Mind the gap.
Recommended live new-music events March 25–April 1.
I wasn’t able to attend the concert I’d intended to see late last week, so I can’t tell you anything about it. (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim was there; here’s a gift link). I won’t be at the one I was going to see tonight, either, though at least that one’s streaming. I just spent weeks planning for a major weekend trip that isn’t happening now, among other recent disturbances in the Force. So no editorial preamble this week… let’s just cut straight to the listings.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
25
أحمد [Ahmed]
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
Tuesday, March 25 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
roulette.org
Maybe you’ve heard of أحمد [Ahmed], the idiosyncratic, extraordinary quartet that sprang forth fully formed in 2017. Since that time, pianist Pat Thomas, saxophonist Seymour Wright, bassist Joel Grip, and drummer Antonin Gerbal have released four albums, a single, and a 5CD box set, transforming the music of Black American bassist and oud player Ahmed Abdul-Malik into epic-length disquisitions on timbre, rhythm, spontaneity, and the inheritance of tradition. Or maybe the band is new to you. Either way, a prediction: you’re unlikely to find a more singular experience than this band’s U.S. debut anywhere in town this week. If you can’t attend in person, the show will be streamed live and archived for on-demand viewing on the Roulette website and YouTube.
Rebekah Heller
Miller Theatre, Columbia University
2960 Broadway, Upper West Side
Tuesday, March 25 at 6pm; free admission
millertheatre.com
The dynamic bassoonist, conductor, and International Contemporary Ensemble core member Rebekah Heller appears as part of Miller Theatre’s generous series of intimate, casual free Pop-Up Concerts, which invite audience members onstage to surround the featured attraction, Her program pairs a world premiere, Righteous Rage by Brittany J. Green, with a bassoon-choir arrangement of Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, plus further works by Fay Victor, Jessie Cox, and Joy Guidry.
Moby-Dick
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
30 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30pm, Saturday, March 29 at 1pm; $42–$400
metopera.org
Karen Kamensek conducts the Met Opera premiere of a 2010 opera by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, which handily adapts Herman Melville’s classic novel into a lean, effective lyric drama resourcefully staged by Leonard Foglia. As I wrote in The New York Times about the world premiere at Dallas Opera (gift link), you’ll hear echoes of Debussy, Puccini, Britten, Glass, and more, deployed shrewdly. The solid cast includes Brandon Jovanovich, Stephen Costello, Peter Mattei, Ryan Speedo Green, and Janai Brugger.
26
Kate Gentile
Glass Box Theatre, The New School
55 W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Wednesday, March 26–Saturday, March 29 at 8:30pm; $20 cash only
thestonenyc.com
A powerful, versatile percussionist and a composer of visceral complexities, Kate Gentile comes to The New School for a four-night Stone series residency. Opening night unites the spry electroacoustic quartet heard on her 2023 magnum opus, Find Letter X. Thursday brings Gloatmeal, a trio with partner Matt Mitchell on keyboards and Doyeon Kim on gayageum. On Friday Gentile leads Special Interest, a quartet with Mitchell, guitarist Andrew Smiley, and bassist Chris Lightcap. The series concludes Saturday with The Screaming Age, featuring Smiley and Dan Lippel on quartertone guitars and Greg Chudzik on bass.
Overdrive #3
Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave.; Midtown East
Wednesday, March 26–Saturday, March 29, times vary; free admission
overdrive.nyc
Founded in 2024 by composers Itzá García and Tobias Fandel, this generous four-day festival focuses on melding contemporary musical performance practice with state-of-the-art technology. The festival’s website offers few clues regarding who’s participating, but the premise is fascinating and free admission should help to cultivate curiosity.
27
The Turntable Trio
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
Thursday, March 27 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
roulette.org
Experimental turntablists Maria Chávez, Evicshen (a.k.a. Victoria Shen), and Mariam Rezaei come together for an epic evening of unpredictable assemblage and mixology ahead of an appearance Friday at Big Ears. If you can’t attend in person, the performance will be streamed live and archived for on-demand viewing on the Roulette website and YouTube. (The trio also presents a ticketed workshop on Wednesday night at e-flux; details here.)
