Wednesday, May 7th, 2025, 7:30 pm
Piano on Park x Avalanche Arts @ Carnegie Hill Concerts presents:
Hear This Now!
An evening featuring new chamber music written by Randal Despommier, Ben Rosenblum, Andrea Casarrubios, Marc Migó and Cyrus von Hochstetter.
Choose-What-You-Pay Admission
To make the concerts more accessible, admission is available on a Choose-What-You-Pay basis. There is a suggested ticket price of $25.00 and a minimum ticket price of $5.00 per person.
Randal Despommier - saxophone
Louis Arques - clarinet, music director
Luke Henderson - violin
Ron Shitrit - violin
Daniel Simmons - viola
Ian Maloney - cello
Cyrus von Hochstetter - piano
Program
Ben Rosenblum - A Stallion’s Dream for violin solo
Andrea Casarrubios - Maktub for string trio
- Afilador for clarinet and string trio
Marc Migó - Extinct Bestiary No. 2 for clarinet and piano
Cyrus von Hochstetter - Piano Trio No. 1
Randal Despommier - Adrian’s Atlas for saxophone and string quartet
Ben Rosenblum
Pianist, accordionist and composer Ben Rosenblum has traversed a truly unique musical path, one that has seen him perform alongside world-class musicians across more than twenty music genres and twenty-five countries, lead bands at prestigious venues across the world, all while maintaining a signature, melodic musical voice. Rosenblum’s journey has taken him on tours with Grammy-winning pop artist Rickie Lee Jones and Juno-winning contemporary Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia. He’s played Brazilian choro with Ephrat Asherie Dance and Brazilian forró with The Late Night Show’s Nêgah Santos and famed forró band Forró in the Dark. His roots in jazz have led to an over ten-year relationship with Grammy-winning bassist Curtis Lundy, performing at festivals alongside jazz luminaries Bobby Watson, Sean Jones and Warren Wolf. He has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on accordion, and as a guest soloist on piano at Carnegie Hall’s Stern-Perelman Auditorium with Maestro Reona Ito’s New York Harmonic Band. Throughout it all, Rosenblum has always maintained the same priority - to tell a compelling story with his music, reaching the hearts of his audience and connecting on an emotional, intellectual and spiritual level.
Andrea Casarrubios
Praised by The New York Times for having "traversed the palette of emotions" with "gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity," GRAMMY® nominated Spanish-born cellist and composer Andrea Casarrubios has played as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. First Prize winner of numerous international competitions and awards, Casarrubios has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts, Madrid National Auditorium, and the Ravinia and Verbier Festivals. Her latest engagements include commissions and concerts in Mexico, Spain, Romania, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Casarrubios' compositions have been programmed by organizations such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Sphinx Organization, NPR, and the Argentinian, Brazilian, Australian, and Spanish National Radios. Her acclaimed piece SEVEN "an intense and elegiac tribute to the essential workers during the pandemic" (The New York Times) was commissioned by Thomas Mesa, receiving its Carnegie Hall premiere in 2021. SEVEN has been performed around the world since, and it is featured in Casarrubios' latest album SEVEN Works by Andrea Casarrubios, nominated for the 2025 GRAMMY® Awards. Other recent compositions include the orchestra version of Afilador (2022-23) commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Herencia for String Orchestra (2023), a "stirring creation" (The Strad) and “a bond of humanity through music” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) commissioned for Sphinx Virtuosi's 2023-24 tour and premiered at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium in 2023.
Marc Migó
Born in 1993 in Barcelona, Marc Migó studied piano privately with Liliana Sainz and music theory with Xavier Boliart, leading to his acceptance in the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya where he continued his studies with Salvador Brotons. In 2017, Marc was accepted into The Juilliard School as a CV Starr Fellow to pursue his master’s in music. While at Juilliard, he was awarded the 2018 Orchestral Composition Prize, and would win the prize again in 2021. Following his enrollment in Juilliard’s inaugural Opera Lab program (2020), Marc received a commission from UrbanArias in Washington DC to compose an original opera with librettist John de los Santos as part of the Decameron Opera Coalition. The resulting work, The Roost, premiered later that year and was inducted into The Library of Congress’ Performing Arts COVID-19 Response Collection. After receiving his master’s degree, Marc continued his compositional studies with John Corigliano in pursuit of his doctorate, which was awarded in 2024. Marc’s other commissions include The Fox Sisters (2022, libretto by Lila Palmer) for The Liceu, Concerto Grosso "The Seance” (2022) for Verità Baroque, L’Illa Deserta (2023) for the Foundation for Iberian Music at CUNY, Faust [working title] (2021) for Dutch National Opera, and his first symphony (2024) for Metamorphosen Berlin. In addition, he has received the Pablo Casals Award (2019), the George Enescu Prize (2020), Organ Taurida Competition’s First Prize (2021), the inaugural Dominic Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition (2021), and the Leo Kaplan Award (2023.) Marc’s music has premiered and been performed in prestigious venues around the world, including Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo), Alice Tully Hall and National Sawdust (New York City), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), L’Institut de France (Paris), and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow). Moreover, he has worked with prestigious soloists, conductors, ensembles and orchestras, such as Osmo Vänskä, Salvador Brotons, Verità Baroque, Marisa Gupta, Mark Prihodko, Max Tan, Oliver Triendl, the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Barcelona Symphonic Band, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Metamorphosen Berlin, and the New Juilliard Ensemble, among others.
