The North/South Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Max Lifchitz, offers premieres of works by composers from Canada, Mexico and the US
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, February 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The North/South Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Max Lifchitz, will continue its 46th consecutive Winter/Spring series of free admission concerts on Thursday evening, February 19, 2026.
This concert will feature engaging, accessible works by composers from Canada, Mexico, and the United States, with violinist Hattie Hye-Ri Ahn as the soloist.
The program includes the New York premiere of recent compositions by Micah Joel, Max Lifchitz, Lansing McLoskey, and Roydon Tse.
The in-person event will begin at 7 PM and will conclude around 8:30 PM. It will take place at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, located at 450 West 37th Street, New York, NY 10018.
Due to limited seating, anyone wishing to attend should email ns.concerts@att.net to reserve a spot.
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS AND PERFORMERS
Micah Joel is an alumnus of the Graduate Musical Writing Program at NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts. He grew up in rural Taiwan, where he developed a passion for drama and music. After returning to the United States, he attended the music composition program at Seattle Pacific University before making New York City his creative home. As a composer-in-residence with the Three Act Theatre Company, he completed his musical “Chaundria and the Giant,” written in collaboration with writer Janine Robledo.
Joel’s Lorelei Suite is inspired by songs originally composed for a musical theater production titled “The Lorelei,” which has a book and lyrics by Chandra McClelland. This two-movement programmatic piece narrates the story of a young woman cursed with a captivating voice, a deadly kiss, and immortality. She enters a church and pleads with the priest to break her curse, but he succumbs to the enchantment of her voice and kisses her, leading to his demise. With her hopes shattered, the woman unleashes her dreadful voice upon the ships sailing on the river below, causing them to crash against the rocky shore and meet their doom.
Max Lifchitz is the founder and director of the North/South Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a pianist on concert stages throughout Europe and the Americas. His compositions and performances are available on most streaming platforms.
Lifchitz’s Yellow Ribbons No. 37 is part of a series of works written as a tribute to the former American hostages in Iran. These compositions serve as a personal celebration of the artistic and political freedoms that are often taken for granted in the West. The work is structured in four contrasting but interconnected movements. The first movement, “The Last Trumpet,” features a processional-like quality. The opening trumpet fanfare introduces listeners to the rhythmic and melodic motifs found throughout the piece. The second movement, “Cataclysm,” is complex and filled with turmoil. “Peace Dream” serves as a lyrical interlude, highlighting the wind and brass instruments. The last movement, “Dance of Hope,” propels the composition to a rousing conclusion with its dance-like rhythms.
Lansing McLoskey has been described by the press as “a major talent and a deep thinker with a great ear” as well as “an engaging, gifted composer writing smart, compelling, and fascinating music.” His work has been recognized with a Grammy Award in 2019, two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Foundation, and a Barlow Commission. His music is available on several record labels and is published by Theodore Presser Co. He is currently a professor at the Frost School of Music in Miami.
I Heard the Children Singing is a concerto for violin and orchestra composed in four movements. The music is inspired by the 19th-century hymn “The Holy City,” written in 1892 by Edward Weatherly and Michael Maybrick. In the opening movement, the solo violin gradually descends from its highest register, while the orchestra creates tumultuous passages that often overshadow it. This leads into the energetic and frantic second movement, which has a lively scherzo character. In the closing movement, the orchestra introduces a lyrical melody that appears in various forms throughout the section. Eventually, this melody captures the attention of the soloist, who joins in a full ensemble refrain. The piece culminates in a vibrant finale where all the previous musical elements come together in an exhilarating conclusion.
Violinist Hattie Hyei-Ri Ahn will join the ensemble to perform the solo part of McLoskey’s composition. Ms. Ahn trained at Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University before earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance from Stony Brook University. Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, she is passionate about teaching, orchestral playing, and contemporary music.
Roydon Tse was born in Hong Kong and currently resides in Canada, where he teaches at the University of Saskatchewan. His music aims to resonate with diverse audiences, exploring the complexities of grief and reflecting the ever-evolving cultural tapestry of our world. Recognized as one of CBC Music’s “Top 30 under 30” musicians, Tse has received commissions from numerous organizations, including the Moab Music Festival, the Steinberg & Fleezanis Foundation, the Canadian Art Song Project, the Tianjin Juilliard School, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His work Stepwise was commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra in 2023. The piece is structured as a series of variations on a theme, featuring angular leaps and shifts that constantly move through different tonal centers in a kaleidoscopic manner, intentionally avoiding any sense of tonal resolution. The variations include subtitles such as “Dreams,” “Hocket,” and “Ravvivando,” which convey the concept behind some of the sections, while others invite the performer’s imagination.
Founded in 1980, North/South Consonance, Inc. is dedicated to promoting music by composers from the Americas and around the world. Its activities are supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as grants from the Music Performance Fund, the BMI Foundation, and the generosity of numerous individual donors.
For further programming information, please visit the North/South Consonance website @ https://www.northsouthmusic.org/
North South Consonance
North/South Consonance, Inc
nsinfo@northsouthmusic.org
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