DECODA ANNOUNCES ITS 2014- 15 SEASON AND NEW APPOINTMENT BY CARNEGIE HALL
NEW YORK — Decoda is a New York City- based chamber ensemble comprised of virtuoso musicians, entrepreneurs, and passionate advocates of the arts. Decoda’s innovative performances and engaging projects with partners around the world, are designed to engage with society, educate the next generation, and inspire a new entrepreneurial model for today’s artists.
The artists of Decoda first collaborated with one another in the renowned Ensemble ACJW fellowship program, created by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. They are now excited to extend that relationship with the new appointment as an Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall.
“Our appointment of Decoda as our first-ever Affiliate Ensemble recognizes the quality of the group’s work, which reflects so many of the values held by Carnegie Hall, including exceptional performances and a strong commitment to education and community programs. Having worked with these musicians since their time as Ensemble ACJW fellows, it’s been inspiring for all of us to watch what they continue accomplish as an independent ensemble and as great ambassadors for music,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director.
Highlights of Decoda’s 2014 – 2015 Season include concerts and projects in New York City, across the U.S. and abroad. The ensemble’s season begins on with the first of two concerts on the Tertulia Chamber Music Series on Monday, September 29 at 7:00 PM at Harding’s Restaurant in NYC with a program to include works by Bach, Telemann, Philip Glass and Couperin. On October 8 at 8:00 PM at the Kosciusko Foundation, Decoda presents works by Richard Wilson, Schubert and Beethoven. See below for complete details on Decoda’s 2014 -2015 Season.
In addition to concerts, Decoda collaborates with arts organizations, universities, and schools to create engaging, unique and innovative projects. This season, Decoda returns to Guildhall School of Music and Dance in London; Lawrence University in Wisconsin; Purchase College in Purchase, NY; Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival in Abu Dhabi and Merida, Mexico. Decoda also returns as Ensemble-in-Residence with Greenwich House Music School in NYC where they will present interactive family concerts throughout the year.
New collaborations this season include projects with Vassar College, Bowling Green State University and concerts at 92nd Street Y and Scandinavian House in New York City; Impromptu Classical Concerts in Key West; and Curiosity Concerts in Greenwich, Connecticut.
As part of its work as an Affiliate Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Decoda will continue to be engaged in a wide range of initiatives created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, including music education and community programs serving students, families, young artists, and people throughout New York City.
Decoda Skidmore Chamber Music Institute: This past summer, Decoda and Skidmore College launched the inaugural Decoda Skidmore Chamber Music Institute (DSCMI). Led by faculty artists from Decoda, this intensive two-week institute is designed for young musicians to explore leadership and community service through chamber ensemble coachings, rehearsals, town-hall style workshops and community performances. Plans for DSCMI 2015 are currently underway and will be announced at a later date.
2014 – 2015 Season highlights include:
- Monday, September 29 at Harding’s Restaurant in NYC – Decoda opens their season with the first of two concerts on the Tertulia Chamber Music Series. Tertulia presents concerts at NYC restaurants that are designed to highlight the symbiotic relationship between performance and culinary art. Program will include works by Bach, Telemann, Phillip Glass and Couperin.
- October 6-9 LONDON: Decoda is excited to return to Guildhall School of Music and Dance where they will build upon the successful workshops on engagement and professional studies led by Decoda musicians with Guildhall music students. This is the first of two visits by Decoda this season.
- October 8 at the Kosciuszko Foundation (NYC): Decoda presents Schubert’s Quartettsatz, Beethoven’s String Quartet No.2 in G Major and Richard Wilson’s String Quartet No. 1 and Canzona for Horn and Strings.
- October 12-16 Lawrence University (WI): Decoda returns to Lawrence University in Wisconsin this season for two week-long residencies. The first visit will include performances by Decoda as well as interactive performance workshops with students and faculty where they will prepare concert programs for community performances at Riverview Gardens, the Fox Valley Warming Shelter, Jefferson Elementary School, and the Freedom Center Food Pantry to take place throughout the year.
- October 30 8:00 PM at the Scandinavia House (NYC): Join Decoda musicians as they present works by Britten and Daniel Bjarnason as well as works by young composers who were selected to participate in Decoda workshops as part of the Við Djúpið Music Festival in Ísafjörður, Iceland.
