Fotografiska New York to Present Unfiltered Music Festival in April

Fotografiska New York will present the second annual Unfiltered Music Festival, featuring some of the most vital and accomplished names in contemporary classical music, inviting the audience to experience music in one of the most breathtaking spaces in New York City. Participating musicians include the four-time Grammy-winning, Chicago-based sextet Eighth Blackbird, three-time Grammy-nominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart, and renowned pianist Jenny Lin. This year's festival follows a successful inaugural event which took place in March 2022 and featured classical superstars including Caroline Shaw and Anthony McGill.

The festival builds upon Fotografiska's mission to "inspire a more conscious world through the power of photography" by offering an immersive, multidisciplinary experience. The Loft space, occupying the top floor of Fotografiska New York, lifts these electrifying musical programs out of the traditional concert hall and sets them in a versatile event space with vaulted ceilings and skylights built in 1894. Since opening in Sweden in 2010, Fotografiska has become a haven of innovation, inclusivity and free expression. 

The festival is co-curated by the Fotografiska New York programming staff and cellist Laura Metcalf. Ticket prices are inclusive of museum admission and can be purchased for individual concerts or as a three-night bundle. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday, March 17.

Night I: Eighth Blackbird

Eighth Blackbird, the four-time Grammy winning, Chicago-based musical sextet consisting of Lisa Kaplan, piano; Matthew Duvall, percussion; Lina Andonovska, flute; Zachary Good, clarinet; Maiani da Silva, violin; and Laura Metcalf, cello, now in its 27th season, has become a "brand name defined by adventure, vibrancy and quality" (Detroit Free Press). The ensemble will share music by some of the most exciting voices in contemporary music including Viet Cuong, Valerie Coleman, Julius Eastman, and Andy Akiho.

Night II: Curtis Stewart, violin

Violinist, improviser, composer, arts leader and multimedia artist Curtis Stewart has taken the classical music world by storm, garnering three Grammy nominations in as many years, as a soloist and as a member of PUBLIQuartet, and recently being named Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra. About his solo show "of Love," Stewart writes: 

"A digital and personal requiem of sorts, of Love is a through-composed collection of works to cherish all the time we live through - composition through DAW as a form of musical caretaking. If the push and pull of social and financial responsibility structure life; then, our aesthetic loves, personal passions, familial cares and social worries keep us tethered to it - These works tap into the visceral sensation of holding and loss - a sonic grappling with grief - the loss of a mother, the gain of a partner, the search for love in urban settings and all the ways we use identity to grasp onto this life of ours."

Night III: Jenny Lin, piano

Acclaimed piano virtuoso Jenny Lin, named by the Washington Post as "surely one of the most interesting pianists in America right now" and praised by countless critics for her "remarkable technical command and deep commitment to contemporary music" (The New York Times), "effortless, spectacular technique" (The Washington Post) and "exquisite sensitivity" (Dallas Morning News) has been performing regularly with superstar composer Philip Glass on tour for nearly a decade . For her appearance at Fotografiska, Jenny pairs music by Glass with works by Ukraine's best-known living composer, Valentin Silvestrov, who is now living as a refugee. Jenny's program weaves together music of these two towering contemporary giants, both born in 1937 and both of whom shaped Jenny's musical life and artistry in profound ways.