Brooklyn Rider, with its gripping performance style and unquenchable appetite for musical adventure, defines the string quartet as a medium with deep historic roots and endless possibility for invention. This foursome-violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Michael Nicolas-finds equal inspiration in musical languages ranging from late Beethoven to Persian classical music to American roots music to the endlessly varied voices of living composers. A Silk Road Project collaboration introduced Brooklyn Rider to Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, beginning a longstanding friendship. Brooklyn Rider and Kalhor released their highly-praised recording Silent City in 2008 and continue to tour this project bridging traditions of Persia and the West. Praised by the LA Times as "a knockout" and by RootsWorld for its "unhurried delicateness...subtle virtuosity and unspoken emotion," Silent City also features bassist Jeff Beecher and percussionist Mark Suter.

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Brooklyn Rider with Kayhan Kalhor: Silent City

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Composer Gabriela Lena Frank explores the tumultuous relationship between Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in a new string quartet based on her acclaimed 2021 opera El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), a “confident, richly imagined score” (The New Yorker) that “bursts with color and fresh individuality” (Los Angeles Times). This new multi-media DACAMERA production features projections based on the paintings of Frida Kahlo.

Brooklyn Rider: Frida’s Dreams

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

The musically adventurous string quartet Brooklyn Rider makes its Tippet Rise debut during the ensemble’s 20th season in a performance featuring three world premiere works co-commissioned by the art center – all of which honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and explore questions of citizenship and democracy in the 21st century. The first new work comes from trailblazing composer Angélica Negrón, whose new work Our Children Speak English and Spanish examines the complexities of Puerto Rican American citizenship, shaped by colonization, imperialism, and radicalization. The second co-commission is by Don Byron, a New York City born and multi-instrumentalist composer who performs and writes in an array of musical styles; and the third is by Los Angeles-based composer, singer, bandleader, and recording artist Ted Hearne. The program concludes with Brooklyn Rider’s Colin Jacobsen, who puts his unique spin on the Bob Dylan civil rights era classic The Times They Are A-Changin’.

Brooklyn Rider

Tippet Rise Art Center

Tanglewood Recital Series: Brooklyn Rider

Tanglewood Music Center

Juxtaposing beloved and familiar works with the new and unknown, Brooklyn Rider explores a boundless sandbox of musical creativity, dialogue, and play: the medium of the string quartet itself. They begin with one of the prototypical jewels of the classical era, Haydn’s C Major score, which is chock-full of pioneering inventiveness and radiates an enduring love for the genre. The program segues from the veritable father of the string quartet to a highly anticipated new chapter of the Brooklyn Rider Almanac. In part inspired by Der Blaue Reiter (the quartet’s namesake), this celebration of the project’s tenth anniversary adds to a diverse and novel body of works penned by luminous musical creators. Next, Sofia Gubaidulina paints an otherworldly sound gate to the baroque, paving the way for Schumann’s earthy string quartet in A Minor. Utterly individual in its conception, this masterful work came forth after a period studying the counterpoint of perhaps the greatest musical inventor of them all: J.S. Bach.

American Philosophical Society

Student string quartets perform and receive feedback in an open setting with Brooklyn Rider.

Master Class: Brooklyn Rider

The Clubhouse at Madeline Island

Mexican singer-songwriter Magos Herrera’s smoky, enchanting voice pairs harmoniously with Brooklyn Rider, a New York-based string quartet known for collaborating with musicians outside of the classical sphere. Together they will perform their Dreamers album—melodies and words, both familiar and new, dedicated to overcoming anti-immigrant sentiment, with the reminder that “beauty can come out of terrible situations.”

Dreamers

Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts

In society, poets and songwriters play the essential role of dreamers, opening up avenues of hope for others. Despite the oppressive regimes which prevailed throughout much of Latin America and Spain in the twentieth century, what persevered from the dreamers was an unending love for beauty and humanity. Mexican-born songstress Magos Herrera and the omnivorous string quartet Brooklyn Rider join forces for an unforgettable musical journey, reinterpreting classics of the era from Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain, and celebrating such luminaries as Octavio Paz, Federico García Lorca, and Rubén Darío.
Magos Herrera is regarded as one of the most expressive, beautiful voices and most active vocalists in the contemporary Latin American jazz scene. She is best known for her eloquent vocal improvisation and bold style that elegantly blends and surpasses language boundaries.

Brooklyn Rider & Magos Herrera

Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

With their gripping performance style and unquenchable appetite for musical adventure, Brooklyn Rider has carved a singular space in the world of string quartets over their fifteen-year history.

Brooklyn Rider

Feb 24, 2026

Brooklyn Rider with Kayhan Kalhor: Silent City

Feb 20, 2026

Brooklyn Rider: Frida’s Dreams

Brooklyn Rider