Cyrus von Hochstetter
With his training in both classical and jazz piano, Cyrus von Hochstetter straddles the musical worlds as a pianist, composer, educator, lecturer and presenter. As a pianist, he has performed internationally and with various ensembles such as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, toured the US and produced records with diverse musicians including Larry Campbell, Ryan Keberle, Stéphane Wrembel and David Taylor. He has composed music for the stage and for commercials and has brought his 7-piece ensemble the ‘Hat Music’, to Joe’s Pub in New York navigating a musical spectrum encompassing arrangements of music by Arnold Schönberg, Duke Ellington, and Cyrus von Hochstetter’s own compositions. With a passion for storytelling, he frequently speaks about the language of music and introduces audiences into the deeper fabric of classical music through his YouTube video series ‘My Music Notes’. He was invited to present at the University of Oregon and for the Oregon Music Teachers Association. Cyrus von Hochstetter is the founder of ‘Piano on Park’ a non-profit creating new opportunities for musicians to connect with diverse audiences and apply for grants. Concerts included performances by David Krakauer, JP Jofre, Rob Schwimmer, Stéphane Wrembel, Daniel Schnyder, David Taylor, Mark Peskanov. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the series streamed concerts by musicians recorded in their own living room, offering one of few opportunities for musicians to perform and connect with audiences during that time. As the director of the Two Bridges Music program in 2017 and 2018, Cyrus von Hochstetter launched a free concert series for New York’s Lower East Side community and also designed an innovative composition curriculum teaching children as young as seven years old how to write music from scratch. Within two years of enrollment in the program, these students were writing pieces for string orchestra. The ensuing collaborations with InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of NY and Third Street Music school orchestras led to public performances of the young composer’s pieces including a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His composition curriculum at Two Bridges Music received funding from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and he was invited to speak about the programs’ success at a convention of the New York State Council of the Arts. A Manhattan School of Music graduate under jazz pianists Garry Dial and Jason Moran, he expanded his education in classical piano with Zitta Zohar and complemented his training with studies of counterpoint and composition.
Randal Despommier
A multi-genre musician from New Orleans whose tone “occasionally recalls Paul Desmond and, at his most passionate, late-period Art Pepper” (DownBeat), alto saxophonist Randal Despommier has captivated audiences at venues including Carnegie Hall (Weill), Bar Bayeux, Qintai Concert Hall in China, Lilla Jazzfestivalen, Soapbox Gallery, Dram, and Smalls with the Jason Yeager Quintet. Despommier released his debut album Dio C’è on Outside in Music in 2021 to critical acclaim. “Impressive in his debut as leader” (OffBeat), the record features his quartet and showcases Grammy-winning bassist Jimmy Haslip as both guest artist and co-producer and vocalist Aubrey Johnson. His follow-up, A Midsummer Odyssey (Sunnyside Records)—a tribute to Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin—deepens his exploration of narrative and atmosphere. Featuring celebrated avant-garde guitarist Ben Monder, the album earned Despommier a nomination for “Best Contemporary Jazz Artist” from OffBeat. Despommier’s latest album, South, released on Sunnyside Records, is both a musical homecoming and a tribute to his New Orleans roots. Featuring Crescent City legends Johnny Vidacovich, David Torkanowsky, James Singleton, and his father Phil Despommier as guest artist, South blends reverence and originality in equal measure. As Dan Bilawsky writes, “New Orleans is inextricably linked to Randal Despommier's sound and sense of self, and he pays due respect with this highly agreeable appreciation… A sincerely felt musical homecoming, South is remarkably satisfying from every angle.” Whether through his genre-defying compositions, lyrical saxophone tone, or collaborations with artists across jazz, classical, and global traditions, Despommier continues to carve a unique path—bridging worlds and honoring his New Orleans roots in search of new sonic possibilities.
