Past Events

Sphinx Organization, the largest and longest-standing convening dedicated to diversity and inclusion in classical music, celebrates its 25th anniversary this season, anchored by its annual convening, SphinxConnect: Impact, and the Sphinx Competition in Detroit, MI, January 26-28, 2023.

Adding to the momentum of the January 2022 convening, advocates and architects of This Is A Movement share findings and offer perspectives on the continued work towards offsetting over 100 years of patriarchy in our jazz community. Featuring musicians Roxy Coss, Michele Rosewoman, Shanta Nurullah, Paola Prestini, and moderated by Niama Safia-Sandy.

Houses of Zodiac brings word, movement, music, and image together to illuminate from within the verses of four poets: Pablo Neruda, Brenda Shaughnessy, Natasha Trethewey and Anaïs Nin. Former Kronos Quartet member Jeffrey Zeigler performs the music of Paola Prestini, to which New City Ballet soloist “Rogue Ballerina” Georgina Pazcoguin and Butoh dancer and Sankai Juku member Dai Matsuoka bring their own choreographies. The latency of the poems is refracted through music, dance, and in some instances archival images.These multiple perspectives are curated into a cinematic experience by Murat Eyuboglu while the composite work draws inspiration from sources as diverse as the choreography of Samuel Beckett, the conceptual art of Sol LeWitt, the natural world and more.Created under the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions, Houses of Zodiac takes the form of a dialogue between the paradigmatically different traditions of butoh and ballet, presenting them first in their own spheres in Océano and Ophelia, then bringing them into conversation and counterpoint in the culminating Houses of Zodiac. Taking its cues from close readings of poetry, the choreography reflects on the themes of being, becoming, solitude, communion, and freedom.

Sensorium Ex has partnered with the Artscape Artsability Festival to bring a collaborative performance to the stage, where artists are able to share with intrigued audiences the magic of expression through the use of technology. The team is working with Artscape to identify performers from the local disability sector to fulfil some of the roles, including that of Kitsune and the Chorus.

Paola Prestini presents her multimedia project Houses of Zodiac: Poems for Cello , an immersive live / installation in which music, word, movement and image are combined to explore the intersection between mind body and nature. Alongside cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, filmmaker Murat Eyuboglu, New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin and Butoh dancer Dai Matsuoka, Prestini combines texts by Anaïs Nin, Pablo Neruda, Brenda Shaughnessy and Natasha Trethewey, unites the most disparate worlds and imaginaries and reflects on the themes of being, becoming, solitude, communion and freedom.

Rescheduled from January 2022, Voices of Ascension and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City perform The Glass Box, Paola Prestini’s gripping oratorio from 2018 about young refugees in Sweden afflicted by a coma-like condition. Voices will also give the world premiere of James Bassi’s Protect, a reflection on humanity’s collective struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evening culminates in brilliance and victory with Haydn’s magnificent “Lord Nelson” Mass.

Anna Clyne, the Philharmonia’s Featured Composer, curates a free evening of chamber music by some of the most engaging composers working today. Paola Prestini’s 'G-force', dedicated to the memory of a friend and “a life fully lived”, combines the traditional textures of a string quartet with the otherworldly sound of the vibraphone.

Biking Through Time is a work written for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus inspired by Maria Popova's Brain Pickings. In this specific post, she compiled writings about the many things women could not do throughout time.

Paola Prestini, The Hotel That Time Forgot; Max Bruch, Violin Concerto featuring Concerto Competition winner Liyuan Xie; Robert Schumann, Symphony No.3

Edward Tulane is a toy rabbit who thinks of himself as quite exceptional. Content in his easy life, his world is upturned when he is separated from his loving family. Based on the best-seller by local author Kate DiCamillo. With Minnesota Opera and Mark Campbell.

Opera Philadelphia will present short film submissions, paired for their viewpoints on contemporary life, as part of their 'Shorts: Like, Share, Follow' program at Festival O22.

Join Death of Classical and pianist Inna Faliks for an evening of hundred-year-old music and how those works have inspired and fired the imaginations of three of today’s leading composers.

Inna Faliks breaks ground with the first full performance of nine social responses she commissioned on Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Op. 126 Bagatelles plus the original masterpieces.

Kicking off the season with a free concert at Iroquois Amphitheater, the Louisville Orchestra celebrates with a colorful program of symphonic music.

Boosting Stephen Sondheim’s legacy as a composer for all time, Anthony de Mare brings that songbook to solo piano with 50 inspirations at his fingertips, created by the likes of Jon Batiste, Steve Reich, Paola Prestini, and more.

Paola Prestini’s piano concerto Let Me See the Sun, which features trailblazing pianist Lara Downes. The concerto is about the human impulse to remain hopeful, and what it means to struggle towards clarity and light. The work is structured as a dialogue between piano and orchestra, at times contentious and at times unified.

Masterclass/seminar with Paola Prestini whose new work is part of the Stillpoint project. Young Artists from the Art of the Piano program will be playing for Paola and asking her questions. The public is invited to attend and listen.

