July 18: ECM New Series Releases Signum Quartett's A Dark Flaring - Works for String Quartet from South Africa
ECM New Series Releases Signum Quartett's A Dark Flaring - Works for String Quartet from South Africa
ECM New Series Releases
Signum Quartett
A Dark Flaring
Works For String Quartet From South Africa
Compositions by Priaulx Rainier, Arnold van Wyk, Péter Louis van Dijk, Mokale Koapeng, Robert Fokkens, Matthijs van Dijk
Florian Donderer, violin; Annette Walther, violin; Xandi van Dijk, viola; Thomas Schmitz, violoncello
Release Date: July 18, 2025
ECM 2787
Press downloads and CDs available upon request.
A Dark Flaring marks the Signum Quartett’s return to ECM’s New Series after debuting for the label with striking performances on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s acclaimed chamber music recording Lost Prayers (2020). Here, the quartet has put together a unique programme dedicated to South African composers, born in the 20th century, whose works for string quartet are united by the way they blend respect for the past with an instinct for the future in a wide-flung idiomatic scope. The grid of references unravelled between the six composers here – their dates of birth span from 1903 to 1983 – is as geographically wide as it is idiomatically deep, with large musical bridges connecting inspirations ranging from South African Xhosa and Zulu traditions through the late Renaissance to 19th century Romanticism as well as 20th century impressionists and minimalists. There’s even a nod to popular culture, as Matthijs van Dijk’s (rage) rage against the borrows inspiration for its title from the rock group Rage Against The Machine.
The complicated historical and in the same breath cultural backdrop that goes hand in hand with musical repertory composed over this specific period, in the South African context, is not only impossible to ignore but moreover serves as catalyst, canvas and disrupter – sometimes all at once – for most of the music presented here. The country after all didn’t become united until 1910, when South Africa was declared a self-governed country under the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer Wars. Apartheid ensued following the World Wars – racist segregational policies that lasted until 1990 and continue to be worked through, digested and dealt with today.
Whether writing at home or abroad, all six composers reflect their country’s complex and troubled history through music which is strikingly original. As Shirley Apthorp notes in the CD’s liner note, Mokale Koapeng’s Komeng, which opens the disc, “owes what is perhaps this recording’s most overt debt to the ancestors, drawing for its inspiration on ‘Umyeyezelo’, a celebratory song by Nofinishi Dywili.” Dywili was particularly accomplished in her use of complex polyrhythms, which Koapeng acknowledges by setting triple against duple metre. As Apthorp writes. “’Umyeyezelo’ is a song for the completion of Ulwaluko, the Xhosa initiation ritual which marks the transition from boyhood to manhood. ‘Komeng’ treats Dywili’s melody gently, using rocking rhythmic figures and col legno, a technique of striking the string with the wood of the bow, a direct invocation of the Uhadi.”
The programme continues with Matthijs van Dijk’s aforementioned rage, a piece that reflects the composer’s multi-disciplinary background by its use of a variety of techniques and sounds, densely packed into this explosive one-movement work. Similar in its dynamic scope, yet far more Romantic in its formal fabric, Arnold van Wyk’s Five Elegies For String Quartet (1940-1941) represent some of the earliest repertory here, only surpassed by Priaulx Rainier’s Quartet For Strings, which she completed in 1939. A student of Nadia Boulanger, among others, Rainier, as some of the other composers included here, moved to England for her studies. She lived there for most of her life, creating music that always remained, in one way or another, tied to the earliest music she heard growing up in Zululand, South Africa. As with many of the other works in this programme, the South African roots of the music can be found most prominently in its rhythmic components, bound to ostinatos and repetition.
Great variety in form and texture invigorate the Signum Quartett in its performances here, seemingly inciting a whirlwind of emotions as they travel across these broad musical streams. Gramophone magazine has described the quartet’s sound as “passionate, often brilliant, but also clear and lean” and their sensitive approach to these dynamically contrasting works is further evidence of the quartet’s accomplished craft. They excel with precision also in “iinyembezi”, a composition by Péter Louis van Dijk, which owes its heritage to John Dowland’s “Flow My Tears” on the one hand, and Xhosa tradition on the other. Downland’s theme is extrapolated through a series of variations, while an extended pizzicato section evokes the sound of the Mbira – the African thumb piano. What seems couldn’t be further musically apart, here unites coherently on the brink of tonality.
And like the works of his fellow compatriots, Robert Fokkens’s Glimpses of a half-forgotten future can’t evade a certain dichotomy in its musical inspirations either, with debt owed to Western classical composers John Cage, Morton Feldman and French spectralists, while at the same time drawing inspiration from the Xhosa Uhadi – the South African musical bow whose build and percussive qualities are reminiscent of the Brazilian Berimbau. Fokkens contextualises his string quartet – a stark reflection on the inevitability of our own demise – with the poem that gives this album its name:
Through now's incessant numbness
Flickers a glint,
A startling glimmer,
A dark flaring...
The album was recorded at Sendesaal Bremen in March 2022. The CD includes liner notes by South African journalist and music critic Shirley Apthorp.
Emerald City Music Celebrates 10 Years with Expanded 2025-26 Concert Season
Emerald City Music Announces Milestone Season: ECM at 10
High resolution press photos available here.
Emerald City Music Announces Milestone Season: ECM at 10
Twelve Concerts from October 2025 through May 2026
in Seattle and Olympia, WA
Inaugural Ensemble-in-Residence: GRAMMY®-Nominated Sandbox Percussion
Plus Brand New Late Night Sessions Concert Series
And New Season Partnerships with
The Metropolis Ensemble, Meany Center for the Performing Arts,
and the University of Washington School of Music
Violinist Kristin Lee, Artistic Director; Sean Campbell, Executive Director
Season Subscriptions on Sale Today June 3, 2025
Single Tickets on Sale August 5, 2025
Seattle & Olympia, WA – Continuing under the leadership of Artistic Director and violinist Kristin Lee and Executive Director Sean Campbell, Emerald City Music (ECM) celebrates its milestone tenth anniversary, ECM at 10, taking bold steps into the future with new programs, new partnerships and – for the first time ever – an Ensemble-in-Residence with GRAMMY®-nominated Sandbox Percussion. Emerald City Music is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Known for a casual environment combined with award-winning artists, ECM has gained recognition since its founding in 2015. The programming of ECM at 10 will reach every corner of chamber music from the last 250 years, from Beethoven and a recently discovered work by Charles Loeffler, to minimalist work of the ‘70s and new works by renowned composers Joan Tower and Vivian Fung (both co-commissioned by ECM). Season subscriptions go on sale today, June 3, 2025 and single tickets will be available on August 5, 2025.
Mainstage performances throughout the season will be held at ECM’s signature venues – in Seattle at 415 Westlake and in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts and Capital High School Performing Arts Center. This season, ECM is also proud to have new partnerships with The Metropolis Ensemble, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, and The University of Washington School of Music.
In addition to ECM’s twelve mainstage performances between October 2025 and May 2026, ECM is launching a brand new series of Late Night Sessions, featuring three more performances. This series embraces an intimate concert experience and will directly follow the conclusion of selected mainstage performances, keeping the music going well into the night. ECM’s new Late Night Sessions will spotlight outstanding local musicians and offer audiences an eclectic mix of genres. Dates for the Late Night Sessions will be announced this fall.
“Season 10 is more than just a season,” says Artistic Director Kristin Lee. “It's a reflection of our past, a celebration of our mission, and an exciting step into the future with the extraordinary community that has grown with us every step of the way. We’ve cultivated a passionate and dedicated group of music lovers, artists, and supporters who have made Emerald City Music sustain thus far, and all of us at ECM cannot wait to experience with you what the next decade has in store!”
The concept of the concert series as a platform where artists and audiences transform one another breathes life into every element of what ECM does – from the casual open-bar setting of its flagship Seattle concert experiences, to the enthusiastic communities that faithfully assemble in its concert halls in Olympia and beyond. At Emerald City Music concerts, the audience’s presence matters, transforming the artists, the community, and the future of classical music.
The Seattle Times reports: "ECM isn’t falling back on the tried-and-true, under the assumption that a new listener is an unadventurous, easily frightened-off listener. Instead, they’re betting that the tried-and-true could be precisely one of the barriers to sparking interest that classical-music organizations need to overcome."
“Our mission has always been to create a musical home for the eclectic, open-minded, and curious – a place where classical music comes to life through world-class performances that feel personal, accessible, and engaging,” says Executive Director Sean Campbell. “As we step into our tenth season, that mission continues to guide everything we do!”
“Every performance we’ve had the pleasure of giving with Emerald City Music since our first ever performance in 2017, is one we truly cherish,” says ECM Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion founding member Victor Caccese. “We love playing concerts because we love connecting with audiences and sharing percussion music with them. This is at the core of Emerald City Music – presenting great music, played at a high level, in an inviting and comfortable setting. Being part of this kind of environment has deeply inspired us and continues to shape how we think about performing and presenting percussion in fresh, innovative ways.”
Emerald City Music’s Season 10 Mainstage Performances
Musical Milestones: The Loeffler Project
Friday, October 17, 2025 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:30pm: Minnaert Center | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Kristin Lee, Andy Liang, violin | Katie Liu, viola | Nathan Chan, cello | Jennifer Godfrey, double bass | Graeme Steele Johnson, Angelique Poteat, clarinet | Bridget Kibbey, harp
Emerald City Music celebrates its milestone tenth anniversary with a festive season opener, featuring the enchanting sounds of harp and clarinet performing imaginative and expressive works by Saint-Saëns, Coleridge Taylor, Debussy, and Loeffler, connecting the 19th and 20th centuries. The cornerstone of the program is the Seattle premiere of Charles Loeffler’s recently discovered Octet, brought to life and reconstructed after 128 years by acclaimed clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson. Charles Loeffler (1861-1935) was a violinist and composer who, despite his German birth and parentage, had a career which largely thrived in the U.S., where he moved in 1881 and became a citizen in 1887. In 1883, he became the second concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he held the position for over two decades.
Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie for Violin and Harp, Op. 124
Coleridge Taylor: Clarinet Quintet, Op. 10
Debussy: Danse sacrée et danse profane
Loeffler: Octet (Seattle premiere)
Quartet in Spotlight: Aeolus Quartet
Friday, December 5, 2025 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 7:30pm: Capital High School, 2707 Conger Ave NW | Olympia, WA
Aeolus Quartet: Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Rachel Shapiro, violins | Caitlin Lynch, viola | Jia Kim, cello
The “high octane” (The Strad) and award-winning Aeolus Quartet makes its ECM debut with a vibrant program featuring the music of Beethoven, Bacewicz, and Dvořák. Dedicated to sharing the joy of chamber music with new audiences, the ensemble’s highly anticipated performance will be a memorable evening of luscious string quartet music.
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 3
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106
An Evening with Mikaela Bennett and The Metropolis Ensemble
In partnership with The Metropolis Ensemble
Friday, February 6, 2026 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 7:30pm: Minnaert Center | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Mikaela Bennett, soprano | Adam Rothenberg, piano | Kristin Lee, Sarah Ma, violins | Tanner Menees, viola | Audrey Chen, cello
Garnering praise for her artistic versatility in concert halls across the globe, acclaimed singer Mikaela Bennett joins forces with the Metropolis Ensemble for a vibrant program of American music to kick off 2026. The artists will collaborate to perform music by American composers Molly Joyce and Sarah Kirkland Snider, including the West Coast premiere of Joyce’s new work. In her note on the work, Sarah Kirkland Snider describes her work Penelope as, “a meditation on memory, identity, and what it means to come home.” ECM will be presenting Snider’s work in a new arrangement for soprano and piano quintet.
Molly Joyce: New Work (West Coast Premiere)
Sarah Kirkland Snider: Excerpts from Penelope, Arranged for Soprano and Piano Quintet
FIVE! - Sandbox Percussion and Kristin Lee
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 7:30pm: Minnaert Center | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Kristin Lee, violin | Sandbox Percussion, Ensemble in Residence: Jonny Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, Terry Sweeney, percussion
Artistic Director Kristin Lee teams up with three-time GRAMMY®-Nominated Ensemble-in-Residence Sandbox Percussion for a groundbreaking performance featuring three new works – including two world premieres – by acclaimed composers Joan Tower, Gabriella Smith, and Vivian Fung. Tower’s work, To Sing or to Dance, considers two different origins of music: voice and instruments. She says, “When I was asked to write a piece for violin and percussion, that difference became immediately apparent: how to have these two very different instruments in the same space, living fairly comfortably together.” Similarly, Fung’s work, which she describes as a concerto for violin and percussion, explores the coexistence of two types of sound. She explains: “[M]y focus will be finding percussion sounds that complement, contrast, and augment the sounds of the violin.” FIVE, a new work by Gabriella Smith written for Sandbox Percussion, completes this cutting-edge program, which showcases the dynamic blending of violin and percussion quartet – an unforgettable experience that pushes the boundaries of chamber music.
Joan Tower: To Sing or to Dance (Seattle Premiere, ECM co-commission)
Gabriella Smith: FIVE (World Premiere)
Vivian Fung: New Work (World Premiere, ECM co-commission)
Canto Ostinato
In partnership with The Metropolis Ensemble & University of Washington School of Music
Friday, April 10, 2026 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 7:30pm: Minnaert Center | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Andrew Cyr, Music Director | Kristin Lee, violin | Erik Hall, keyboard/synthesizer | Sandbox Percussion, ECM Ensemble in Residence | UW School of Music Faculty- Bonnie Whiting, percussion & John Popham, cello | UW School of Music Students, to be announced.
