events
Music Lecture: The Heart of Harmony
The keys composers choose and the chords they use are never an accident. Harmony is an undercurrent that colors the attitude and emotional intentions of their music. Join Daniel as he explains how “wrong” chords, harmonic rhythm, and chord textures steer expressive musical narratives.
Reserve your seat HERE
An Evening of Music and Comedy with Isabel Hagen
Isabel Hagen will host and headline an evening cabaret showcasing local talent. Isabel is a stand-up comedian and classically trained violist. As a comic, she has been featured twice on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and was a New Face of Comedy at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. Isabel started stand-up right after earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance from the Julliard School.
Location: Gettysburg College’s Majestic Theater, Gettysburg, PA
Tickets HERE
Opus Nova Chamber Series: Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin is one of the only composers who truly integrated jazz in all its style, harmony, and soul into larger-scale classical forms. His piano concerto Rhapsody in Blue is a perfect example of that symbiosis: virtuosic piano cadenzas and clear thematic structures are met with carefree jazz rhythms and goofy woodwind solos. Rhapsody in Blue is as fun as it is expressive and as serious as it is silly. Come share the experience of hearing this unique arrangement of the work for piano, strings, and clarinet, along with gems like the Three Preludes, the charming Lullaby for String Quartet, and Embraceable You.
The concert features pianist Daniel Anastasio, praised by The New York Times for his “crisp performance” of a “devilish showpiece,” alongside Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra stars—violinists Jen Betz and Molly Baer, violist DJ Cheek, and cellist Allan Steele with Opus Nova directors Ann Hung and Stas Chernyshev on clarinets.
Address
Steinway Piano Gallery - Fort Worth.
Tickets
Limited tickets available – $65 per person. Reserve tickets HERE
Unheard-of Ensemble: Dialogues Series
DIALOGUES SERIES// Reid and Farhat
April 27, 2025 – 7:00PM
New York City
RESERVATIONS TBA SOON
Unheard-of performs works by Leah Reid and Seare Farhat as part of our collaboration with Soli’s 30x30x30 project. We also perform a trio by Meg Okura and other recently written quartet works.
REDNOTE New Music Festival
REDNOTE New Music Festival
March 25 – 27, 2025
Location: Illinois State University
Unheard-of performs as part of the REDNOTE New Music Festival. Now in its eighteenth season, the RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music. Unheard-of will workshop new premieres with festival participants and present instrumental workshops.
Unheard-of Ensemble hosted by APNM
Association for the Promotion of New Music Collaboration
March 14th, 2025, 8:00PM
Location: Greenwich House Music School, New York City
TICKET RESERVATIONS TBA
Join Unheard-of at Greenwich House Music School’s recital hall for a collaboration with the Association for the Promotion of New Music as we perform premieres and recent works from APNM’s call for scores to their membership.
Agarita at the Tobin Center featuring Pablo Sainz-Villegas
Don’t miss world-renowned guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas as he returns to San Antonio for a collaboration with Agarita at the Tobin Center for the Arts. His sheer virtuosity, combined with a natural ability to connect with his music and audiences, make him an unforgettable artist.
Also featuring Max Zorin on violin.
Sunday, March 9, 2024, 3pm. The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, HEB Performance Hall, 100 Auditorium Cir, San Antonio, TX 78205.
Thank you to Terra Nova Violins and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts for their generous support.
FREE tickets available 2 weeks prior to the show, agarita.org for tickets.
Lecture at the Agarita Loft
Between the Notes: Sheet music’s unwritten ingredients that give life to music
Join Daniel as he explains the limitations of sheet music as a blueprint for performing, and how unwritten elements of phrasing, rubato, balance, and personal intuition provide the most essential ingredient of all.
FREE tickets are available 1 week prior. Go to agarita.org on from February 20 to reserve a spot.
Note: the Loft is on the 2nd floor and only accessible by stairs. Capacity is limited in this 1300 sq ft space.
FREE parking (less than 1 block away!) for this event has been generously donated by United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. Please access the southern United Way lot off S. Alamo Street through the entrance on Barrera Street.