Awadagin Pratt, celebrated pianist and conductor, explores the truth and beauty found within T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets through its sibling universe in music. Joined by composers Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Peteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton and Judd Greenstein, out-of-the-voice-box, super-group Roomful of Teeth and armed with seven newly composed works, Pratt embraces Eliot in a concert-length narrative that expresses an elemental truth…”at the still point of the turning world…there the dance is…and there is only the dance.”

Continuing the tradition of midday concerts established by Gian Carlo Menotti, the musicians of the Budapest Orchestra deliver a series of chamber performances at the Teatro Caio Melisso Spazio Carla Fendi. The programme of the morning concerts is a tribute to Gian Carlo Menotti, with a new transcription for voice and ensemble of the Canti della lontananza and pieces by contemporary composers.

Simone Dinnerstein joins forces with pianist-activist Lara Downes for a celebration of trailblazing American artists called “Variations on a Dream,” performed June 22. The concert includes the world premiere of the Oregon Bach Festival commission, “Let Me See the Sun,” from Paola Prestini.

This collaboration between composer Paola Prestini, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, Sankai Juku dancer Dai Matsuoka, New York City Ballet dancer Georgina Pazcoguin, and filmmaker Murat Eyuboglu explore the intersection of mind, body, and nature—themes mirrored in the recent artworks of Takashi Murakami which express his interests in spirituality and ecological and human-made disasters. Houses of Zodiac is a series of live cello solos and dance, with lush filmic visuals and poetic interludes by Pablo Neruda, Anaïs Nin, Brenda Shaughnessy, and Natasha Tretheway underscored by Zeigler along with musicians such as Nels Cline and Tanya Tagaq.

Monarch Brass will perform Paola's original composition 'Wave' at the International Trumpet Guild.

The European premiere of Paola Prestini's 'Barcarola', conducted by Speranza Scappucci.

This sweeping and inspiring new multi-media operatic work employs video projection, shadow puppetry, and cutting-edge stage craft to tell the story of Harold (Rinde Eckert); a man on his vibrant last adventure as he explores the allegory of time, youth and the peculiar magic of ordinary life.

In its west coast premiere, Aging Magician is a hauntingly beautiful hybrid of opera and theatre that combines opera, choral music, and puppetry, composed by Paola Prestini and produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

Under the direction of their founder Dianne Berkun Menaker the Brooklyn Youth Chorus has become one of the most inspiring, ambitious, and polished ensembles in the city. Singing music by Nathalie Joachim, Tania León, Paola Prestini, Olga Bell and Gity Razaz.

Orchestre Métropolitain performs Paola Prestini's 'Barcarola' alongside works by Debussy and Alma Mahler.

Magos Herrera and Paola Prestini will present the live Con Alma concert, which includes original works and selections from the Mexican and jazz songbook. The concert celebrates a groundbreaking journey from creating a digital work viewed by audiences around the world, to a live theatrical version.

Pianist Anthony de Mare performs a new work by Paola Prestini as part of the landmark commissioning and concert project Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano.

Magos Herrera and Paola Prestini will present the live Con Alma concert, which includes original works and selections from the Mexican and jazz songbook, at Palacio de Bellas Artes on March 26th. The concert celebrates a groundbreaking journey from creating a digital work viewed by audiences around the world, to a live theatrical version in Mexico City’s cultural center.

World premiere of 'Let the Wind Speak for Choir, Percussion and Cello' at Peabody Conservatory.

Pianist Inna Faliks performs new works from her album 'Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel,' including Paola Prestini's 'Variations on a Spell'

AloneTogether comprises spoken word, poetry, sculpture, video art, music, and film and features 500 YPC choristers, 15 composers and songwriters, seven poets, three choreographers, and two filmmakers. Featuring a newly-commissioned work by Paola Prestini.

Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust present an audience-interactive and sensorial iteration of 21c Liederabend, featuring new works by Paola Prestini and others.

Halted by the pandemic, Minnesota Opera’s premiere of Edward Tulane was put on hold. Tune in for a virtual concert featuring choral highlights from Paola Prestini's opera based on the best-selling novel by Kate DiCamillo. Streaming begins December 13.

The Cramer Quartet premieres the Seven Last Words Project, featuring Paola Prestini's "It is finished," at the 5 Boroughs Music Festival.

The Cramer Quartet premieres the Seven Last Words Project, featuring Paola Prestini's "It is finished," at the 5 Boroughs Music Festival.

Paola Prestini will be joined by Copenhagen’s Enactlab to discuss their interdisciplinary arts, research, and community project centered around Prestini’s opera, Sensorium Ex, a multi-sensory narrative woven together at the intersections of disability and artificial intelligence.

Acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal sextet Sjaella performs Paola Prestini's 'A Triptych for Our Time'‍

World premiere with Tanya Tagaq from her new album with Saul Williams

Protestra performs Thrush Song by Paola Prestini

Acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal sextet Sjaella performs Paola Prestini's 'A Triptych for Our Time'‍

Acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal sextet Sjaella performs Paola Prestini's 'A Triptych for Our Time'‍

World premiere of "What the Silence Said," written by Marie Howe, composed by Paola Prestini, and performed by Nels Cline, Yuka C. Honda, and Jeffrey Zeigler.

