June 6-19: The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Presents the Kronos Quartet in Chatham and NYC, Plus Workshops at Gibney Dance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Artist PR Contact: Katy Salomon | Primo Artists 
katy@primoartists.com | 646.801.9406 

---

 The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Announces 
Details of 13th Season – June 6-19, 2025

Kronos Quartet, 2025 Festival Guest Artist, Performs the World Premieres of
Jungyoon Wie’s Starlings, Peter Askim’s Songs My Mother Taught Me,
and inti figgis-vizueta’s music by yourself, plus Terry Riley’s The Sands 

Friday, June 12 – PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance | Chatham, NY

Saturday, June 13 – Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | New York, NY

Composer/Choreography Workshops with Composer Aaron Jay Kernis and 
Choreography Mentor Sidra Bell at Gibney Dance – Free Public Showing June 18 

www.next-fest.org 
 

New York, NY (May 8, 2025) – The Next Festival of Emerging Artists announces the details of its 13th season, taking place from June 6 to 19, 2025 in Chatham and New York City, NY. A trailblazing arts immersion program for early-career string musicians, composers, and choreographers from around the world, Next Fest welcomes the multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning Kronos Quartet as 2025 Festival Guest Artist.

Highlights of the 2025 Festival include world premieres by Jungyoon Wie, inti figgis-vizueta, and Founding Artistic Director Peter Askim, performed by Kronos Quartet and Next Festival Artists in Chatham and NYC; a celebration of Terry Riley's 90th birthday including a performance of Riley’s The Sands; and a collaboration with Music at the Anthology (MATA) in the second week of the Festival for a choreographer/composer workshop with Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY®-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis and Choreography Mentor Sidra Bell at Gibney Dance Center in NYC.

On Friday, June 12, 2025 at 7:30 pm at PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance in Chatham, NY and Saturday, June 13, 2025 at 8:00 pm at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in NYC, Peter Askim leads a string orchestra of talented early-career string players in Terry Riley’s The Sands, composed for Kronos Quartet in 1991, and the world premieres of Jungyoon Wie’s Starlings, inti figgis-vizueta’s music by yourself for string orchestra, and Askim’s own Songs My Mother Taught Me. The evening also includes Transition Behavior by GRAMMY®-winning composer Pascal Le Boeuf and Jan Radzynski’s Serenade for Strings. 

Written for the Shattered Glass string orchestra, Pascal Le Boeuf’s Transition Behavior is a reference to the structural properties of glass as a substance, solid yet flowing, and malleable as temperatures rise. The piece highlights how individual autonomy within the group creates a dynamic musical experience, Le Boeuf explains, “As a conductorless orchestra, the members of Shattered Glass have no unifying leader but perform as an amorphous solid despite their outward appearance as a traditional ensemble. This allows for certain freedoms that would not otherwise be available to a string orchestra. Transition Behavior utilizes these freedoms to highlight the autonomy of the many individuals that form the larger structure of the ensemble – the rich sound of many simultaneous amorphous gestures that combine to reflect a musical representation of Shattered Glass.”

inti figgis-vizueta’s music by yourself reflects on the intimate experience of listening to music and performing alone, particularly in darkness. The composer says, “I love the focus of a dark space, with sounds emerging almost alive (even in earbuds). Memory springs forth too, I have found. In live performance, this dark feels like another material to play through and around. Its presence asks for a trust that there are other people really out there, while giving the intimate gift of music alone, closeness in distance. In forms unfolding from memory and shared motion, music by yourself is about connecting to people who are and aren’t still here.”

Jan Radzynski’s Serenade for Strings was commissioned by NYC’s Concertante Ensemble, which premiered the work at Merkin Hall in New York in September 2000. Comprising four movements – Preludio, Minuetto; Trio å la Musette; Minuetto, Sarabanda; and Tarantella – the piece is a response to the fragmentation of modern life, urging listeners to return to a deep and intentional state of listening, a full immersion in the power of music as an art form. “In every sense this music belongs to the present, here and now,” the composer wrote of the piece. “The musical vocabulary of Serenade integrates contemporary techniques with stylistic elements from the past; thus, the music rejects easy labeling, for it is both timely and timeless.” 

