Salon Sanctuary Concerts to Present Kathleen Chalfant in LES REVOLUTIONNAIRES
Founder Jessica Gould leads a season pairing early music with historical and gender themes.
Salon Sanctuary Concerts (SSC) has announced four original programs for its upcoming New York season, continuing its tradition of historically informed performances that combine music, literature, scholarship, and storytelling. The 2026-27 lineup spans cultures and centuries, exploring themes of coexistence, revolution, women's history, and gender expression through performances in historic venues across Manhattan.
Founded in 2009 by soprano and Artistic Director Jessica Gould, Salon Sanctuary Concerts has distinguished itself through interdisciplinary programming designed to place early music within its original historical and cultural context.
"I founded Salon Sanctuary Concerts in 2009 because historical performance was being presented in the same concert halls reserved for modern ensembles, depriving audiences of any sense of historical context," Gould said. "Crafting an original program, whether for myself or for a specific artist and then seeing it take off is such a joy that it keeps me, and by extension, the series going."
The season opens September 29 with Kahal, Court, and Casbah: Convivencia and its Discontents, presented in partnership with Music at St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University. Performed by Ensemble Lipzodes, the multilingual program examines the realities behind the often-romanticized history of convivencia—the coexistence of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities in medieval Spain. Mezzo-soprano Kinneret Ely joins Dongmyung Ahn on vielle and Anna Marsh on recorders, shawm, and percussion for a program featuring music in Arabic, Hebrew, medieval Castilian, and Occitan.
On November 15, Tony Award-nominated actress Kathleen Chalfant returns to Salon Sanctuary Concerts for the first time in more than a decade in Les Revolutionnaires: Music, Drama, and the Glittering Spark of Dissent. Joined by harpsichordist Aya Hamada, Chalfant explores the intellectual and artistic currents that foreshadowed the French Revolution through music by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Jacques Duphly, and Jean-Philippe Rameau alongside texts by Beaumarchais, Émilie du Châtelet, Molière, and Voltaire.
Women's History Month is celebrated on March 14 with the return of one of SSC's most popular original productions, Paradise Toss'd: Queen of Heaven, Queens in Hell. Artistic Director Jessica Gould performs with renowned oboist and baroque guitarist Gonzalo Ruiz and members of Camerata Grimani in a program contrasting idealized depictions of the Virgin Mary with the complex lives of women portrayed in Baroque opera. Music by Handel, Monteverdi, Stradella, Rossi, Strozzi, and Piccinini frames stories of queens struggling with power, ambition, and sacrifice.
The season concludes on May 20 with Victorious Secret: Love Gamed and Gender Untamed in the Sparkling Courts of the Baroque, featuring trans male soprano Eli McCormack and lutenist Christopher Morrongiello. Through music by Caccini, Campion, Dowland, Handel, Strozzi, and others, the program explores gender ambiguity in Baroque music and performance, highlighting the era's embrace of vocal and dramatic fluidity long before modern conceptions of gender identity.
Together, the four programs illustrate Salon Sanctuary Concerts' commitment to creating performances that blend scholarship with artistic exploration, revealing historical narratives that continue to resonate with contemporary audiences.
2026-27 Season Lineup
Kahal, Court, and Casbah: Convivencia and its Discontents
September 29, 2026 | 6:00 p.m.
St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University
1160 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY
Performed by Ensemble Lipzodes featuring Kinneret Ely, Dongmyung Ahn, and Anna Marsh.
Admission: Free with advance registration.
Les Revolutionnaires: Music, Drama, and the Glittering Spark of Dissent
November 15, 2026 | 4:00 p.m.
L'Eglise Française du Saint Esprit
109 East 60th Street
New York, NY
Featuring Kathleen Chalfant and Aya Hamada.
Paradise Toss'd: Queen of Heaven, Queens in Hell
March 14, 2027 | 4:00 p.m.
The Church of St. Mark's in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY
Featuring Jessica Gould, Gonzalo Ruiz, and members of Camerata Grimani.
Victorious Secret: Love Gamed and Gender Untamed in the Sparkling Courts of the Baroque
May 20, 2027 | 7:00 p.m.
St. John's in the Village
218 West 11th Street
New York, NY
Featuring Eli McCormack and Christopher Morrongiello.