Etchings Festival Unveils 17th Summer Season Program

The Etchings Festival - directed by Grace Hughes, JoAnna Pope, and John Aylward - has unveiled its 17th summer season, featuring contemporary music across a wide variety of genres. The three-day festival takes place from July 10 to 12, 2026, with outstanding guest composers and virtuosic performances in Northampton, Massachusetts.

The Festival opens on Friday, July 10, 2026 at 7:00 PM with an evening of new music and genre-defying collaboration. Ecce will perform in the Etchings Festival opening concert, which also features renowned composer Toshio Hosokawa alongside newly commissioned works by Karaline Coates, Bryan Chiang, Grant Beale, and Alex Van Sant. They will also be joined by King Klavé Trio, comprised of Amaury Acosta, Mike King, and Morgan Guerin. At the center of the evening will be Acosta's Pepe Suite, a large-scale work blending modern jazz ensemble writing, electronic sound, Afro-Cuban musical traditions, and the rhythmic influence of Chicago footwork culture.

On Saturday, July 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM, the Ecce Ensemble performs Pulitzer Prize Winner Melinda Wagner's seminal work Unsung Chordata as well as Grace Hughes' Madrigala Tarantula alongside new works by Dustyn Geary-Gilman, David Huang Mailman, Cole Nagoda, and Alejandro Lobo.

Ecce Ensemble features genre-defying works of new chamber music. The ensemble's core members are violinist Jordan Hadrill, cellist Robbie Bui, flautist Lily Xie, clarinetist Barret Ham, and pianist Geoffrey Burleson. This summer, Ecce joins forces with percussionist Dennis Sullivan and renowned alto saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin under the direction of composer/conductor Stratis Minakakis.

Also performing on Day 2 of the festival is Surface of Sphere, a Boston-based jazz sextet led by pianist Pandelis Karayorgis. Surface of Sphere brings together a multigenerational lineup of longtime collaborators: improvisers Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Noah Campbell (tenor sax), Bill Lowe (trombone), Nate McBride (bass), and Luther Gray (drums). The band's repertoire for this show includes boundary-pushing composers like Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, Henry Threadgill, Eric Dolphy, Thelonious Monk, and Billy Strayhorn, as well as original pieces.

The festival concludes on Sunday, July 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM with Sonic Translations, an afternoon spotlighting new voices in classical concert music. In a program that explores how contemporary music translates and connects cultural experience, Ecce will spotlight works by David Sanford, Kate Soper, Julia Werntz, Michael Djupstrom, and Stratis Minakakis, culminating in a scintillating performance of Gerard Grisey's 20th-century masterpiece Talea. Through live performance and artist insight, Sonic Translations offers audiences an intimate look into the collaborative process behind the music.

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