EPSG:4326

2026 Friday Morning Concert

Libbey Park

Sarah Heimberg, trumpet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

A neighborhood project by ROMANFABRIK & Ensemble Modern in cooperation with the restaurant ›Leuchtendroter‹ (Hotel lyf East). A project by Sound Port Frankfurt 2030 – Workshop for Music and Experiment. Funded by the Crespo Foundation.

Lunch concert

Romanfabrik

Quartetto Noûs - 35° Festival Milano Musica

Teatro alla Scala

For more than two decades, Magdalena Kožená has captivated global audiences as one of the world's leading voices. The New York Times once described her unique presence as "vocally elegant, emotionally direct, and stylistically accomplished." In the intimate atmosphere of the small hall, the versatile singer, accompanied only by Daniele Caminiti's sensitive lute playing, presents a program of Baroque classics such as Purcell's world-famous lament "When I am laid in Earth" and arias by the composer and prima donna Barbara Strozzi.

Magdalena Kožená / Song recital

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Still in his early 20s and only two years out of Juilliard, Canadian pianist Tony Siqi Yun is already making waves as a soloist and recitalist. Praised for his refinement, muscular sound, and intimate expressivity, Yun has “an emergent big personality” (Philadelphia Inquirer) that makes him a pianist you’ll want to experience firsthand.

Tony Siqi Yun, piano

Groton Hill Music Center

concert together with our solo trumpeter, Manuel Mischel, and our solo trombonist, Philippe Stier. The sonata by the Venetian composer Dario Castello, born in 1602, offers an enormous range of emotions. In Widor's organ symphony from 1878, a vast array of stops are pulled out around a chorale-like theme, creating a brilliant sonic experience. Berio's "Sequenza" from 1966 explicitly prescribes elements of theatrical performance, including conscious breathing and vocal technique. The two organ movements, published only after Mendelssohn's death, were combined into a single sonata in 1993 with a new instrumentation – and represent a compelling musical experiment. 

Organ concert: Christian Schmitt, Manuel Mischel, Philippe Stier

Bamberger Symphoniker

Led by the highly qualified conductor Pierre Bleuse and the penetrating sound of mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova, the evening concert of this happening explores a multitude of musical and philosophical themes. Central to it is the play of contrasts: light and dark, revelation and concealment. Thomas Larcher tackles the sense of time: sometimes it seems to slow down, and sometimes it seems to go faster. In Debussy's ‘poème dansé’, the ballet is contained in the music, even without dancers on stage. With Berio, the rather floaty wanderings then give way to expressive vocal fireworks, and to top it all off, Andrew Gourlay reduces Wagner's grandeur to its essence, in a version without vocals. As a listener, you rediscover what rustles at the margins and remains hidden from the naked eye.

Happening: Evening concert 'Parsifal'

Queen Elisabeth Hall

The intimacy of Schubert’s graceful Andantino Varié for piano four-hands sits alongside the grandness of Messiaen’s Interstellar Call for solo horn, inspired by the canyons of Utah. We encounter Luciano Berio, one of the leading voices of the European post-war avant garde, in virtuosic (Psy for solo double bass) and introspective (Wasserklavier for solo piano) moods.

Nightfall: Elgar, Berio, Messiaen, Schubert

Smith Square Hall

The Prague Philharmonia Wind Quintet is the only representative of the wind quintet in this season. The repertoire for this combination of instruments is somewhat limited, but it is possible to find inspiration in folk music in it as well. This is evidenced by Václav Trojan’s Wind Quintet, Op. 8, which mentions “Folk Songs” in its subtitle

Trojan. Farkas. Milhaud

The Professed House, Prague

Robert Lis, born in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland, began playing the violin at the age of 6. He is one of the most talented Polish violinists of his generation and has won numerous national and international violin competitions. In 2011, he graduated with honours from the Ignacy Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan as a student of Prof. Dr Marcin Baranowski. In 2012 he obtained his second master's degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam as a student of Ilya Grubert.

Chamber Music Evening N° 5

Semper Opera Dresden

Destined to be one of the great choral events of the decade, the world-renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC), led by esteemed founder and conductor Tõnu Kaljuste, returns to Toronto for a tribute to Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday. A favourite of Toronto audiences, the EPCC has captivated listeners under Soundstreams’ auspices since 2000, with concerts that regularly sell out. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience their luminous sound in the acoustic splendor of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. The program features some of Pärt’s most celebrated works, alongside works by Philip Glass, Evelin Seppar, Luciano Berio, and others. It also includes the world premiere of a new Soundstreams commission by Estonian-Canadian composer Riho Esko Maimets — adding a special local touch to this celebration of the legendary Estonian composer.