Louis Arques
Louis Arques is a clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, conductor, artistic director, and producer based in New York City. He performs Classical and Contemporary music, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Jazz, and Early music on period instruments. A strong advocate for new music, he has facilitated and participated in numerous commissioned works by American and European composers. As an international soloist, Louis performs concerti with orchestras – Winton Marsalis Blues (Cornell Wind Symphony), Mikolaj Gorecki Trio Concerto (Avalanche Orchestra), Mozart Concerto (Empire State Symphony), Debussy Rhapsody (Camerata New York), Zych Bass Clarinet concerto (Paris Ostinato Orchestra). As Artistic Director and Conductor, Louis founded the Empire State Symphony, NewOrch, and Avalanche Orchestra. He led the Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra and is currently director of Avalanche and co- director of Brooklyn Orchestra. He also plays principal clarinet with these ensembles and was guest Eb clarinet at Miami New World Symphony. A sought-after itinerant chamber musician, he has performed with the internationally acclaimed Quintet of the Americas and select soloists from Metropolis Ensemble. He concertizes frequently with pianists Vladimir Rumyantsev, Cyrus Von Hochstetter, Milena Zhivotovskaya, and Nima Sarkechik (Brahms Sonatas album released). Since 2020, Louis tours US universities and festivals and performs for Carnegie Citywide with harpist Bridget Kibbey’s Bach to Brazil Trio, featuring grammy-awardee percussionist Samuel Torres. His natural affinity for Afro-Latin-American rhythms led in 2016 to the co-founding of Diálogos Duo with guitarist-composer Richard Boukas (2 albums released). Louis is also regular member of the Afro-Cuban band Sonido Costeño and appears on the last Palomonte Afro-Cuban Big Band album. Louis is a Doctoral student at the City University of New York (studying with Charles Neidich). He taught in France for ten years (including Paris Conservatoire), was visiting faculty at Ithaca College and Cornell University, and is on faculty at the Diller-Quaile School of Music. Louis is a Vandoren artist.
Luke Henderson
2020 Gold Medal Winner in the Fischoff and the Coltman National Chamber Music Competitions, Luke Henderson is 20 years old, from Raleigh, North Carolina, and currently studies with Li Lin at The Juilliard School. In 2021 Luke won The American Prize in Instrumental Performance and the Grand Prize at the World Classical Music Awards. Throughout high school, Luke was a member of the Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School led by Merry Peckham and of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Zander. He has performed internationally in Berlin, Salzburg, Budapest, Pecs, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Jihlava. Luke was awarded the New England Conservatory Eugene Lehrer Chamber Music Award and is featured on National Public Radio’s From The Top (Show 392). Luke's musical interests extend beyond European classical repertoire – namely Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, and South Indian Classical. Luke was featured in the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra during their residency at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, performing the music of Duke Ellington. Luke is dedicated to the study and performance of contemporary classical music. In 2023, he was featured in celebration performances for contemporary composers John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, and Reena Esmail. When not playing violin, Luke enjoys hiking and listening to John Coltrane.
Roni Shitrit
Roni Shitrit was born in 1999 in Israel. She began her violin studies with Mr. Oscar Shraiberman at the Ramla conservatory when she was 5 years old. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate studies at UNCSA with Professors Ida Bieler and Janet Orenstein. Roni is the first prize winner in the 2021 MTNA Young Artist National Competition, 1st prize winner of the IMKA music competition and one of the prizewinners of a national competition in Israel (2017). In addition, Roni received scholaships with exceptional distinction on her performances from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation. Roni was a member of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra of the Jerusalem Music Center. She participated in the David Goldman Chamber Music Program for Outstanding Young Musicians, the Huberman Program, Keshet Eilon, and the Ilona Feher Violin Program. Roni participated in masterclasses with many world-renowned violinists, including Benjamin Schmidt, Miriam Fried, Grigory Kalinovsky, Itzhak Rashkovsky, Michaela Martin, Michael Kopelman, Hagai Shaham, and Daniel Heifetz.
Daniel Simmons
Violist Daniel Simmons enjoys connecting with diverse audiences through his expressive and dynamic performances. Daniel has showcased his talent at prestigious music festivals including the New York String Orchestra, Toronto Summer Music, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Lake George Music Festival, Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the USA, Curtis Institute Summerfest, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the Sphinx Performance Academy. In 2023, Daniel attended the Conservatoire Américain in Fontainebleau, France, where he won Third Prize in the Prix Ravel. That same year, he was a finalist in the 63rd Eastern Connecticut Symphony Competition. In 2024, he won the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Concerto Audition, performing the Walton Viola Concerto with the festival orchestra. Daniel has performed in many esteemed venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Dimenna Center, the Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Harvard Club of New York City, and the Château de Fontainebleau. As a chamber musician, Daniel has collaborated with renowned artists including Scott Yoo, Samuel Rhodes, Hsin-Yun Huang, Philip Chiu, and Angela Cheng, as well as members of the Pacifica, New Orford, and Ying Quartets. Daniel held the chair of principal violist of the Columbia University Orchestra, and frequently performs as principal violist with the Brooklyn Orchestra. Daniel studied economics at Columbia University. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Paul Neubauer and Steven Tenenbom.
Ian Maloney
Ian Maloney is a cellist, composer, and chamber musician studying with Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School where he is currently pursuing a Master of Music. Ian has appeared on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, NPR’s From the Top, and in music videos with Brooklyn’s Project Trio and violinist Joshua Bell. He has performed in master classes for Carter Brey, Philippe Muller, Clive Greensmith, Paul Katz, David Finckel, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr. He has earned first prize in numerous music competitions and has appeared as a featured orchestral soloist. In January, Ian performed at GlobalFEST 2023 with the New York Arabic Orchestra at David Geffen Hall. Ian has also attended the Young Artist Chamber Music Programs at Music@Menlo, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn, and was a featured young artist at the 2023 Music from Angel Fire festival.