Chamber Music concert and Masterclass for students at Deerfield Academy.

Paul Cho, clarinet

Shelley Monroe, bassoon

Mika Sasaki, piano

REZA VALI: PORTRAIT CONCERT

• PRINCETON UNIVERSITY—Chancellor Green Rotunda

• Tuesday September 24, 5:30pm

This Portrait concert features three Decoda artists and celebrates the works of Reza Vali, 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.

“The Mystery of the Rose” for flute, cello, and piano

“Kord (Calligraphy No. 9)” for solo cello

“Kismet (Calligraphy No. 7)” for solo flute and electronics

“Persian Folk Songs (Set No. 16C)” for cello and piano

“Folk Songs (Set No. 9)” for flute and cello. 

Featuring Decoda artists Catherine Gregory, flute; David Kaplan, piano; and Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello

The DCMF Festival Finale is Saturday, June 29 at 3PM in the Williams Recital Hall. Featuring all twenty-three young artists, the program will feature chamber music by Clara Schumann, Reena Esmail, Edouard Destenay, Maurice Ravel, Alberto Ginastera, Viet Cuong, and Erich Korngold. All events are free of charge and open to the public.

Kittredge Music Wing - Williams Recital Hall

Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC

FREE! Come one, come all!

On Friday, June 28 at 6:30PM, Decoda Faculty joins forces with the 2024 Festival Artists for a unique side-by-side, outdoor performance of Arboretum, a recent work by Decoda’s own Brad Balliett. Comprised of instrumental solos layered intricately by the composer, each solo in Arboretum is inspired by a different kind of tree. Balliett says about the work:

“I’ve always been really into nature since I was a little kid, and my professional path has diverged away from it,” composer Brad Balliett says. “And recently, I’ve been trying to get back to it and find all the ways that I can combine these two passions—can I bring some of my love of nature into my life as a bassoonist and as a composer?”

Following Arboretum, audiences will commune in the Williams Recital Hall at 7PM for the first of two performances featuring the 2024 Festival Artists, with music by Antonin Dvorak, Samuel Barber, Franz Schubert, Vincent Persichetti, and world premiere performances of new works by two DCMF composers-in-residence, Soumili Mukherjee (Peabody Conservatory) and Ian Schwalbe (Florida State University).

FREE!

Join us for our 10th Anniversary Season of Decoda Chamber Music Festival at our new North Carolina home at Warren Wilson College! Our first performance of the festival features our five DCMF faculty, Decoda artists Brad Balliett, bassoon, Claire Bryant, cello, Catherine Gregory, flute, David Kaplan, piano and Clara Lyon, violin.

In a program that shows off Decoda’s unique programming, you will be delighted by chamber music from Valerie Coleman, Felix Mendelssohn, and a new work by incarcerated composer and friend of Decoda, Xiaobao He. Also on the program are two Decoda arrangements by Brad Balliett, one by North Carolina native John Coltrane, and another in honor of the late South Carolina astronaut, Dr. Ron McNair. Anchoring the program is another Decoda original arrangement by Catherine Gregory, Reimagined Dance Suite, a mashup of the French Baroque by Rameau, and the Neo-Classical with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite.

Maombi for flute, violin, and cello by Valerie Coleman

Andante espressivo from Piano Trio No. 2 by Felix Mendelssohn

Poetic Distance Suite for bassoon, cello and piano by Xiaobao He

Fantasy on Rendezvous 5 (Ron’s Piece) by Jean-Michel Jarre / Brad Balliett

brief intermission

Reimagined Dance Suite Rameau/Stravinsky (arr. Catherine Gregory)

Naima by John Coltrane (arr. Brad Balliett)

FREE!

Weill Music Room at Carnegie Hall

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 7pm

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.

Decoda returns “home” to Carnegie Hall, where the collective met and received the shared training as fellows in Ensemble Connect. This year’s program celebrates influence, inspiration and imagination. Decoda is thrilled to collaborate with the new duo, Ringdown, featuring composers and vocalists Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee for a brand new Carnegie Hall commission written for and performed alongside Decoda.