Google Maps Parking Pin: CLICK HERE
Unheard-of Ensemble, University of Miami Residency
Unheard-of Ensemble visits University of Miami’s Frost School of Music to perform new premieres by the composition studio, supported by the Society of Composers chapter at U of M.
3Esprit at the San Antonio Chamber Music Society
Newly formed piano trio 3Esprit consists of pianist Daniel Anastasio, violinist Joseph Lin (The Juilliard School faculty), and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan (Bard Conservatory faculty). Join them for an epic program of Beethoven, Kodaly and Dvorak.
www.sacms.org for more information.
Agarita + The Olmos Ensemble
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 7:30pm.
Location: The University of the Incarnate Word, Bennack Concert Hall
In their first collaboration with San Antonio’s Olmos Ensemble, Agarita explores evocative works for mixed ensemble (winds, strings, and piano) that speak to our time and pack a punch. This program includes special arrangements by composer Michael Ippolito of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, Adagio assai, and Camille Saint-Saens’ Dance Macabre.
FREE tickets available 2 weeks prior to the show.
Thank you to The City of San Antonio for their support of this concert.
Unheard-of//Dialogues
Join Unheard-of Ensemble for the first Dialogues show of 2025 on January 18th, 8:00pm ET at Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street, New York, NY.
In this Dialogues show, we pair newly written movements of Vicki Nguyen's Ginger Flavored Bubblegum and David Crowell's Memories of the Imagined. Nguyen's work explores transcendence from grief by honoring poet, filmmaker, and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha - who was murdered only a few days after the publication of her poetic autobiography, "Dictee." Crowell's Memories of the Imagined looks at memory through a multiplicity of approaches to phrasing and temporal expression, shaping the listener’s sense of passing time and its effect on the act of remembering.
Reserve Tickets HERE
New Braunfels Chamber Music Series
Pianist Daniel Anastasio and renowned poet Naomi Shihab Nye craft a unique recital that interweaves poetry and music. Featuring music by Martin Bresnick, Charles Ives, Maurice Ravel, Bill Evans and more.
7pm at the Unitarian Universalists Church of New Braunfels (135 Alves Ln)
Suggested Donation: $20
The Art of Collaboration (with poet Naomi Nye)
Join Daniel and poet Naomi Shihab Nye as they discuss their collaborative process, the power of mixing poetry and music, how dialogues across artistic media can unlock new insights for both artists and audiences, and more. Included will be premiere performances from a new collaborative recital between the two.
FREE tickets 1 week prior available HERE.
Note: the Loft is on the 2nd floor and only accessible by stairs. Capacity is limited in this 1300 sq ft space.
FREE parking (less than 1 block away!) for this event has been generously donated by United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. Please access the southern United Way lot off S. Alamo Street through the entrance on Barrera Street.
Google Maps Parking Pin: CLICK HERE
Unheard-of Dialogues//Dictée
December 14th, 2024, 8:00PM
Location TBD, New York City
Join Unheard-of for the second Dialogues show of our Fall 2024 season on December 14th, 8:00 PM. In this Dialogues show, we perform a set length version of Vicki Leona Nguyen’s Ginger Flavored Bubblegum. The work transcendence from grief by honoring poet, filmmaker, and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha – who was murdered only a few days after the publication of her poetic autobiography, “Dictee.” Using selections of poetry from Dictee, this expanded version explores grief using Unheard-of Ensemble, electronics, and videography by Phong Tran. Phong will open the show with a solo electronics set.
Christmas Baroque Brilliance with CMI
December 11, 7:30pm at the Carlos Alvarez Theater, San Antonio, TX
Celebrate the holiday season with the magic of Baroque music. Enjoy an evening with masterful performances of concerti by Bach, Vivaldi, and Corelli along with the most beloved Christmas carols, inviting all to sing in merriment. Come together in this family-friendly concert and experience the beauty of Baroque music in the spirit of holiday traditions. I will be performing on harpsichord for J.S. Bach’s masterpiece, Brandenburg Concerto no. 5.