Peter Askim’s Songs My Mother Taught Me takes its name from Dvorák's song, based on the Adolf Heyduk poem of the same name. Askim writes: “This work was inspired by the lessons in compassion, humility, and kindness that I learned from my mother. She worked tirelessly with refugees, immigrants, and victims of domestic violence from around the world. Learning their stories and ‘songs’ of suffering, dignity, resilience, and humanity was formative for me, and became the foundation of my lifelong sense of right and wrong.”

Jungyoon Wie’s Starlings captures the beautiful sight of starlings traveling in a flock, exploring the ideas of unity, responsiveness, and collective harmony as the birds respond instinctively to the movements of one another. The composer says, “Their flocking behavior creates cloud-like shapes in the sky which are constantly moving and transforming. There is no leader; the starlings simply watch for their neighbors and imitate one another.” 

Terry Riley’s The Sands is a reflective piece that expresses the emotional turmoil and tragedy of the Gulf War. Riley shares, ”I essentially improvised the first movement into a music software program on the eve of the first Gulf War launched by Bush the Greater and then spent months transcribing and arranging, and recomposing sections into a structure with two alternating, contrasting thematic areas. The quartet is the driving force of the first movement, and its energetic opening theme is propelled into existence by the soloists and then taken up by the orchestra.”

The following week, String Fellows take up residence in New York City’s Gibney Dance Studio, where they are joined in a collaboration with MATA for Composer/Choreographer Workshops with selected composers Diallo Banks and Danae Venson, drawn from MATA's alumni and international call for scores, as well as composer Luke Haaksma, currently based at Yale University. The young composers and choreographers will be guided by Sidra Bell, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Peter Askim in a week-long workshop consisting of rehearsals, collaboration, and spontaneous creation, culminating in a free public showing at Gibney Dance on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 at 7:30pm.

The Next Festival 2025 Program Information
Friday, June 12, 2025 at 7:30pm
PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance | 2980 NY-66, Chatham, NY 12037
Tickets: $17.50-$30
Link: www.ps21chatham.org/event/the-next-festival-of-emerging-artists/ 

Program:
Pascal LeBoeuf – Transition Behavior (2023)
inti figgis-vizueta – music by yourself [World Premiere]
Jan Radzynski – Serenade for Strings (2000)
Peter Askim – Songs My Mother Taught Me [World Premiere]
Jungyoon Wie – Starlings, for String Quartet and String Orchestra [World Premiere]
Terry Riley – The Sands, for String Quartet and Orchestra (1991)

The Next Festival of Emerging Artists 
Peter Askim, Artistic Director and Conductor
Kronos Quartet, Guest Artist

Saturday, June 13, 2025 at 8:00pm
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | 129 W 67th St, New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $20-$35
Link: www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/the-next-festival-with-kronos-quartet/ 

Program:
Pascal LeBoeuf – Transition Behavior (2023)
inti figgis-vizueta – music by yourself [New York Premiere]
Jan Radzynski – Serenade for Strings (2000)
Peter Askim – Songs My Mother Taught Me [New York Premiere]
Jungyoon Wie – Starlings, for String Quartet and String Orchestra [New York Premiere]
Terry Riley – The Sands, for String Quartet and Orchestra (1991)

The Next Festival of Emerging Artists 
Peter Askim, Artistic Director and Conductor
Kronos Quartet, Guest Artist

Composer / Choreographer Workshop Open Showing
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 at 7:30pm
Gibney Dance Studio, Studio H | 53A Chambers St, New York, NY 10007
Tickets: Free 
Link: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-next-festival-of-emerging-artists-composerchoreographer-workshop-tickets-1338874402379

Mentors:
Sidra Bell, Choreographer
Aaron Jay Kernis, Composer
Peter Askim, Artistic Director

About The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
The Next Festival has supported more than 250 emerging artists with professional development in contemporary music, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, jump-starting professional careers by treating emerging artists like established talent, not students, with a focus on developing the 360-degree artist. Collaborating directly with major composers and performing alongside leading soloists, Fellows dramatically expand their network. 

