World Premiere: To the Night for Cello Quintet by Juhi Bansal – Hoff-Barthelson’s Music of Our Time Contemporary Music Festival


Hoff-Barthelson Music School’s Annual Contemporary Music Festival, The Music of Our Time, takes place Monday, May 9, 2022, through Sunday, May 15, 2022, at the School, 25 School Lane Scarsdale, and will include a world premiere commissioned by the School. Composer Juhi Bansal’s “To the Night” for cello quintet will be performed at the Festival’s culminating concert on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at 7:00 pm.

“For over 20 years the Music of Our Time Festival has provided an outlet for the Hoff-Barthelson community to explore, create, and delve into contemporary music,” said Peter Seidenberg, Artistic Director of the Festival. “The festival nurtures the concept that music of our present day reflects the time we live in in a vital and vivid way.”

The School’s relationship with Juhi Bansal is made possible by Copland House, with which Hoff-Barthelson has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship. “Both organizations are devoted to introducing students and audiences to contemporary music and to the nurturing and development of emerging composers,” says Seidenberg.

Ms. Bansal’s composition, “To the Night,” uses the same configuration as Schubert’s famous quintet – scored for a standard string quartet plus an extra cello instead of an extra viola – and draws on Indian raag melodies and rhythmic patterns. The quintet will be performed by HBMS students Eliana Weinsaft and Benjamin Reyes, violins; Oliva Seidenberg, viola; and cellists Yasmin Yogartnam and Sarah Rivas.

Also performing on the concert will be the School’s Advanced and Adult Jazz Ensembles, Ed Palermo, director; the Beginner Voices, Yuki Hiruma Charlesworth, director; and the Petite Chorus and Junior Voices, Jennifer Tibbetts, director.

Admission is free of charge to all Festival events.

Throughout the Festival, faculty and student soloists and ensembles can be heard in recitals including a recital of works created in the School’s HB Compose Yourself! Project. A key component of the Festival, the HB Compose Yourself! Project is a rare opportunity for students to receive feedback from renowned, award-winning composers on works that they have written. The 2022 guest composers are Stephanie Ann Boyd and Will Healy. Works created for this project will be performed on the HB Compose Yourself! Project Recital, on Monday, May 9 at 8 pm. The Compose Yourself! Project is coordinated by HBMS faculty member Derek Cooper.

“Jazz A to Z” led by HBMS faculty member and jazz great Ed Palermo will offer an evening of jazz favorites and originals on Monday, Wednesday, May 11 at 8:00 pm.

Faculty performers appearing at the Festival include pianists Elena Belli and Joan Forsyth, guitarist Andrew Marino, violinists Gary Kosloski and  Eriko Sato, cellist Peter Seidenberg, bassoonist Gilli Sharett, and clarinetist Dan Spitzer. A complete schedule of these recitals can be found at www.hbms.org.

“The Contemporary Festival is one of the most exciting, creative events of the school year here at Hoff-Barthelson,” says Executive Director Ken Cole. “We hope you’ll join us for this dynamic celebration of new music!”

About Composer Juhi Bansal
“Radiant and transcendent”, the music of Juhi Bansal weaves together themes celebrating musical and cultural diversity, nature and the environment, and strong female role models. Her music draws upon elements as disparate as progressive metal, Hindustani music, spectralism and musical theatre tradition to create deeply expressive, evocative sound-worlds. As an Indian composer brought up in Hong Kong, her work draws subtly upon both those traditions, entwining them closely and intricately with the gestures of western classical music.

Recent projects include Waves of Change, a digital experience on womanhood, identity and clash of cultures inspired by the story of the Bangladesh Girls Surf Club; and Edge of a Dream, an opera about Ada Lovelace, daughter of infamous poet Lord Byron and a 19th Century pioneer in computing commissioned by Los Angeles Opera. Recent seasons have included commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Beth Morrison Projects, New York Virtuoso Singers, Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre, the Oakland East Bay Symphony, AIDS Quilt Songbook 20th Anniversary project and more. She is a staunch proponent of bringing new audiences into contemporary music and of helping musicians of all backgrounds build ownership in the knowledge that they too can create music.

For Additional Information
For additional information: 914-723-1169, hb@hbms.org, www.hbms.org.

 About Hoff-Barthelson Music School
Hoff-Barthelson Music School has achieved national recognition as a premier community music school for its unsurpassed leadership in education, performance, and community service. With a faculty drawn from the region’s most talented teachers and performers, Hoff-Barthelson has long been one of Westchester County’s most cherished cultural resources. At Hoff-Barthelson, students find a warm, friendly music school dedicated to the highest standards of education, performance, and community service. Students of all ages, aptitudes, and levels of interest enjoy a supportive, joyful learning environment; a focus on the whole person; exceptional teaching; and a multifaceted curriculum.

Hoff-Barthelson Music School is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer. Programs are made possible, in part, with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Pictured: Composer Juhi Bansal. Photo supplied by the composer.

Event Location and Ticket Information

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Hoff-Barthelson Music School
25 School Lane
Scarsdale, New York 10583
Handicap Accessible? Yes

Date: Sunday, May 15, 2022
Times: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Ticket pricing:
Free event

Presenter: Hoff-Barthelson Music School
Presenter Phone: 914-723-1169
Presenter Website: https://www.hbms.org