TICKETS: https://www.cmi-sa.org/calendar/christmas-baroque-brilliance
Agarita at the McNay Art Museum
Sunday, December 1, 2024. 2pm-3pm in the galleries, 3:15pm in Leeper Auditorium.
6000 N New Braunfels Ave, San Antonio, TX 78209.
For an especially immersive program at the McNay Art Museum, Agarita will perform throughout the museum among the galleries, providing the unique opportunity to understand the art collections in a new way. Visual themes will be paired organically with musical selections, offering an eye- and ear-opening experience.
FREE tickets available 2 weeks prior to the show.
Recital with Violist Pierre LaPointe
The Agarita Loft
724 S Alamo St, San Antonio, TX
Friday November 15, 6:30pm
Join Daniel and Pierre LaPointe, violist of the esteemed Escher Quartet, as they present LaPointe’s own Viola Sonata, along with one of the most important works in the viola repertoire and one of Brahms’s last, his Viola Sonata in F Minor. Like Brahms’s masterpiece, LaPointe’s work unfolds organically from only a few bits of melodic material, developing a powerful emotional journey that is grounded in an inevitable structure. Hear from the composer himself at this special performance.
Tickets will be available 1 week prior to the show.
Unheard-of Ensemble Tour
Unheard-of Ensemble goes on tour with new music, including performances and premieres, workshopping and recording University students’ works, and giving lectures and masterclasses during their residencies.
11/4/24, 7PM, Denison University, Sharon Martin Hall, 100 West College Street, Granville, Ohio 43023
11/6–7/24, 7:30PM, Miami University, Center for Performing Arts, 420 S. Patterson Ave, Oxford, OH 45056
11/9/24, 8PM, University of Pittsburgh, Music on the Edge Series, 315 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260
Agarita + Poet Jenny Browne
Agarita is excited to return to the San Antonio Botanical Garden’s Kelso Center for a collaborative program featuring award-winning poet Jenny Browne. Weaving Browne’s poetry with musical selections, the show invites poetry to the dance of musical expression, delivering an intimate narrative and a powerful journey.
Location: The Betty Kelso Center at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, 555 Funston Pl, San Antonio, TX 78209.
FREE tickets available 2 weeks prior to the show. Sign up for the Agarita Newsletter at Agarita.org for updates.
Unheard-of Ensemble plays Reiko Füting
One of the leading composers of our time, New York-based composer Reiko Füting explores an extremely detailed, vivid sound world that uses Renaissance motets as a discrete foundation. Explore the profound subtlety of Füting’s voice with two works (procession — process: peace (dona nobis pacem) and act: ab-stain, from) written specifically for Unheard-of Ensemble.
Location: Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A W 13th St, New York, NY 10011
Kauai Concert Association
A special chamber performance in Hawaii of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and other exhilirating works featuring musicians from the Opus Nova Chamber Series.
Location: Saint Michael and All Angels Episcpoal Church
Kauai, Hawaii
Chamber Music 210 at SAMA
The inaugural concert of Classical Music Institute’s Chamber Music 210 series presents “Archeology of Memory,” a concert in collaboration with Amalia Mesa-Bains’ exhibit by the same name. Featuring music by Gabriela Lena Frank, Juan Pablo Contreras, Graciela Agudelo, Gabriela Ortiz, Esteban Benzecry, Robert Schumann, and Olivier Messiaen, the evening will feature a pre-concert reception including drinks, a short exhibit tour, and poetry.
Unheard-of Ensemble presents "Shifting Haze" on the Gowanus
The last performance of the 2024 Cultural Ecologies season features emerging composers at the cutting edge of music and technology from composers Erich Barganier, Han Geul Lee, Catherine Phang, Alyssa Wixson, Andrew Harlan, and Annie Nikunen, each developing new multimedia works for the ensemble. This performance takes place during climate week. Come for the open paddle beforehand and join in to hear these premieres!
New Braunfels Chamber Music Series
Daniel Anastasio and Sarah Silver Manzke perform Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 “Kreutzer” for the chamber series’ inaugural concert.