Sandbox Percussion and UW School of Music students and faculty come to ECM to give a performance of Simeon Ten Holt’s evening-length minimalist work, Canto Ostinato. Originally a keyboard piece by the Dutch composer, Canto Ostinato is made up of overlapping layers and repeated patterns, and has amassed a cult following. Conceived and developed by Andrew Cyr, Erik Hall, and Jonny Allen, this version of Canto Ostinato features a 17-piece ensemble arrangement led and commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble’s Founder and Director Andrew Cyr. As Canto Ostinato is commonly performed with either two or four pianos, this ambitious arrangement highlights the musical freedom of Holt’s most popular work, which can be performed by different instruments and a varying number of performers.
Simeon Ten Holt: Canto Ostinato
East Coast Chamber Orchestra x Vijay Iyer
In partnership with Meany Center for the Performing Arts
Friday, May 15, 2025 at 8pm: 415 On Westlake | Seattle, WA
Saturday May 16, 2025 at 7:30pm: Capital High School, 2707 Conger Ave NW | Olympia, WA
Vijay Iyer, Shai Wosner, piano | East Coast Chamber Orchestra
For the grand finale of this milestone anniversary season, ECM presents two different programs on two nights. Friday night’s performance in Seattle features dynamic works from the early 20th century to the present day, performed by GRAMMY®-nominated pianist and composer Vijay Iyer and members of East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO). Saturday in Olympia, ECCO joins pianist Shai Wosner to perform a program that juxtaposes works from the classical canon with contemporary works inspired by the musicality of the Baroque era, in addition to Vijay Iyer’s piano concerto, Handmade Universe, closing out ECM at 10 with a piece that explores the balance between group collaboration and independent expression.
May 15 Program
Bohuslav Martinů: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola
Vijay Iyer: The Diamond for Violin and Piano
Paul Wiancko: Tiny Doors to Big Worlds for String Quintet
Max Bruch: String Octet
May 16 Program
Edward Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op. 20
David Serkin Ludwig: Virtuosity
Vijay Iyer: Handmade Universe
J.S. Bach / Michi Wiancko: Chaconne
For Emerald City Music’s Complete Schedule and Concert Details, visit www.emeraldcitymusic.org/calendar.
Emerald City Music’s 2025-2026 concerts take place on Fridays at 8pm at 415 Westlake in Seattle, WA and on Saturdays at 7:30pm at The Minnaert Center for the Arts in Olympia (2011 Mottman Rd), or Capital High School Performing Arts Center (2707 Conger Ave NW). Season tickets and tickets to individual concerts will be on sale on June 3 and August 5 respectively. Please visit www.emeraldcitymusic.org for more details.
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director
Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.”
As a soloist, Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery.
An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center after winning The Bowers Program audition and completing the program's three-year residency. In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. Lee is also the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State.
Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation.
Born in Seoul, Lee moved to the United States and studied under prestigious teachers including Sonja Foster, Catherine Cho, Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples, Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul & Linda Gridley.
For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.
About ECM
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours six productions annually, with each tour visiting Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival.
ECM has gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Artistic Director Kristin Lee –– a touring violinist awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center –– is regarded for her innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre’s boundary past common limits. Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to press the boundary of chamber music with accolades like a tour of Steve Reich’s iconic and rare Music for 18 Musicians, a pitch-black performance of Georg Haas’s “In the Dark” quartet, and the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group The Dreamers’ Circus.
ECM values real, authentic connection and holds the belief that music possesses the innate power to connect people, inclusive of varying backgrounds and perspectives. Over eight years, artists from every corner of the globe have visited Emerald City Music to prove just that: there exists a special connection between artist and listener that only music can facilitate.
Follow ECM on Social Media
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
May-June: GatherNYC presents Guitarist Rupert Boyd and Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl - Mindful Musical Mornings at MAD in Columbus Circle - Sundays at 11AM
GatherNYC presents Guitarist Rupert Boyd and Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
GatherNYC Continues 2024-2025 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM
Mindful Musical Mornings Include Spoken Word and Brief Celebration of Silence
Coming Up:
5/25 Rupert Boyd, guitar
6/8 Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee – The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series” – The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.” – Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, concludes its 2024-2025 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with two upcoming concerts -- guitarist Rupert Boyd on May 25 and Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl on June 8. Concerts are held every other Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series last year. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We have been thrilled to return to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 17 concerts throughout our 2024-25 season, our largest lineup yet. We look forward to inviting audiences to join us for these mindful, musical mornings with world-class artists in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”
Up Next, Sundays at 11AM:
May 25: Rupert Boyd, guitar
GatherNYC artistic director and classical guitar virtuoso Rupert Boyd takes listeners on a journey across centuries and continents on the six strings of his guitar. From Malian kora music to atmospheric sounds from Japan to contemporary music from his home country of Australia to classic works for the Spanish guitar, Boyd’s riveting program has something for everyone.
June 8: Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
Building on a highly successful collaboration during the 2023-24 season, GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd in their duo formation of Boyd Meets Girl once again team up with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for an expanded collaborative program featuring classical favorites and creative, virtuosic takes on popular tunes.
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Press photos available here.
June 20: GRAMMY®-Nominated Neave Trio Releases La Mer – New Album on Chandos Records Featuring the Music of Debussy (arr. Sally Beamish), Saint-Saëns, and Bonis
June 20: GRAMMY®-Nominated Neave Trio Releases La Mer – New Album on Chandos Records
GRAMMY®-Nominated Neave Trio Releases La Mer
New Album on Chandos Records
Featuring the Music of
Claude Debussy (arr. Sally Beamish), Camille Saint-Saëns, and Mel Bonis
Listen to the First Single – Out Now
Saint-Saëns’s Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 92, Mvt. II
Worldwide Release: June 20, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Downloads and CDs available to press on request
“Passion, vibrancy and a riot of colours” –The Strad
“I was spellbound by the generous and warm-hearted, utterly beguiling playing” –BBC Music Magazine
www.neavetrio.com | www.chandos.net
On June 20, 2025, the GRAMMY®-nominated Neave Trio (violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura), releases La Mer, the ensemble’s seventh album on Chandos Records. Following the folk-inspired program of Neave’s 2024 album Rooted, La Mer is a celebration of French works for piano trio focused on three pieces composed around the turn of the twentieth century – Trio No. 2, Op. 92 in E minor by Camille Saint-Saëns; Soir-Matin, Op. 76 by Mel Bonis; and La Mer by Claude Debussy, arranged by Sally Beamish. The first single, the second movement of Saint-Saëns’s Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 92, is out now – listen here.
With this album, the Neave Trio continues its dedication to crafting compelling recordings with inspired thematic focus – a passion that has thrived since the release of Musical Remembrances in 2022, which was nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble category.
“Together, these works form a richly textured soundscape, capturing the sea’s many forms: majestic, mysterious, and vulnerable,” says the Neave Trio. “In creating La Mer, we sought not only to explore the emotional range of this repertoire, but to reflect on our shared connection to the natural world — and the urgent need to preserve its beauty.”
The album’s titular work is Claude Debussy's orchestral masterpiece La Mer, as arranged by Sally Beamish. This three-movement symphonic work presented Beamish with an exceptional challenge. Beamish says she strove to “reinvent Debussy's orchestral score with the piano trio in mind… This meant exploring what strings and piano can do in terms of texture and concentrating on idiomatic and natural techniques.” By studying and recreating Debussy's colors and textures, rather than attempting to transcribe every note, Beamish produced an arrangement that presents the performers and listeners with a completely new perspective on these well-loved seascapes.
Saint-Saëns’ Piano Trio No. 2 dates from 1892. Unusually for Saint-Saëns, the work took a great deal of time from conception to completion – over five years – and then went through several subsequent revisions before Saint-Saëns was finally satisfied. Though smaller in scale, Mel Bonis’s two pieces, Soir and Matin, are equally powerful works, bridging the worlds of Romanticism and Impressionism. Soir is dominated by a cantabile melody, while Matin is more chromatic and harmonically complex.
Of La Mer’s oceanic theme and its connection with the musicality of the works on the album, the Neave Trio says:
“La Mer is a meditation on the sea – its power, fragility, and timeless mystery. At a time when the ocean is more than ever at the center of our global consciousness, we were drawn to music that explores, whether overtly or in more subtle ways, the sea’s emotional and atmospheric depths. Sally Beamish’s masterful arrangement of Debussy’s La Mer for piano trio anchors the album – preserving the vast scope and color of the original while offering an intimate and transparent new lens. While the works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Mel Bonis are not programmatic in the same way, we felt they resonate with Debussy’s vision. Each offers a vivid, almost visual impression of motion, power, atmosphere, and beauty. The opening of the Saint-Saëns Trio No. 2 rolls forward with the momentum of crashing waves, while Bonis’s trio evokes a glowing sonic landscape – fluid, layered, and alive.”
The Neave Trio has emerged as one of the finest young ensembles of its generation. It has been praised by WQXR Radio in New York City, with the station noting the alignment of the trio’s unique name and exemplary musicality: “'Neave' is actually a Gaelic name meaning 'bright' and 'radiant', both of which certainly apply to this trio's music making." The trio is also described by The Strad as having "elegant phrasing and deft control of textures," and praised by The New York Times for its "excellent performances."
Previous albums include Rooted (Chandos, 2024), which celebrates the folk inspired music of Bedřich Smetana, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Josef Suk, and Frank Martin; Musical Remembrances (Chandos, 2022), which features Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 1, Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8, and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 67; the highly celebrated Her Voice (Chandos, 2019), which features the works of women composers Louise Farrenc, Amy Beach, and Rebecca Clarke; A Room of Her Own (Chandos, 2024), the thematic successor to Her Voice that highlights music by Cécile Chaminade, Ethel Smyth, Germaine Tailleferre, and Lili Boulanger – two pairs of women composers from two different generations; French Moments (Chandos, 2018), which includes the only known piano trios by Debussy, Fauré, and Roussel; and Neave’s Chandos debut, American Moments (2016), featuring works by Korngold, Foote, and Bernstein. In 2018, Neave Trio also released its critically acclaimed album, Celebrating Piazzolla (Azica Records, 2018), featuring mezzo-soprano Carla Jablonski.
Formed in 2010, the Neave Trio – currently Ensemble-in-Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University – strives to champion new works by living composers and reach wider audiences through innovative concert presentations, regularly collaborating with artists of all mediums. These collaborations include the premiere of Robert Paterson’s Triple Concerto with the Mostly Modern Orchestra under the direction of JoAnn Falletta; D-Cell: an Exhibition & Durational Performance, conceived and directed by multi-disciplinary visual artist David Michalek; the commissioning and premiere of Vast Palette – a new work by Jennifer Higdon – and Gathering Light, a collaboration with visual artist and Harvard professor Sharon Harper; in the premiere of Klee Musings by acclaimed American composer Augusta Read Thomas; in the premiere of Eric Nathan’s Missing Words V, sponsored by Coretet; in Leah Reid’s Cloud Burst for piano trio and electronics; in Dale Trumbore’s Another Chance; and in a music video by filmmaker Amanda Alvarez Díaz of Astor Piazzolla’s "Otoño Porteño.” The Neave Trio’s latest project is Rising, a collaboration with Pigeonwing Dance, composer Robert Sirota, and choreographer Gabrielle Lamb. Rising is a meditation not only on rising temperatures and sea levels but also on humanity’s rising awareness of our connection to and dependence on the Earth’s oceans.
For more information, visit www.neavetrio.com.
La Mer – French Works for Piano Trio | Neave Trio | Chandos Records
Release Date: June 20, 2025 (Worldwide)
Recorded July 23-25, 2024 at Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, England
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Trio No. 2, Op. 92 in E minor • in e-Moll • en mi mineur for Piano, Violin, and Cello
À Madame la Vicomtesse de Guitaut (née Anna Hoskier) (1892) [32:51]
[1] I. Allegro non troppo [11:10]
[2] II. Allegretto – Allegro – Allegretto – Allegro –
Allegretto (poco meno) – A tempo ma tranquillo [5:44]
[3] III. Andante con moto [4:11]
[4] IV. Grazioso, poco allegro [4:13]
[5] V. Allegro – Allegro moderato [7:32]
Mel [Mélanie Hélène Domange, née] Bonis (1858-1937): Soir-Matin, Op. 76 for Piano Trio (1907) [8:16]
[6] Soir. Andante cantabile – Cédez un peu [4:19]
[7] Matin. Andantino – Più vivo [3:56]
Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918): La Mer (The Sea) (1903-05) [23:58]
Arranged by Sally Beamish (b. 1956)
Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra
À Jacques Durand – 1905
Arranged 2013 (revised 2015) for Piano Trio
[8] I. De l’aube à midi sur la mer [8:00]
[9] II. Jeux de vagues [7:51]
[10] III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer [8:05]
Total Time: [65:05]
Recording producer: Jonathan Cooper
Sound engineer: Jonathan Cooper
Editor: Jonathan Cooper
Front cover Photograph of Neave Trio by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Back cover Photograph by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Design and Typesetting: Cass Cassidy
Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX, England
ECM New Series Celebrates Keith Jarrett: Eighty on May 8
ECM New Series Celebrates Keith Jarrett: Eighty on May 8
Photo by Rose Anne Colavito
ECM New Series Celebrates Keith Jarrett: Eighty on May 8
Keith Jarrett’s Classical Releases on ECM New Series Include:
1988: J.S. Bach – The Well-Tempered Klavier, Book I
1988: J.S. Bach – Goldberg Variations
1991: J.S. Bach – The Well-Tempered Klavier, Book II
1992: Dmitri Shostakovich – 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op.87
1993: J.S. Bach – The French Suites
1994: J.S. Bach – Three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord
1995: G.F. Handel – Suites for Keyboard
1996: W.A. Mozart – Piano Concertos, Masonic Funeral Music, Symphony in G Minor
1999: W.A. Mozart – Piano Concertos, Adagio and Fugue
2013: J.S. Bach – Six Sonatas for Violin and Piano
2015: Barber / Bartók / Jarrett
2023: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Württemberg Sonatas
Keith Jarrett’s Complete ECM Discography:
www.ecmrecords.com/artists/keith-jarrett
As Keith Jarrett turns 80 today, May 8, ECM reflects with gratitude on an extraordinary musical journey, documented in a discography unprecedented in creative range.