"Thrush Song" with words by Maria Popova, performed in Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival's Series Concert Five, with Benjamin Rous, conductor; Rachel Calloway, soprano; Soovin Kim, violin; Aki Saulière, violin; Timothy Summers, viola; Raphael Bell, cello; I-Jen Fang, percussion.

Acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal sextet Sjaella performs Paola Prestini's 'A Triptych for Our Time'‍

World premiere of Allison Loggins-Hull's commissioning project Diametrically Composed, with mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran and pianist Gabriela Martinez, featuring works by Prestini and others

Acclaimed Leipzig-based vocal sextet Sjaella performs Paola Prestini's 'A Triptych for Our Time'

Presented by Death of Classical, the pre-release event for Houses of Zodiac: Poems for Cello (out September 10 on National Sawdust Tracks) includes a reception and spirits tasting, performances by Jeffrey Zeigler, readings of the poetry featured on the album, and an exclusive preview of the film and immersive video projections by Murat Eyuboglu, featuring dancers Georgina Pazcoguin and Dai Matsuoka.

This panel will explore the future of creative expression in the context of rapidly evolving technologies and economic, political, and social change.

America/Beautiful is a project by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, in which she has commissioned a diverse group of more than 70 of today’s leading American composers to each compose a variation on “America the Beautiful.” The series culminates in two live programs at Green-Wood Cemetery on July 8 and 9.

Paola Prestini and Beth Morrison present 21c Liederabend, Op. Worldwide (digital), the first installment of Contemplations from National Sawdust celebrating the institution's 5th anniversary

Episode 5 of the #ActiveHopePodcast discusses feminism and social justice, as well as beauty and aesthetics in partnership with the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center.

Episode 4 of the #ActiveHopePodcast discusses futurism in partnership with the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center.

Paola Prestini will be joined by composer Kamala Sankaram and sound artists Mendi and Keith Obadike to discuss online programming and classical music in the digital age. American Composers Orchestra president Melissa Ngan will moderate.

Influential opera director Yuval Sharon will join Paola Prestini to discuss arts leadership in times of change, the future of performance and the operatic form, collaborating with artists and creating safe spaces for all.

Performance by the Thalea Quartet

Episode 3 of the #ActiveHopePodcast discusses borders live in partnership with the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center.

In this New York Festival of Song showcase, Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell previews new work including songs from Paola Prestini's opera Edward Tulane, commissioned by Minnesota Opera

World Premiere performance by the Thalea Quartet

Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin performs Tango! by Paola Prestini with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra

Paola Prestini joins renowned author Sonu Shamdasani to discuss the inspirations behind her new quartet based on Carl Jung's The Red Book, which will receive its livestreamed world premiere on Sunday, April 11, 2021 by the Thalea String Quartet.

POSTPONED

Episode 2 of the #ActiveHopePodcast discusses incarceration, law, and politics live in partnership with the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center.

Premiere of No One Is Forgotten: A Live Radio Opera Experience at HERE

Speaker for the Artists and Technology Working Together panel at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's Evolution of the Arts in a Digital World Symposium

Exploring the Creative Process with Paola Prestini & Magos Herrera at AMP Concerts: Screening of videos from the Con Alma project, including a world premiere video, La Creación de las Aves (The Creation of The Birds), followed by an online discussion and Q&A. Hosted by the National Hispanic Cultural Center, in collaboration with UNM's Latin America and Iberian Institute.

Panelist for Presenting Progress: American Classical Heritage at SphinxConnect 2021 (2:20pm ET)

Panelist for Chicago Opera Theater 'Inner Workings' Discussion: Taking Care of Business

Live kickoff event for the #ActiveHopePodcast with the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center

Talkback with Ash Koosha and Tateo Nakajima

Con Alma - The Digital Event

Part of CSO Sessions

Performance with Pioneer Works

Public Broadcast premiere of The Colorado with Arizona PBS

Performance by Jeffrey Zeigler

The Red Book Performance by The Thalea Quartet, Caramoor Artist-in-Residence 19/20 @ Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts

New Home Performance @ The Brearley School

Anthony De Mare Liaisons 2020: Re-imagining Sondheim From The Piano, West Coast Premiere @ UCLA Royce Hall

Performance of Silent Spring by Brooklyn Youth Chorus @ New York Public Library

She is Called Performance by Brooklyn Youth Chorus @ The University of North Carolina

Guest Lecturer for Blueprint Fellowship @ The Juilliard School

Anthony de Mare LIAISONS 2020 @ 92nd Street Y

Aging Magician Performance @ San Diego Opera

Edward Tulane @ Ordway Center For Performing Arts

Ravinia, Bennett Gordon Recital Hall

Performance of ARIA, Works for Solo Cello by Jeffrey Zeigler @ The Mansion at Strathmore

Performance of Body Maps @ Bloomingdale School of Music

NY Phil: Sound ON’s Commission for Project 19, with text by Maria Popova @ The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Workshop of Untitled, inspired by Film Stills @ National Sawdust