28
Kronos Quartet
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 W. 57th St.; Midtown West
Friday, March 28 at 7:30pm; $95
carnegiehall.org
The new Kronos Quartet lineup – founder David Harrington on violin and Paul Wiancko on cello, plus violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kozasa – arrives at Carnegie Hall for a typically wide-ranging program including selections by Sun Ra (via Terry Riley), Aleksandra Vrebalov, Viet Cuong, Neil Young, and more.
Adam O’Farrill
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater
425 Lafayette St.; Greenwich Village
Friday, March 28 at 9:30pm; $36 plus 2 drink or 1 food item minimum
publictheater.org
Up until now, improvising trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill has been known as a versatile, individual sideman and a resourceful leader of small ensembles. But on For These Streets, due on March 28 on the Out of Your Head label, O’Farrill stretches out with an expansive meditation on creativity during the 1930s, reflecting the work of artists like Duke Ellington, Virginia Woolf, Igor Stravinsky, Anais Nin, and Carlos Chávez. On the bandstand, as on the album, O’Farrill is joined by saxophonists David Leon and Kevin Sun, trombonist Kalun Leung, guitarist Mary Halvorson, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Tyrone Allen II, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara.
Talea Ensemble
Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew
520 Clinton Ave.; Brooklyn
Friday, March 28 at 7:30pm; $20, seniors and students $10
eventbrite.com
“Cycles of Unrest,” the latest program in the Written for Talea series – which concentrates on works created expressly for the intrepid Talea Ensemble – focuses on themes of isolation, conflict, and hope in works primarily by Cypriot and Cypriot-American composers. Included are world premieres by Eric Chasalow, Evis Sammoutis, and Ni Zheng (recipient of Talea’s Early Career Commission), U.S. premieres by George Christofi and Andreas Tsiartas, and a recent work by Emily Koh.
29
panSonus
DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 W. 37th St.; Midtown West
Saturday, March 29 at 7:30pm; $30, students $20
eventbrite.com
Returning to action after far too long a hiatus, panSonus – the remarkable duo of queer musicians Amber Evans and j clancy, whose NYC debut I wrote about in 2018 – reunites at the DiMenna Center for the world premiere of The New Manilla Envelope by Max Vinetz. An evening-length song cycle for soprano, percussion, and electronics, the work employs text by poet, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Griffin Brown and anonymous sources.
30
MATA Mavens
Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle; Midtown West
Sunday, March 30 at 11am; $30, children under 12 free
gathernyc.org
Appearing under the auspices of GatherNYC, the delightfully unorthodox, deeply refreshing Sunday morning concert series hosted by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, musicians associated with the MATA Festival and the Brooklyn Orchestra present highlights from last year’s festival. The brief program includes Olivier Glissant’s arrangement of Águas da Amazônia by Philip Glass and compositions by April Dawn Guthrie, Marco-Adrián Ramos, and Wenbin Lyu.
31
David Murray Quartet
Blue Note Jazz Club
131 W. 3rd St.; Greenwich Village
Monday, March 31 at 8 & 10pm; table seating $45, bar $30
bluenotejazz.com
Following two exuberant Monday night engagements featuring his Octet, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader David Murray shifts focus to the potent quartet featured on his widely praised 2024 Intakt release, Francesca: pianist Marta Sánchez, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Russell Carter. That same band takes flight again on Birdly Serenade, Murray’s forthcoming debut for the storied Impulse! label. Due April 25, the album is an extension of The Birdsong Project, a recording series and 20LP box set benefitting The National Audubon Society. Appropriately songful and buoyant, it includes guest spots by Ekep Nkwelle, a soulful Cameroonian-American singer, and Francesca Cinelli, Murray’s manager and wife; WRTI has more.
1
Buck McDaniel
St. Malachy’s – The Actors’ Chapel
239 W. 49th St.; Midtown West
Tuesday, Apr. 1 at 7pm; free admission
eventbrite.com
Composer, conductor, and keyboardist Buck McDaniel presents the U.S. premiere of The Lenten Gospels, an immersive new work for organ and narrator by Nico Muhly. The Reverend Graeme Napier will narrate the work, based on scripture as interpreted by The Reverend Andrew Hammond, formerly an opera singer and arts administrator.
More vital directories of new-music destinations:
Find even more events in Night After Night Watch: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.