- December 7-13 in Merida, Mexico: Through a partnership with Carnegie Hall and Fomento Cultural Banamex in Mexico, Decoda embarks on a week-long residency in Merida, Mexico where they will work with young musicians selected through an application process. Decoda musicians will lead side-by-side ensemble coachings, workshops on audience engagement, chamber music master classes and will perform community concerts in the Yucatan region as well as a final performance at the Peon Contreras Theatre in Merida on Saturday, December 13, 2014.
- February 15, 2015 Performing Arts Center at Purchase College (NY): Decoda returns to the PAC at Purchase College on their Chamber Music Series. Program to include Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio, Connesson’s Sextuor, and Prokofiev’s Quintet.
- February 19 – 21, 2015 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY: In a new collaboration with Vassar College Music Department, Decoda will lead a series of workshops on engagement, master classes and activities with music students as well as presenting interactive performances in local schools. Decoda will present a final concert on Saturday, February 21 at 8:00 PM in the Vassar College Recital Hall.
- March 3-14, 2015 Abu Dhabi, UAE: Decoda returns for the 5th year to the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival where they will perform concerts, interactive performances at local schools and lead a week-long creative composition workshop with students selected from Abu Dhabi Schools, culminating in a final performance of the composition created by Decoda musicians and the students.
- March 29 – 31, 2015 Bowling Green State University (OH): New this season, Decoda musicians will visit Bowling Green State University where they will lead master classes and workshops with music students in the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music. Decoda’s concert on Monday, March 30, 2015 in Bryan Recital Hall will feature a new work commissioned by Christopher Deitz.
- April 6 – 11, 2015 Camden, South Carolina: Decoda returns to Camden, South Carolina Returning to Camden, South Carolina for the twelfth time in 5 years, Decoda is excited to continue the collaboration with the Camden-area community. Concert on Thursday, April 9, 2015, 7PM at the Kershaw Fine Arts Center
- April 26, 2015 Tunes, Tweets and Transformations at 92nd St. Y (NYC): Decoda explores “musical transformations” in this interactive concert combining live music and digital technology. On a Journey through Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, audience members use twitter to communicate how they respond to, and interpret the music they hear.
About the Artists
Decoda is a New York City- based chamber ensemble comprised of virtuoso musicians, entrepreneurs, and passionate advocates of the arts. Decoda’s innovative performances and engaging projects with partners around the world, are designed to engage with society, educate the next generation, and inspire a new entrepreneurial model for today’s artists.
The artists of Decoda first collaborated with one another in the renowned Ensemble ACJW fellowship program, created by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, and they now extend that relationship as an Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall. Since its inception in 2011, Decoda’s projects have reached audiences in schools, hospitals and prisons as well as in prominent concert halls across the globe.
Recent travels have taken Decoda to Abu Dhabi, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Denmark, and in the 2014-15 season, Decoda will present projects with partners in the U.S., Mexico, Asia and the United Kingdom.
Decoda’s engagements have included performances at the Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Bay Chamber Concerts (Maine), in the UK at the Southbank Centre and the Barbican (London), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), Chelsea Music Festival (NYC), Carnegie Kids @ Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival (UAE), Við Djúpið Festival (Iceland), Programa de Educación Musical Fomento Cultural Banamex & Carnegie Hall (Mexico), and the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase. Since 2011, Decoda has participated in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program, undertaking creative projects at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Beth Abraham Hospital, Clinton High School in Bronx, NY and Valley Lodge Shelter. Decoda is also the resident ensemble at Greenwich House Music School in NYC’s West Village.
Decoda’s NYC offerings this season include performances at Kosciuszko Foundation, two concerts presented on the Tertulia chamber music series, and an interactive family concert at 92nd Street Y. In addition to concerts, Decoda returns this seasons to create projects with partners in Abu Dhabi, Mexico, South Carolina, Purchase College in New York, Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and Guildhall School of Music and Dance in London.
New partnerships this season will take Decoda to Vassar College (NY), Bowling Green State University (OH), Impromptu Classical Concerts in Key West, Florida, and Curiosity Concerts in Greenwich, Connecticut. To learn more about Decoda, please visit us at decodamusic.org
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Betsie Becker
Executive Director
Decoda