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir: Arvo Pärt at 90

Yorkminster Park Baptist Church

Strauss’s eulogy to the world he knew and loved is an outpouring of emotion, and one of his most intimate works. Metamorphosen is paired with other works that extract maximum power from small forces: Berio’s virtuosic Sequenza and the world premiere of Bahar Royaee’s viola concerto.

Metamorphosen

First Church of Christ Scientist

"The Fantastic" is the theme of this season's chamber concerts in the Apollosaal, based on the season's first opera premiere, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin have developed programs that approach this idea and concept, which play a key role in music, in a variety of ways. Ranging from the Baroque to the present day, with a particular focus on the Romantic period, featuring Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and the multitalented E.T.A. Hoffmann (who, in an idealized form, became the title character in Offenbach's opera), "The Fantastic" will be explored with a variety of chamber music works in diverse ensembles.

Chamber Concert II

Berlin State Opera

Canadian pianist Tony Siqi Yun, Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition, performs works by Bach, Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms at his Koerner Hall debut.

Mr. Yun has been hailed as a “poet of the keyboard” (Pianist Magazine) and The Philadelphia Inquirer noted his thrilling performance and “interpretive flashes that point to an emergent big personality: moments of grandness or deep expressivity.” He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2023-24 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Orchestre Métropolitain, following his 2022-23 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Yun has appeared recently with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Hamilton (ON) Philharmonic, and Rhode Island Philharmonic; outside North America, he has recently appeared with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

The Royal Conservatory of Music

Ensemble 360 and Claire Booth, who have forged a dynamic partnership through their performances of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire together, now turn their attention to Berio's quirky and intriguing Folk Songs in the composer's centenary year. Indeed, folk influences pervade the whole programme, from Rebecca Clarke's pastoral-tinged duo for clarinet and viola and Katherine Hoover’s evocation of the Hopi people to Ravel's sultry, sun-drenched pictures of Madagascar.

Claire Booth & Ensemble 360: Berio Folk Songs

Bute Park

Music of the time #TANGERINE

Museum Ludwig

Berio Debussy

Gasteig HP8

Chamber Music in the Brahms-Saal

Musikverein Brahms Hall

Musicians from The Glasshouse’s very own Royal Northern Sinfonia are joined for this musical adventure by their Music Director Dinis Sousa and soprano Sophia Burgos.

Berio meets The Beatles

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Iridescence is an optical phenomenon in which the color of a surface changes depending on the viewing angle. Our concert program also features iridescence, ranging from chamber concerts to chamber plays: In Karlheinz Stockhausen's "The Little Harlequin" for solo clarinet from 1975, the soloist 'embodies' the eponymous Harlequin not only through music but also through dance movements. He also accompanies himself rhythmically by stamping his feet.

1st Chamber Concert

Theater Aachen

Court dance music, Schubert's "Great C Major," and eight voices accompanied by an orchestra – Francois-Xavier Roth and the SWR Symphony Orchestra invite you to a concert full of contrasts. Jean-Féry Rebel's baroque dance suite "Les éléments" meets Franz Schubert's Eighth Symphony and Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia." An evening between experiment and formal perfection, conducted by a master of extremes.

SWR Symphony Orchestra & Vocal Ensemble / François-Xavier Roth

Hebrides Ensemble presents a programme celebrating the 150th and 100th anniversaries of Maurice Ravel, Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez and features a new commission by Jasper Dommett. Ravel’s lush Introduction and Allegro and Mother Goose Suite (arr. Alasdair Nicolson) bookend Dommett’s Folds on Folds which explores themes of domestic sewing and fast fashion, inspired by Boulez’s own Pli selon Pli. The second half includes Boulez’s Anthèmes I for solo violin and Berio’s iconic Folksongs.

Ravel and Berio with the Hebrides Ensemble

Perth Theatre

Soloists of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy

Pieve di San Leolino

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra · Mäkelä

Great Festival House

Bolzano Bozen - Kammermusik

Laurin Bar

Matinée des Jeunes Etoiles III – Metamorphosis

Gstaad Chapel

Bergkirche Abländschen

The Staatskapelle Halle and the Moritzburg Art Museum present a chamber music series in a special format: art and music come together in the jointly organized gallery concerts.

