BOREALIS: A CONSTELLATION OF CLASSICAL & NEW MUSIC IN CONCERT To Premiere In Pittsburgh

BOREALIS: A CONSTELLATION OF CLASSICAL & NEW MUSIC IN CONCERT will premiere on April 12, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at Frick Pittsburgh Museum & Gardens in Pittsburgh.

Created by singer Lilly Abreu and filmmaker Andrés Tapia-Urzua, the concert blends live performance with projected visual elements and features a world premiere by Chilean composer Boris Alvarado.

“We wanted to create a unique concert experience in an intimate space,” said Abreu. Tapia-Urzua added that the project aims to create “a dialogue of difference” through a program that bridges classical and contemporary music.

The performance will feature Abreu alongside Pittsburgh Cello Quartet, Cello Fury, and musicians from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, including pianist Rodrigo Ojeda and cellist Yun-Ya Lo. The ensembles will be conducted by composer Flávio Chamis.

The program includes works spanning multiple musical traditions and eras, such as Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos, “L’Invitation au voyage” by Henri Duparc, and “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák. Additional selections include music by Alberto Ginastera and Villa-Lobos’s “Melodia Sentimental” from the film Green Mansions.

Instrumental highlights include a performance of a new work titled Nocturnal by Cello Fury member Simon Cummings and selections including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 and “Por Una Cabeza” by tango composer Carlos Gardel.

The program also combines classical and rock influences in a reinterpretation pairing music by Baroque composer François Couperin with “All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground.

During the vocal portions of the concert, Tapia-Urzua’s original video works will be projected alongside the music. “I treat visuals as music,” he said. “Visual has a rhythm and a space.”

The evening concludes with the world premiere of Borealis, described as an audiovisual work for voice, bowls, and eight cellos. The piece incorporates a poem written by Tapia-Urzua and set to music by Alvarado.