Yarn/Wire 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Festival to Take Place At Miller Theatre At Columbia University

Yarn/Wire, New York-based percussion and piano quartet (Russell Greenberg and Sae Hashimoto, percussion; Laura Barger and Julia Den Boer, pianos), will enter its 20th anniversary season with a celebratory 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Festival at Miller Theatre at Columbia University from October 27, 2025 to October 29, 2025.

"Yarn/Wire is one of my favorite ensembles-each of the musicians is a star and together they are a new music supergroup," states Melissa Smey, Executive Director of Miller Theatre. "We have collaborated with Yarn/Wire on Miller Theatre's Composer Portraits and Pop-Up Concerts every season since 2013. Together, we have commissioned and premiered new work from composers including Zosha Di Castri, Sarah Hennies, Annea Lockwood, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Lisa Streich, and Øyvind Torvund, among others. They play such an important role in our new music community and I am so excited to celebrate their 20th anniversary milestone with this special series of free Pop-Up Concerts."

Yarn/Wire's 20th Anniversary kicks off with a Pop-Up Festival, presented by Miller Theatre at Columbia University in New York, honoring the two decades of the group's commitment to exceptional performances, vibrant commissions, and dynamic education and outreach efforts. On October 27 at 6:00 PM, Yarn/Wire performs new additions to harpist Zeena Parkins' Lace Action Cards and electronic artist Sam Pluta's Seven Systems, a sequence of seven interlocking movements that unfolds over a twenty minute span, with Parkins and Pluta joining the ensemble. Yarn/Wire's relationship with Parkins began when she was a faculty member for Yarn/Wire's institute.

Then, on October 28 at 6 PM, the group performs composer Enno Poppe's Feld and a new work by pianist Craig Taborn, who joins the ensemble on stage. Feld, for two pianos and two percussion, creates its harmonic complexity through shifting combinations of sound. Pure, unaltered piano tones blend with unspecified percussive sounds-metals, woods, skins-to create new timbres and texture at every turn. Each of the two movements takes its inspiration from one half of the ensemble. The first is traditionally pianistic in its

flowing, almost cinematic evolution of musical line and melody, while the second transitions into percussive alternations of noise and sound, highlighting the resonance and "space between" sounds.

The 20th anniversary celebration concludes on October 28 at 6 PM with performances of composer and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey's For Ross Gay, a distillation from the process after working on Be Holding together with Yarn/Wire; Linda Catlin Smith's Morandi, which was composed in 1991 (originally commissioned through the Ontario Arts Council by Kitchener Waterloo's New Art Quartet) and named after the 20th century Italian painter Giorgio Morandi and his still life paintings; and Mei-Fang Lin's Yarny/Wiry, the first piece ever written for the ensemble. Sorey will join Yarn/Wire for the performance on percussion.

Attendees receive a free drink at these hour-long weeknight Pop-Up Concerts, and then can mingle with the musicians and fellow concertgoers after the show. Admission is free, and doors open at 5:30 PM, with music starting at 6:00 PM.

Program

Monday, October 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Yarn/Wire 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Festival: Concert One

Miller Theatre at Columbia University | New York, NY

Program:

Zeena Parkins - Lace Action Cards [Expanded Version]

Sam Pluta - Seven Systems

Zeena Parkins, harp

Sam Pluta, electronics

Yarn/Wire

Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Yarn/Wire 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Festival: Concert Two

Miller Theatre at Columbia University | New York, NY

Link: www.millertheatre.com/events/celebrating-20-years-of-yarn-wire-concert-two

Program:

Enno Poppe - Feld

Craig Taborn - New Work

Craig Taborn, piano

Yarn/Wire

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Yarn/Wire 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Festival: Concert Three

Miller Theatre at Columbia University | New York, NY

Link: www.millertheatre.com/events/celebrating-20-years-of-yarn-wire-concert-three

Program:

Tyshawn Sorey - For Ross Gay

Mei-Fang Lin - Yarny/Wiry
Linda Catlin Smith - Morandi