At ECM the story began with 1971’s Facing You – the first of his many collaborations with producer Manfred Eicher – and it continues with the upcoming New Vienna, due in a few weeks. A relationship of more than half a century at one label, based on artistic affinity and friendship.
Beyond the legendary improvised solo piano recordings, where the perennially-popular Köln Concert is but one of very many highlights – including Bremen-Lausanne, Sun Bear Concerts, La Scala, Radiance, Rio, Budapest Concert and more – there are the great Jarrett bands to consider, each with its profound impact on jazz history. The American quartet with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, and the European quartet with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, were bands of strikingly different temperament. Jarrett’s writing for the groups underlined the individual and collective strengths of the players. And the mystery and intensity of The Survivors’ Suite remain as compelling as the lyricism and buoyancy of Belonging or My Song. The association with Jan Garbarek led to evocative music with string orchestra on Luminessence and Arbour Zena, the latter also featuring Charlie Haden. Jarrett and Haden’s closeness as jazz improvisers is in evidence, too, on the ‘reunion’ albums Jasmine and Last Dance.
For 30 years, Jarrett’s trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette set standards in multiple senses. Raising the bar for interpretive performances of music of the Great American Songbook, honoring the melodies of Broadway songwriters and bebop instrumentalists, but also playing standards with an exhilarating sense of freedom on numerous recordings including the definitive jazz club box set At The Blue Note. And sometimes, indeed, setting standards aside – in albums of sustained group creativity such as Changeless, Inside Out and Always Let Me Go. Also of musical-historical significance: the night when Paul Motian substituted for DeJohnette, documented on At The Deer Head Inn and The Old Country.
Jarrett’s improvised projects outside of jazz have resolutely defied classification – from experiments with the mighty baroque organ of Ottobeuren Abbey (Hymn/Spheres) to intimate clavichord discoveries (Book of Ways), and multi-instrumental undertakings (Spirits, No End).
A recording of Sacred Hymns introduced the music of G. I. Gurdjieff to a new audience, and Jarrett’s contribution to Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, partnering Gidon Kremer in a realization of Fratres, was no less revelatory or crucial. From the 1980s onwards, in parallel with his jazz activities, he went on to establish himself as an insightful interpreter of music of classical tradition with performances of J.S. Bach and C.P.E. Bach, Händel, Mozart, Shostakovich, Bartók, and Samuel Barber.
Speaking of his thoughtful Bach renditions, Jarrett once said: “Correct playing has nothing to do with disputes over style. The first thing to consider is if there is music being made.” Amen. This has seldom been in question, of course, in any context with Keith Jarrett’s participation!
May 23: ECM New Series Releases Erkki-Sven Tüür's ÆRIS recorded by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
ECM New Series Releases Erkki-Sven Tüür's ÆRIS recorded by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
ECM New Series Releases
Erkki-Sven Tüür: ÆRIS
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts
Release Date: May 23, 2025
ECM 2784
Press downloads and CDs available upon request.
On May 23, 2025, ECM New Series releases ÆRIS, the ninth album on the label to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Erkki-Sven Tüür. Olari Elts, a long-time champion of Tüür’s compositions, conducts the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in compelling, intensely-focused performances of Phantasma, De Profundis and Tüür’s tenth symphony ÆRIS, a vast drama of shifting energies and interactions, which is scored for horn quartet and orchestra.
The symphony is in four movements that transition seamlessly. Tüür says, “Each movement expresses a different development between the ensemble of soloists and the orchestra. Sometimes their motifs spread into the orchestra like memes that start changing and gradually take on lives of their own.” The album was recorded at Tallinn’s Estonian Concert Hall.
Track List:
1. Phantasma for orchestra (2018) [13:12]
2. Symphony No. 10 "ÆRIS" for horn quartet and orchestra (2021) [29:45]
3. De Profundis for orchestra (2013) [18:01]
Dedicated to Olari Elts
Recorded September 2022
Estonian Concert Hall, Tallinn
Tonmeister: Tammo Sumera
Executive Producer: Manfred Eicher
An ECM Production
May 16-17: Emerald City Music Presents: Evolution of Flute – Featuring Five Exceptional Flutists in Seattle and Olympia
May 16-17: Emerald City Music Presents: Evolution of Flute – Featuring Five Exceptional Flutists in Seattle and Olympia
Emerald City Music Season 09
Evolution of Flute
Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8:00pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldEvolutionFluteSeattleMay2025
Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 7:30pm
Capital High School Performing Arts Center | 2707 Conger Ave NW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldEvolutionFluteOlympiaMay2025
“Emerald City Music [is] known for its innovative approaches to presenting classical music” – Cascade PBS
Seattle & Olympia WA – On Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, 2025, Emerald City Music (ECM), along with founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee and newly appointed Executive Director Sean Campbell, prepare for the finale of ECM’s Season 09 with the return of Emerald’s beloved Evolution series, this time delving into the fascinating world of the flute.
Did you know that the flute is among the earliest known identifiable musical instruments, with origins dating back more than 53,000 years? Over millennia, this remarkable instrument has evolved through numerous stages to become the flute of today and is one of the most celebrated woodwind instruments. This extraordinary concert will feature five exceptional flutists –– Emi Ferguson, Anthony Trionfo, Christina Hughes, Joshua Romatowski, and program co-curator Sungwoo Steven Kim –– each showcasing the instrument's remarkable evolution from its ancient origins to its contemporary brilliance. Join Emerald City Music for a one-of-a-kind exploration of the flute’s lineage and the chance to witness a variety of flutes and their diverse repertoires.
Flutist and program-co-curator Sungwoo Kim shares these thoughts ahead of May's season finale:
“Experiencing this program is like walking through a museum, but with a hands-on journey through the flute’s evolution. Each soloist will paint a vivid soundscape: C.P.E. Bach’s Solo Flute in A highlights the sweet timbre and effortless agility of the traverso, while Varèse’s Density 21.5 and Berio’s Sequenza push the flute to its limits, expanding its sonic palette through resistance and advanced performance techniques. Turning to Debussy, the flute merges with literature and transforms into the mythological character Syrinx. And let’s not overlook the piccolo—far from just a staple of Sousa marches, it is a truly charming instrument in its own right.
I am especially looking forward to performing the ensemble pieces. It is rare to hear five solo flute works in a single concert, but even more extraordinary to share the stage with four fellow professional flutists. This concert will bring together both longtime friends and new collaborators, creating an extraordinary musical exchange and the unique opportunity to hear a truly remarkable flute ensemble in action.”
The program will include performances of:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Sonata In A Minor For Solo Flute (1747)
performed by Joshua Romatowski on traverso flute
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s Duet No. 1 In E Minor (1740-1745)
performed by Christina Hughes and Sungwoo Kim on piccolo
Luciano Berio’s Sequenza (1958)
performed by Anthony Trionfo on flute
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Duo For Two Flutes In G Major (1792)
performed by Joshua Romatowski on Classical 8-Hole flute and Emi Ferguson on Classical 8-Hole flute
Georg Philipp Telemann’s Fantasie No. 5 in C Major (1732-33)
performed by Christina Hughes on piccolo
Friedrich Kuhlau’s Flute Trio in G minor (1814)
performed by Anthony Trionfo, Christina Hughes and Sungwoo Kim on flute
Claude Debussy’s Syrinx for solo flute (1913)
performed by Emi Ferguson on flute
Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 for solo flute (1936, rev. 1946)
performed by Sungwoo Kim on flute
Eugene Bozza’s Jour d'été à la Montagne for flute quartet (1955)
performed by Emi Ferguson, Anthony Trionfo, Christina Hughes, and Sungwoo Kim on flute.
Audiences can look forward to the final concerts of Season 09’s Global Resonance on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N), and Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 7:30pm in Olympia at Capital High School Performing Arts Center (2707 Conger Ave NW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, listeners can enjoy ECM’s flagship “casual experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), Capital High School Performing Arts Center (2707 Conger Ave NW), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
Announcing the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival - 29 Concerts from July 4-22 at 11 Iconic Venues
Announcing the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival - 29 Concerts from July 4-22 at 11 Iconic Venues
Press photos available here.
Announcing the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival
29 Concerts from July 4-22, 2025
Performances by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Stefan Jackiw, Jessica Vosk, Leila Josefowicz, Karen Slack, Inon Barnaton, Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, Sara Davis Buechner, Third Coast Percussion, The Westerlies, and Many More
World Premiere of Cris Derksen’s First Light for the Galvin Cello Quartet
Commissioned by Newport Classical
Soprano Karen Slack’s African Queens Project
Co-Commissioned by Newport Classical
US Premiere of David Lang’s daisy by Attacca Quartet
Co-Commissioned by Newport Classical
Opera Night at The Breakers: An American Tapestry featuring
Music by Gershwin, Previn, Copland, Barber, and More
Historic Venues include The Breakers, The Elms, Blithewold Mansion,
Castle Hill Inn, Rosecliff Terrace, Colony House, and More
Tickets on Sale April 9: www.newportclassical.org/music-festival
Newport, RI – From July 4-22, 2025, the Newport Classical Music Festival offers an unparalleled experience, combining 29 intimate concerts featuring over 100 artists with the grandeur and opulence of 11 iconic venues – including the stunning interiors of The Breakers, The Elms, Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport Art Museum, and Colony House, as well as picturesque outdoor settings at Rosecliff Terrace, Norman Bird Sanctuary, Blithewold Mansion, and Castle Hill Inn – making the City by the Sea an ultimate summer destination for live music. For 56 years, Newport Classical has united artists and audiences to experience the joy of music and the connections it inspires, offering concertgoers the opportunity to discover new composers or experience timeless works offered from a fresh perspective. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on April 9.
Highlights of the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival include Opening Night featuring Two Pianos with Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung; two evenings with Broadway star Jessica Vosk, best known for her lead role in Wicked; performances by extraordinary pianists Inon Barnatan, Sara Davis Buechner, and Wynona Wang; celebrated soprano Karen Slack's African Queens project co-commissioned by Newport Classical with a national consortium; the US premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang co-commissioned by Newport Classical with an international consortium; performances by world-class artists including violinist Leila Josefowicz, The Westerlies, Third Coast Percussion, harpist Emily Levin, guitarists Ziggy and Miles, Palaver Strings, Attacca Quartet, Twelfth Night, The Gesualdo Six, Tallā Rouge, Empire Wild, and more; Opera Night: An American Tapestry; and Closing Night with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and violinist Stefan Jackiw.
For the fifth year in a row, Newport Classical has commissioned a brand new work to be premiered at the Festival. This year's Composer-in-Residence is Cris Derksen, a Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist and composer, who is writing a new work for the Galvin Cello Quartet. Derksen researched the history of Aquidneck Island, and her new piece First Light focuses on The Wampanoag, a Native American People known as the “People of the First Light,” as well as the story of John Anthony, an enslaved boy, as reimagined by the composer. Cris Derksen is internationally renowned for her genre-defying music that bridges the traditional and contemporary. Her work intricately weaves together her classical training and Indigenous heritage with modern electronic elements.
Other highlights of the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival include the beloved Sunrise Concerts at 5:15am; a concert inspired by nature at Norman Bird Sanctuary; a free Fourth of July concert at King Park; and this year’s young professional Newport Classical Festival Artists in seven performances and several free community events throughout the Festival.
Executive Director Gillian Fox says, “We can all agree that this festival is so much more than three weeks of concerts. It’s an unforgettable celebration of artistry, community, and the thrill of live performance, set against the one-of-a-kind backdrop of Newport’s iconic venues. This summer’s array of programs captures the expansive range of artistic expression within classical music. We can’t wait to welcome you to the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival.”
Now in its fourth year, Newport Classical’s Festival Artists Residency Program brings together five professional musicians at the early stages of their careers for an intense period of rehearsal and music-making during the Festival. This diverse group of emerging talents live, work, and play together, becoming engaged members of the community during their extended time in Newport. Each of these exceptionally gifted musicians are selected for their experience working in fast-paced chamber music settings and comfort tackling a wide range of repertoire. This summer, Newport Classical welcomes Risa Hokamura (violin); Nathan Meltzer (violin); Mira Williams (viola), Alexander Hersh (cello), and Wynona Wang (piano).
2025 Newport Classical Music Festival Concerts:
The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival kicks off on Friday, July 4 at 8pm with a free, outdoor Fourth of July Patriotic Pops concert preceding the fireworks at King Park featuring Fenway Brass & Percussion, one of Boston’s most esteemed professional brass ensembles, in a joyous program celebrating America's birthday. This family-friendly concert, with views of the Pell Bridge, is part of the 2025 BankNewport Community Concerts Series.
Newport Classical Music Festival’s Opening Night concert on Saturday, July 5 at 8pm at The Breakers features Two Pianos with Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung. Partners on and off the stage, Bax and Chung are one of the most appealing and impressive piano duos of our time. Together they present a program of abundant artistic chemistry, passion, and stunning virtuosity in music by Busoni, Poulenc, Schubert, Debussy, and Piazzolla, showcasing the duo’s seamless synchronicity and musical artistry in the stunning setting of The Breakers.