Location: Unitarian Universalists of New Braunfels
135 Alves Lane
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Beethoven's Kreutzer at the Agarita Loft
Performance of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata no. 9 “Kreutzer” with Sarah Silver Manzke at the Agarita Loft in San Antonio, TX. This program includes a pre-concert talk. Availability at the Agarita Loft will be limited. Sign up for the Agarita Newsletter at agarita.org to receive upcoming information.
Lily Rock Chamber Music Festival
The third season of the Lily Rock Chamber Music Festival in Idyllwild, CA at Idyllwild Arts. Featuring piano quartets by Mozart, Dvorak, Brahms, Brahms’ Clarinet Trio, and Grosshandler’s Violin Sonata.
With violinists Brendan Speltz and Grace Park, violists Luke Fleming and Connie Kupka, and cellists Brook Speltz and David Speltz
Agarita + Azul Barrientos
In partnership with Me-Chicana songwriter Azul Barrientos, this program illuminates a profound personal journey that explores love as a profound truth. Join Azul and Agarita for an evening of musical arrangements blending original compositions with classical masterpieces, crafting a narrative of hope, isolation, reflection, acceptance, and celebration.
This event is proudly part of Xicanx Month.
Friday, August 23, 2024, 7:30pm. Stable Hall at the Pearl, 307 Pearl Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78215.
FREE tickets available 2 weeks prior to the show, sign up to the Agarita newsletter at Agarita.org to receive updates and reservation information.
Unheard-of Ensemble on the Gowanus Canal (Brooklyn, NY)
Unheard-of Ensemble will premiere Ginger Flavored Bubblegum, which explores transcendence from grief by honoring poet, filmmaker, and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha - who was murdered only a few days after the publication of her poetic autobiography, "Dictee." Using selections of poetry from Dictee, this expanded version explores grief using Unheard-of Ensemble, electronics, and videography by Phong Tran (who some might recognize from his electronic set last season).
Agarita + The Witte
Agarita marks their first collaboration with the Witte Museum with an adventurous, varied program that highlights and interacts with themes in the museum’s collection.
This concert is FREE and open to all! FREE tickets will be available 2 weeks prior to the concert.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 7:30pm
Dawson Family Hall, The Witte, 3801 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209
Collaborative Composition Initiative workshop
Unheard-of//Ensemble is hosting the Collaborative Composition Initiative workshop (CCI//Sessions) in San Antonio, Texas in partnership with University of Texas – San Antonio and San Antonio College between June 3rd and 9th, 2024. This CCI, we will be presenting concerts across San Antonio again from Mission San Jose to coffee shops with concerts, installations, and creative workshops. The ensemble and eight composer participants will work closely with our composition faculty in the creation of new works to be recorded using Unheard-of’s cinema camera and audio setup. After the workshop, the ensemble and participants work together to develop album recordings. In addition, participants and the ensemble will collaborate developing group miniatures using sound samples and field recordings taken during the week in San Antonio.
Agarita in Spain
Agarita is honored to serve as the resident ensemble for the 2024 La Rioja Festival in Spain, run by famed guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas. https://lariojafestival.es/en/ for more info.
Agarita + Santiago Cañón Valencia
One of the rising stars of our generation, award-winning cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia performs with Agarita for a diverse program inspired by his Colombian roots and his experiences as a painter and photographer.
This concert is FREE and open to all! FREE tickets will be available 2 weeks prior to the concert.
Saturday, April 27, 2024, 7:30pm
Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N Hackberry St, San Antonio, TX 78202
Songs of Love
Chicago-based soprano Kristina Bachrach joins Daniel for an evening of transportive art songs by Henri Duparc, Robert Schumann, Curt Cacioppo, and Ernest Chausson. This dynamic duo has a decade-long collaboration— enjoy their unique chemistry!
FREE reserved tickets available 1 week prior to the show.
The Agarita Loft, 724 S. Alamo Street #2, 78205
Note: the Loft is on the 2nd floor and only accessible by stairs. Capacity is limited in this 1300 sq ft space.
FREE parking (less than 1 block away!) for this event has been generously donated by United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. Please access the northern United Way lot off S. Alamo Street through the entrance on Refugio Street.
Google Maps Parking Pin: CLICK HERE