Decoda presents: A Reimagined Dance Suite

Decoda, the affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, is a New York based collective of virtuoso chamber musicians equally passionate for performance and community engagement.

As part of a residency at the Herb Alpert School of Music to work with chamber music students and participants of the Gluck program, they perform this chamber music program of works by Stravinsky, Rameau, Brahms, and Valerie Coleman.

PROGRAM

After a mashup of Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne and Rameau’s Les Gentils Airs, they perform Valerie Coleman’s Maombi Asante, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in g minor, Op. 25, together with violist Che-Yen (Brian) Chen, Professor of Viola Performance at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

ARTISTS

Catherine Gregory, flute; Brad Balliett, bassoon; Clara Lyon, violin; Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello; David Kaplan, piano; and special guest, Che-Yen (Brian) Chen, viola.

Decoda is a collective of versatile musicians committed equally to virtuosic performance and audience engagement across the globe, seeking to create a more compassionate and connected world through music. Decoda’s flexible instrumentation, from trios to large mixed ensemble, allows for unique concert experiences for a vast array of audiences, from concert halls to schools, hospitals, prisons, and office buildings.

Decoda’s work is anchored by creative programming and performance of mixed ensemble chamber music repertoire. Past engagements have included Southbank and Barbican Centres in London, Caramoor, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In the 2021-22 season, Decoda continues its annual subscription series at Carnegie Hall, and gives workshops for young artists at Tianjin Juilliard, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, and the Herb Alpert School of Music. Every summer since 2015, young artists from all over the globe convene at the Decoda Chamber Music Festival, which introduces them to best practices in community engagement, hones their musicianship, and trains them to think outside the box about the role of music in society. The annual festival is now hosted in partnership with the Conservatory of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton Wisconsin.

Decoda was founded in 2012 by musicians who first collaborated as members of Ensemble Connect, a two-year fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. As the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, Decoda's work as an independent collective is inspired by this shared training focused on developing skills as exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and passionate advocates for music in communities around the world.

To learn more, visit w​ww.decodamusic.org

This event is made possible by the David and Irmgard Dobrow Fund. Classical music was a passion of the Dobrows, who established a generous endowment at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music to make programs like this possible. We are proud to celebrate this program as part of the 2022 - 23 Dobrow Series.