On Sunday, July 6 at 8pm, one of the most beloved evenings of the Festival returns. This year, Opera Night: An American Tapestry will showcase a captivating selection of arias, duets, and ensemble numbers from American English operas including Porgy and Bess, Susannah, Moby Dick, A Streetcar Named Desire, and more. Narrated by acclaimed pianist Charlie Kim, this journey through operatic classics features performances by Sarah Tucker, soprano; Melissa Joseph, soprano; Renée Rapier, mezzo-soprano; Dane Suarez, tenor; and Michael Colman, bass. Complete with a red-carpet photo experience, Opera Night promises a dazzling evening of timeless music and storytelling in a setting as beautiful as the performances.
On Monday, July 7 at 4pm, the Festival Artists present an evocative concert exploring the love triangle between Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Clara Schumann – one of classical music's most complex relationships – in Musical Love Triangle: Brahms and the Schumanns. Though their love could not be revealed during Robert's life, Johannes and Clara’s bond remained steadfast even after his passing. The music of Brahms and the Schumanns offers a window into their emotional world, brought to life in an intimate concert at the Newport Art Museum. Audience members can arrive early to explore the Museum’s inspiring exhibits for a truly enriching experience.
New York-based brass quartet The Westerlies, hailed by The New York Times as “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” will present a memorable morning concert at Blithewold Mansion on Tuesday, July 8 at 11am. Drawing from American shape-note music – a tradition designed to make singing more accessible – the ensemble presents kaleidoscopic arrangements of traditional hymns alongside new compositions. With concert hall precision and folklike approachability, The Westerlies reimagines the American musical landscape, inviting audiences on a trailblazing journey through past and present in music by Caroline Shaw, Westerlies members Chloe Rowlands and Andy Clausen, arrangements by Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly, and more.
On Tuesday, July 8 at 7:30pm, audiences can enjoy an elevated concert experience at the picturesque Castle Hill Inn. Acclaimed for her musical command, cosmopolitan artistry, and visionary independence, Sara Davis Buechner is a beloved Festival favorite and one of the most distinctive concert pianists of our time. Lauded for her “intelligence, integrity, and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times), Japan’s InTune magazine sums it up perfectly: “Buechner has no superior.” At Castle Hill Inn, she performs a jazz-inspired program with music by John Alden Carpenter, Vernon Duke, Dana Suesse, Ravel, and Poulenc. The concert includes complimentary desserts and coffee during intermission, set against the stunning backdrop of a Newport summer sunset on the water.
The Festival Artists offer a captivating morning of Piano Quartets on Wednesday, July 9 at 11am, set within the elegant French design of The Elms Ballroom. This program celebrates three monumental composers of the Classical and Romantic eras, tracing the evolution of the piano quartet through their works. With intricate musical architecture and dialogue between piano and strings, the concert showcases the genius of Mozart, Friedrich Kiel, and Brahms.
On Wednesday, July 9 at 8pm, the dynamic ensemble Twelfth Night brings its signature blend of historical performance and dynamic energy to The Breakers. Led by virtuoso violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and harpsichordist David Belkovski, Twelfth Night believes that art thrives as a meeting place of the past, present, and future. Their program of Handel, Vivaldi, Teleman, and more will transport audiences through time, fusing the old with the new in a way only this ensemble can do. Inspired by Shakespeare’s play of the same name, the ensemble strives to invoke a spirit of boundless revelry, celebration, and community in their programming.
The extraordinary pianist Wynona Yinuo Wang presents a morning recital at The Elms on Thursday, July 10 at 11am. Winner of the First Prize at the 2018 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Wynona Wang is one of Newport Classical’s 2025 Festival Artists and has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House, as well as with renowned orchestras around the world. Her performance at The Elms combines music by Scarlatti, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff with new works by composer Zhang Zhao, offering the perfect blend of Wang’s artistry.
On Thursday, July 10 at 8pm at The Breakers, Third Coast Percussion marks 20 years of genre-defying, award-winning music. Third Coast’s program features selections from five albums with four GRAMMY® nominations and one GRAMMY® Award, along with exciting new works commissioned for the ensemble’s 20th anniversary, including music by Clarice Assad, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jlin, Jessie Montgomery, and Tigran Hamasyan. Join Third Coast for a night that pushes the boundaries of percussion and showcases the innovative spirit of one of contemporary music’s most celebrated ensembles. Set against the stunning backdrop of The Breakers mansion, this performance offers a unique fusion of genres, history, and sound.
On Friday, July 11 at 5:15am audiences can start their day with a stunning, panoramic sunrise over Newport’s iconic Cliff Walk and the Atlantic Ocean as the Festival Artists present a meditative and uplifting journey in this Sunrise Meditations concert. Set on the terrace of Rosecliff, with its breathtaking views and serene atmosphere, this year’s Sunrise Meditations concert offers a unique opportunity to enjoy music in a peaceful, outdoor setting. The program features a beautiful selection of works, including Telemann’s Fantasia No. 7 for solo viola, Mozart’s Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik, Beethoven’s String Trio in G Major, and more.
The Gesualdo Six, an award-winning British vocal ensemble celebrated for its impeccable blend and imaginative programming, brings its sublime choral artistry to The Breakers on Friday, July 11 at 8pm. This ensemble of the UK’s finest consort singers has captivated audiences worldwide for the past decade, and will bring to Newport a program inspired by the ancient service of Compline, ushering in the darkness of the night and evoking a contemplative atmosphere. Works include Renaissance polyphony by Palestrina, Tallis, and Gesualdo that contain startling harmonic shifts and expressive word painting. Then the light returns, birds sing, and flowers bloom once more, with music by Veljo Tormis, Schubert, and Gerda Blok-Wilson.
On Saturday, July 12 at 9am, surrounded by the serene beauty of the Norman Bird Sanctuary, the Festival Artists will present a delightful outdoor morning program of chamber music in Strings in Nature. Set amidst the sanctuary’s stunning natural surroundings, this year’s concert features Haydn’s playful The Joke Quartet, Spohr’s Grand Duo for Violin and Viola, Schubert’s lyrical String Trio in B-flat Major, and Strauss’s whimsical Variations on a Bavarian Folk Song.
On Saturday, July 12 at 8pm at The Breakers, GRAMMY® Award-winning singer Karen Slack – “one of the nation's most celebrated sopranos” (Trilloquy) – presents African Queens, an extraordinary evening of music and storytelling, featuring a powerful selection of new works by some of today’s most acclaimed composers including Jessie Montgomery, Fred Onovwerosuoke, previous Newport Classical Composer-in-Residence Shawn Okpebholo, Jasmine Arielle Barnes, Will Liverman, Joel Thompson, and Damien Geter. This collaborative song cycle shines a spotlight on seven fierce African Queens, whose legacies as rulers and warriors have often been overlooked in the West, with each piece reflecting their beauty, passion, humility, and power. Slack brings her operatic virtuosity to this project, joined by pianist Kevin J. Miller, to celebrate living composers and elevate voices long underrepresented in classical music. African Queens is commissioned for Karen Slack by a national consortium of prominent presenters – the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, Washington Performing Arts, The 92nd Street Y, New York, and Newport Classical Music Festival.
On Sunday, July 13 at 3pm, Ziggy and Miles – “Australian guitarist brothers making history” (The Age) – perform in the intimate and historic surroundings of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. Ziggy and Miles’ performances are known for their “deeply considered musicianship, immaculate care and superlative technique” (5MBS). Winners of the 2023 YCA (Young Concert Artists) Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the brothers have become the first guitar duo and second guitarists to receive this prestigious award in the organization’s 63-year history. Featuring works by French composers Franck and Debussy, this concert promises an afternoon of vibrant and innovative guitar repertoire that will captivate and inspire.
Following a sold-out performance at the Newport Classical Recital Hall in 2024, Newport Classical is thrilled to welcome the Galvin Cello Quartet back to Newport for an exceptional concert at The Breakers on Sunday, July 13 at 8pm. Fresh off their Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition and their win at the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the Quartet has quickly become a force in the classical music world. Known for their innovative approach to new music, in this concert the Galvin Cello Quartet features the world premiere of a piece commissioned by Newport Classical from Canadian Indigenous cellist and composer Cris Derksen, alongside works by Beethoven, Mozart, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky, blending beloved classics with exciting new compositions.
On Tuesday, July 15 at 4pm, set amongst stunning works at the Newport Art Museum, the one-of-a-kind Cajun-Persian viola duo Tallā Rouge celebrates the virtuosity of the viola. Lauded as the "little viola duo that could" by Chamber Music America, Tallā Rouge has performed at Carnegie Hall and Dumbarton Oaks, and has won multiple competitions. This concert features works by celebrated living composers and reimagined classical favorites, showcasing the duo’s ability to take audiences on a “musical journey that travels far and wide across ‘genre-defying compositions’.” (Gramophone Magazine).
On Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16 at 8pm at The Breakers, Newport Classical presents two Evenings with Broadway Star Jessica Vosk. Vosk is a celebrated singer and actress known for electrifying roles in musical theater and on concert stages, including a sold-out Carnegie Hall debut in 2021. Best known for her star turn as Elphaba in Wicked – first on tour and then for the show’s 15th anniversary on Broadway – Vosk played the iconic green witch for two years. Additional Broadway credits include The Narrator in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jersey in Hell’s Kitchen. Vosk brings her powerhouse vocals and magnetic stage presence to The Breakers for two unforgettable evenings, with pianist Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
Celebrating what would be the 150th birthday of Maurice Ravel, one of France’s most influential composers, Newport Classical’s resident Festival Artists perform on Wednesday, July 16 at 11am at The Elms. This intimate performance will explore Ravel’s unparalleled mastery of orchestration, from his elegant Sonatine for Piano to his String Quartet in F Major, dedicated to his teacher Gabriel Fauré. The program will highlight his emotional depth and distinct style, inviting listeners to experience Ravel’s enduring legacy in a personal and immersive setting within the historic atmosphere of The Elms, honoring a composer whose works continue to resonate across generations.
On Thursday, July 17 at 11am at The Elms, harpist Emily Levin returns to Newport for a mesmerizing concert titled Harp and Harmony, joined by violinist Julia Choi (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) and cellist Christine Lamprea (Sphinx Medal of Excellence winner). This newly formed trio, Ember, will share works from their debut album Birds of Paradise, blending the rich sounds of violin, cello, and harp. The program will feature pieces by Reena Esmail, Angélica Negrón, Henriette Renié, and more, showcasing the ensemble's dynamic interplay of textures and emotions all set against the historic setting of The Elms.
Palaver Strings, a dynamic musician-led ensemble, brings an evening of stirring performances to The Breakers on Thursday, July 17 at 8pm, showcasing their commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices. Praised for their ability to “command a stage on their own terms” (The Boston Globe), the ensemble explores folk music from around the world, addressing themes of heritage, belonging, and resilience. The program features Kareem Roustom’s new work ḥawwāsh inspired by a traditional Arab line dance, alongside Palaver’s arrangement of Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, Kinan Azmeh’s Syrian Dances, and more, celebrating folk music as a powerful vehicle for both strength and joy.
On Friday, July 18 at 5:15am, audiences can experience a serene start to the day with The Harp at Sunrise, a tranquil concert set amongst the peaceful beauty of Rosecliff. Harpist Emily Levin brings Hans Otte’s The Book of Sounds to life, a meditative and evocative work that pairs the delicate tones of the harp with the quiet of the early morning. The intimate performance takes place on the terrace of Rosecliff, with its sweeping, panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean, providing an enchanting backdrop to this reflective musical experience.
The Newport Classical Festival Artists offer a Free Open Rehearsal on Friday, July 18 at 2pm at Newport Classical Recital Hall, as they finalize preparations for their performance French Quintets: Revivals taking place the following day. The program highlights the rich musical tradition of French composers, featuring works by Louis Gouvy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Jean Cras.
Acclaimed pianist Inon Barnatan presents an evening of exceptional music at The Breakers on Friday, July 18 at 8pm. Described as “one of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Barnatan brings his profound depth and expressive power to one of Newport’s most iconic venues. Performing works by Bach, Franck, and Schubert, this evening promises to be an unforgettable musical journey, showcasing Barnatan's ability to forge intimate connections with his audience through his "refined, searching, unfailingly communicative" style (The Evening Standard).
The Festival Artists present French Quintets: Revivals at the historic Emmanuel Church on Saturday, July 19 at 3pm, featuring quintets from the 19th and 20th centuries. Paired with Emmanuel Church’s stunning English Gothic Revival architecture, the ensemble brings a fresh perspective to these classic pieces in a program highlighting the rich musical tradition of French composers, featuring works by Louis Gouvy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Jean Cras.
On Saturday, July 19 at 8pm at The Breakers, Attacca Quartet brings its exceptional artistry to an evening that pairs celebrated classical works with engaging contemporary compositions. Praised by The Washington Post, which reported that “mastery like this is scarce enough in quartets that have played together for decades,” the Attacca Quartet is known for their innovative approach to chamber music, has collaborated with artists such as Caroline Shaw and Billie Eilish, and has contributed to soundtracks for films like Ken Burns’ new documentary, Leonardo da Vinci. The Attacca Quartet’s Newport debut includes the US premiere of daisy by Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY® Award-winning composer David Lang, alongside Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4 and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 4. daisy was co-commissioned by an international group of presenters – Newport Classical, La Biennale di Venezia, Kings Place, String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, Park Avenue Armory, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
After an energetic and memorable Newport debut last season, Empire Wild returns for a performance on Sunday, July 20 at 11am that pushes musical boundaries with its inventive fusion of genres. Set in the historic Newport Colony House, built in 1739 and rarely open to the public, the ensemble blends pop, folk, jazz, and more. The program includes original songs, dynamic covers, and fresh takes on classical pieces, making for a truly delightful afternoon in one of Newport’s oldest landmark venues.
