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New York, NY: Monday, July 28th, 2025 — Today, Kaufman Music Center unveils its 2025-2026 season at Merkin Hall, presenting a dynamic mix of world-class performances that weaves together an exhilarating tapestry of sound, story, and innovation. Audiences can look forward to an inspiring blend of celebrated soloists, trailblazing ensembles, and visionary curators while experiencing music as connection, discovery, and renewal. From world premieres and genre-defying collaborations to intimate solo recitals and bold re-imaginings of tradition, each concert offers a vital thread in a season-long exploration of the power of music to resonate across time, identity, and imagination.
See season highlights & a full list of shows below. For tickets, visit: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/
Additionally, today, Kaufman Music Center announces the 2025-26 Artists-in-Residence: world-renowned pianist and educator Jonathan Biss, Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, and Grammy Award-winning composer-performer Jessie Montgomery.
Artists-in-Residence are visionary composers and performers shaping bold, multidisciplinary work while also creating meaningful educational opportunities to mentor and inspire. Whether leading masterclasses, presenting inventive performances, or collaborating with young artists, they are active both on stage at Merkin Hall and throughout the Kaufman Music Center community. Their presence extends into classrooms and beyond, where they engage with students across a range of programs.
2025-2026 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16TH, 2025: thingNY: Jerome Kitzke:
The brilliant NYC composer-performer collective thingNY presents the world premiere of Jerome Kitzke’s I Wonder If This Ground Has Anything to Say (A Treaty Illumination). In his inimitable style, Kitzke fuses the rhythms of language and music into a powerful and urgent whole. With a 24-section libretto built by Kitzke from litanies of definitions, dates, names, places, and historic quotations—from Red Jacket to an unlikely Richard Nixon—the work sheds light on the existence of Treaties made between the Indigenous Nations and the White Europeans/U.S. Government from 1613 to today. These Treaties, still constitutionally the Law of the Land, have often not been fully honored, especially in the areas of land base, education and health care. Kitzke’s musical illumination arrives as a fierce and timely reminder of the enduring legal and moral obligations set forth in the Treaties. Co-presented with Tribeca New Music.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21ST, 2025: Simone Dinnerstein with Baroklyn:
Hailed by The New York Times as “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation,” the celebrated pianist Simone Dinnerstein joins her string ensemble Baroklyn, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and the award-winning oboist Katherine Needleman for an evening of music by J.S. Bach. The program follows her acclaimed new album Complicité (Supertrain Records, 2025), which celebrates the multiplicity of voices in Bach’s music.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2025: VOCES8 with Inon Barnatan, piano:
The Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble performs with pianist Inon Barnatan, hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most admired pianists of his generation.” Featuring Jonathan Dove’s masterful choral cycle The Passing of the Year and with a second half of German classical repertoire, the program includes music for voices and piano by Fauré, Brahms and Beethoven, piano solos from J.S. Bach and Brahms, and a cappella works by Schubert and Taylor Scott Davis, VOCES8’s current composer-in-residence. Blending the elegance of the past with the voice of the present, this concert is a celebration of reflection, beauty and renewal.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH, 2025: Kronos Quartet:
For more than 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has pioneered what a string quartet can be in the 21st century with thrilling collaborations and daring programs. Now with their new lineup – David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Ayane Kozasa (viola) and Paul Wiancko (cello) – they continue to be at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form that responds to the people and issues of our time.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH, 2026: Njioma Grevious, violin:
Described as “superb” by the Chicago Classical Review, Grevious is a versatile violinist recognized for her exceptional contributions as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral performer. She will perform music by J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, R. Schumann, Brahms, Messiaen, Prokofiev and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. Grevious was awarded the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Grand Prize at the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Elmaleh Competition, and First prize at the 2023 Sphinx Competition. A founding member of the award-winning Abeo Quartet, she has showcased her talent in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and has received praise as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, among others.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27TH, 2026: Leyla McCalla:
Leyla McCalla is a multi-instrumentalist, multilingual singer and songwriter who combines original compositions and traditional Haitian tunes. Producing a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience, McCalla’s performances are captivating, fueled by rich, sophisticated melodic work and intoxicating Afro-Caribbean rhythms. McCalla was born to a pair of Haitian emigrants and activists, first rising to success with the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops before launching her solo career in 2014. The New York Times described her voice as “disarmingly natural, and her settings elegantly succinct,” while Rolling Stone hailed her “politically pointed lyrics.” Besides her own projects, McCalla currently performs in Our Native Daughters, alongside Rhiannon Giddens.
SATURDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2026: Lauren Lovette, Charles Yang & Peter Dugan:
The celebrated resident choreographer of Paul Taylor Dance Company and former New York City Ballet superstar ballerina Lauren Lovette, “whose dancing was full of poetry” (The New York Times), teams up with Charles Yang, the Grammy-winning vocalist/violinist who “plays classical violin with the charisma of a rock star” (The Boston Globe) and acclaimed pianist and host of NPR’s From The Top, Peter Dugan, for an electrifying evening of music and dance.
Tuesday, APRIL 21ST, 2026: Chanticleer:
Hailed as “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker, The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer is known around the world for its dazzling virtuosity and impassioned musicianship. They’ll celebrate America’s 250th year of independence by showcasing the diverse voices, songs, harmonies and rhythms of our shared musical heritage, exploring how these voices influenced each other and how they impact the present day. The cornerstone of this program is a new commission by composer Trevor Weston, demonstrating the link between traditional American hymnody and African American Spirituals. The performance will trace the classical American choral tradition from William Billings (“When Jesus Wept”) to Randall Thompson (“Alleluia”), and then to contemporary composers Ayanna Woods (“close[r], now”) and Brent Michael Davids (“Un-Covered Wagon”). They’ll also trace our American secular music traditions from Gospel quartets (“Straight Street”) to bluegrass (“Calling My Children Home”), vocal jazz (“Blue Skies”), and contemporary pop (“Home” from The Wiz).
FRIDAY, MAY 1ST, 2026: Jessie Montgomery & The Everything Band:
The Grammy Award-winning composer, violinist and educator performs an eclectic program of works with her ensemble The Everything Band, an all-star lineup of the best players on the new music scene. Described as “turbulent, wildly colorful, and exploding with life” (The Washington Post), Montgomery’s work interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. A former Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, Montgomery was named Performance Today’s2025 Classical Woman of the Year.
TUESDAY, MAY 12TH, 2026: Jonathan Biss:
The celebrated pianist hailed for his “impeccable taste and a formidable technique” (The New Yorker) and “probing, incisive, and deeply considered performances” (SF Classical Voice) mines music’s power to express sentiments and feelings beyond the limits of language with an evening of works by Mendelssohn, Janáček, Kurtág and Amy Beth Kirsten, culminating in R. Schumann’s beloved Fantasie in C Major.
FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH & SATURDAY, JUNE 6TH 2026: Anthony de Mare, Conrad Tao, Jenny Lin & Awadagin Pratt
100 Years of American Piano Music. Four of today’s most original and acclaimed pianists provide their own unique lens into the landscape of American music for the piano over the last 100 years at this collaboratively curated mini-festival.
SEPTEMBER 2025 PERFORMANCES:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH AT 7:30PM ET: What Makes It Great? Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto: A performance with clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois and the Manhattan School of Music Camerata Nova hosted by Rob Kapilow with commentary.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Alon Kariv, piano - A matinee featuring music by Bach, Mendelsohn and Liszt.
