The word Nobuntu is an African concept that values humbleness, love, unity and family from a woman’s perspective. The ensemble represents a new generation of young African women singers who celebrate and preserve their culture, beauty, and heritage through art. The ensemble’s mission is the belief that music can be an important vehicle for change, one that transcends racial, tribal, religious, gender, and economic boundaries.

Back at home, Nobuntu holds a number of community initiatives, one of which is The Nobuntu Pad Bank where they gather sanitary pads for young women in the arts in underprivileged communities.

Nobuntu has released three recordings – Thina in 2013, Ekhaya in 2016 and Obabes beMbube in 2018. The group has made dozens of television and radio appearances throughout Africa and Europe promoting these recordings and the culture of their homeland.

Watch Nobuntu Perform at the Kennedy Center

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 Wardrobeon 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 SunkenGarden 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 infive 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.

Sept 18: Newport Classical Opens 2026-27 Chamber Series With Multi-Instrumental Quartet Invoke in American Voices

Photos available in high resolution here.

Newport Classical Launches 2026-2027 Chamber Series

Opening Night: Invoke performs "American Voices"
Friday, September 18, 2026 at 7:30pm

"Invoke isn’t your average string quartet. Not content to limit themselves to the typical pair of violins with a viola and cello, they’ve explored the sounds of banjos and mandolins and even their own voices.” –KMFA

Information & Tickets: www.newportclassical.org

Newport, RI – Following its successful 57th annual summer festival, Newport Classical launches its sixth full-season Chamber Series, which features twelve concerts held on select Fridays between September 2026 and June 2027, at the organization's home venue, Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.). The 2026 Chamber Series Opening Night features multi-instrumental quartet Invoke, performing on Friday, September 18, 2026 at 7:30pm.

Invoke encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Strings Magazine reports that the “remarkable string quartet …simply cannot be contained by any one label.” Fueled by their passion for storytelling, Invoke weaves these styles together in their program American Voices, reflecting on the 250th Anniversary of the United States, featuring some of this nation’s most influential musical figures including William Grant Still, Florence Price, Duke Ellington, and more, alongside original works composed by and for the group. 

Based in Austin, Texas, Invoke is a mainstay of the Austin music scene and a regular at SXSW while also touring nationally, performing at leading venues including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center, Moss Arts Center, Green Music Center, and more. Earlier this year, the group performed with folk legend Judy Collin, pianist Lara Downes, Grammy-winning singer and poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball, and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir in a special performance of This Land: Reflections on America, presented by Cal Performances. Their 2023 album Evolve & Travel showcased the group’s original works, and was described by All Music as, “An intriguing entry for those wishing to sample the growing interface between classical music and progressive bluegrass.”

Watch Invoke in Sunwalker

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.”

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.

Up next, 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.

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, Winner of the 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.

Oct 2: Sono Luminus Releases Her Only Light - Songs of Connie Converse - Vocalist Emmy Bean & Composer/Arranger Ronnie Kuller

Her Only Light: Songs of Connie Converse
Vocalist Emmy Bean | Composer/Arranger Ronnie Kuller

Release Date: October 2, 2026
Sono Luminus

13 brand new arrangements of the music of Connie Converse, a pioneering singer-songwriter whose work as a composer has been largely overlooked until now. The full scope of her genius is revealed in this album of chamber music arrangements that draws together the golden threads of Converse's legacy into a tapestry of wonder, sorrow, and whimsy.

www.heronlylight.com | www.sonoluminus.com

CDs or press downloads available upon request.

Chicago, IL — The generative, ten-year collaboration between vocalist Emmy Bean and composer/arranger Ronnie Kuller is making its recording debut with Her Only Light, a new album to be released worldwide on Sono Luminus on October 2, 2026. Her Only Light features the folk songs and art songs of the enigmatic artist Elizabeth Eaton “Connie” Converse (b. 1924), whose music was largely unperformed and unrecorded in her lifetime, the pages lying dormant in the storied filing cabinet she left behind as an archive upon her mysterious disappearance in 1974.

Her Only Light realizes Converse’s harmonically adventurous, formally fluid works in newly orchestrated brilliance by Kuller, delivered empathetically by Bean with contributions by Sarah Plum, violin; Vannia Phillips, viola; Melissa Bach, cello; Lauren Hayes, harp; Emily Rach Beisel and Katherine Jimoh, clarinets.

Connie Converse was born in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1924. She was, according to her brother, a polymath genius, but dropped out of college to move to New York City. There she took up music, and — her biographer Howard Fishman writes — became “a master of the acoustic guitar,” writing tunes and lyrics that upend “the traditional format and subject of the song form.” Her efforts gained her the appreciation of musical connoisseurs, and in 1954 landed her an appearance on Walter Cronkite’s CBS morning show. In 1961, she moved to join her brother in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There she continued to compose music, play casually with friends and family, work as an editor, and engage in political activism until her disappearance in 1974, when — at the age of 50 — she wrote goodbye notes to friends and family and vanished, never to be heard from again. 

