A Slate of New Events Announced At Merkin Hall This Month

March is peak season for Kaufman Music Center's Ecstatic Music Festival. KMC's own Face the Music joins forces with ETHEL on Sunday, March 17, with a special appearance by legendary songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Todd Rundgren. And versatile indie-rock duo Wye Oak joins the Brooklyn Youth Chorus on Thursday, March 21 for no fewer than five world premieres. Both concerts take place at Merkin Hall, 129 W. 67th St. in NYC. Tickets are available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org.

"No series has better instincts in fomenting post-genre alchemy than the Ecstatic Music Festival," wrote Steve Smith in The New Yorker. The only music festival that exclusively presents new work resulting from collaborations, EMF is curated by composer Judd Greenstein.

Sunday, March 17 (5 pm): ETHEL + Face the Music with special guest Todd Rundgren

NYC's "infectiously visceral" (Pitchfork), "vital and brilliant" (New Yorker) string quartet ETHEL teams up with quartets from Kaufman Music Center's dynamic Face the Music youth program for an afternoon of invigorating new music. The performance showcases repertoire commissioned for ETHEL and developed during the quartet's 2018-19 residency with Face the Music at Kaufman Music Center. The program includes two pieces by experimental folk composer/violinist Kip Jones of ETHEL, composer/broadcaster Phil Kline's March, and idiosyncratic Finnish composer/fiddler Timo Alakotila's Pelimanni's Revenge.

Rock legend Todd Rundgren composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist will appear with ETHEL and Face the Music in a selection of his own songs. Rundgren's Spirit of Harmony Foundation advocates for music education and performance for youth, forging partnerships among music programs, corporations, and other music education non-profits to become involved in music education, both nationally and in their communities.

Thursday, March 21 (7:30 pm): Wye Oak + Brooklyn Youth Chorus in five world premieres

The inventive Baltimore-based indie rock duo Wye Oak Jenn Wasner, vocals, guitars, and bass; Andy Stack, drums, keyboards, backing vocals premieres four new songs with the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Wye Oak's rich, layered sound belies their compact lineup: in a neat bit of multitasking, Stack plays the drumkit with his feet and right hand, while playing bass lines with his left hand. Acclaimed for their "enormous versatility and polish" (The New York Times), Brooklyn Youth Chorus will also premiere a fifteen-minute dramatic work by acclaimed Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist Owen Pallett on the Cyclops legend (with more than a few echoes of our current political situation). A New Sounds co-presentation hosted by John Schaefer.

Kaufman Music Center is where music lovers, from curious fans to renowned performers, come together to explore their musical passions. Founded in 1952 as a community school for pre-conservatory music training, today's Kaufman Music Center is home to Merkin Hall; Lucy Moses School, New York's largest community arts school; Special Music School, a K-12 public school that teaches music as a core subject; and the acclaimed youth new music ensemble Face the Music. Kaufman Music Center is based at 129 W. 67th St. on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Visit kaufmanmusiccenter.org or call 212/501-3330 for more information.