OCTOBER 2025 PERFORMANCES:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11TH, AT 7:30PM ET: Busy Being Free, Great Singer-Songwriters of the 1960s & 70s - Host Sean Hartley and vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli celebrate songs that captured the spirit of an era by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Carole King, James Taylor and Paul Simon.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16TH, AT 7:30PM ET: thingNY: Jerome Kitzke - The brilliant NYC composer-performer collective thingNY gives the world premiere of Jerome Kitzke’s I Wonder If This Ground Has Anything to Say (A Treaty Illumination). Co-presented with Tribeca New Music.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17TH AT 7:30PM ET: Trio Accordé - The all-star trio performs music by Gardel, Mozart, Milhaud, Bartók, Shostakovich, Janas, Gershwin, Piazzolla and Molinelli. Nathan Amaral, violin & Valentin Kovalev, saxophone and Iwo Jedynecki, accordion. Co-presented with Concert Artists Guild.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Samora Pinderhughes, piano and voice- The composer/pianist/vocalist and multidisciplinary artist known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics shares a unique and powerful evening of song. Co-presented with the John J. Cali School of Music.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21ST, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Simone Dinnerstein, piano & Baroklyn - With Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano and Katherine Needleman, oboe. The celebrated Bach interpreter leads a program of the composer’s choral works and concerti following her acclaimed new album, Complicité.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Broadway Close Up: The Last 25 Years - Hosted by Sean Hartley. A stellar lineup of cast members will drop by this festive soirée to sing songs from Broadway shows since 2000, from The Producers to Hamilton.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28th, 2025 AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Victoria Shereshevskaya, mezzo-soprano - A performance featuring works by Fauré, Chaminade, Bizet, Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and more.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: VOCES8 - The Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble brings their signature virtuosity to music by William Byrd, Caroline Shaw, Simon & Garfunkel, Samuel Barber, Bobby McFerrin and more.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: VOCES8 & Inon Barnatan, piano. Featuring Jonathan Dove’s choral cycle The Passing of the Year plus music by Fauré, Brahms, Beethoven, J.S. Bach, Brahms and more.
NOVEMBER 2025 PERFORMANCES:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Conor Hanick, piano - The brilliantly inquisitive pianist traces a century of American piano innovation, from Charles Ives’s Piano Sonata No. 1 to Julius Eastman’s Piano 2 to the world premiere of Samuel Adams’s Impromptus.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Kronos Quartet - The ensemble that has long been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form performs a daring program of contemporary works. Co-presented with the John J. Cali School of Music.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Broadway Close Up: Bound for Broadway - Hosted by Liz Callaway. Bound for Broadway returns with a sneak peek at some of the best new shows headed for New York’s bright lights.
DECEMBER 2025 PERFORMANCES:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: Broadway Close Up: Fascinating Rhythm - Hosted by Sean Hartley. An energetic evening of music from the roaring 20s featuring tunes by the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Fats Waller, Dorothy Fields, Irving Berlin and many more.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 2025 AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Oak Trio - Acclaimed young performers Evren Ozel, piano; Nathan Amaral, violin and Leland Ko, cello perform works by Haydn, Dvořák, Gabriela Lena Frank and Paul Schoenfeld.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15th, 2025 AT 7:30PM ET: What Makes it Great? Osvaldo Golijov: Dreams and Prayers of Isaac The Blind - Hosted by Rob Kapilow with clarinetist David Krakauer and Ivalas Quartet. Celebrate Hanukkah with a deep dive into Golijov’s transcendent meditation on language, identity, memory and the divine.
JANUARY 2026 PERFORMANCES:
MONDAY, JANUARY 12TH AT 7:30PM ET: What Makes it Great? Chopin: The Romantic Piano: Nocturnes, Mazurkas and a Polonaise - Hosted by Rob Kapilow with pianist Orli Shaham. Discover how one of the greatest Romantic composers invented the genres and vocabulary of the modern piano in this illuminating journey through four short pieces.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13TH AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Ivalas Quartet - The quartet hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty” performs works by Haydn, Bartók, Ravel and Jessie Montgomery.
FEBRUARY 2026 PERFORMANCES:
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Njioma Grevious, violin - The 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner performs works by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, R. Schumann, Brahms, Prokofiev, Messiaen and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH AT 7:30PM ET: Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet - The 16-time Grammy Award-winner is known for blending jazz Latin and classical music into a seamless whole.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH AT 7:30PM ET: Parker Ramsay, harp and harpsichord - With Miranda Cuckson, violin and Jay Campbell, cello. The boundary-defying harpist and celebrated collaborators perform world premieres by George Friedrich Haas and Christopher Trapani, plus early music from Italy and Austria.
