Community Calendar

Conductor Joshua Gersen brings a fresh and inspiring perspective to this season finale, celebrating American voices through powerful storytelling and unforgettable sound. The program opens with Luminosity by local composer Chris Rogerson, includes Copland’s stirring Lincoln Portrait, and concludes with Dvořák’s New World Symphony — a heartfelt tribute to America’s spirit, just ahead of the Nation’s 250th anniversary. A former Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and a frequent guest with orchestras across North America, Gersen is known for his expressive style, adventurous programming, and deep commitment to music education and contemporary composers.

Soundtrack of Independence: Frank’s Bugle

Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra

May 17, 2026 at 4:00 pm | Christ Church Neighborhood House
May 17, 2026 at 7:00 pm | Christ Church Neighborhood House

Join us for this homage to the music and dances composed and performed by Francis Johnson, a free Black man and trumpeter extraordinaire. Featuring Tempesta di Mare, Music of the Regiment, New York Baroque Dance Company, and Justin Bland on trumpet!

https://tempestadimare.org/tdm_event/franks-bugle/

Soundtrack of Independence: Frank’s Bugle

Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra

May 17, 2026 at 4:00 pm | Christ Church Neighborhood House
May 17, 2026 at 7:00 pm | Christ Church Neighborhood House

Join us for this homage to the music and dances composed and performed by Francis Johnson, a free Black man and trumpeter extraordinaire. Featuring Tempesta di Mare, Music of the Regiment, New York Baroque Dance Company, and Justin Bland on trumpet!

https://tempestadimare.org/tdm_event/franks-bugle/

Join Dr. Ruth Ochs and The Westminster Community Orchestra (WCO) for the Westminster Conservatory Concerto Competition Winners Concert on Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. in Hillman Hall, in the Cullen Center, on the Westminster campus, Walnut Lane, in Princeton. There are no tickets required; a suggested admission of $10/person cash will be collected at the door.

The concert will feature the winners of this year’s Westminster Conservatory concerto competition: Alan Li, performing Mozart’s Andante in C for Flute and Orchestra, Wei-En Erin Liao performing the first movement of Crusell’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1, and Cherie Xu performing the first movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major. In addition, the WCO will perform Copland’s Outdoor Overture, the second movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, and Nelhybel’s Pavane for Brass and Percussion.

For more information on the May 17th performance, please contact the Westminster Conservatory office by phone, 609-921-7104, email, conservatory@rider.edu, or visit https://www.rider.edu/about/events/westminster-community-orchestra-concerto-competition-winners-concert

The acclaimed Aeolus Quartet presents a touching and thoughtful program for their first performance at GatherNYC. From a Bach chorale composed to unite the voices of church congregations to the expansive Overture and Chorale by Andrea Casarrubios inspired by it; from the textural celebration of Montgomery's Strum to the bubbling virtuosity of Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 3 composed in the new world that arose from the ashes of WWII. In this program, storytelling and silence give way to the tender slow movement of Price’s G Major Quartet rooted in the tradition of Black spirituals.

GatherNYC is a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd. The 2025-2026 season includes 31 concerts that run from October 2025 through May 2026, with concerts held every Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD.

Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am.

Step into a realm of legend and wonder with One Thousand and One Nights. Guitarist Karol Samuelčík, presented in collaboration with the Slovak American Cultural Center, illuminates Rodrigo’s Fantasía para un gentilhombre, leading into Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade—a richly woven tapestry of sound inspired by the timeless Arabian tales.

May 30 | 7:00 PM | The Presbyterian Church, Westfield
May 31 | 2:30 PM | Sieminski Theater, Basking Ridge

GatherNYC artistic directors Laura Metcalf and Rupert Boyd once again team up with members of the New York Philharmonic, including returning violist Leah Ferguson, violinist Alina Kobialka and more, to craft an exhilarating program centered around Aaron Jay Kernis’ tour de force for guitar and string quartet, “100 Greatest Dance Hits.” Dance into the summer and celebrate the conclusion of another wonderful season of GatherNYC!

GatherNYC is a revolutionary concert experience founded in 2018 by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd. The 2025-2026 season includes 31 concerts that run from October 2025 through May 2026, with concerts held every Sunday at 11am in The Theater at MAD.

Guests at GatherNYC are served exquisite live classical music performed by New York’s immensely talented artists, artisanal coffee and pastries, a taste of spoken word, and a brief celebration of silence. The entire experience lasts one hour and evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service – but the religion is music, and all are welcome. Coffee and pastries are served before each performance at 10:30am.

Step into a realm of legend and wonder with One Thousand and One Nights. Guitarist Karol Samuelčík, presented in collaboration with the Slovak American Cultural Center, illuminates Rodrigo’s Fantasía para un gentilhombre, leading into Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade—a richly woven tapestry of sound inspired by the timeless Arabian tales.

May 30 | 7:00 PM | The Presbyterian Church, Westfield
May 31 | 2:30 PM | Sieminski Theater, Basking Ridge

Xian Zhang conductor
Emanuel Ax piano
New Jersey Symphony

Berlioz used all the colors in a composer’s paintbox–and created a few new ones all his own–for his Symphonie fantastique, a swirling portrait of an artist’s passion, dreams and ecstasy. We’ll place this alongside the unparalleled elegance of Emanuel Ax at the piano, and brand-new music from our gifted Resident Artistic Partner Allison Loggins-Hull–a finale to cherish!

Allison Loggins-Hull New Work (World Premiere, New Jersey Symphony Commission)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22
Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

The Bay Atlantic Symphony performs Arthur Foote’s Serenade, Op. 25, Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor with violinist Ruotao Mao, and Isaac Albeniz’s España. The center of Bach’s violin concerto is a breathtakingly lyrical middle movement with a sweeping melody of spiritual dimensions, shared between the soloist and orchestra. It is bookended by jaunty movements, the last being a gigue (jig). American composer Arthur Foote’s Serenade sings to us with bucolic grace and rhapsody. Albéniz’s España takes us on a sensual tour of picturesque regions throughout Spain.