Hailed for her "technical prowess and expressive depth” (San Francisco Chronicle), violinist Leila Josefowicz brings her extraordinary artistry to The Breakers for an evening of exceptional music on Sunday, July 20 at 8pm. Known for her dynamic performances and commitment to expanding the boundaries of the violin, Josefowicz is joined by acclaimed pianist Alexei Tartakovsky. Together they offer a program featuring works by Beethoven, Debussy, and Stravinsky. This is a rare opportunity to experience Josefowicz’s artistry in one of Newport’s most standout venues.
The 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival ends on a high note on Tuesday, July 22 at 8pm as the incomparable self-conducted Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to The Breakers for the Festival’s Closing Night performance, joined by acclaimed violin soloist Stefan Jackiw. Known for its radical approach to musical democracy, Orpheus has proven for over 50 years what happens when exceptional artists collaborate with total trust in one another. Blending the discipline of an orchestra with the spirit of a chamber group, this evening promises to be a celebration of musical excellence and creative collaboration, providing a thrilling conclusion to the Festival. Orpheus performs Arensky’s Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Jackiw, and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.
For the full schedule, visit: www.newportclassical.org/music-festival
About Newport Classical
Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.
Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of live performing arts on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.
Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”
In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, and Clarice Assad.
March-June: GatherNYC Presents Seven Mindful Musical Mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle - Sundays at 11AM
March-June: GatherNYC Presents Sevend Mindful Musical Mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle
Press photos available here.
GatherNYC Continues 2024-2025 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM
Mindful Musical Mornings Include Spoken Word and Brief Celebration of Silence
Coming Up This Spring
3/16 Daedalus Quartet
3/30 MATA
4/13 Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
4/27 ETHEL + Layale Chaker
5/11 Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
5/25 Rupert Boyd, guitar
6/8 Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee”
– The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series”
– The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its 2024-2025 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with seven upcoming concerts -- Daedalus Quartet on March 16, MATA on March 30, Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham on April 13, ETHEL + Layale Chaker on April 27, Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine on May 11, guitarist Rupert Boyd on May 25, and Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl on June 8. Concerts are held every other Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series last year. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 17 concerts throughout our 2024-25 season, our largest lineup yet. We look forward to inviting audiences to join us for these mindful, musical mornings with world-class artists in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”
Up Next, Sundays at 11AM:
Mar. 16: Daedalus Quartet
Winners of the highest honor in string quartet playing, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Daedalus Quartet will perform the visceral, folk-inspired sixth string quartet by Béla Bartók, alongside the atmospheric, pop-influenced Space Between by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim fellow Anna Weesner.
Mar. 30: MATA
Music at the Anthology (MATA), an incubator for adventurous emerging artists in the early stages of their careers, presents, supports, and commissions composers, regardless of their stylistic views or aesthetic inclinations. Founded by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa in 1996 as a way to address the lack of presentation opportunities for unaffiliated composers, MATA composers have since emanated to include future Rome, Alpert, Takemitsu, Siemens, and Pulitzer Prize-winners, Guggenheim Fellows, and MacArthur “Geniuses.” In 2010 MATA was awarded ASCAP’s prestigious Aaron Copland award in recognition of its work. For its first collaboration with GatherNYC, MATA will showcase highlights from previous festivals as well as selected works from its global Call for Submissions. The New Yorker has hailed MATA as, “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.” The New York Times has called it “nondogmatic, even antidogmatic;” and The Wall Street Journal said that it “tells us a lot about how composers are thinking now.”
Apr. 13: Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
Violinist Deborah Buck, praised by The Strad as having a “surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound,” and Orli Shaham, described as a “brilliant pianist” by The New York Times, present a program to celebrate Clara Schumann's legacy. In addition to works by Robert and Clara Schumann, the program features the couple's circle of friends, including the music of Amanda Maier.
Apr. 27: ETHEL + Layale Chaker
From their beginnings in 1998, the members of ETHEL have prized collaboration. In recent years, the quartet has struck up a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Lebanese-born, Brooklyn-based violinist and composer Layale Chaker. Their album Vigil offers a chance to document some of that collective work, with each member of ETHEL contributing a piece and Chaker contributing two works, one of which is the remarkable work that gives the project its name.
May 11: Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
Acclaimed violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is known for channeling her award-winning virtuosity as a means of championing worthy music by lesser or unknown composers from her native Ukraine. For her first appearance at GatherNYC, Solomiya is joined by violist William Frampton and cellist Laura Metcalf to present a forgotten masterwork by Fedir Yakymenko, a colorful and rhapsodic piece written around the turn of the 20th century. Ukrainian by birth and spending his life in Russia and France, Yakymenko deftly blends French and Ukrainian sounds and styles into this delightful piece, which deserves to be heard and remembered.
May 25: Rupert Boyd, guitar
GatherNYC artistic director and classical guitar virtuoso Rupert Boyd takes listeners on a journey across centuries and continents on the six strings of his guitar. From Malian kora music to atmospheric sounds from Japan to contemporary music from his home country of Australia to classic works for the Spanish guitar, Boyd’s riveting program has something for everyone.
June 8: Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
Building on a highly successful collaboration during the 2023-24 season, GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd in their duo formation of Boyd Meets Girl once again team up with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for an expanded collaborative program featuring classical favorites and creative, virtuosic takes on popular tunes.
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Press photos available here.
April 11-12: Emerald City Music Presents Canellakis-Brown Duo in Humor & Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
April 11-12: Emerald City Music Presents Canellakis-Brown Duo in Humor & Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
Emerald City Music Season 09
Canellakis-Brown Duo
Humor and Harmony: An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy
Friday, April 11, 2025 at 8:00pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldCanellakisBrown2025Seattle
Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldCanellakisBrown2025Olympia
“Emerald City Music [is] known for its innovative approaches to presenting classical music”– Cascade PBS
Seattle & Olympia WA – On Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12, 2025, Emerald City Music (ECM) and founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee continue ECM’s Season 09, welcoming cellist Nicholas Canellakis and pianist Michael Stephen Brown back to the Pacific Northwest for an evening of music, film, and comedy as the Canellakis-Brown Duo.
"A superb young soloist" (The New Yorker), Nicholas Canellakis is one of the most versatile cellists of his generation. From Carnegie Hall to internationally renowned festivals, his performances are hailed for their rich, alluring tone.
An award-winning composer and pianist, Michael Stephen Brown has been praised by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His performances and compositions consistently push the boundaries of classical music.
The Canellakis-Brown Duo invites ECM audiences to an unforgettable evening that seamlessly blends chamber music, comedy, and film. World-renowned musicians Nicholas Canellakis and Michael Stephen Brown bring their unmatched synergy to the stage, combining technical brilliance with humor and emotional depth. Hailed as “relaxed and unselfconscious” (New York Classical Review), their performances feel like a captivating conversation with friends.
The esteemed pair of musicians bring a unique program with a twist to ECM’s stages, featuring a film – Canellakis’s short comedy My New Cello (2023), a mesmerizing new multimedia work for film and live score – directed by Canellakis and composed by Brown. Alongside this screening will be more evocative and thrilling music by Brown, in addition to composers with strong ties to the world of film.
The truly unique, multi-medium event will include: Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante (1829-30); Lied (Romance) In F Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1890); Romance, Op 36 by Camille Saint-Saëns (1874); Lukas Foss’s Capriccio (1948); Breakup Etude for the Right Hand Alone by Michael Stephen Brown (2020); Spinning Song by Michael Stephen Brown (2024); “Moses” Variations on one string by Niccolò Paganini (1818-19); and Bulgarian Bulge by Don Ellis, (arranged by Nick Canellakis) (1971).
Audiences can join the Canellakis-Brown Duo on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N), and Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd. SW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, listeners can enjoy ECM’s flagship “date-night experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.
“It’s an absolute delight to welcome back Nick Canellakis and Michael Stephen Brown to the Emerald City Music stage—this time as a duo that’s equally musical and hilarious!,” says ECM Artistic Director Kristin Lee. “Nick and Michael have been dear friends of mine for years, and it has been inspiring to witness their creativity and extraordinary talents flourish into such a unique and brilliant careers. This is a rare opportunity to experience the perfect fusion of humor and musical artistry in one unforgettable evening—truly, a night not to be missed!”
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
March 14: ECM New Series Releases Patrick Demenga's Recording of Alexander Knaifel's Chapter Eight
ECM New Series Releases Patrick Demenga's Recording of Alexander Knaifel's Chapter Eight
ECM New Series Releases
Alexander Knaifel: Chapter Eight
Patrick Demenga, violoncello
The State Choir Latvija, Youth Choir Kamēr and Riga Cathedral Boys Choir
Andres Mustonen, conductor
Release Date: March 14, 2025
ECM 2637
CD: 0028948598533
Press downloads and CDs available upon request.
Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of Alexander Knaifel. Written in 1992 and 1993 and based upon the eighth chapter of the Old Testament Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, it is conceived as a “community prayer”. In his imagination, while writing it, Knaifel said he “heard it in the most reverberant church acoustics.” A slowly moving piece that acquires a cumulative power with enveloping and radiant atmosphere, it proposes what Knaifel referred to as a “non-concerto situation.” As the work progresses, the cellist is called upon to renounce the soloist’s role of leadership and to surrender to the total sound at the nexus of the choirs, arranged in cross formation inside the church.
Here the cellist is Patrick Demenga who, together with his brother Thomas, made the first of ECM’s recordings of Knaifel’s music in 1998 with Lux Aeterna. Many of Knaifel’s works implied a spiritual or contemplative dimension and in its obituary of the Russian composer, who died last year, Gramophone wrote that “his style proved ideal for the ECM aesthetic, allowing the luminous, meditative qualities of the music to shine through.” Those qualities are evident as Estonian conductor Andres Mustonen subtly directs three Latvian choirs: the State Choir Latvija, the Youth Choir Kamēr and the Riga Cathedral Boys Choir. “Andres Mustonen managed to make the choral voices float,” wrote Michael Dervan, a witness to the performance here, in the Irish Times. “The sounds sometimes seemed to emerge as imperceptibly as a cloud slowly forming in a clear sky. In the welcoming rococo interior of Lucerne’s Jesuit Church, the effect was of prolonged, quiet ravishment.”
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Alexander Knaifel was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1943, and grew up in St Petersburg. Setting out, initially, to be a cellist, he studied with teachers including Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory in the early 1960s. As a composer he was soon allied with an emerging Soviet avant-garde, a network of friends such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina and Valentin Silvestrov. Like them, he subsequently found his way to a more personal idiom. His own compositions, from the mid-1970s onwards, include a number of slowly evolving pieces: “quiet giants” was his own term for these works, whose quest for beauty often has a metaphysical dimension or a sacred subtext. Knaifel sought to convey something of the heart of faith by, as he put it, "speaking in a low voice, hoping to hear a voice within oneself.”
The premiere performance of Chapter Eight took place in Washington’s National Cathedral in 1995, with Mstislav Rostropovich in the cellist’s role.
Further recordings of the music of Alexander Knaifel on ECM are Svete Tikhiy (2002) with Oleg Malov, the Keller Quartett, Tatiana Melentieva, and Andrei Siegle, Amicta Sole (2005), with Rostropovich and Melentieva plus the Glinka College Boys Choir and the Hermitage Orchestra, Blazhenstva (2008) with Melentieva, Ivan Monighetti, Piotr Migunov, the Hermitage Orchestra and the Lege Artis Choir, and Lukumoriye (2018), with Malov, Migunov, Melentieva, and Lege Artis.
Swiss cellist Patrick Demenga was born in 1962. He studied at the Bern Conservatory, in Cologne with Boris Pergamenschikow, and in New York with Harvey Shapiro. He has premiered works by Isang Yun, Gerhard Schedl, Heinz Holliger and many others. Patrick Demenga first appeared on ECM New Series in 1995 with 12 Hommages à Paul Sacher, with music of Berio, Boulez, Britten, Dutilleux, Ginastera, Henze, Holliger, Lutosławski and more.
Andres Mustonen was born in Tallinn in 1953. Renowned as both conductor and violinist, he was a founder of the early music consort Hortus Musicus, and has long juxtaposed investigations into old music with ardent championing of the new.
The State Choir Latvija is the largest professional choir in the Baltic States. Founded in 1942 its repertoire extends from the renaissance to the present day. The Latvija choir has given world premieres of Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry and Lera Auerbach’s Russian Requiem.
Youth Choir Kamēr was founded in 1990, and established a reputation for its expressive performance style. The choir has commissioned pieces from composers including John Tavener, Giya Kancheli, Dobrinka Tabakova and John Luther Adams, and participated in collaborations with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, Yuri Bashmet, Maxim Rysanov, and others.
The Riga Cathedral Boys Choir was first established in Latvia in 1950, and has since toured the world on many occasions.
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Chapter Eight with Patrick Demenga and the three Latvian choirs under the direction of Andres Mustonen, was recorded at Jesuitenkirche Luzerne in March 2009, in the context of the Lucerne Festival. The Jesuitenkirche - whose acoustic properties are an essential component of this interpretation of Knaifel’s piece - was built in the 17th century, as the first large Baroque church in Switzerland north of the Alps.