4th Gallery Concert

Art Museum Moritzburg Halle

Christoph Sietzen is an award-winning multi-percussionist and a celebrated soloist in dialogue with large orchestras. But he also loves chamber music. In Cologne he will perform with Tabea Zimmermann, queen of the viola, and with harpsichord artist Mahan Esfahani.

Christoph Sietzen & Friends

Join the London Sinfonietta for the world premiere of Laurence Osborn's innovative composition, alongside new work by Hannah Kendall, and Luciano Berio’s O King, Chemins II and Folk Songs. This thought-provoking performance explores the voice, acceptance, and community, with poetry throughout by literary artist Belinda Zhawi.

Berio's Folk Songs

Southbank Centre

Happy Birthday, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie! Germany’s best music students have been playing together in this orchestra for 50 years – in preparation for a career in a professional orchestra. What characterises its members? A high level of technical proficiency, an irrepressible desire to make music together, and a passion for the music of our time. These qualities are also reflected in this programme – with the spherical tones of Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), the labyrinthine sound structures of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia for eight voices and orchestra and the rhythmic energy of Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. Roderick Cox conducts.

The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie turns 50!

Berliner Philharmonie

Sir Simon Rattle 9

Munich Residence

Luciano Berio was born one hundred years ago, and even today, it is difficult to grasp the full extent of his creative gesture. This is a concert to discover his world through "Linea", one of his chamber music masterpieces.

Berio 100: Master Concert - Romolo Ludovico Lanza

Norwegian Academy of Music

PULSAR 2025 - Opening Concert

Konservatoriets Koncertsal

Experience the exquisite melodies of the Filarmonica della Scala under the baton of Riccardo Chailly, with the renowned Gautier Capuçon on cello, in a captivating concert at the Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid. This remarkable performance, part of the Serie Barbieri for the Ibermúsica 2024-2025 season, is scheduled for Tuesday, 4th March 2025, at 19:30h.

The evening's program promises an unforgettable journey through the works of Dvořák, Berio, and Prokófiev, featuring Dvořák's emotive "Concierto para violonchelo en Si menor op.104", Berio's intriguing "Quatre dédicaces", and the dramatic suites from Prokófiev's "Romeo y Julieta". This selection of pieces showcases the depth and versatility of the orchestra, alongside Capuçon's masterful cello performance.

Tickets are available with prices inclusive of VAT, excluding handling fees, and can be purchased with the assurance of Ibermúsica's commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. In the event of any unforeseen changes to the program or artist lineup, Ibermúsica guarantees either a suitable replacement or alternative arrangements for ticket holders.

Join us for an evening of breathtaking music at one of Madrid's premier concert venues. Secure your seats early to enjoy this musical highlight of the season. For more information and to subscribe for exclusive benefits, including preferred seating and flexible payment options, visit the Ibermúsica website or contact the ticket office.

Filarmonica della Scala - B9

National Music Auditorium

Settle in as the world’s most electrifying artists and ensembles converge at Davies Symphony Hall. Two of today’s leading pianists join forces for a wide-ranging duo recital.

Yuja Wang & Víkingur Ólafsson Duo Piano Recital

Davies Symphony Hall

Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson join forces for an unforgettable night of four-handed keyboard mastery. Lauded for her charismatic artistry, emotional honesty and captivating stage presence, Wang is a regular with the world’s top symphony orchestras and was named Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2017. An acclaimed visionary interpreter of such monuments of the piano repertoire as J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Ólafsson has received Opus Klassik’s Solo Recording Instrumental of the Year twice since his debut with Deutsche Grammophon in 2017.

Yuja Wang, piano Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

Granada Theatre

Severance Music Center is Cleveland’s home for symphonic music and other presentations, including Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Concert Hall and Reinberger Chamber Hall. We are strongly committed to making everyone feel welcome. The doors to Severance open three hours prior to most performances.

Ólafsson and Wang in Recital

Severance Music Center

Pianists Víkingur Ólafsson and Yuja Wang have consistently wowed audiences as solo recitalists, chamber music partners, and orchestral soloists. This season, they come together on Symphony Hall’s stage for a two-piano and piano four hands recital featuring Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, John Adams’ Hallelujah Junction, and more.

