Concert Artists Guild Announces 2019-20 New York Season

Concert Artists Guild's 2019-20 CAG Presents season features emerging artists alongside exciting co-presentations with The Wilson Center, Roadmaps Festival, Music for Food, and Creative Stage Collective, highlighting CAG's mission to help young musicians launch meaningful careers in the arts.

CAG's season opens with multi-string quartet Invoke, a 2018 CAG Competition winner. Performing in a co-presentation with Joe's Pub on Tuesday, November 5, the ensemble's style encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Invoke performs original works along with music by American composers including Takuma Itoh and Jessie Montgomery.

GRAMMY nominee the Aizuri Quartet performs at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall on Wednesday, December 4. Joining CAG's roster after winning the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the ensemble has garnered critical acclaim for its engaging and thought-provoking programs and was nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award in the "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble" category. The group's program, LOCALLY SOURCED, celebrates composers influenced by their surroundings, including Armenian folksongs by Komitas and Paul Wiancko's LIFT.

Pianist Yi-Nuo Wang won First Prize in the 2018 CAG Competition and the 2017 Wideman International Piano Competition in Louisiana. Performing at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday, February 11, her program includes piano masterworks with literary and folk inspirations by Bartók, Brahms, Liszt, and others.

Instrumental Storytellers awakens excitement and passion for classical music in young people and inspires traditional concertgoers to experience the music in a new way, featuring storytelling, movement, comic sketches, and poetry. CAG partners with Creative Stage Collective on Sunday, March 8 to present two performances featuring CAG musicians at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

On Monday, March 16, CAG partners with Music for Food to present Quartet Extravaganza! Featuring the Aizuri and Argus Quartets with MFF founder Kim Kashkashian, viola, this concert will raise resources and awareness in the fight against hunger and features works by Mozart and Garth Knox alongside Mendelssohn's Octet for Strings, Op. 20. Proceeds from this concert will benefit Broadway Community.

In partnership with The Wilson Center and Roadmaps Festival, CAG presents an unmissable event during April. The Arctic: Sounds of Crisis is an experiential evening linking global warming, the transformation of our planet, the impacts this palpable change is having on the people of the North - and why you should care. Led by Mike Sfraga of The Wilson Center and featuring performances by the Verona Quartet and pianist Tanya Bannister, the evening weaves a compelling narrative on global warming and the Arctic with visuals and music, followed by a panel discussion led by critically-acclaimed journalist Ali Velshi.

In the final concert of the 19-20 season, percussionist Mitya Nilov performs at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday, April 14. A winner of the 2018 CAG Competition, Mitya has appeared in top halls around the globe, including the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, and the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall. His program RUSSIAN SOUL features The Little Prince by Victor Grishin alongside a new commission by Michael Gilbertson.