March 21: Sony Classical Releases Songs With Words New Album from Vocalist & Composer Malakoff Kowalski – Debut Single When I Died, Love feat. Igor Levit Out Now
March 21: Sony Classical Releases Songs With Words New Album from Vocalist & Composer Malakoff Kowalski – Debut Single When I Died, Love feat. Igor Levit Out Now
Album Artwork (Download)
Sony Classical Releases Songs with Words
New Album from Vocalist and Composer Malakoff Kowalski
with Pianists Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales
Out Now: Debut Single When I Died, Love
Featuring Igor Levit
Listen Here | Watch Here
Album Release Date: March 21, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
Songs With Words is the new album by vocalist and composer Malakoff Kowalski, together with pianists Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales. Set for release on March 21, 2025 and available for pre-order now, the new Sony Classical album features miniatures by classical composers coupled with sung poems by American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Reflecting on Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, this extraordinary quartet presents a new kind of music, and possibly a whole new genre that has never before appeared in this form either in classical music, jazz, or pop. Accompanying the album news is the first track release, When I Died, Love featuring pianist Igor Levit - watch the official video.
In his liner notes, Kowalski, the Berlin-based German-American composer and singer of Persian origin, succinctly describes the album thus: “It took about five years to birth these twelve songs. They were assembled from both famous and lesser-known miniatures by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Aram Khachaturian, Maurice Ravel, Edvard Grieg, Amy Beach, Germaine Tailleferre, Claude Debussy, and Gabriel Fauré. I kept unearthing timeless, intimate, vulnerable poems from Ginsberg’s oeuvre, and for some reason, again and again, these poems, with little or no reworking, functioned very naturally as song lyrics. The quiet, inner-directed vocals strictly followed the piano’s motifs and themes, while the piano parts, in turn, stuck to their original versions, with only the most imperceptible of alterations here and there.”
The result is a song cycle reminiscent of Tom Waits, Jim Morrison, and David Bowie, infused with the musicality of Bill Evans, Kurt Weill, and Michel Legrand. Malakoff Kowalski describes it as a great stroke of luck that three of his closest musician friends played the piano on this album in order to transform a mere concept into actual music: “Three personalities with contrasting pianistic spirits, as distinct as the material we engaged with here: Igor Levit, whom I love above all for his three great Bs: Busoni, Bach, Brahms. Johanna Summer, who improvises between jazz and classical so freely and so thoroughly that it makes me dizzy with joy. And Chilly Gonzales, who with SOLO PIANO and its successors, has done more for contemporary miniatures than any other living composer.”
With the album Songs With Words, this remarkable group has created a fascinating interplay between the pristine European piano tradition and the American poetry of the Beat Generation.
“All I know: my parents were born in Tehran, I was born in Boston, I grew up in Hamburg and I now live in Berlin. I love nothing more than music. Everything else equals question marks, exclamation marks and dashes.” This is how musician and composer Malakoff Kowalski describes himself. VOGUE magazine named him “The Piano Poet,” fellow musician Chilly Gonzales regards him as one of his “favorite living composers.”
Kowalski refers to Debussy, Scriabin and Frederic Mompou as his influences—while Jazz and Psychedelic music from the fifties and sixties is just as important to him. “One is being forced to listen closely. Kowalski’s compositions may appear to be rather simple, but the world hidden inside them is most complex. From unresolved harmonic turns to frequent musical quotations—it remains unclear on how many different levels his music takes place. Its calm is only a facade.” (Concerti Magazine)
In addition to his solo music, recorded on seven albums to date, Malakoff Kowalski composes for film and theater as well. As a writer he publishes passionate and controversial music critiques. In his concerts the auditorium is entirely dark, with a small reading lamp above the grand piano and a white spotlight being the only sources of light.
Igor Levit, who recently premiered a work specially written for him by Kowalski at the Salzburg Festival, raves about his compositions: “Ferruccio Busoni once said, ‘Music is sonorous air.’ That’s what this music is. Most wonderful sonorous air.”
Malakoff Kowalski, Vocals
Igor Levit / Johanna Summer / Chilly Gonzales, Piano
Songs With Words
Tracklist:
1. Dry Old Rose (Ft. Johanna Summer)
2. Shadow Changes into Bone (Ft. Igor Levit)
3. When I Died, Love (Ft. Igor Levit)
4. See the World Go Wild (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)
5. Interlude #A
6. A Strange Wild Leaf (Ft. Johanna Summer)
7. The Weight of the World Is Love (Ft. Igor Levit)
8. Until They Try (Ft. Johanna Summer)
9. An Empty Hungry Ghost (Ft. Johanna Summer)
10. Interlude #B
11. One Day (Ft. Igor Levit)
12. The Nightingale at Night (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)
13. Dawn (Ft. Johanna Summer)
14. Awake (Ft. Chilly Gonzales)
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records, and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
April 11: Leif Ove Andsnes Releases New Album on Sony Classical – Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
April 11: Leif Ove Andsnes Releases New Album on Sony Classical – Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
Album Artwork (Download)
Leif Ove Andsnes Unveils the Hidden Side of Liszt
New Album to be Released on Sony Classical
Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
Out Today: Consolations No. 3 – Listen Here
Album Release Date: April 11, 2025
Pre-Order Available Now
The pianist explores the introspective beauty of Liszt’s consolations and the spiritual depth of Via Crucis with the Norwegian Soloist Choir, led by Grete Pedersen
“a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight.” – The New York Times
“as usual with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, blend is exquisite, intonation perfect and articulation superlative.” – Gramophone
On his latest album Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works for Sony Classical, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes unveils the often-forgotten side of the famed virtuoso Franz Liszt - the sacred music that offers a more intimate picture of the man and his deeply held faith. The new album, Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works, is set for release on April 11, 2025 and available for pre-order now. The first single, Consolations No. 3 is out today – listen here.
With acclaimed vocal ensemble the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Andsnes has recorded Liszt’s remarkable late work Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross’) for choir and piano. The pianist completes his all-Liszt album with the solo piano work Consolations and two movements from the composer’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.
Franz Liszt is often described as the ‘first virtuoso’ - a superstar pianist and composer who invented the piano recital and whose fame and following in the nineteenth century were unprecedented. Much of Liszt’s reputation hangs on sweeping virtuosic showpieces so technically challenging that only Liszt could play them.
But that is only half the story. In 1847, at the age of just 35, Liszt retired from public performance to focus on writing and teaching. Thirteen years later he took another step back, taking Holy Orders and embarking upon a new life of religious devotion and creative introspection.
In this later period, a new aesthetic took root in Liszt, one characterized by austere, spare and sometimes inscrutable musical utterances that tended to question more than they assert. ‘I find Liszt’s religious music fascinating,’ says Andsnes, who has lived with Liszt’s music since childhood. ‘This is very different music, with so few notes but with a tension and beauty.’
One of the major statements of Liszt’s late period was Via Crucis, a journey through the Roman Catholic tradition’s Stations of the Cross for choir and piano, written in Rome in 1866 but considered too unusual by Liszt’s publisher and never performed in the composer’s lifetime. It wasn’t until 1929 that the work was given its first airing, on Good Friday, in the capital of the composer’s native Hungary, Budapest.
Via Crucis is unlike any other work in the repertoire: a concentrated ritual drama, ranging from liturgical chant to Lisztian chromaticism at its most searching and expressive. It sets a pianist and choir in dialogue with one another, each performing alone as well as together.
“This is something very different,” says Andnsnes. “It is incredible, the journey Liszt made as a composer, from this very flamboyant virtuosic style to [Via Crucis], which is very bare, with so few notes, but still an incredible tension and beauty. It points forward to the twentieth century while also building on the tradition of scared music.”
The work’s unusual scoring gave Andsnes the opportunity to extend his long-standing collaboration with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir - one of the finest vocal ensembles in the world and a seasoned recording group, consisting of 26 handpicked professional singers.
“Via Crucis tells a story about a man who gave his life for others, and at the same time is so much about humanity,” says Grete Pedersen, artistic director of the choir; “it is a piece with a lot of question marks, and I hope listeners will feel that.”
“We live in a world of pain and conflict and Via Crucis offers room for empathy, for philosophical thought, and for the taking-in of different emotions,” says Andsnes. “Audiences seem to be mesmerized by it. It really is a special work in which you can discover so much beauty.” He likens the work to ‘14 miniature tone poems’.
The musicians examined the piece extensively before recording it together in Oslo, performing it in concert and attempting to fathom is unusual scoring in which piano and choir are sometimes partners yet sometimes sound diametrically opposed.
“It was inspiring to be in the middle of the sound of a choir of this quality,” says Andsnes; “I was inspired by the exacting way Grete and the Soloists’ Choir do these things. Their attention to detail is so great, which is important in music that is so fragile.” Grete Pedersen comments: “If any pianist can make the piano sing, it’s Leif Ove.”
Completing the program is music from two earlier cycles by Liszt that prove there was always more to his musical outlook than showmanship and virtuosity. A mood of thoughtful reflection dominates the composer’s Consolations, written on the eve of the composer’s retirement from public performance and in a paired-back idiom that alternates the lyrical, the winsome and the forthright before dissolving into silence.
Two of the six movements are cast in the key of E major, the tonality Liszt reserved for music addressing the divine. “ find the Consolations so tender, so intimate, speaking from heart to heart,” says Andsnes. “But still, they have different styles, from the spiritual to the dramatic. They are so wonderfully written for the piano; it always sings.”
Andsnes’s album also includes two movements from Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, a magnificent 10-movement cycle written in 1853, inspired by poetry by Alphonse de Lamartine. Andsnes describes the ‘Andante Lagrimoso’ as “full of sorrow.”
The other movement from the set, which ends the album, is something else entirely. Liszt’s ‘Miserere, d’après Palestrina’ is a startling creation written in homage to Italy’s great Renaissance polyphonic composer, which treats a chant-like theme with an almost improvisatory spontaneity. “It ends with an enormous flourish,” says Andsnes, “it’s a relief after all the intimate music we have been through. But it also brings us back to the very beginning of the album, as the Via Crucis begins with a Gregorian chant.”
Franz Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
TRACKLIST
Via Crucis, S. 53
1 Vexilla regis
2 Station I: Jesus wird zum Tode verdammt
3 Station II: Jesus trägt sein Kreuz
4 Station III: Jesus fällt zum ersten Mal
5 Station IV: Jesus begegnet seiner heiligen Mutter
6 Station V: Simon von Kyrene hilft Jesus das Kreuz tragen
7 Station VI: Sancta Veronica
8 Station VII: Jesus fällt zum zweiten Mal
9 Station VIII: Die Frauen von Jerusalem
10 Station IX: Jesus fällt zum dritten Mal
11 Station X: Jesus wird entkleidet
12 Station XI: Jesus wird ans Kreuz geschlagen
13 Station XII: Jesus stirbt am Kreuze
14 Station XIII: Jesus wird vom Kreuz genommen
15 Station XIV: Jesus wird ins Grab gelegt
Consolations, S. 172
16 No. 1 in E Major. Andante con moto
17 No. 2 in E Major. Un poco più mosso
18 No. 3 in D-Flat Major. Lento placido
19 No. 4 in D-Flat Major. Quasi adagio
20 No. 5 in E Major. Andantino
21 No. 6 in E Major. Allegretto sempre cantabile
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173
22 No. 9. Andante lagrimoso
23 No. 8. Miserere, d'après Palestrina. Largo
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records, and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
FOLLOW LEIF OVE ANDSNES
Website: http://www.andsnes.com/
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Feb-March: GatherNYC Presents Five Mindful Musical Mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle - Sundays at 11AM
Feb-March: GatherNYC Presents Five Mindful Musical Mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle
Press photos available here.
GatherNYC Continues 2024-2025 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM
Mindful Musical Mornings Include Spoken Word and Brief Celebration of Silence
Coming Up in February and March
2/2 ensemble 132
2/16 Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
3/2 Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea
3/16 Daedalus Quartet
3/30 MATA
Spring 2025 GatherNYC Concerts:
4/13 Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
4/27 ETHEL + Layale Chaker
5/11 Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
5/25 Rupert Boyd, guitar
6/8 Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee”
– The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series”
– The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its 2024-2025 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with five upcoming concerts in February and March - ensemble 132 on February 2, Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner on February 16, Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea on March 2, Daedalus Quartet on March 16, and a MATA showcase on March 30. The season runs through June 2025, with concerts held every other Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series last year. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 17 concerts throughout our 2024-25 season, our largest lineup yet. We look forward to inviting audiences to join us for these mindful, musical mornings with world-class artists in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”
Up Next, Sundays at 11AM:
Feb. 2: ensemble132
ensemble132 presents a genre-bending program honoring the expansive legacy of two musical icons for their joint 150th birthday: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Maurice Ravel. This group of all-star chamber musicians drawn from the rosters of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and more, explores these composers’ influence on other visionaries through the 20th and 21st centuries. ensemble132 traces these connections in a program featuring movements from Ravel’s and Coleridge-Taylor’s string quartets along with special e132 arrangements and a rollicking finale by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
Feb. 16: Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Vocalist and composer Sarah Elizabeth Charles, hailed as “soulfully articulate” by The New York Times, and acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Jarrett Cherner will present music from their debut album as a duo. The album, called Tone, centers its concept on the magical, fleeting and delicate nature of life as well as the need to take care of ourselves and the world around us as best as we possibly can.
Mar. 2: Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to expanding the Latin American chamber music repertoire, presents this family-friendly concert of music from Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. The program features Cuban composer Keyla Orozco’s The Song of the Cicada (2024) for narrator and quintet, inspired by Onelio Jorge Cardoso’s vivid children’s story of the same title. Also on the program are Toomai’s original arrangements of works by Hermeto Pascoal, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Léa Freire, and Manuel Ponce.
Mar. 16: Daedalus Quartet
Winners of the highest honor in string quartet playing, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Daedalus Quartet will perform the visceral, folk-inspired sixth string quartet by Béla Bartók, alongside the atmospheric, pop-influenced Space Between by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim fellow Anna Weesner.