Víkingur Ólafsson & Yuja Wang

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Two of today’s most exciting pianists join forces for a wide-ranging program of works for two pianos and piano four hands. Individually, Yuja Wang and Víkingur Ólafsson constantly surpass even the loftiest expectations, earning worldwide renown while exploring some of the piano repertoire’s most formidable works. With this new collaboration, they unlock a world of programmatic possibilities. Experience Rachmaninoff’s own two-piano arrangement of his Symphonic Dances; the breathtaking Fantasie by Schubert; Thomas Adès’s arrangement of one of Nancarrow’s “impossible” studies for player piano; and exhilarating works by innovators such as Brubeck, Ligeti, Berio, John Adams, and Arvo Pärt.

Yuja Wang, Piano Víkingur Ólafsson, Piano

Carnegie Hall

Inspired by unfinished symphonic sketches by Schubert, Luciano Berio decided to “cement the gaps” with his own musical reflections and restorations and created a 20th century classic. Oliver Knussen, inspired by Shakespeare’s Ophelia chanting “snatches of old tunes”, snatched snippets of Schumann and Debussy for his highly compressed set of dances. In the 21st century Elliott Carter’s last orchestral piece, a “series of short interrelated episodes”, is an often lyrical and moving farewell to life, whilst a similar dark beauty occupies the genre defying music of North West based Phoenix Rousiamanis. Manoj Kamps makes their debut with Ensemble 10:10.

Ensemble 10:10

Yoko Ono Lennon Centre

New for the 2024-25 season, select events are available as Pay-What-You-Wish ticketing, allowing you to choose the ticket price that's right for you. When purchasing tickets online, you'll see a $1 base price during checkout and you'll have the opportunity to enter your preferred ticket price as a donation. Or visit the Box Office (155 W 65th St) to purchase in person, Tuesday-Friday, 11am-5pm.

The New Series | Schoenberg and Beyond

The Juilliard School

Two supernovas of today’s piano world share the stage in virtuoso works for two pianos and piano four hands, crossing three centuries of music.

Víkingur Ólafsson & Yuja Wang: Two Pianos

The recently formed group made up of students past and present from the Royal Academy of Music quickly established itself by winning the prestigious 2023 Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition, plus a further prize for inventive programming. Two works in this concert, including a world première, are by fellow RAM young composers; James Tavares, meanwhile, is the ensemble’s tuba player.

London Central Brass

Wigmore Hall

A woodwind quintet is like a paintbox full of musical colours – and when Galliard Ensemble plays live, there’s no end to the musical fun. Today they deliver a weather report from Cecilia McDowall and savour the Hungarian spice of Liget’s Bagatelle’s. As for Luciano Berio’s brilliantly silly musical trip to the zoo…well, you’ve just got to hear it, really. Please do not feed the bassoon…

Galliard Ensemble

An imaginative programme unites extraordinary viola player Lawrence Power, one of our current Resident Artists, with leading composer Thomas Adès at the piano.

Lawrence Power with Thomas Adès: Fairy-Tale Dances

Eclectic Series: John Adams, Fazil Say, Berio, Scriabin, Janacek, Chopin / Meral Guneyman

Bargemusic

This summer, enjoy the magic of the Curtis Recital Series from home with our summer broadcast series. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to enjoy never-before-broadcast performances every Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Broadcast: Music of the Earth

Curtis Institute of Music

Curated by Torsten Wiesel, this performance celebrates the occasion of his centennial birthday. In this program, Dr. Wiesel shares his diverse musical taste from the baroque era to the present day. The evening features a world premiere of a commissioned work written by Mike McGinnis, inspired by the essays and ideas of Seneca culture

Torsten Wiesel 100th Birthday Celebration

Join us for an evening of exceptional saxophone performance by Brian Kachur, a Doctor of Musical Arts student under the guidance of Taimur Sullivan. This recital is set to take place on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 8:30pm CDT in the McClintock Choral and Recital Room, located within the prestigious Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts. 

Brian will be accompanied by Nathan Canfield on piano and harpsichord, presenting a captivating program that includes Luciano Berio's Sequenza VIIb, Giacinto Scelsi's Tre pezzi, Ida Gotkovsky's Brilliance, Roger Boutry's Divertimento, and François Couperin's Pièces en concert arranged by Paul Bazelaire, concluding with Steven Banks' Come As You Are. 

This event is free and open to the public, offering a unique opportunity to experience the talents of emerging artists within the Northwestern Bienen School of Music community. No tickets are required for attendance, and those unable to join in person can enjoy the live stream of the performance. 

