Fourteen New Musicians From Across The Globe Join Ensemble Connect

In its 17th season, Ensemble Connect welcomes 14 new musicians from around the globe to take part over the next two years in its celebrated fellowship program. The new cohort will take part in concerts at Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School, as well as residencies and performances at Skidmore College, as well as in schools and community venues throughout New York City.

Highlights of Ensemble Connect's 2023–2024 season include three performances in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, including the New York premiere of a new work by inti figgis-vizueta (commissioned by Carnegie Hall); the work receives its world premiere by the group on February 16 at Skidmore College. Ensemble Connect Up Close—an innovative concert series presented in the Weill Music Room that experiments with concert format, audience engagement, and multimedia—returns in spring 2024, featuring a collaboration with Tania León, Carnegie Hall's 2023–2024 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair. Three performances will be presented at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall. Over the course of the season, Ensemble Connect will present three world premieres by inti figgis-vizueta, Nathalie Joachim, and Natalie Brown (all commissioned by Carnegie Hall) as well as several works by living composers, including Missy Mazzoli, Caroline Shaw, Jeffrey Mumford, Reena Esmail, Viet Cuong, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank, Du Yun, and Tania León.

From October 24–28, Ensemble Connect continues its biannual residency at Skidmore College by connecting with the students and Saratoga Springs community. During the residency, fellows engage with Skidmore College students as well as students in local elementary, middle, and high schools, offering master classes, lessons, class demonstrations, and interactive performances. The residency culminates with a performance in Skidmore's Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, on Friday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m. In this first Ensemble Connect performance of the 2023–2024 season, the musicians perform Missy Mazzoli's Still Life with Avalanche, Barber's Summer Music, and Schubert's “Trout” Quintet. Ensemble Connect will return to Skidmore College for a second residency this season from February 13–17, 2024.

Ensemble Connect presents the fifth season of its popular Up Close series in the Weill Music Room in Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing. This series of “exquisite chamber performances” (I Care If You Listen) explores different approaches to presenting classical music by experimenting with concert formats, audience engagement, and multimedia to activate the performance space in exciting new ways. For each concert, the musicians of Ensemble Connect collaborate with leading artists to curate the repertoire and themes. The first Up Close on Monday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. is planned in collaboration with Tania León and features two world premieres by composers Nathalie Joachim and Natalie Brown, as well as León's Axon. A second Up Close performance follows on Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. in collaboration with percussionist and electronics artist Levy Lorenzo. More details will be announced later this season.

In addition to their performances this season, Ensemble Connect begins partnerships with 14 New York City public schools, with each musician working alongside a New York City instrumental music teacher. The musicians bring their expert musicianship—as well as their professional performer's perspective and creative approaches—to band, keyboard, and string programs across four New York City boroughs.

Ensemble Connect presents approximately 60 interactive performances in schools this season. Fellows develop these programs to explore a musical piece or concept and incorporate listening activities and audience participation. Ensemble Connect will also partner with community venues in New York City in the spring, bringing interactive performances to incarcerated populations, senior community centers, homeless shelters, and for organizations supporting people with disabilities.

Over the course of their fellowship, Ensemble Connect musicians participate in professional development sessions aimed at ensuring they have the skills they need to succeed in all areas of the program and to shape purposeful, personally rewarding career paths that redefine the role of the 21st-century musician. The cohort meets weekly to learn from artists, composers, and industry professionals in the fields of performance, teaching artistry and music education, arts management, entrepreneurship, and others. These sessions help the musicians gain new skills and experiment with new approaches to music performance and education while building a strong community within the ensemble. Ensemble Connect alums also play an important role in leading professional development workshops.

Ensemble Connect is an inspirational collective of young professional musicians created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. The program prepares the exceptionally talented musicians for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, leadership, and entrepreneurship. It offers them top-quality performance opportunities, partnerships with New York City public schools, and rigorous professional development. For more information, please visit Carnegie Hall's website.  

Ensemble Connect 2023–2025 Fellows & Partnerships

David Bernat, Violin (Charlottesville, Virginia)
Education: New England Conservatory / The Juilliard School
Partnered with NYC Public School: PSIS226 Alfred De B. Mason, Brooklyn

Isabella Bignasca, Viola (Sydney, Australia)
Education: The Juilliard School
Partnered with NYC Public School: City College Academy of the Arts, Manhattan

Catherine Boyack, Flute (Lindon, Utah)
Education: Brigham Young University / The Juilliard School
Partnered with NYC Public School: Scholars' Academy, Queens

Frankie Carr, Cello (Pyrton, Oxfordshire, England)
Education: Curtis Institute of Music
Partnered with NYC Public School: John Bowne High School, Queens