Festival alumni become working musicians, leaders in their fields, and socially conscious citizens. Past participants include performers with the Handel and Haydn Society, the Executive Director of Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and players for the Le Concert des Nations, Malmo Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), and improvising chamber ensemble 9 Horses. They’ve also launched non-profits like Performers for Change, Sound Off: Music For Bail, Bass Players for Black Composers, and more. 

Over its history, The Next Festival has featured some of the most prominent figures in new music today: including guest artists Ashley Bathgate, Miranda Cuckson, ETHEL, Nadia Sirota, Tony Arnold, Yvette Young, Matt Haimovitz, Jennifer Koh, Nadia Sirota, Richard Thompson, Pamela Z, Curtis Stewart, Seth Parker Woods, and the string quartet ETHEL; as well as choreographers Sidra Bell, Christopher D’Amboise, Darshan Singh Bhuller, and S. Ama Wray. The Festival has appeared at venues such as National Sawdust, Roulette, (le) Poisson Rouge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance, as well as on WQXR. 

Through Next Fest Connects, the Festival presented over 75 guest artists including Pulitzer, GRAMMY, and MacArthur honorees, expanded its reach exponentially, and provided a community for those inspired by the power of music during a dark time. Through the integration of technology and community, the Festival brought artists together virtually across nine time zones in a beautiful simultaneous collaboration. 

At the onset of the pandemic, The Next Festival made a radical pivot to offer 100% of its programming online, free of charge, with an emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, and helping artists in a time of need. Prioritizing artist futures, not bottom line, the Festival supports Fellows through a radical “pay-what-you-can” model, ensuring that deserving talent can participate regardless of financial circumstances. The 2020 and 2021 Festivals introduced a groundbreaking series of virtual offerings called Next Fest Connects, with the goal of serving artists and audiences through relevant, timely programming, while also compensating artists for their expertise and artistry. 

In the 2024 season, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists presented world premieres by Curtis Stewart, Michael Dudley, and Peter Askim and performed the East Coast premiere of Rebecca Saunders’ Ire with Seth Parker Woods as soloist as well as Herencia by Andrea Casarrubios.

In 2023, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a program of world premieres for string orchestra, including by 2023 Guest Artist and guitarist/composer Yvette Young, 2022 Pulitzer-Finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer/violinist (and 2022 Festival alum) Che Buford, saxophonist/composer Matthew Evan Taylor, and Peter Askim. The Next Festival was an American Composers Orchestra EarShot Partner Orchestra, supporting emerging composers and the creation of new music and was presented by ACO as part of its 2023 SONiC Festival in New York City.

A champion of living composers, The Next Festival commissions new compositions by both established and early career composers every year, presenting over 75 guest artists since 2013, including Pulitzer, GRAMMY, and MacArthur award winners. Learn more at next-fest.org.

“It's amazing how meaningfully crafted Next Fest was, as an experience and as a statement in a field that often can feel tough and impersonal. I've praised it many times out loud. Thanks for all you do to make this field more human.” – Julia Weldon, 2022 Next Fest Performance Fellow

About Founder and Artistic Director Peter Askim
Founder and Artistic Director of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Peter Askim is a composer, conductor of Raleigh Civic Orchestras, and the newly-appointed Music Director of the Wilmington Symphony. As a conductor, he has led the American Composers Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Askim was featured on HBO and NPR Music conducting folk-rock legend Richard Thompson’s soundtrack for The Cold Blue. As a composer, he has been called a “Modern Master” by The Strad and worked with groups like Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Honolulu, and American Viola Society. Through the Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Askim is known for innovative programming and championing the work of living composers and underrepresented voices.

About Kronos Quartet
For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three GRAMMYs and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes.

Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,100 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco.

In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed Kronos Fifty for the Future. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned and distributed online for free – 50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.

Funding Partners
Festival programs are made possible in part by the generous support of The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Alice P. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, The Amphion Foundation, The BMI Foundation, The Williamson Foundation, The Heineman Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

# # #