ISRAELI CHAMBER PROJECT to Perform Two Free Concerts for ChamberMusicNY
The ensemble performs at Bruno Walter Auditorium, featuring works by Stravinsky, Gershwin, and Shulamit Ran.
ChamberMusicNY will welcome the Israeli Chamber Project for two free performances during its 2026-27 season. Showcasing the ensemble's virtuosity in blending masterworks and modern repertoire by Israeli composers and more, the ensemble will present programs spanning more than two centuries of chamber music, from Beethoven and Stravinsky to Bartók, Messiaen, and Shulamit Ran.
The first concert will take place on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 8:00 PM in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
October 2 Program Highlights
Audiences will experience a program featuring early-twentieth-century innovations and beloved classics. Igor Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale Suite for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano was conceived as a "project on a budget" for a small traveling ensemble and remains one of his most beloved pieces for its folk-inspired melodies and witty rhythms. Shulamit Ran's Soliloquy for Piano Trio draws inspiration from her opera Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk), with yearning, expressive melodies that unfold into an abyss of unfulfilled love and desire. George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess Suite for Clarinet Quintet, arranged by Carl Davis, preserves the warmth and vitality of the original score by showcasing some of America's most iconic musical tunes: 'Summertime,' 'A Woman Is a Sometime Thing,' 'Bess, You Is My Woman Now,' and 'It Ain't Necessarily So.' Though rarely heard in the concert hall, Ernő Dohnányi's Piano Quintet No. 2 is richly expressive, balancing the program with dramatic intensity and lyricism from the late Romantic period. Finally, Béla Bartók's Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano was commissioned in 1938 by clarinetist Benny Goodman and violinist Joseph Szigeti, drawing listeners in with a spectrum of colors, using Hungarian folk music in rhapsodic, military-dance rhythms, and evocative, eerie nocturnal scenes.
The second concert presented by ChamberMusicNY will take place on Tuesday, April 6, 2027, at 8:00 PM in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
April 6 Program Highlights
The program opens with Beethoven's elegant Clarinet Trio, Op. 11, nicknamed the 'Gassenhauer' ('street tune') Trio for the wildly popular melody in its finale that audiences of the day would have instantly recognized. Paul Ben-Haim's Variations on a Hebrew Melody for Piano Trio, composed after he emigrated from Germany to Palestine in the 1930s, evokes his 'Mediterranean style' by blending Middle Eastern and Jewish folk music with popular European Romantic traditions. The program closes with one of the most profound chamber works of the 20th century: Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, written for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano while Messiaen was interred in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. In the face of unimaginable horror, the piece is a testament to the power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.
Tickets
Admission is free for both concerts, but advance reservations are required. Tickets and additional information for the October 2 performance are available at www.chambermusicny.org. Tickets and additional information for the April 6 performance are available through Carnegie Hall at (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org, or the Carnegie Hall Box Office located at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.
About Israeli Chamber Project
Now in its second decade, the Israeli Chamber Project is a dynamic ensemble comprising strings, winds, harp, and piano that brings together some of today's most distinguished musicians for chamber music concerts and educational and outreach programs both in Israel and abroad. Based in both Israel and New York, the ensemble was created as a means for its members to give back to the community where they began their musical education and to showcase Israeli culture through its music and musicians to concertgoers overseas. Celebrated for their technical mastery and passionate musicianship, the ensemble was a winner of the 2011 Israeli Ministry of Culture Outstanding Ensemble Award and the 2017 Partos Prize, the Israeli Chamber Project has appeared at premier venues including Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Morgan Library & Museum, and the Kimmel Center, and has been featured on NPR's Performance Today and WQXR.
About ChamberMusicNY
Founded in 2012, ChamberMusicNY is dedicated to bringing the intimacy and artistry of live chamber music to audiences across New York City. The organization presents free performances featuring internationally acclaimed ensembles, world premiere commissions, and emerging classical artists in some of the city's premier concert halls. Through partnerships with community organizations, including Goddard Riverside Community Center, USO-Metropolitan NY, Third Street Music School Settlement, Greenwich House, YM-YWHA of Washington Heights/Inwood, Fountain House, JCC Manhattan, and others, ChamberMusicNY expands access to live music by providing free tickets to audiences who may be experiencing chamber music for the first time.
A cornerstone of the organization's commitment to new music is the Mark Krivit New Music Fund, which supports the commissioning of original works. Past commissions include Danielle Eva Schwob's Lights in the Dark for Harp and String Quartet, premiered at the opening of the 2014-15 season, and a co-commission with The Harlem Chamber Players of a work for orchestra and orator by Grammy-nominated composer and horn player Jeffrey Scott, which premiered at Merkin Concert Hall during the 2015-16 season.
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