Ramón Carrero-Martínez, Viola (Caracas, Venezuela)
Education: Manhattan School of Music
Partnered with NYC Public School: Celia Cruz High School of Music, The Bronx

Marguerite Cox, Bass (Hudson, Ohio)
Education: Rice University / Curtis Institute of Music
Partnered with NYC Public School: Brooklyn High School of the Arts, Brooklyn

Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Violin (Columbus, Ohio)
Education: Cleveland Institute of Music / New England Conservatory
Partnered with NYC Public School: Frank Sinatra School of the Arts HS, Queens

Ryan Dresen, Horn (Ronan, Montana)
Education: Whitworth University / Columbus State University's Schwob School of Music
Partnered with NYC Public School: PS 200 Benson School, Brooklyn

Joseph Jordan, Oboe (New York, New York)
Education: Columbia University / The Juilliard School
Partnered with NYC Public School: Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn

Thapelo Masita, Cello (Mangaung, South Africa)
Education: Eastman School of Music / The Juilliard School / CUNY Graduate Center
Partnered with NYC Public School: M.S. 180 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, The Bronx

Anjali Shinde, Flute (Orlando, Florida)
Education: University of Miami
Partnered with NYC Public School: IS136 Charles O. Dewey Intermediate School, Brooklyn

Marty Tung, Bassoon (Wilmette, Illinois)
Education: Yale University / Yale School of Music
Partnered with NYC Public School: PS 130 The Parkside School, Brooklyn

Chelsea Wang, Piano (West Des Moines, Iowa)
Education: Curtis Institute of Music / Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University / Northwestern University
Partnered with NYC Public School: PS63 Old South, Queens

Oliver Xu, Percussion (Livonia, Michigan)
Education: Eastman School of Music / The Juilliard School
Partnered with NYC Public School: PS21 Edward Hart, Queens

 

Ensemble Connect 2023–2024 Concert Season

Performances: During the 2023–2024 season, Ensemble Connect presents eleven concerts at several venues, including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and Weill Music Room; The Juilliard School's Paul Hall; and Skidmore College's Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall.

2023–2024 concert highlights include:

• Friday, October 27 at Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall in Skidmore College's Arthur Zankel Music Center – Ensemble Connect returns to Skidmore College for its biannual residency, presenting a concert that features Missy Mazzoli's Still Life with Avalanche, Barber's Summer Music, and Schubert's “Trout” Quintet.
• Monday, October 30 at Weill Recital Hall – Ensemble Connect kicks off its 2023–2024 concert series at Carnegie Hall by reprising their program from the week before at Skidmore College's Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall. As part of the Salon Encores series, a free post-concert drink is offered following in Weill Recital Hall's Jacobs Room.
• Thursday, November 16 at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall – Ensemble Connect returns to Juilliard for a program of almost exclusively living composers—Jeffrey Mumford's her eastern light amid a cavernous dusk, Reena Esmail's The Light is the Same, Viet Cuong's Fine Lines—and Dohnányi's Serenade for String Trio in C Major, Op. 10.
• Thursday, January 25 at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall – Ensemble Connect performs Shorter's Terra Incognita, Chen Yi's Qi for Flute, Cello, Percussion and Piano, and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht.
• Friday, February 16 at Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall in Skidmore College's Arthur Zankel Music Center – In Ensemble Connect's second residency at Skidmore College this season, they present the world premiere of a new work by inti figgis-vizueta, Gabriela Lena Frank's Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout arranged for string orchestra and featuring Skidmore students, Tania León's De Memorias, and Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, Op. 16.
• Tuesday, February 20 at Weill Recital Hall – Ensemble Connect brings its program from Skidmore College to New York City, presenting the New York premiere of a new work by inti figgis-vizueta (commissioned by Carnegie Hall) and the string quartet arrangement of Gabriela Lena Frank's Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout.
• Monday, March 18 at Weill Music Room – Ensemble Connect's innovative Up Close series returns to Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing. Debs Composer Tania León curates this special performance which includes two world premieres by Nathalie Joachim and Natalie Brown, and León's Axon.
• Tuesday, April 9 at Weill Recital Hall – Ensemble Connect presents the third and final concert in Weill Recital Hall of the season, featuring Schulhoff's Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass; Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8; Berg's Lyric Suite; and Gershwin's Lullaby. This performance is part of Carnegie Hall's citywide festival: Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice.
• Monday, May 6 at Weill Music Room – Ensemble Connect performs its second Up Close concert this season in collaboration with percussionist and electronics artist Levy Lorenzo.
• Wednesday, May 29 at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall – Ensemble Connect's final performance in 2023–2024 is at Juilliard, where they will perform Caroline Shaw's Boris Kerner, Du Yun's "Oboe and Tam-tam Duet" from Angel's Bone, Wuorinen's Spinoff, and Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45.

