GRAMMY Nominated Cellist Seth Parker Woods Performs East Coast Premiere In New York In June

On June 7th and 8th The Next Festival of Emerging Artists' Director, Peter Askim, will conduct an orchestra of String Performance Fellows, selected from a global open call, in the East Coast Premiere of Ire: Concerto for Cello, Strings, and Percussion (2012) by Rebecca Saunders with two-time GRAMMY nominee Seth Parker Woods acting as featured guest artist and soloist.

This adventurous program will also include Three World Premieres by four time GRAMMY nominee Curtis Stewart, ASCAP award-winning Michael Dudley Jr., and Next Fest Director Peter Askim, with an additional work by cellist Andrea Casarrubios.

Friday, June 7, 2024 at 7:30pm
PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance
2980 NY-66, Chatham, NY 12037
Tickets (Pay As You Wish): bit.ly/ps21-concert-june7
All proceeds benefit the Crellin Park Summer Camp Scholarship Fund

Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 W 67th St, New York, NY 10023
Tickets ($25/$15): bit.ly/kaufman-concert-june8 

Seth Parker Woods is an innovative, GRAMMY nominated cellist, reimagining traditional works and commissioning new ones to propel classical music into the future. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists representing the classical, popular music, and visual art worlds and has been nominated for two GRAMMY Awards, first in 2023 as a member of celebrated new music ensemble Wild Up, and again in 2024 for his autobiographical solo tour-de-force, Difficult Grace (Cedille 2023).

Woods serves on the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at The University of Southern California. He holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel, and a PhD from the University of Huddersfield.

ABOUT THE NEXT FESTIVAL

The Next Festival has supported more than 250 emerging artists with professional development in contemporary music, entrepreneurship, collaboration, jump-starting professional careers by treating emerging artists like established talent, not students. Collaborating directly with major composers and performing alongside leading soloists, Fellows dramatically expand their network. Festival alumni become working musicians, leaders in their fields, and socially-conscious citizens. 

Past participants include performers with the Handel and Haydn Society, the Executive Director of Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and players for the Le Concert des Nations, Malmo Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) and improvising chamber ensemble 9 Horses. They've also launched non-profits like Performers for Change, Sound Off: Music For Bail, Bass Players for Black Composers, and more. 

Prioritizing artist futures, not bottom line, the Festival supports Fellows through a radical “pay-what-you-can” model, ensuring that deserving talent is able to participate regardless of financial circumstances.

A champion of living composers, The Next Festival commissions new compositions by both established and early career composers every year, presenting over 75 guest artists since 2013, including Pulitzer, GRAMMY, and MacArthur award winners.