Mar. 30: MATA
Music at the Anthology (MATA), an incubator for adventurous emerging artists in the early stages of their careers, presents, supports, and commissions composers, regardless of their stylistic views or aesthetic inclinations. Founded by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa in 1996 as a way to address the lack of presentation opportunities for unaffiliated composers, MATA composers have since emanated to include future Rome, Alpert, Takemitsu, Siemens, and Pulitzer Prize-winners, Guggenheim Fellows, and MacArthur “Geniuses.” In 2010 MATA was awarded ASCAP’s prestigious Aaron Copland award in recognition of its work. For its first collaboration with GatherNYC, MATA will showcase highlights from previous festivals as well as selected works from its global Call for Submissions. The New Yorker has hailed MATA as, “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.” The New York Times has called it “nondogmatic, even antidogmatic;” and The Wall Street Journal said that it “tells us a lot about how composers are thinking now.”
GatherNYC's Remaining Spring 2025 Schedule – All Concerts Take Place at 11AM:
Apr. 13: Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
Violinist Deborah Buck, praised by The Strad as having a “surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound,” and Orli Shaham, described as a “brilliant pianist” by The New York Times, present a program to celebrate Clara Schumann's legacy. In addition to works by Robert and Clara Schumann, the program features the couple's circle of friends, including the music of Amanda Maier.
Apr. 27: ETHEL + Layale Chaker
From their beginnings in 1998, the members of ETHEL have prized collaboration. In recent years, the quartet has struck up a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Lebanese-born, Brooklyn-based violinist and composer Layale Chaker. Their album Vigil offers a chance to document some of that collective work, with each member of ETHEL contributing a piece and Chaker contributing two works, one of which is the remarkable work that gives the project its name.
May 11: Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
Acclaimed violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is known for channeling her award-winning virtuosity as a means of championing worthy music by lesser or unknown composers from her native Ukraine. For her first appearance at GatherNYC, Solomiya is joined by violist William Frampton and cellist Laura Metcalf to present a forgotten masterwork by Fedir Yakymenko, a colorful and rhapsodic piece written around the turn of the 20th century. Ukrainian by birth and spending his life in Russia and France, Yakymenko deftly blends French and Ukrainian sounds and styles into this delightful piece, which deserves to be heard and remembered.
May 25: Rupert Boyd, guitar
GatherNYC artistic director and classical guitar virtuoso Rupert Boyd takes listeners on a journey across centuries and continents on the six strings of his guitar. From Malian kora music to atmospheric sounds from Japan to contemporary music from his home country of Australia to classic works for the Spanish guitar, Boyd’s riveting program has something for everyone.
June 8: Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
Building on a highly successful collaboration during the 2023-24 season, GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd in their duo formation of Boyd Meets Girl once again team up with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for an expanded collaborative program featuring classical favorites and creative, virtuosic takes on popular tunes.
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Press photos available here.
OUT NOW: Violinist Esther Abrami Presents Wiegala – First Single from New Album on Sony Classical to be Released April 25
Violinist Esther Abrami Presents Wiegala on Sony Classical
Violinist Esther Abrami Presents Wiegala
First Single from New Album on Sony Classical
Listen Here | Watch Music Video
Album Release Date: April 25, 2025
Esther Abrami presents moving lullaby by Jewish composer Ilse Weber in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Violinist Esther Abrami releases a poignant new interpretation of Wiegala a lullaby by Jewish poet and composer Ilse Weber. Arranged for violin and string quintet by Abrami herself, the song is available now, alongside a music video - watch here in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Ilse Weber (1903–1944) was a Czech-born Jewish poet, writer, and composer known for her children’s books and heartfelt songs, many of which she wrote during her imprisonment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. “Wiegala, a lullaby which she composed during this time, stands as a testament to Weber’s courage and compassion. While working as a nurse for children in the camp, Weber offered music as a source of comfort and hope when medicine was unavailable. She composed songs, led performances, and even formed a choir, bringing light into one of history’s darkest chapters. When the children were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, she chose to accompany them, singing “Wiegala” with them for the last time before she was murdered, alongside the children she had cared for.
Esther Abrami’s delicate arrangement captures the profound emotional depth of the piece, honoring Weber’s legacy and highlighting the enduring power of music in the face of unimaginable adversity. Wiegala is the first single from Abrami’s forthcoming album, which will exclusively feature works by female composers. The Sony Classical album will be released on April 25, 2025. Wiegala is available in both Stereo and Dolby Atmos.
About Esther Abrami
Esther Abrami is much more than a musician: she's an inspiration to a new generation of music enthusiasts. Through her large social media platform, Esther shares her passion for music, performance, and practice sessions and shares behind-the-scenes glimpses into her life as a musician with an ever-growing community worldwide. With her dazzling talent, infectious personality, and boundless enthusiasm for music-making, Esther Abrami is a rising star.
Born in 1996 in Aix-en-Provence, the violinist studied at the Royal College of Music and completed her master's degree at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, for which she received a full scholarship. In 2019, she became the first classical musician ever to win the ‘Social Media Superstar’ category at the Global Awards and in 2021 she was featured in Classic FM's ‘30 under 30 Classical Artists to Watch’ series, curated by Julian Lloyd Webber and was listed as a ‘Rising Star’ by BBC Music Magazine. In the UK, Esther Abrami is considered one of the most promising young classical artists of her generation and has been appointed Creative Partner and Artist in Residence by the English Symphony Orchestra. With her debut album ‘Esther Abrami’ (2022), the follow up “Cinema” (2023) and an EP “Spotlight” dedicated to women composers recorded with ‘Her Ensemble’, a free-form group that seeks to address the gender gap and gender stereotypes in the music industry, Esther has become an artist who achieves wide attention outside the classical sphere and on social media. In her podcast ‘Woman in Classical’, Esther Abrami regularly interviews outstanding women musicians and composers from the world of classical music with the hope of inspiring young people to pursue a career in music. Esther Abrami plays a violin by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, kindly provided by Beare's International Violin Society.
Follow Esther Abrami
Website: https://www.estherabrami.com/
Instagram: @estherabrami
TikTok: @estherabrami
Facebook: @estherabramiviolin
X: @estherabrami
YouTube: @estherabrami
The New School’s College of Performing Arts Welcomes Bassoonist Adrian Morejon to Wind Faculty
The New School’s College of Performing Arts Welcomes Acclaimed Bassoonist Adrian Morejon to Wind Faculty
The New School’s College of Performing Arts Welcomes Acclaimed Bassoonist Adrian Morejon to Wind Faculty
New York, NY (Jan. 22, 2025) – The New School’s College of Performing Arts – Mannes, Jazz, Drama, today announces the appointment of acclaimed bassoonist and prolific performer Adrian Morejon to the faculty of the esteemed performing arts school. As a faculty member in the Mannes School of Music, Morejon will lead classes and ensembles, teach private lessons, develop and create new projects, and share with students his depth of experience as an accomplished soloist, chamber and orchestral musician.
"I truly look forward to joining my esteemed colleagues on the Mannes wind faculty and working with the talented young musicians of tomorrow. The school's dedication to preparing today's students for a myriad of varied musical paths both excites and inspires me to share my musical experience and guidance," said Adrian Morejon.
“We are quite proud of our wind faculty at Mannes and thrilled about Adrian Morejon coming on board. His career is in so many ways a model of what is possible and what so many of our students need to embrace, including of course, his bassoon playing and teaching, his harpsichord playing, and his work in arts management and entrepreneurship. I so look forward to Adrian and what he brings to Mannes students, faculty, and staff,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.
Morejon has been praised for his "teeming energy" and "precise control" by The New York Times and having "every note varnished to a high gloss" by The Boston Globe. As a soloist, Morejon has appeared throughout the US, Mexico, and Europe with the Talea Ensemble, IRIS Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the Miami Symphony. Most recently, Morejon is featured on the recording of Joan Tower's Bassoon Concerto, Red Maple, released by BMOP/Sound. An active chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music, Morejon is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and Executive Director/Bassoonist of Talea Ensemble. He has appeared with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Imani Winds, Alarm Will Sound, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Essex Winter Series, among others. An experienced orchestral musician, Morejon is a member of Orchestra Lumos and the IRIS Collective, and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Novus, The Knights, and others.
Morejon was a recipient of Theodore Presser Foundation Grant, 2nd prize of the Fox-Gillet International Competition, and shared top prize at the Moscow Conservatory International Competition. During the past summers, he has participated in many festivals, including the Composer's Conference at Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival, Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music Summer Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, and the Monadnock Music Festival.
In joining the wind faculty at Mannes, Morejon will provide mentorship to a new generation of musicians, guiding them in technical mastery, creative expression and the practical realities of a professional music career. For more information on Adrian Morejon: www.adrianmorejon.com
The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.
The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.
The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.
Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. Distinguished Mannes alumni include the 20th-century songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, the great pianists Michel Camilo, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans, acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel, beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, as well as the great opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.
Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.
Feb. 28-Mar. 1: Dreamers’ Circus Returns to Emerald City Music
Feb. 28-Mar. 1: Dreamers’ Circus Returns to Emerald City Music
Emerald City Music Season 09
The Return of Dreamers’ Circus
Friday, February 28, 2025 at 8:00pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldDreamers2025Seattle
Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldDreamers2025Olympia
“[Emerald City Music and] artistic director Kristin Lee, a renowned violinist and member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, shows a flair for attracting younger audiences.” – Strings Magazine
Seattle & Olympia WA – Emerald City Music (ECM) and founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee embrace an even bolder appreciation of Season 09’s Global Resonance theme with the next season program, set for Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1, 2025: the long-awaited and highly anticipated return of acclaimed trio, Dreamers Circus.
The Danish folk ensemble made both its U.S. West Coast and Emerald City Music debuts in 2019. Known for their innovative and fantastical approaches to folk music inspired by several different Nordic cultures and traditions, the members of Dreamers Circus – Niokolaj Busk (piano, keyboards, accordion), Ale Carr (cittern, guitar, keyboards), and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, also of Danish String Quartet (violin, fiddle, kannel) will bring their rich musical artistry and lively spirit back to the Pacific Northwest, enchanting audiences with a thrilling program of works that will be announced directly from the stage.
These two special performances will take place on Friday, February 28, 2025 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N), and Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd. SW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, audiences can enjoy ECM’s flagship “date-night experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.
Contemporary and endlessly innovative in their approach, Dreamers Circus draws inspiration from the deep traditions of folk music in the Nordic region and reshapes them into something bright, shiny, and new. Dreamers’ Circus display inventiveness and talent in their approach to performances that include music from Denmark and Sweden as well as Finland, Norway, and the far reaches of the windswept Faroe Islands. The ensemble has won five prestigious Danish Music Awards and were named 2023 Artist of the Year by the Danish national classical radio channel P2, becoming the first non-classical group to earn that honor.
“Emerald City Music is so thrilled to be welcoming back Dreamers' Circus.” says ECM Artistic Director Kristin Lee.
”Since their smashing West Coast debut in 2019 on the ECM stage, Dreamers' Circus has gone to build fans all over the US and beyond. We are eager to welcome them back this spring and experience their new works they have built over the past 5 years. Knowing their immaculate technique, ability to intimately draw the audience with their unique sound, and tell a story through their music, this is definitely going to be the highlight of our 9th season!”
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
Emerald City Music Appoints Sean Campbell as Executive Director
Emerald City Music Appoints Sean Campbell as Executive Director
Emerald City Music Appoints Sean Campbell as Executive Director
“Emerald City Music [is] known for its innovative approaches to presenting classical music.”
– Cascade PBS
Seattle & Olympia, WA – Today, January 9, 2025, Emerald City Music (ECM) announces the appointment of Sean Campbell as its new Executive Director. Campbell comes to ECM from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where he worked as its Artistic Planning Manager. Campbell will join ECM’s founding Artistic Director, Kristin Lee, in bringing ECM’s inventive programming to audiences in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
As Executive Director, Campbell will provide administrative leadership and support to ECM’s Board of Directors, assist Artistic Director Kristin Lee in developing and executing engagement events and educational programs, work with the ECM Board and staff to develop partnerships and collaborations with community organizations and local businesses, serve as a community ambassador, and develop a forward-thinking, strategic plan for the organization, among other key duties and responsibilities. Campbell will begin his tenure with ECM on February 3, 2025.
“I am absolutely thrilled to join the Emerald City Music team as its next Executive Director,” Campbell says. “ECM’s ability to combine exceptional performances with inviting, social concert experiences is an extraordinary benefit to the Puget Sound Region. Having grown up in Portland, Oregon, I’m so excited to return to the Pacific Northwest and support this wonderful organization’s growth as it continues to serve its thriving arts communities.”
Artistic Director Kristin Lee says, “I am thrilled to begin this exciting new chapter of Emerald City Music alongside Sean Campbell as our new Executive Director! Sean's extensive experience with various arts organizations and his deep passion for chamber music gives me confidence in the future of ECM. Together, I’m eager to bring this unique organization to even greater heights, continuing to bring meaningful musical experiences to our community.
On behalf of everyone at Emerald City Music, I want to extend our gratitude to the dedicated members of the Search Committee—Lynn Grant, Hsing-Hui Hsu, Sam Paris, Van Pham, John C. Robinson, and Shiva Shafii—whose collective efforts led to the selection of our new Executive Director. We also express our sincere thanks to Interim Executive Director Thom Mayes for his guidance throughout this process.”
“We are delighted to welcome Sean Campbell to Emerald City Music as our new Executive Director. His passion and experience as an arts administrator at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center set him apart from a field of candidates for the position,” says Hsing-Hui Hsu, President of Emerald City Music’s Board of Directors. “I am looking forward to working with him – and our fabulous Artistic Director, Kristin Lee – to bring intimate, eclectic chamber music experiences for the coming seasons."