Special Projects

The Connected Musician: The Connected Musician is a self-paced interactive video series for collegiate and early professional performers, powered by Ensemble Connect. Featuring content from alums of the program and leaders in the field, The Connected Musician introduces a new approach to a career in classical music and provides resources to engage audiences in new ways. Released earlier this year, a module on creating and presenting an interactive performance is now available. In this free six-part series, members of Decoda, who are all Ensemble Connect alums, take viewers through a step-by-step process in how to put together a successful Interactive Performance.

Two additional series are also available on Carnegie Hall's website. “Create a Musical Snapshot” offers bite-sized videos about how musicians can develop a creative introduction to a piece of music by developing their Teaching Artist Toolkit. The second series highlights different paths to feeling inspired and finding purposeful careers in music, as Ensemble Connect alums share insights and advice from their own personal journeys, exploring themes of collaboration, meaningful musical moments, building community, finding balance, and staying inspired. Click here to explore and learn more.

Alum Activities: Throughout the more than 16 years since Ensemble Connect was established, Carnegie Hall has maintained close relationships with the program's alums. As the reputation of this group has grown, demand for work by the 144 alums has developed as well. In 2011, Decoda—an ensemble exclusively made up of Ensemble Connect alums—was formed and later named an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall.

Additionally, alums perform with current fellows in Ensemble Connect, lead professional development sessions, serve as advisors for current fellows, and participate in the Weill Music Institute's education and social impact programs to bring live music to people throughout New York City. Ensemble Connect's alums currently perform in more than 100 ensembles in the US and around the world. They have created non-profit organizations including Notes with a Purpose in Las Vegas, Musicambia in New York and beyond, New Docta International Music Festival in Argentina, Scrag Mountain Music in Vermont, and VotesART. Many alums also hold faculty and guest artist teaching positions at US universities and colleges. Alums have gone on to perform, teach, and engage with communities in 53 countries around the world. To find out more about the impact of Ensemble Connect worldwide and to learn about alum projects, follow this link.

Ensemble Connect

Ensemble Connect is made up of extraordinary professional classical musicians residing in the US who take part in a two-year fellowship program created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. The program prepares fellows for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership by offering top-quality performance opportunities, intensive professional development, and partnerships throughout the fellowship with New York City public schools.

On the concert stage and in schools and communities, Ensemble Connect has earned accolades from critics and audiences alike for the quality of the concerts, the fresh and open-minded approach to programming, and the ability to actively engage any audience.

Exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and passionate advocates of music throughout the community, the forward-looking musicians of Ensemble Connect are redefining what it means to be a musician in the 21st century.

  ******  

Ensemble Connect is a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education.

Lead funding has been provided by Marina Kellen French and the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Max H. Gluck Foundation, Hearst Foundations, The Kovner Foundation, Phyllis and Charles Rosenthal, The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations, Beatrice Santo Domingo, and Hope and Robert F. Smith.

Global Ambassadors: Michael ByungJu Kim and Kyung Ah Park, Hope and Robert F. Smith, and Maggie and Richard Tsai.

Additional support has been provided by the Alphadyne Foundation, Arnow Family Fund, the Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation, Ronald E. Blaylock and Petra Pope, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, E.H.A. Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony B. Evnin and the A.E. Charitable Foundation, Barbara G. Fleischman, Clive and Anya Gillinson, Marc Haas Foundation, Stella and Robert Jones, Martha and Robert Lipp, Leslie and Tom Maheras, Andrew J. Martin-Weber, Lauren and Ezra Merkin, Beth and Joshua Nash, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation, Melanie and Jean E. Salata, The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon, Carlos Tome and Theresa Kim, Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Inc., Linda Wachner, David S. Winter, and Judy Francis Zankel.

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Education.

Ensemble Connect is also supported, in part, by endowment grants from The Kovner Foundation and the Estate of Eleanor Doblin Unger.

 

Ticket Information for Carnegie Hall
Tickets 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.

For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.

Ticket Information for The Juilliard School's Paul Hall
Tickets for Ensemble Connect's concerts at Juilliard's Paul Hall can be purchased online and at the Juilliard Box Office. The Juilliard Box Office may be reached at 212-769-7406 or via email at boxoffice@juilliard.edu.

Ticket Information for Skidmore College's Arthur Zankel Music Center
The event is free and open to the public, and seating will be first come, first served. For more information, please visit skidmore.edu/zankel or call the box office at 518-580-5321.