Don't miss this showcase of musical brilliance in an intimate setting at 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208. For more details, visit our website or contact the Bienen School of Music.

Brian Kachur, saxophone

Ryan Center for the Musical Arts

Imagine a symphony that takes everything a symphony has been and everything a symphony could be: an orchestral showpiece that’s simultaneously a protest, a celebration, and a postmodern prank from the heart of 1960s counterculture. Berio’s Sinfonia is the climax to a day-long immersion in the music of postwar Italy.

Total Immersion: Italian Radicals - Sinfonia... and more!

Barbican Centre

Miniatures by Berio, Maderna, Nono and Dallapiccola, introduced and performed live by virtuoso instrumentalists and singers from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Total Immersion: Italian Radicals - O King

Milton Court Concert Hall

Yu Han, Piano – Doctoral Minor Recital

The University of Arizona

A wind quintet is like a sonic paintbox. Today the Liverpool Wind Collective explores the impressionist colours of France, celebrates the sounds of 20th century America, and takes a trip to the world’s most improbable zoo!

Liverpool Wind Collective

The Music Room

New Music Ensemble Concert

Cleveland Institute of Music

We are in the world of poetry. And in Opus Zoo also in the world of animals, where the musicians recite stories from the animal kingdom while they play.

Poetry

Southern Danish Conservatory of Music

Khoi Dinh, Flute

Be swept away by a brilliantly wide-ranging program curated by rising-star classical singer Julia Bullock. With a voice “among today’s most expressive” (NPR), Bullock brings an arresting, often transformative emotional depth to songs both time-tested and obscure. There’s something for everyone here, but really, the magic is realized when taken all together. Hear personable and powerful renditions of music by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Kurt Weill, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Luciano Berio, Gioachino Rossini, John Cage, Connie Converse, and more.

Julia Bullock, Soprano Bretton Brown, Piano

"A musician who delights in making her own rules" (The New Yorker), soprano Julia Bullock presents a brilliantly wide-ranging program.  She brings an arresting, often transformative emotional depth to songs both familiar and obscure with a voice that "rises with strength and focus like a cloud condensing into a thunderbolt, [breathing] both humanity and epic grace into the music" (New York Times).

Julia Bullock, soprano (Baltimore Recital Debut) Bretton Brown, piano

Johns Hopkins University

“A musician who delights in making her own rules” (New Yorker), Julia Bullock is known for genre-defying, innovative performances that showcase her intellect and commanding stage presence. Her voice “rises with strength and focus, like a cloud condensing into a thunderbolt,” imbuing the music with “both humanity and epic grace” (New York Times).

Julia Bullock, soprano & Bretton Brown, piano

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

PCE’s seasonal favorite returns with a stirring program for chorale and orchestra that celebrates the universal expression of the human spirit through music. Amazing Grace, perhaps the most universal of folk hymns, has inspired people all around the world for centuries. This new year, we feature works by George Walker, Gustav Mahler, Margaret Bonds, Luciano Berio, and the DC premiere of Jeffrey Mumford’s extraordinary cello concerto with soloist Annie Jacobs-Perkins, winner of the 2023 Pierre Fournier Award. ‍

As a special tribute, PCE will present Mr. Mumford with PCE’s American Roots Artist Award for his outstanding contributions to the American music. Bring the family, and join us in singing Amazing Grace with the whole ensemble at the end of the evening.

Amazing Grace: in Paradisum

Kennedy Center

Brighten your holiday season with the festive sounds of brass, the sardonic wit of Luciano Berio, and the elegance of Beethoven. Giovanni Gabrieli wrote his magnificent brass canzoni in the 1500s to be played from opposing choir lofts in Venice’s Basilica of St. Mark. Berio’s delightful Opus Number Zoo has the musicians recite whimsical poems about animals as they play. Finally, Beethoven’s Second String Quartet has an elegance and charm that beckon back to Haydn, yet already shows hints of Beethoven’s fiery side.

Beethoven And Berio

Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center

A celebratory dinner party featuring a performance by powerhouse vocalist Measha Brueggergosman-Lee and directed and hosted by James Darrah.

Gala 1979

L'Opera Italian Restaurant

Join us for an extraordinary evening of contemporary music at the "musica viva: Sir Simon Rattle" concert, featuring the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. This remarkable event will take place on Friday, 13th October 2023, at 8:00 pm in the stunning Isarphilharmonie, Munich, Gasteig HP8. An introduction to the evening's program will be provided at 6:45 pm, ensuring attendees are fully immersed in the experience.