While the fanbase for Converse’s folk-oriented oeuvre continues to expand exponentially, in part due to the recent re-release of her kitchen table recordings on Third Man Records (How Sad, How Lovely), her art songs have been heard with less frequency. Referred to by Converse as her “guitar songs” (folk song) and her “piano songs” (art song), Kuller and Bean discovered that these approaches had far more in common than their genre monikers might suggest. Bean writes:

“The guitar songs are no less solid, no less fully realized than the ones she wrote on piano. They completely stand on their own, and they welcome any singer with the imagination and humility to hear them and be with them. The reward of singing them is to be inside Connie's mind for a moment, to feel such great joy and such deep empathy, and to be able to smile at things that are so, so sad.”

Regarding the experience of inhabiting Converse’s deeply personal, often devastating but always witty writing, Bean goes on to explain: 

“I was surprised to find how Connie's songs invite another singer into them. Some songs belong so intimately to their writer's voice—especially folk singers or singer-songwriters—that it feels wrong to sing them or hear them sung by others. It wasn't until we got into the studio that Ronnie and I figured out that I could be the same singer throughout; there was no need to over-stylize the art songs or under-sing the folk songs. Together we were able to find an approach that honored the depth of her writing in both contexts, and that kind of broke the spell of genre over the whole thing.”

“When How Sad, How Lovely was first released, I was captivated by the beauty and immediacy of Connie's songs to such a degree that they became part of me," says Kuller. “As I continued learning and singing them, I found that they rewarded close study: graceful chromaticism and time-stretching, unexpected harmonic shifts, every element carefully considered and in service of the deceptively simple whole. Connie's Piano Songs initially presented themselves as a radical departure, but as I listened more closely, I could hear how the compositional language of her guitar songs had developed into something even more adventurous, and I was excited to find the throughlines and connect the dots. During the dormancy of the pandemic, yearning for closeness and meaning and music, Emmy and I conjured up Her Only Light to save us from our solitude, a project in which we would use a carefully chosen palette of lush orchestral color to imagine for Connie's songs an alternate existence. It was a joy to build this pedestal that is also a bridge connecting the full breadth of Connie's incredible compositions.”

Bean says, “The song ‘Father Neptune’ became important to me during quarantine. Her lyrics paint a picture of a woman whose relationship to her man is defined by distance and longing and even queerness (all those bearded men on the ship, no need for wives ‘except on shore’...) and her own belief – he might as well be imaginary, but his presence, even if only in her imagination, keeps her alive, keeps her heart beating. She says so much in so few words here, and those words are so funny and so true; I felt a kind of kinship to her as I turned that song over and over in my head, and I wanted to sing it to everyone I knew. So I guess that was the moment I knew I wanted to take this on as a project.”

Between Kuller’s beautifully nuanced arrangements and Bean’s sumptuous delivery, the result is an entrancing one, illuminating an altogether new perspective of an artist unfairly neglected in her lifetime for both longtime devotees and new listeners alike. 

Ronnie Kuller is a composer, arranger, pianist and accordionist who has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Philharmonic, and Mister Tom Musick, and whose compositions have been performed at Ear Taxi Festival and recorded onto wax cylinder at Edison National Historical Park. She lives in Chicago with her wonderful husband Patrick and amazing daughter Sylvie.

Emmy Bean is a singer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. She writes songs and performs as a soloist and with the trio 80 Foots. She has been seen in Facility Theater’s Little Match Girl Passion , Theater Oobleck’s Baudelaire in a Box, and The Carter Family Family Show with the Neo-Futurists. She has collaborated with ~Nois saxophone quartet, Stacy Rene Erenberg, Erica Mott, Naima Lowe, Opera-Matic, and Beyond This Point. She improvises with the vocal ensemble Tender.

Sarah Plum, violin
Vannia Phillips, viola
Melissa Bach, cello
Lauren Hayes, harp
Emily Rach Beisel, clarinets
Katherine Jimoh, clarinet

For more information, visit: www.heronlylight.com

[liner notes linked here]
[complete descriptions of each track linked here]

Her Only Light: Songs of Connie Converse
Sono Luminus Records | Release Date: October 2nd, 2026 

1. Talkin Like You (Two Tall Mountains)
2. I Have Considered the Lillies
3. Vanity of the Vanities
4. The Rainmaker
5. Father Neptune
6. Incommunicado
7. anyone lived in a pretty how town (text by e.e. cummings)
8. Cassandra’s Entrance
9. The Age of Noon
10. Song for Old Wars
11. She Think of Heaven
12. She Devises a Lullaby
13. One by One

Engineered and mixed by Mathieu Lejeune at Lost Boy Sound, Chicago, IL
Produced by Ronnie Kuller and Emmy Bean
Assistant Producer: Emma Hospelhorn
Cover photograph by Elizabeth Converse
Artwork by Lizi Breit
Layout: Joshua Frey  
Liner notes: Doyle Armbrust
Executive producer: Collin J. Rae