Reverberations

COPLAND Midday Thoughts for Solo Piano. (1944/rev. 1982)
HANNAH KENDALL. Vera (2008)

HANNS EISLER. Septet (Suite) No. 1, Op. 92a, Variations on American Children’s Songs (1941)

WOODY GUTHRIE / BILLY BRAGG. Eisler on the Go (arr. Claire Bryant) (1949/1998) 

RINGDOWN New Work – World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall (2024)

AARON COPLAND Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 Instruments (1945/1970)

Catherine Gregory, flute; Moran Katz & Paul Cho, clarinets; Shelley Monroe Huang, bassoon; David Kaplan, piano; Clara Lyon, Mari Lee, George Meyer, Doori Na, violins; Dana Kelley & Caeli Smith, violas; Claire Bryant & Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cellos; Evan Premo, bass

Reverberations is an exploration of the profound relationship between inspiration and imagination, presenting a series of musical escapades that reveal an interconnected web of influence. Central to the program is the work of Aaron Copland, whose Appalachian Spring and Midday Thoughts both celebrate an 80th Anniversary this year, and whose music sought to carve a place for American music on the concert stage. Copland uses American folk music as source material from which to craft a sonic language, borrowing from, amplifying, distorting, and subverting in the process. Tonight’s special guest collaborators – Ringdown – undertake a resonant composition process with their performance alongside Decoda, building a new multilayered work that refracts elements of Copland’s musical perspective. Hannah Kendall’s brilliant early work, Vera, suggests a kinship with folk music that is built from a rigorous musical architecture, with a nod to 20th Century iconoclast Arnold Schoenberg. Hanns Eisler, an Expressionist who studied the works of the great Romantics with Schoenberg, uses American children’s songs as a vehicle of inspiration in his charming Septet No.1. Finally, Decodan Claire Bryant borrows from folk legends Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg in her re-setting of “Eisler on the Go”.  An unfinished Guthrie song completed over thirty years later by another politically active singer-songwriter, this dark ballad depicts Eisler’s exile from America as a result of the anti-communist craze of the 1940s and 50s. Reverberations celebrates the life cycle of creativity - from inspiration to imagination, from ideas to action - through the art of making music.

Decoda musicians are presented at St. Mary's inaugural chamber music concert, which promises to have something for everyone. This fun hour-long program, including works by Schubert, Ravel, Piazzola and Brahms, draws inspiration from jazz, tango and Roma (Gypsy) music and will include a surprise tribute to a musical that had its start in Cold Spring.

ARTISTS
Anna Elashvili, violin
Yonah Zur, violin
Yves Dhar, cello
Angelina Gadeliya, piano

PROGRAM
String Trio - Schubert Trio in Bb D. 471
Duo - Ravel “Blues” mvt from Violin and Piano Sonata
Piano Trio - Piazzolla "Otono Porteno" Autumn from the 4 Seasons of Buenos Aires
Piano Quartet - Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council

JUNE 9, 7:30 PM

A special performance featuring the world premiere of 9131 — a new chamber opera by incarcerated composer Joseph Wilson.

This concert presents works written by three talented musicians who are currently incarcerated. All three of them have participated in creative musical workshops over the past ten years with organizations including Decoda, Musicambia, and Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program. All three composers have a rich history of both performance and composition, and the works heard tonight represent the culmination of years of study and sustained practice.

CAST & LEADERSHIP

Kimberli Render, Ifeyinwa & Corrections Officer
Dominic Armstrong, Hunter
Derek Lee Ragin, Corrections Officer & Prisoner
Marcus King, Corrections Officer & Prisoner 
Benjamin Grow, conductor
Karina Parker-Mura, director
Kenyatta Emmanuel, director
Brad Balliett, producer

DECODA ARTISTS

Michelle Ross, violin
George Meyer, viola
Yves Dhar, cello
Kris Saebo, bass
Mika Sasaki, piano

PROGRAM

Birds in Flight*                    Robert Carter (b. 1975)

Suite                               Xiaobao He (b. 1986)

Silent Tears / Memoir Departure

Waltz for Celia

          Whirlwind Residuals

          Grace Note*

          Where the Past Begins

          When We Are Poor

Decoda: Michelle Ross, violin; George Meyer, viola; Yves Dhar, cello; Kris Saebo, bass; Brad Balliett, bassoon; Mika Sasaki, piano

9131: A Sing Sing Opera*     Joseph Wilson (b. 1979)
with Xiabao He

Overture

Scene 1: Visiting Room

          Scene 2: Canned Strange Fruit

          Scene 3: Strip Search

          Scene 4: Secrets

          Scene 5: On the Cell Block

          Scene 6: Die in My Dreams   

PERFORMANCE 2 OF 2

ICEBERG New Music partners with acclaimed ensemble Decoda ("Some of the brightest young musicians in the world." - Time Out) and master improvisers Kornfeld & Andrews ("Refined... effortless... Almost mystical." - New York Times) to create a new program of world premiere music and improvised drama. Ten pieces of never-before-heard music will inspire ten never-before-seen plays, performed by some of the best contemporary musicians and improvisers in the country.

