A group of the finest young professional classical musicians based out of Carnegie Hall, Ensemble Connect, have announced their return to Skidmore College for their 18th year.
The Ensemble Connect performance takes place in Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Arthur Zankel Music Center, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Their Oct. 25 performance at Skidmore occurs at the end of the five-day residency and spotlights the music of South Africa. The performance includes a South African Kwela celebration in collaboration with Skidmore students.
The concert will be bookended by a pair of stunning piano quintets: Bongani Ndodana-Breen’s Safika: Three Tales on African Migration and Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2, and will also feature Andile Khumalo’s Cry Out, a notable work for viola, oboe, marimba, and piano. Together, these pieces suggest echoes of lives, songs, dances, and connections to a land that endure despite the forces of time and change.
The fall residency will take place Oct. 22-26 at Skidmore College. While in residence, the fellows of Ensemble Connect engage with Skidmore College students and the broader Saratoga Springs community offering master classes, lessons, class demonstrations, and interactive performances.
Ensemble Connect is a two-year fellowship program that prepares extraordinary young professional classical musicians for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
The fellowship includes a series of concerts where the musicians explore classical music in all its iterations, performing the timeless alongside new works. Since 2007, these concerts have included Skidmore College, where Ensemble Connect participates in residencies each year in October and February, allowing many members of the Skidmore and surrounding communities to experience the unique artform that is classical music.
For more information on the upcoming Ensemble Connect performances at Skidmore College, click here.
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