COPLAND HOUSE ENSEMBLE BRINGS Sing! Dance! Riff! 

NEW YORK, NY (November 15, 2024). Works of joyous physicality and moody reflection occupy center-stage at Sing! Dance! Riff! – the second concert in the Copland House Ensemble’s 2024-25 series in Elebash Hall at The Graduate Ceanter of the City University of New York. Inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s famous motto, “music must sing and it must dance,” the program features the New York City Premiere of John Musto’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, plus works by Paul Schoenfield and the Ensemble’s legendary namesake Aaron Copland. The performance takes place on Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30pm.

The program revels in extremes of unbridled kinetic energy and serene contemplation. Musto’s dashing Sonata for Cello and Piano offers an agitated conversation, a languid ballad, and a driving Brazilian dance. Schoenfield’s daredevil Cafe Music is one of the most beloved instrumental works of the last half-century; the piece turns a chamber ensemble into a virtuosic jazz group, riffing on stride, Ragtime, Dixieland, and eloquent Hassidic melodies. Copland’s infrequently-heard Violin Sonata of 1943 was composed just before Appalachian Spring; like that iconic ballet, the Sonata combines elegant lyricism and jaunty exuberance. And Copland’s Hoe Down, the program’s overture, heard in the composer’s own violin-and-piano version, is one of the most emblematic, irresistible of all dances! 

The Ensemble’s stellar performers are (pictured above) violinist Siwoo Kim, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Michael Boriskin. The evening also includes OFFBEAT / ONSTAGE, a post-concert conversation with the performers and John Musto, and a Q&A with the audience. Drinks or light bites before the performance are available at The Graduate Center’s newly-refurbished Café.

Offering “spellbinding journeys” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) across 150 years of America’s vibrant musical landscape, the COPLAND HOUSE ENSEMBLE links centuries and cultures, championing classic and forgotten voices from the past, and celebrating today’s established and rising creators of all backgrounds and identities. Its “polished, communicative, and colorful playing” (Opera News) has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR (including Tiny Desk), and Euro-Radio, and it has been engaged by Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Universities of Chicago and Virginia, and the Bard and Caramoor Festivals. It has also recorded for Arabesque, Koch International, and Copland House Blend, and commissioned nearly 100 works. Founded in 1999, its Founding, Principal, and Guest Artists have been hailed as “excellent musicians in vital performances … Copland would have been proud of all of them” (Chicago Tribune).

Tickets: $20 single; $15 CUNY faculty or staff; Seniors (62+), Friends of Copland House; $10 students. 10% discount to any 3 to 5 concerts.

Purchase Tickets online, or at the door.