The Knights Launch New Three-Concert Zankel Hall Series This Thursday

Beginning this week, Carnegie Hall presents a new three-concert Zankel Hall series showcasing the ground-breaking music collective The Knights, led by artistic directors Colin and Eric Jacobsen. With creative programs designed to expand the boundaries of classical music, the concerts will feature a wide mix of special guests including Chris Thile, Wu Man, Magos Herrera, Jeffrey Kahane, Gabriel Kahane, and more.

Kicking off the series on Thursday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m., the orchestral ensemble joins MacArthur Fellow and Grammy Award–winning mandolinist, singer, and songwriter Chris Thile for a concert that features the New York premiere of ATTENTION! (A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra), co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Mr. Thile also performs works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and J. S. Bach on a concert that includes music by Dvořák (adapted by Curtis Stewart) and Colin Jacobsen.

On Thursday February 29 at 7:30 p.m., The Knights present a program as part of Carnegie Hall's Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice festival, looking both to the past and present through multiple layers of history and culture. In a performance that explores connections between music by Ravel, Weill, Bob Dylan, and Chico Buarque, including selections performed by their own multifaceted violinist and singer-songwriter Christina Courtin, they also welcome pipa virtuoso Wu Man as soloist in the New York premiere of a work by Du Yun (co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall). To close the evening, special guest Magos Herrera—a versatile interpreter of jazz and Latin American music—joins the group for a new arrangement of Buarque's powerful, Weill/Brecht–inspired “Geni e o Zepelim.”

The series culminates on Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m., with the New York premiere of Jessie Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 2 (in a new orchestration for violin and chamber orchestra by Michi Wiancko, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall); the New York premiere of Gabriel Kahane's Heirloom—featuring the composer's father, Jeffrey Kahane on piano—plus a new arrangement of Gabriel Kahane's "Where Are the Arms," performed by the composer, his father, and the orchestra. The program continues with the New York premiere of Anna Clyne's Shorthand for Cello and Orchestra, featuring The Knights' own Karen Ouzounian, and Mozart's Symphony No. 31 (“Paris”).

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they inspire listeners with vibrant programs that encompass their roots in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery. The orchestra has toured and recorded with renowned soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Gil Shaham, and has appeared across the world's most prestigious stages, including those at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Ravinia, The Kennedy Center, and the Vienna Musikverein.

The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen. The Jacobsen brothers, who are also founding members of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, serve as artistic directors of The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen as conductor. Since incorporating in 2007, the orchestra has toured consistently across the United States and Europe.

The Knights seek to share music with a broad general public regardless of background, and the group designs programs to appeal to both loyal followers and new listeners alike. The Knights perform in traditional concert halls as well as in parks, plazas, and bars, and create unusual and adventurous partnerships across disciplines. The orchestra seeks out and prioritizes collaborative partnerships with artists often underrepresented in classical music. Recent seasons have included performances with Brooklyn-based Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra, with African musicians as part of William Kentridge's The Head and the Load, and with a diverse group of contemporary composers and performers including Vijay Iyer, Kinan Azmeh, Angélica Negrón, and Jessie Montgomery, among others. Artistic collaborators in the 2022–23 season included Grammy Award-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo; violinist Ray Chen, who joined the orchestra for an 11-stop European tour; and genre-shattering pianist/composer Aaron Diehl, with whom The Knights will release an album of Mary Lou Williams' “Zodiac Suite” in September 2023.

The Knights are proud to be known as “one of Brooklyn's sterling cultural products…known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory” (The New Yorker). Their roster boasts musicians of remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters, and improvisers, who bring a range of cultural influences to the group, from jazz and klezmer to pop and indie rock music. The unique camaraderie within the group retains the intimacy and spontaneity of chamber music in performance. Through the palpable joy and friendship in their music-making, each musician strives to include new and familiar audiences to experience this important art form.


Program Information
Thursday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Chris Thile, Mandolin and Vocals
Claire Coffee, Director

J. S.BACH Vivace from Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043 (transcr. Chris Thile)
Caroline Shaw "No. 2, And So" from Is A Rose
CURTIS STEWART Toward America (Symphonic Rhapsody on Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96)
COLIN JACOBSEN "Sheriff's Freud"
CHRIS THILE ATTENTION! (A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra; NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)

_________________________________________

Thursday, February 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Wu Man, Pipa
Christina Courtin, Vocals
Magos Herrera, Vocals

Maurice Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin
DU YUN New Work for Pipa and Orchestra (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
WEILL Symphony No. 1, "Berliner Symphonie"
Bob Dylan "When the Ship Comes In" (arr. Christina Courtin)
WEILL/ BRECHT "Alabama Song" (arr. Christina Courtin)
CHICO BUARQUE "Geni e o Zepelim" (arr. Colin Jacobsen)
_________________________________________

Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Jeffrey Kahane, Piano
Karen Ouzounian, Cello

with Special Guest
Gabriel Kahane

JESSIE MONTGOMERY Rhapsody No. 2 (orch. for violin and chamber orchestra by Michi Wiancko; World Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
Gabriel Kahane Heirloom (NY Premiere)
Gabriel Kahane "Where Are the Arms" (arr. for orchestra, piano, and vocals)
ANNA CLYNE Shorthand for Cello and Orchestra (NY Premiere)
MOZART Symphony No. 31, "Paris"
 

Tickets, priced $65, $75, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

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