Under the baton of the world-renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the evening promises to be a showcase of modern musical innovation and exceptional talent. The program will open with the world premiere of "Automatones for big orchestra" by Vito Žuraj, a commissioned piece by Bavarian Radio’s musica viva series, promising a unique and engaging auditory experience. Following this, the concert will feature Luciano Berio's "Coro for 40 voices and orchestra," a profound and emotionally charged piece that remains as relevant today as ever.

Performing alongside Sir Simon Rattle will be the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, bringing to life these groundbreaking works with precision and passion.

This concert is a highlight of the Bavarian Radio's musica viva series, renowned for being one of the world's most prestigious platforms for contemporary and future-oriented music. It is an unmissable event for enthusiasts of modern orchestral and choral works, offering a glimpse into the future of music through the lens of today's most innovative composers and performers.

For tickets and further information, please visit the BRticket-Webshop at shop.br-ticket.de. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the cutting edge of contemporary music in one of Munich's most iconic venues.

musica viva: Sir Simon Rattle

Noseda leads a program inspired by the written word—from epic tales to stories rich in folk flavor. The concerts feature Grieg’s ever-popular Peer Gynt Suite and Tchaikovsky’s open-hearted rendering of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as Berio’s timeless Folk Songs and the world premiere of Songs of Separation by Carlos Simon with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges.

Songs of Separation & Romeo and Juliet

After making one of the most memorable debuts in SPCO history, Abel Selaocoe returns to lead his first concerts as Artistic Partner. Selaocoe brought such infectious energy to his performances that he had the SPCO musicians and audience dancing on their feet and, in his encore, singing along to his arrangement of a Johann Sebastian Bach sarabande. The sense of community and transcendence evoked by that encore inform the spirit of this Express Concert—a journey through the ethereal sonorities of his own original compositions and an orchestral arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Heiliger Dankgesang” from String Quartet No. 15.

Express Concert: Ethereal Voices with Abel Selaocoe

St. Andrew's Lutheran Church

Temple Israel

Saint Paul's United Church of Christ

Wayzata Community Church

Beethoven’s tuneful Seventh Symphony was called “the apotheosis of the dance” by Richard Wagner. The work’s dance-like elements, energy, and sense of joy are conveyed through rhythm.  After a slow introduction, the first movement is ignited by a dancing, dotted 6/8 rhythm that propels the entire Vivace.  The symphony’s second movement departs briefly from the other rhythmically charged movements. Perhaps the work’s best-known movement, the melody is dramatic and memorable for its simplicity. The composer Robert Schumann likened the movement to a “rustic wedding.”  The third movement, perhaps the most overtly dance-like movement, has a middle section in which one pitch is sustained with little variation, first in the violins then the trumpets. It is rhythm that drives this movement, contributing to its joyful spirit.  The finale is full of energy and exuberance, charging toward a triumphant and fulfilling conclusion at a breakneck pace. British musicologist Donald Tovey called the movement a “triumph of Bacchic fury.” The magic of this work is incessant and captivating rhythmic drive.  Charles Ives’ music imagines a powerful link between nature and the human spirit, and the journey that creates depth and adds substance to human life. The Unanswered Question, which opens this program, has been described as a piece of philosophy expressed in music. Ives writes in the score’s forward about how the composition considers humanity’s “perennial question of existence.” Three distinct groups – a solo trumpet (in many performances played offstage), four flutes, and strings express a probing and meditative quest for the answer.  Additional works on the program include excerpts from Biber’s Battalia, an evocative set for string orchestra in the tradition of vocal descriptions of a battle. Innovative techniques are called for, especially for the work’s time (1673), including col legno, in which the players use the wood of their bows to beat the strings of their instruments or a percussive pizzicato to imitate cannon shots.

Beethoven Seven

Sunset Center Theater

Luciano Berio celebrates the rich materials of folklore in Folk Songs, arranging songs from all over the globe — from Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair to the Azerbaijan Love Song. New commissions by Left Coast remix additional folk songs to complement Berio’s masterpiece, and Carl Schimmel gives us a topsy-turvy resetting of the classic Little Red Riding Hood story for the 21st century!

Luciano Berio

Events

Past events

Jun 12, 2026

2026 Friday Morning Concert · Ojai Music Festival

Jun 6, 2026

Sarah Heimberg, trumpet · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

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