Sean Campbell is an innovative and results-driven arts administrator and producer, with experience in managing programming, operations, and production for some of the nation's most respected performing arts organizations. With a deep passion for many styles of music, Campbell is skilled at building dynamic, inclusive environments that elevate artistic expression and enhance audience engagement.
Through his work at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Campbell planned and produced hundreds of events, digital partnerships, and film productions. Campbell led the programming and delivery of a premier partnership between CMS and Apple Music Classical, which launched in November 2024. This first-of-its-kind initiative accumulated more than 50,000 listeners in the first month. Other notable projects include producing the Emerson String Quartet’s final concerts, a two-part film for PBS, and a documentary on composer George Crumb.
Before moving to New York City in 2019, Campbell lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where he performed as a saxophonist, taught saxophone at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and taught woodwinds for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program. Campbell also founded a contemporary music series that connected artists and audiences from disparate corners of Baltimore’s music communities.
Campbell holds a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where he held a teaching assistantship in Ethnomusicology, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Denver. Campbell will be relocating to Seattle with his wife Swetha, and their dog Inji.
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest’s home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces seven programs annually, with each program visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), and a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival.
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
Feb. 6-8: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Returns to Emerald City Music
Feb. 6-8: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Returns to Emerald City Music
Emerald City Music Season 09
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in:
Spanish Journey
Thursday, February 6, 2025 at 7:00pm
Lairmont Manor | 405 Fieldston Rd | Bellingham, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldFeb2025Bellingham
Friday, February 7, 2025 at 8:00pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldFeb2025Seattle
Saturday, February 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
The Minnaert Center for the Arts | 2011 Mottman Rd SW | Olympia, WA
Tickets: bit.ly/EmeraldFeb2025Olympia
“[Emerald City Music and] artistic director Kristin Lee, a renowned violinist and member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, shows a flair for attracting younger audiences.” – Strings Magazine
Seattle, Olympia, & Bellingham WA – Beginning the second half of its 2024-2025 season of Global Resonance, Emerald City Music (ECM) and founding Artistic Director Kristin Lee present a culturally immersive and musically colorful program titled Spanish Journey, featuring the esteemed talents of several artists from New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMSLC), which returns to the Emerald City Music, bringing a vibrant celebration of Spanish music to Bellingham, Seattle, and Olympia. This month’s exciting program features Emerald City Music Artistic Director and CMSLC member, Kristin Lee, alongside GRAMMY® Award–winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, who returns to the ECM stage. Additional featured CMSLC artists include soprano Vanessa Becerra, cellist Clive Greensmith, and pianist Soyeon Kate Lee.
The three performances of Spanish Journey will take place on Thursday, February 6, 2025 at 7pm as part of the Bellingham Festival of Music at Lairmont Manor (405 Fieldston Rd.), Friday, February 7, 2025 at 8pm in Seattle at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Avenue N), and Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 7:30pm in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts (2011 Mottman Rd. SW). During the concert at 415 Westlake, audiences can enjoy ECM’s flagship “date-night experience,” which combines vibrant classical performance with an open bar, and a “wander-around” concert setting with no stage dividing the audience from the musicians.
Spend a musical evening in Spain, a country of enchanting colors, rhythms, and textures, in a program imaginatively created by violinist Kristin Lee. The distinctive Spanish style is beautifully expressed in piano trios of Falla and Turina, while guitar – an instrument deeply associated with Spain – is also featured, played by Jason Vieaux. Song complements the balance of the program with vocal works by Sarasate, Rodrigo, and Obradors, the texts of which beautifully express the flair and passion of the Spanish language. The combination of the guitar’s intoxicating sounds, the language’s seductive tones, and the trios’ vivid style illustrates the richness of this culture.
Audiences can look forward to hearing music that includes: Canciones Clásicas Españolas by Fernando Obradors (1921); Mallorca, Op. 202 by Isaac Albéniz (1891); Tres Piezas Originales en Estilo Español, Op. 1 by Enrique Arbós (1886); Siete Canciones Populares Españolas by Manuel De Falla (1914); “Romanza Andaluza” from Spanish Dances by Pablo De Sarasate Op. 22 (1878); Tres Canciones Españolas by Joaquín Rodrigo (1951); and Trio No. 2 In B Minor by Joaquín Turina (1933).
“Spring Season at ECM is going to kick off on a high note with a night of Spanish Music!” says Artistic Director Kristin Lee.
”We are thrilled to welcome back The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and this time, you will notice new faces like soprano Vanessa Becerra, cellist Clive Greensmith, and pianist Soyeon Kate Lee who have not joined the ECM stage before. On the other hand, I'm excited to be bringing back to our stage, guitarist Jason Vieaux, and myself on the violin, representing The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Spanish music is less familiar in the "classical" realm, but incredibly festive and powerful to experience- it's a night not to be missed, and you will have 3 chances to hear it in Bellingham, Seattle, and Olympia!
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed “a welcoming and more inclusive environment for intimate music-making” (The Seattle Times), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences. Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting venues including Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
About the Artists: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/team/kristin-lee
About ECM: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/about
Follow ECM on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/emeraldcitymusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/emeraldcitymusic
Jan-Feb: GatherNYC Presents Four Mindful Musical Mornings - Emi Ferguson + Dan Tepfer, Gabriel Cabezas, ensemble 132, Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Jan-Feb: GatherNYC Presents Four Mindful Musical Mornings - Emi Ferguson + Dan Tepfer, Gabriel Cabezas, ensemble 132, Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Press photos available here.
GatherNYC Continues 2024-2025 Season in NYC
at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle
Every Other Sunday Morning at 11AM
Mindful Musical Mornings Include Spoken Word and Brief Celebration of Silence
Coming Up in January and February
1/5 Emi Ferguson + Dan Tepfer
1/19 Gabriel Cabezas
2/2 ensemble 132
2/16 Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Spring 2025 GatherNYC Concerts:
3/2 Toomai Quintet
3/16 Daedalus Quartet
3/30 MATA
4/13 Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
4/27 ETHEL + Layale Chaker
5/11 Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
5/25 Rupert Boyd, guitar
6/8 Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
“thoughtful, intimate events curated with refreshing eclecticism by its founders, the cellist Laura Metcalf and the guitarist Rupert Boyd, complete with pastries and coffee”
– The New Yorker
“A sweet chamber music series”
– The New York Times
“Impressive Aussie/American led concert series proves music can be a religion.”
– Limelight Magazine
Museum of Arts and Design | The Theater at MAD | 2 Columbus Circle | NYC
Tickets & Information: www.gathernyc.org
New York, NY – GatherNYC, a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, continues its 2024-2025 season at the series’ home venue, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) (2 Columbus Circle) with four upcoming concerts in January and February - Emi Ferguson (flute) + Dan Tepfer (clavichord) on January 5, cellist Gabriel Cabezas on January 19, ensemble 132 on February 2, and Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner on February 16. The season runs through June 2025, with concerts held every other Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am. Admission for children under 12 is free.
Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of the spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome.
Spoken word artists perform briefly at the midpoint of each concert, many of whom are winners of The Moth StorySLAM events. “It’s an interesting moment of something completely different from the music, and it often connects with the audience,” Metcalf told Strings magazine in a feature about the series last year. “Then we have a two-minute celebration of silence when we turn the lights down, centering ourselves in the center of the city. Then the lights come back on, and the music starts again out of the silence. We find that the listening and the feeling in the room changes after that.”
Metcalf and Boyd say, “We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful Museum of Arts and Design, offering 17 concerts throughout our 2024-25 season, our largest lineup yet. We look forward to inviting audiences to join us for these mindful, musical mornings with world-class artists in an intimate, unique setting – complete with spoken word, silence, coffee and a communal, welcoming environment.”
Up Next, Sundays at 11AM:
Dec. 22: Excelsis Percussion Quartet
Hailed as, "one of the most innovative and exciting percussion ensembles to emerge in the golden age of chamber music" (Jonathan Haas, New York University) for their immersive sound world, this international group of women with a multilingual combination of five languages join together to speak the universal language of rhythm, rooted in their belief that music possesses an ability to unite us all. Excelsis brings vibrancy to its audiences through eclectic programming, innovative storytelling, and embracing their intersectional identities.
Jan. 5: Emi Ferguson (flute) + Dan Tepfer (clavichord)
Two of NYC’s most acclaimed and versatile artists come together for a program of baroque delights by Bach, Bonporti and more. Tepfer is a #1 Billboard-charting keyboard player who is equally at home in classical and jazz realms, while Ferguson is a 2023 recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, known for her performances alongside the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Paul Simon. The pair brings the spirit of their far-reaching musical practices to breathe new life into ancient music.
Jan. 19: Gabriel Cabezas
Acclaimed cello soloist and chamber musician Gabriel Cabezas shares a creatively constructed solo cello program that explores a wide range of timbral possibilities on the instrument. Bringing his thoughtful virtuosity to music by some of the most important compositional voices of his generation including Jessie Montgomery, Allison Loggins-Hull, Paul Wiancko, Alyssa Weinberg and more, Cabezas masterfully takes listeners on a journey through the world of the cello alone.
Feb. 2: ensemble132
ensemble132 presents a genre-bending program honoring the expansive legacy of two musical icons for their joint 150th birthday: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Maurice Ravel. This group of all-star chamber musicians drawn from the rosters of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and more, explores these composers’ influence on other visionaries through the 20th and 21st centuries. ensemble132 traces these connections in a program featuring movements from Ravel’s and Coleridge-Taylor’s string quartets along with special e132 arrangements and a rollicking finale by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
Feb. 16: Sarah Elizabeth Charles + Jarrett Cherner
Vocalist and composer Sarah Elizabeth Charles, hailed as “soulfully articulate” by The New York Times, and acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Jarrett Cherner will present music from their debut album as a duo. The album, called Tone, centers its concept on the magical, fleeting and delicate nature of life as well as the need to take care of ourselves and the world around us as best as we possibly can.
GatherNYC's Spring 2025 Schedule – All Concerts Take Place at 11AM:
Mar. 2: Toomai Quintet + Maria Brea
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to expanding the Latin American chamber music repertoire, presents this family-friendly concert of music from Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. The program features Cuban composer Keyla Orozco’s The Song of the Cicada (2024) for narrator and quintet, inspired by Onelio Jorge Cardoso’s vivid children’s story of the same title. Also on the program are Toomai’s original arrangements of works by Hermeto Pascoal, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Léa Freire, and Manuel Ponce.
Mar. 16: Daedalus Quartet
Winners of the highest honor in string quartet playing, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Daedalus Quartet will perform the visceral, folk-inspired sixth string quartet by Béla Bartók, alongside the atmospheric, pop-influenced Space Between by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim fellow Anna Weesner.
Mar. 30: MATA
Music at the Anthology (MATA), an incubator for adventurous emerging artists in the early stages of their careers, presents, supports, and commissions composers, regardless of their stylistic views or aesthetic inclinations. Founded by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa in 1996 as a way to address the lack of presentation opportunities for unaffiliated composers, MATA composers have since emanated to include future Rome, Alpert, Takemitsu, Siemens, and Pulitzer Prize-winners, Guggenheim Fellows, and MacArthur “Geniuses.” In 2010 MATA was awarded ASCAP’s prestigious Aaron Copland award in recognition of its work. For its first collaboration with GatherNYC, MATA will showcase highlights from previous festivals as well as selected works from its global Call for Submissions. The New Yorker has hailed MATA as, “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.” The New York Times has called it “nondogmatic, even antidogmatic;” and The Wall Street Journal said that it “tells us a lot about how composers are thinking now.”
Apr. 13: Deborah Buck + Orli Shaham
Violinist Deborah Buck, praised by The Strad as having a “surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound,” and Orli Shaham, described as a “brilliant pianist” by The New York Times, present a program to celebrate Clara Schumann's legacy. In addition to works by Robert and Clara Schumann, the program features the couple's circle of friends, including the music of Amanda Maier.
Apr. 27: ETHEL + Layale Chaker
From their beginnings in 1998, the members of ETHEL have prized collaboration. In recent years, the quartet has struck up a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Lebanese-born, Brooklyn-based violinist and composer Layale Chaker. Their album Vigil offers a chance to document some of that collective work, with each member of ETHEL contributing a piece and Chaker contributing two works, one of which is the remarkable work that gives the project its name.
May 11: Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine
Acclaimed violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is known for channeling her award-winning virtuosity as a means of championing worthy music by lesser or unknown composers from her native Ukraine. For her first appearance at GatherNYC, Solomiya is joined by violist William Frampton and cellist Laura Metcalf to present a forgotten masterwork by Fedir Yakymenko, a colorful and rhapsodic piece written around the turn of the 20th century. Ukrainian by birth and spending his life in Russia and France, Yakymenko deftly blends French and Ukrainian sounds and styles into this delightful piece, which deserves to be heard and remembered.
May 25: Rupert Boyd, guitar
GatherNYC artistic director and classical guitar virtuoso Rupert Boyd takes listeners on a journey across centuries and continents on the six strings of his guitar. From Malian kora music to atmospheric sounds from Japan to contemporary music from his home country of Australia to classic works for the Spanish guitar, Boyd’s riveting program has something for everyone.
June 8: Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl
Building on a highly successful collaboration during the 2023-24 season, GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd in their duo formation of Boyd Meets Girl once again team up with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for an expanded collaborative program featuring classical favorites and creative, virtuosic takes on popular tunes.
For tickets and information, visit www.gathernyc.org.
Press photos available here.