SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2025 | 2PM

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

PROGRAM

Emma O’Halloran: here and now (US premiere, Kaleidoscope commission)

Alberto Ginastera: Duo for flute and oboe

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Louisiana Blues Strut

Franz Schubert: Octet in F Major, D. 803

SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2025 | 7:30PM

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

PROGRAM

Pamela Z: It’s Time (world premiere, Kaleidoscope commission)

Liza Lim: Transcendental Etude (US premiere)

Liliya Ugay: Mother Tales 

Peter S. Shin: soshi so$$$hi 

John Adams: China Gates

W. A. Mozart: Quintet for Piano and Winds in Eb Major, K. 452

FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025 | 7:30PM

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

PROGRAM

Libby Larsen: I am signaling you through the flames (world premiere)

Jonathan Bingham: Solos

Juhi Bansal: Spaces Between (commissioned by Catherine Gregory)

Piotr Szewczyk: Dopamine Rush

Michael Laurello:I always visit the same imaginary city when I dream

Béla Bartók: Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2025 | 7:30PM

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

PROGRAM

Will Healy: Permafrost Ghosts (world premiere)

Errollyn Wallen: Woogie Boogie

Paquito d’Rivera: Aries Tropicales

Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in f minor, op. 34

The Da Camera Society

Mother’s Day Concert

Concerto for piano and 14 instruments (1986) NY PREMIERE
Aldo Clementi

David Kaplan, piano

Overture, Scherzo, Finale (1841) WORLD PREMIERE
Robert Schumann arr. Kimmy Szeto
arrangement for chamber orchestra

Morse Code Fantasy (2015)

Augusta Read Thomas

David Kaplan, piano

mit gutem Humor, un poco lol ma con serioso vibes (2014)
Caroline Shaw

David Kaplan, piano

Liebesbrief an Schumann (2014)
Han Lash

David Kaplan, piano

*** (2014)

Marcos Balter

David Kaplan, piano

Une relecture des Kinderszenen de Robert Schumann (2020) US PREMIERE

Tristan Murail

for flute,cello and piano
 

Decoda—comprising alums of the adventurous Ensemble Connect and featuring “some of the brightest young classical musicians in the world” (Time Out New York)—is Carnegie Hall’s first-ever affiliate ensemble. With every concert, the spectacularly versatile ensemble showcases its commitment to virtuosic performance, audience and community engagement, and seemingly boundless repertoire. For its 2024–2025 Carnegie Hall concert, Decoda performs works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Gustav and Alma Mahler, Schoenberg, and a one-of-a-kind collaborative suite by four of today’s leading composers, featuring live narration and singers.

Program

R. SCHUMANN "Eintritt" from Waldszenen

C. SCHUMANN "Geheimes Flüstern," Op. 23

G. MAHLER "Ging heut' Morgen übers Feld" from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

A. MAHLER "Licht in der Nacht"

SCHOENBERG Verklärte Nacht

DAVID KIRKLAND GARNER / STEPHEN JAFFE / ERIC MOE / MELINDA WAGNER A Forest Unfolding

Performers

Decoda
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Soprano
Thomas Meglioranza, Baritone
Richard Powers, Narrator

Nine members of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty join together for a celebratory program of chamber music, inspired by the tradition of Schubertiade, in which friends gather to share music and joy. Curated by piano faculty David Kaplan, the program features the "Trout Quintet" by Schubert, as well as by music for strings, piano, and winds by Clara Schumann, Lowell Liebermann, and Caroline Shaw.

Artists:

David Kaplan, piano
Movses Pogossian, violin
Varty Manouelian, violin
Che-Yen Chen, viola
Wendy Richman, viola
Ben Hong, cello
Christopher Hanulik, bass
Catherine Gregory, flute
Jan Baker, saxophone

Bach Magnificat

This Portrait concert features three Decoda artists and celebrates Reza Vali's 70th Birthday, as part of a year of events and performances dedicated to Vali’s unique accomplishments and artistic identity. Dedicated to championing the work of living composers, Decoda has a particular history working with Vali, and brings forth an especially committed and informed interpretation of his distinct musical voice. This performance marks the premiere of a new version of Vali’s work ‘Mystery of the Rose’ for flute, cello and piano.