MARCH 2026 PERFORMANCES:
FRIDAY, MARCH 27TH AT 7:30PM ET: Leyla McCalla - The brilliant multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and alumna of Grammy-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops performs new works at a night of deeply intimate songs. Co-presented with the John J. Cali School of Music
MONDAY, MARCH 30TH AT 7:30PM ET: What Makes it Great? Chopin: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony - Hosted by Rob Kapilow with The Manhattan School of Music Camerata Nova. Find out how Beethoven turned the eight most famous opening notes in musical history into a monumental journey that redefined what a symphony could be.
APRIL 2026 PERFORMANCES:
SATURDAY, APRIL 4TH AT 7:30PM ET: Lauren Lovette, Charles Yang & Peter Dugan - An evening of music and dance with choreographer and former New York City Ballet superstar ballerina Lauren Lovette, Grammy-winning vocalist/violinist Charles Yang and pianist Peter Dugan.
FRIDAY, APRIL 10TH AT 7:30PM ET: Poiesis Quartet & Amiri Harewood, piano - The trailblazing quartet and rising star pianist perform a uniquely beautiful evening of musical homages and tributes framed by Gabriela Lena Frank’s Tres Homenajes. Co-presented with Concert Artists Guild.
TUESDAY, APRIL 14TH AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Miriam K. Smith, cello - The immensely talented and charismatic soloist performs works by Beethoven, Franck, Boulanger, Grainger, Barber, Dvořák and Paganini.
TUESDAY, APRIL 21ST AT 7:30PM ET: Chanticleer - The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble celebrates America’s 250th anniversary by showcasing the diverse voices, songs and rhythms of our shared musical heritage, from hymns and spirituals to jazz and pop.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22ND AT 7:30PM ET: Chanticleer at Trinity Church - The celebrated vocal ensemble performs French composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame, plus secular songs of minstrels and bards from the Middle Ages at the stunning Trinity Church. Co-presented with Trinity Church NYC
MAY 2026 PERFORMANCES:
FRIDAY, MAY 1ST AT 7:30PM ET: Jessie Montgomery & The Everything Band - The Grammy-winning artist performs an eclectic program of jointly composed works with her ensemble, the all-star lineup The Everything Band.
TUESDAY, MAY 12TH AT 7:30PM ET: Jonathan Biss, piano - The celebrated pianist mines music’s power to express feelings beyond the limits of language with works by Mendelssohn, Janáček, Kurtág, R. Schumann and Amy Beth Kirsten.
MONDAY, MAY 18TH AT 7:30PM ET: What Makes it Great? Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & the Summer of Love - Hosted by Rob Kapilow with Tash Neil, Sophia Ramos, Ann Klein, Rich Pagano and Steve Court. Take a fresh look at two 1960s icons who made their indelible mark in just three brilliant years beginning with their history-making debuts at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
TUESDAY, MAY 19TH AT 2:00PM ET: Tuesday Matinees: Zhu Wang, piano - The pianist hailed as “superb” and “especially impressive” by The New York Times performs works by J.S. Bach, R. Schumann, Bartók, Messiaen and Ravel.
JUNE 2026 PERFORMANCES:
FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH AT 6:00PM ET: Jenny Lin, piano - 100 Years of American Piano Music: A survey of American piano works that stretch the limits of technical prowess and musical imagination by Ives, Bolcolm, Rorem, Thomson, Glass, Muhly and more.
FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH AT 8:00PM ET: Conrad Tao, piano - 100 Years of American Piano Music: The brilliant young pianist “shaping the future of classical music” (New York Magazine) performs works by David Lang, Thelonius Monk, Elliott Carter and Alan Singleton.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6TH AT 6:00PM ET: Awadagin Pratt, piano - 100 Years of American Piano Music: “One of the great and distinctive American pianists of our time” (WGBH Radio) sparks surprising connections in music by Florence Price, Missy Mazzoli, Tyshawn Sorey, Julius Eastman and more.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6TH AT 8:00PM ET: Anthony de Mare, piano - 100 Years of American Piano Music: A journey through iconoclastic American composers including Aaron Copland, Meredith Monk, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, John Adams and many more.
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