Ensemble Connect Performs Free Concert Series In Madison Square Park Through August 11

Ensemble Connect presents a free concert series - Music on the Green - curated by Carnegie Hall and presented within Madison Square Park Conservancy's current public art installation, Maya Lin's Ghost Forest.

Part of the Carnegie Hall Citywide free concert series, Music on the Green takes place on the park's Oval Lawn every Wednesday at 6 PM through August 11, 2021.

Wednesday, July 21 at 6 PM

Halam Kim, Viola

Gergana Haralampieva, Violin

Arlen Hlusko, Cello

The musicians of Ensemble Connect explore a vast array of sounds and colors as they perform alongside Maya Lin's Ghost Forest. Excerpts from Bach's Goldberg Variations, India Gailey's Mountainweeps, John Luther Adams's Three High Places, and other works inspired by nature provoke reflections on the bucolic and devastating condition of the earth and our relationship with it.

Wednesday, July 28 at 6 PM

Sae Hashimoto, percussion

Suliman Tekalli, violin

Ari Evan, cello

Ensemble Connect performs intimate chamber works as you immerse yourself in the somber beauty of Maya Lin's Ghost Forest installation. The unique timbres of violin, cello, and percussion provide an evocative soundscape in works by an eclectic group of composers. There's the gentle beauty of Ensemble Connect alumnus Andrea Casarrubios's Speechless, Leven Zuelke's ethereal At a Cemetery, plus works by Ravel, Fauré, Debussy, and Ellington.

Wednesday, August 4 at 6 PM

Ian Sullivan, vibraphone

Sae Hashimoto, marimba

Enjoy a musical meditation on a summer evening with Ensemble Connect. This unique program explores the ambient sounds and tranquil tones of mallet percussion, featuring vibraphone and marimba. There's music by Ellington and the late Chick Corea, plus one of Satie's Gnossiennes, and John Psathas's Fragment-a gentle work with a simple melody.

Wednesday, August 11 at 6 PM

Amir Farsi, flute

Stuart Breczinski, oboe

Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet

Nik Hooks, bassoon

Cort Roberts, horn

Designed to complement the themes of the installation-which focuses on climate change, its effects, and nature-based solutions-the concerts feature a nature-inspired repertoire of works by Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Duke Ellington, Reena Esmail, and more, curated and performed by musicians from Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect.

At the physical and thematic heart of the Music on the Green performances is the Conservancy's current public art commission: Ghost Forest by artist, architect, and environmental activist Maya Lin. Featuring a towering grove of spectral cedar trees presented in sharp contrast to the park's lush tree line, the installation brings into focus the ravages of climate change and serves as a call to action to the thousands of visitors who pass through the park daily.