Sound Garden and "Les Voix Humaines": October 2 and 3

Opening this Friday!
Momenta Festival XI 
October 2 and 3: Broadway Presbyterian Church
October 7 and 8: Americas Society

Alex and his son Wesley at the Kawaguchiko Music Forest Museum in Japan. Photo by Nana Shi

Our eleventh annual Momenta Festival opens in a few days - this Friday night with Alex’s curated program, “Sound Garden.” Alex’s program is followed by Emilie’s program, “Les Voix Humaines,” on Saturday night. 
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Friday, October 2, 7pm: "Sound Garden," curated by Alex Shiozaki
With guest performer/composer Elizabeth Brown (shakuhachi)
Music by Elizabeth Brown, Marti Epstein, Ursula Mamlok, Marilyn Shrude (world premiere), and Stephanie Griffin (world premiere)

Saturday, October 3, 7pm: "Les Voix Humaines," curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron
An assortment of 17th- and 18th-century violin solos, and string quartets by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Claude Vivier, and Claude Baker (world premiere)

Broadway Presbyterian Church
601 W. 114th Street, at Broadway

FREE ADMISSION with a voluntary donation to the Broadway Community soup kitchen (cash, check to Broadway Community, or online at or before the concert)

DONATE HERE

No reservations required. A casual wine reception follows each concert.
About his program on Friday, October 2, Alex writes:
I'm thrilled to kick off Momenta Festival 2026 with "Sound Garden", an evening of 20th and 21st century works that happen to be by friends of Momenta! There are plenty of reasons to get excited about this concert: two world premieres, by Marilyn Shrude and (Momenta's own) Stephanie Griffin; the pairing of the Japanese shakuhachi and string quartet by Elizabeth Brown, with the composer herself on the instrument; Marti Epstein's Hidden Flowers which I premiered in my pre-Momenta life, back in 2012; and Ursula Mamlok's contemporary masterwork From My Garden, which served as the inspiration for this program. I haven't yet decided whether to play Ursula's work on violin or viola -- you'll have to attend the concert to see my final decision!

And Emilie says this about her program on Saturday, October 3:
The human voice has served through history as the supreme standard for instrument makers, performers, and composers seeking to emulate this innate form of expression. Bowed stringed instruments carry a special capacity to channel the inflections and emotionality of the voice in its various nuances–from sighs and lamenting utterances, to chattering and conversing, to letting loose with extended melismas and joyful singing.

My program, Les Voix Humaines or “The Human Voices” (borrowing the title of one of the pieces you’ll hear), looks at just a few divergent examples of musical inspiration anchored in this fruitful and varied tradition. In true Momenta style, some of the works you’ll hear carry tunes that you might go home singing to yourself – others maybe not, or it depends on what you define as a tune! But it is my hope that you’ll take home an appreciation of the richness and variety of the potential of the human voice, and by extension of our instruments, through which each of us sings. You'll hear vocally-inspired solo violin works from the apex of the French and English Baroque by Marin Marais, Nicola Matteis the Younger, Thomas Baltzar, and Georg Frideric Handel; the world premiere of Claude Baker's new quartet Carminis dissolutio ("Dissolution of the song," 2025, written for Momenta); and quartets by Claude Vivier and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, both important to their short canons (and short lives) for their bold exploration of the string quartet's voice.

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Stay tuned for more details about the final two nights of the festival on October 7 and 8 at Americas Society, curated by Michael and me. 

FREE ADMISSION, BUT RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED

OCTOBER 7 RESERVATIONS

OCTOBER 8 RESERVATIONS

Wednesday, October 7, "French Connection," curated by Michael Haas
With guest pianist Steven Beck
Music by Gabriel Fauré, Julián Carrillo and Matthew Greenbaum (world premiere)

Thursday, October 8, "Keys to Creativity," curated by Stephanie Griffin
With guest pianists Nana Shi, Aruán Ortiz, and Gordon Beeferman
Music by Amy Beach, Aruán Ortiz and Gordon Beeferman (world premiere)

FULL PROGRAM DETAILS
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That's all for now - we hope to see you this Friday and Saturday nights!