BEETHOVEN Fidelio Overture

ELLINGTON Fantasy

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

Voice of an American Master: A Tribute to George Crumb at the NFA

Honoring a national treasure and ground-breaking composer, this recital features a selection of George Crumb’s soulful flute music.

Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for 3 Masked Players

Catherine Gregory, flute; Brook Speltz, cello; Daniel Anastasio, piano.

Weill Music Room at Carnegie Hall

Tickets are limited; to reserve please email info@decodamusic.org

With the support of the Cultural Development Fund for New York City, Decoda will record and perform the complete chamber music of Xiao Bao He, a composer currently incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The concert will take place May 28, 2024 at 7:00 pm in the Weill Music Room in Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing, and the recordings will take place at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn.

Over the past five years, Xiao Bao He has written a series of chamber pieces for Decoda and for Decoda members. Through a partnership with Musicambia, Teaching Artist Brad Balliett (former Artistic Director of Decoda) has worked with Xiao Bao He for many years, facilitating the creation of these new works. Decoda will record three Suites by He, including works that received their premieres at Carnegie Hall, Trinity Wall Street, and the Peabody Institute of Music.

This project represents a continuation and widening of Decoda's Music for Transformation initiative, a series of residencies, creative workshops, and performances that aims to center the compositional voices of incarcerated songwriters and composers.

Featuring “some of the brightest young classical musicians in the world” (Time Out New York), Decoda is Carnegie Hall’s first-ever affiliate ensemble, comprising alums of the adventurous Ensemble Connect. Copland’s Appalachian Spring—celebrating its 80th anniversary this season—serves as an inspiration and departure point for this unique program. Experience a premiere composed by and featuring Ringdown, the new electronic cinematic pop duo of Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee; an American folk–inspired septet by Copland’s friend Hanns Eisler written shortly before his expulsion from the US; a new arrangement of Billy Bragg’s setting of Woody Guthrie’s “Eisler on the Go”; and the dynamic Vera by Hannah Kendall.

Program

COPLAND Midday Thoughts for Solo Piano

HANNAH KENDALL Vera

EISLER Septet No. 1, Op. 95a (Variations on Children's Songs)

BILLY BRAGG "Eisler on the Go" (arr. Claire Bryant)

RINGDOWN New Work (World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)

COPLAND Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 Instruments

Australian flutist Catherine Gregory, winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, has performed around the globe in some of the world's foremost venues -- from Alice Tully Hall in New York, to London's Milton Court, Hamburg's new Elbphilharmonie, and the Sydney Opera House. The New York Times has called her playing "magically mysterious," also writing that "Ms. Gregory left a deep impression, her sound rich and fully present." She has been a guest of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia CMS, Caramoor, Bay Chamber Festival, and the Southern Cross Soloists, as well as on tour with the Australian and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras. She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2019.

A member of the UCLA piano faculty and a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist, David Kaplan has been called "excellent and adventurous" by The New York Times, and praised by the Boston Globe for "grace and fire" at the keyboard. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Britten Sinfonia and Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, and has performed recitals at the Ravinia Festival, Sarasota Opera House, Washington's National Gallery, Music on Main in Vancouver, and Strathmore. Kaplan's New Dances of the League of David, a recital infusing Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze with 16 new works was cited among the "Best Classical Music Performances of 2015" by The New York Times.

Classical Crossroads and Rolling Hills United Methodist Church present Second Sundays at Two

Decoda at NOLA Chamber Fest

As an artist-led collective, Decoda seeks to create a more compassionate and connected world through music – thoughtfully curating outstanding performances of live chamber music, facilitating creative community projects, and inspiring the next generation of musical artists to rethink and reimagine their role in society. Join us for an exciting program performed by this unique ensemble.

This event is presented by the University of New Orleans School of the Arts.

The Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival Closing Night Concert, conducted by Experiential Orchestra Music Director James Blachly, features Julia Perry’s Violin Concerto performed by Curtis Stewart and the Experiential Orchestra, following the March 1 release of their recording of the piece as part of EXO’s American Counterpoints album.

Perry’s Violin Concerto was composed in 1963 and revised in 1968, but she continued to update the score until 1977, only two years before her death. Both this performance and the recording include Perry’s extensive revisions to its orchestration, by Roger Zahab. EXO, Stewart, and Blachly gave the professional world premiere performance of this revised version of the concerto in December 2022 in New York. Students from three New York City conservatories will join EXO for the concerto, sitting side-by-side with EXO members.

The festival Closing Night Concert also includes soprano Louise Toppin performing the world premiere orchestral arrangement of Julia Perry’s setting of the spiritual I’m a Poor Li’l Orphan in this World and Experiential Orchestra performing Perry’s beautiful Prelude for Strings. The concert closes with the two youth ensembles performing the first half of the concert – Ruckel Middle School Chorus (Niceville, FL) and Sandra Day O’Connor HS Orchestra (San Antonio, TX) – joining EXO on stage to perform Perry's Ye, Who Seek the Truth, introducing this important composer’s music to the next generation.

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Program:

Performances by Ruckel Middle School Chorus and the Sandra Day O’Connor HS Orchestra

~ Intermission ~

I’m a Poor Li’l Orphan in this World by Julia Perry (1952) arr. Norpoth (world premiere of arrangement)
Louise Toppin, Soprano 
James Blachly, EXO Music Director
Experiential Orchestra

Prelude for Strings by Julia Perry (1946) (arr. Zahab)
James Blachly, EXO Music Director
Experiential Orchestra

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Julia Perry (1963-68, rev. 1977)
Curtis Stewart, Violin
James Blachly, EXO Music Director
Experiential Orchestra plus Students from Three New York City Conservatories
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Ye, Who Seek the Truth by Julia Perry (1952, arr. Norpoth)
Louise Toppin, Soprano; James Blachly, EXO Music Director; Experiential Orchestra; Ruckel Middle School Chorus (Niceville, FL); and Sandra Day O’Connor High School Orchestra (San Antonio, TX) 

The Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival presented by Experiential Orchestra and Videmus brings Julia Perry’s legacy to the next generation, through side-by-side rehearsals and readings with the Experiential Orchestra led by Music Director James Blachly and students from three New York City conservatories.

Ensemble Échappé

Ben Grow, conductor

Roscoe Mitchell

Cutouts

Nonaah

Nicole Mitchell

Cult of Electromagnetic Connectivity

Before and After (Any War)

Eve Bulgarian

Making Sense of It

Not My Home

David Ludwig

Paganiniana

FIERCE BEAUTY PART II
Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel, einmal anders!
Leonard Rosenman/Dunn – East of Eden Suite
Arnold Schoenberg – Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
J.S. Bach – Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 10 Adagio 

Flutist Catherine Gregory, cited by the NYTimes as "magically mysterious..." with a "rich and fully present sound..." presents her creative concert program, "Just Breathe."

Just Breathe is a series of new works by some of today's most exciting composers, from Clarice Assad to Viet Cuong, inspired by the common theme of "breath," written for the world's three essential instruments: human voice, flute, and drums.

Catherine is joined by two internationally acclaimed collaborators: multiple GRAMMY-nominated percussion soloist Ian David Rosenbaum and genre bending soprano Ariadne Greif.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) 

Flute Quartet in D major K285

Thomas Adès (1971 - )

“Alchymia” clarinet quintet (2021)

I. A Sea-Change (...those are pearls...)

II. The Woods So Wild

III. Lachrymae

IV. Divisions on a Lute-song: Wedekind’s Round

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
The Swan (from “The Carnival of the Animals”)

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) 

Introduction and Allegro (septet)

Brian Chen, viola

Catherine Gregory, flute

Andrew Lowy, clarinet

Antonio Lysy, cello

Varty Manouelian, violin

Movses Pogossian, violin

Alaina Stark, harp