October 1, 2026: America Sings a Siren’s Song
The Village Trip, Cygnus Ensemble, and Cutting Edge Concerts Celebrate Immigrants’ Contributions to America’s Musical Experience
The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, 7:30 PM
487 Hudson St between Barrow and Christopher
Watch this video of a performance from 2017 above
For 250 years, America has lured immigrants from all over the world who heard its siren song and came, seeking freedom and a better life. Each of the four composers on this program have interpreted that journey in their own way. Nehemiah Luckett looks to the future in his work, “Let It Be Told To The Future World: Reckoning with the American Experiment at 250. This work has been commissioned by the Charles Kingsford Foundation of ASCAP. Samuel Adler looks to the stars in his work, “Between Lyra and Pegasus” commissioned by the Cygnus Ensemble for The Village Trip. Victoria Bond, founder of Cutting Edge Concerts, brings the words of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” to life in her setting of the “Sirens” episode, for four singers, narrator and Cygnus. Dina Koston is represented by her Quartet for Strings Bowed and Plucked, written for Cygnus. Koston was co-director, with pianist Leon Fleisher, of the Theater Chamber Players of Washington, D.C. All works will be performed by the Cygnus Ensemble.
May 13: The Whistling Hens
Symphony Space, 7:30 PM
Whistling Hens was founded by Soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick and clarinetist Natalie Groom to perform and commission music by women composers:
Jennifer Stevenson: Nesta Rua/ Musical Invective
Melissa Dunphy: Chants
Sonia Morales-Matos: Canciones de amor y soledad
Judith Shatin: Come Live With Me
Victoria Bond: Lingerie/ Scat 2
The duo’s name was plucked from a quote by a male music critic who wrote in the New York Times in 1919, “women composers are at best whistling hens.” The Whistling Hen will perform works written for them by composers Victoria Bond, Judith Shatin, and others.
April 28: Laura Schwendinger Opera “Margaret in Love and War”
Symphony Space, 7:30PM
The premiere of this opera by composed Laura Schwendinger and librettist Ginger Strand is about Margaret Fuller, a 19th century American journalist and women’s rights advocate. Full cast and chamber orchestra.
March 23: Miami Comes to New York
Symphony Space, 7:30PM
(That is, Miami, Florida and Miami, Ohio)
Cuban-American pianist Jose Lopez, faculty at Florida International University in Miami, performs a program in honor of the 100th anniversary of Aurelia De La Vega, including composers Tania Leon, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Antonio Lizaso, and Ivette Herryman Rodriguez.
Korean cellist Sarah Kim, faculty at Miami University (Ohio), performs a program, by contemporary Korean composers, including the premiere of a solo cello work, “Women of Note,” which she commissioned from Victoria Bond. Kim will perform solos, as well as duets with cellist Alan Rafferty.
Enjoy These Videos From 2025
April: Rudersdal Chamber Players
For more information, click here.
May: Min Kwon
For more information, click here.
September: Poets of Patchen Place
For more information, click here.