Lauded as “an acknowledged chamber music master” by The New Yorker, Vermont-born composer Pierre Jalbert has enjoyed a productive 20-year association with the Music from Copland House ensemble, which commissioned, premiered, and recorded Crossings, the featured work on this program. Inspired by the migration of people voyaging into new and unfamiliar places, this dynamic work traces Jalbert’s own French-Canadian-American ancestry. Crossings, from 2011, is built around a folk song from Quebec, Quand j’ai parti du Canada (“When I Left Canada”), which is heard in full and in its pure form only in the serene middle section of the work; both before and after that, the striking, somewhat mournful tune is deconstructed, reinterpreted, reassembled, and reordered in all kinds of inventive and unexpected ways. This program features a complete performance by Music from Copland House of this remarkable work, preceded by a brief introductory conversation with the composer, and followed by a live Q&A with viewers.

Featured Music from Copland House artists: Linda Chesis, flute; Derek Bermel, clarinet;
Harumi Rhodes, violinist; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cellist; Michael Boriskin, pianist.

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In his scintillating new Sonata for Cello and Piano, Graduate Center professor and Emmy Award-winning composer John Musto seamlessly brings together the erudition of a contrapuntal musical master, the brilliance and "groove" of a jazz instrumentalist, and the rhythmic ebullience of a Brazilian dancer. This dazzling tour-de-force features two fearsomely virtuosic instrumental parts in uncommonly close collaboration: the cello and piano constantly engage and interact, whether within the intellectual rigors of a spiky, Bachian musical conversation; the languors of a serene, introspective ballad; or the acrobatics of complex Latin dance steps. Don’t miss this Virtual Premiere of a remarkable new work that will surely become a major addition to the cello-and-piano repertory. And hear the composer introduce the piece before the performance, then join him in a live Q&A afterwards.

Featured Music from Copland House artists: Principal Cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach and Founding Pianist Michael Boriskin – performing from the studio in Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in Westchester County!

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NPR's popular Tiny Desk (at Home) Concerts come to Copland's beloved studio (with his not-so-tiny desk in view!) for a short program featuring Music from Copland House performing selections from the Duo for Flute and Piano (composed in that very room!), Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Three Moods for Piano. The program is available for streaming beginning on November 13th, and then accessible indefinitely.

Featured Music from Copland House artists: Carol Wincenc, flute; Curtis Macomber, violin; and Michael Boriskin, piano.

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