Classical and New Music Events 2025

The world première of Five American Voices, a song cycle by David Amram, “the renaissance man of American music” and Artist Emeritus of The Village Trip. The work “reflects the diverse voices of our cultural mosaic” and features settings of writings by Carolyn Cassady, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ron Whitehead, Ted Joans, and Tom Piazza. The piece was commissioned by the Roger Shapiro Fund for The Village Trip and will be performed by baritone James C Martin, and pianist Lynn Raley.

Jimmy Carter's first Habitat for Humanity project was in the East Village, off Tompkins Square Park. Carter had a love for music and musicians of every ilk and, as President, he brought many of them to the White House, from Leonard Bernstein and Dizzy Gillespie to the great pedagogical pioneer Shinichi Suzuki. He saw music as a healer and a bridge between diverse groups, and recognized excellence in all genres. Following the gamelan concert, join us inside the church as we revisit some of that music, with Damien Sneed, his jazz ensemble and gospel Chorale Le Chateau, violinist David Fulmer, soprano Sharon Harms and pianist Joan Forsyth performing favorites close to the President's heart.

Djuna Barnes, artist, illustrator, journalist, and author, best known for Nightwood (1936), a classic of lesbian fiction, lived for 40 years on Patchin Place where her neighbors included ee cummings. The story goes that the poet would poke his head into the stairwell of the reclusive Djuna’s building and shout: “Are you alive, Djuna?” Barnes knew James Joyce when she was in Paris between the wars and he gifted her an annotated manuscript of Ulysses.

New York-based chamber group Poetica Musica presents a concert celebrating composers inspired by Greenwich Village and the East Village – among them Astor Piazzolla, George Gershwin, Charles Ives, Bela Bartok, and William Anderson. Featuring guitarists Oren Fader and William Anderson; flutist Barry Crawford; pianist Molly Morkoski; and soprano Eleanor Valkenburg, artistic director of Poetica Musica.

The ever-innovative Bergamot Quartet performs world premières – by Samuel Adler, Louis Karchin, and Eli Greenhoe. The virtuosic yangqin player Cheng Jin Koh joins the quartet for a performance of her work Mountain of Echoing Halls.

Acclaimed guitarist-composer Kyle Miller joins the ever exciting and eclectic string quartet ETHEL for a dynamic program rooted in their shared New York City songbooks.