These concerts will feature world premieres by Drake Andersen, Victor Baez, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Alex Burtzos, Yu-Chun Chien, Derek Cooper, Jack Frerer, Max Grafe, Jessica Mays, and Harry Stafylakis. Like all ICEBERG events, the events will include open bar happy hour and will be followed with an opportunity to talk with the composers, musicians, and improvisers. This show is suitable for listeners ages 13+.

Check back here for more information about tickets.

PERFORMERS
Siwoo Kim, violin
Andrew Gonzalez, viola
Michael Katz, cello
Angelina Gadeliya, piano

PROGRAM
Featuring world premieres by Drake Andersen, Victor Baez, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Alex Burtzos, Yu-Chun Chien, Derek Cooper, Jack Frerer, Max Grafe, Jessica Mays, and Harry Stafylakis

SCHEDULE
May 19, 2023: Performance (8PM)

PERFORMANCE 1 OF 2

ICEBERG New Music partners with acclaimed ensemble Decoda ("Some of the brightest young musicians in the world." - Time Out) and master improvisers Kornfeld & Andrews ("Refined... effortless... Almost mystical." - New York Times) to create a new program of world premiere music and improvised drama. Ten pieces of never-before-heard music will inspire ten never-before-seen plays, performed by some of the best contemporary musicians and improvisers in the country.

These concerts will feature world premieres by Drake Andersen, Victor Baez, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Alex Burtzos, Yu-Chun Chien, Derek Cooper, Jack Frerer, Max Grafe, Jessica Mays, and Harry Stafylakis. Like all ICEBERG events, the events will include open bar happy hour and will be followed with an opportunity to talk with the composers, musicians, and improvisers. This show is suitable for listeners ages 13+.

Check back here for more information about tickets.

PERFORMERS
Catherine Gregory, flute
Paul Wonjin Cho, clarinet
Shelley Monroe Huang, bassoon
Angelina Gadeliya, piano

PROGRAM
Featuring world premieres by Drake Andersen, Victor Baez, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Alex Burtzos, Yu-Chun Chien, Derek Cooper, Jack Frerer, Max Grafe, Jessica Mays, and Harry Stafylakis

SCHEDULE
April 28, 2023: Performance (8PM)

Decoda performs at Merkin Concert Hall (Kaufman Music Center) as part of their BRIDGES Series — the culminating event of Decoda’s residency at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, featuring Decoda artists and students of the John J. Cali School of Music.

This performance features the featured composition of Benjamin Horne, the winner of the Cross-Country Chamber Consortium’s first ever Black, LatinX, and Indigenous Emerging Composer Commission.
Read more about Benjamin and the CCCC.

ARTISTS
ToniMarie Marchioni, oboe
Catherine Gregory, flute
Moran Katz, clarinet
Brad Balliett, bassoon
Laura Weiner, horn
Suliman Tekali, violin
Yves Dhar, cello
David Kaplan, piano

PROGRAM
BENJAMIN HORNE  –  Clarinet Quintet
IGOR STRAVINSKY  –  Symphonies of Wind Instruments
JOSEPH JONES  –  Wind Quintet
JOHN HARBISON  –  Music for 18 Winds

Hear world premieres by Joseph Jones and Sarah Kirkland Snider; John Coltrane’s “Naima,” arranged by Decoda founding member and artistic director Brad Balliett; selections from Corea’s Children’s Songs, arranged by Decoda; and Stravinsky’s Suite italienne and selections from Rameau’s Les Gentils Airs, both arranged by Catherine Gregory.

MARCH 8, 2023: PERFORMANCE (WEILL RECITAL HALL)
7:30 PM

ARTISTS
Catherine Gregory, flute
Alicia Lee, clarinet
Brad Balliett, bassoon
Clara Lyon, violin
Andrew Gonzalez, viola
Claire Bryant, cello
Kris Saebo, bass
Angelina Gadeliya, piano

PROGRAM
JOSEPH JONES Fragments No. 2, Op. 115 (World Premiere)

COREA Selections from Children's Songs (arr. Decoda)

COLTRANE "Naima" (arr. Brad Balliett; World Premiere)

SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER O Sweet and Most Beloved Mother (World Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)

JOSEPH WILSON Lovely Nights

STRAVINSKY Suite italienne (arr. Catherine Gregory)

RAMEAU Selections from Les Gentils Airs (arr. Catherine Gregory)