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Hi Folks,
We would love to invite you to two exciting concerts happening this weekend with Composers Concordance. Closing out our 14th Annual CompCord Festival – Comedy, is the wildly inventive CompCord Polka Band on Friday, followed on Sunday by a special performance from the Missing Link Ensemble at Ki Smith Gallery.
CompCord Polka Band
Politically Charged Musical Satire Closes the Festival
Friday, May 29th @ 7pm
Loft393
393 Broadway (2nd floor), NYC
Missing Link Ensemble
New Compositions for Bass Clarinet, Saxophone, Violin, and Viola
Sunday, May 31st @ 7pm
Ki Smith Gallery
170 Forsyth Street, NYC
We hope to see you there for a weekend of adventurous music, humor, and creativity.
— CC Team
Composers Concordance
Presents
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CompCord Polka Band
Closing the festival with high-energy flair, the CompCord Polka Band will spin a joyful, tongue-in-cheek celebration of dance and tradition—laced with protest spirit and sly political commentary.
Friday, May 29th at 7pm
Loft393
393 Broadway (2nd floor), NYC
TICKETS
Facebook
New York, NY — May 29, 2026 — Composers Concordance presents CompCord Polka Band, the closing event of the 14th Annual CompCord Festival: Comedy, on Friday, May 29 at 7:00 PM at Loft393 (393 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York City). Blending contemporary composition, folk traditions, political satire, and theatrical performance, the concert transforms the polka into a vehicle for social commentary, absurdist humor, and musical rebellion.
At a time when political discourse often veers toward the surreal, the program responds with music that is equally incisive and outrageous. Through exaggerated gestures, subversive texts, and playful distortions of vernacular traditions, these works confront power structures while reveling in the comic.
The evening features compositions by Natasha Bogojevich, Charles Coleman, Dan Cooper, Lara St. John, Eugene W. McBride, Ginka Mizuki, Gene Pritsker, Jay Rozen, William Schimmel, Marina Vesic, Joseph Martin Waters, and Stefan Zeniuk, with featured works including:
- Grab That Pussy Polka – Gene Pritsker
- Let’s (All Now) Yodel! – William Schimmel
- The Little Room Behind Your Left Ear – Joseph Martin Waters
- Polka – Eugene W. McBride
Performed by the CompCord Polka Band:
- Charles Coleman, vocals
- Michiyo Suzuki, clarinet
- Stefan Zeniuk, saxophone
- William Schimmel, accordion
- Jay Rozen, tuba
- Max Pollak, drums / tap dance
As the culminating event of this year’s CompCord Festival: Comedy, the concert underscores the festival’s exploration of humor not as diversion, but as a profound artistic and political strategy. Through irony, absurdity, and exuberant collective performance, CompCord Polka Band asks what happens when protest learns to dance.
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Missing Link Ensemble
New Compositions for Bass Clarinet, Saxophone, Violin, and Viola
Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 7pm
Ki Smith Gallery
170 Forsyth Street, NYC
TICKETS
Facebook
Live Stream
New York, NY — On Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 7pm, the adventurous new music presenting organization Composers Concordance returns to Ki Smith Gallery to present Missing Link Ensemble. A formidable set of brazen contemporary compositions, scored for a unique combination of instruments and electronics, is performed by the superb trio of Eric Schultz - bass clarinet, Eddy Malave, Arite Dibble - viola, and Javier Oviedo - saxophone. Additionally, the ensemble's dynamic violinist Lynn Bechtold will perform several works. Featured on the program is an impressive group of composers hailing from Argentina, Brazil, Serbia, and the U.S., including Lynn Bechtold, Natasha Bogojevic, Dan Cooper, Harry Crowl, Tiago Gati, Kino Lopes, Milica Paranosic, Gene Pritsker, Emiliano Revert, Eric Schultz, and Gabi Yaya.
The concert will also be live-streamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.
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Event Details
Concert: Missing Link Ensemble
Composers: Lynn Bechtold, Natasha Bogojevic, Dan Cooper,
Harry Crowl, Tiago Gati, Kino Lopes, Milica Paranosic,
Gene Pritsker, Emiliano Revert, Eric Schultz, Gabi Yaya
Performers: Missing Link Ensemble:
Eric Schultz - bass clarinet, Eddy Malave - viola,
Javier Oviedo - saxophone, Lynn Bechtold - violin
Date: Sunday, May 31, 2026
Time: 7pm
Venue: Ki Smith Gallery
170 Forsyth Street, NYC
TICKETS: $25
Facebook
Live Stream
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Staying in rotation for 42 years in NYC is a rare feat. In the case of a new music presenting organization, it requires not only diligence and cognizance of achievements of the past but also an ethic of keeping one's ear to the ground for emerging stylistic and technological developments, as well as talented new composers on the scene. Composers Concordance, founded in 1984 by Joseph Pehrson and Patrick Hardish, advised by Otto Luening, strives to present contemporary music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. Directors Gene Pritsker and Dan Cooper co-curate the programs and lead the CompCord Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Big Band. Associate Directors are Milica Paranosic, Peter Jarvis, Debra Kaye, Seth Boustead, and Audrey Morse. Composers Concordance has also created a Naxos-distributed record label: Composers Concordance Records. Composers Concordance's overriding vision is to promote contemporary music, composers, and new works as a rightful and respected part of society. Good music performed and recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.
"Composers Concordance..a veritable New York new music institution of concerts, album production and multiple ensembles under a sweeping, tenacious brand, thriving on the emulsion of contemporary classical, free improv, jazz and rock, overt humor and fearless political statements, all very much in evidence..The ensemble..was masterful throughout.”- John Pietaro, The New York City Jazz Record
"An unwavering force in giving composers exposure through concert bookings and its own record label, the intrepid new-music organization Composers Concordance” - The Brooklyn Rail
"The Composers Concordance folks are unpredictable and at times refreshingly irreverent in a reverent sort of way....ingenious fun" - Classical-Modern Music Review
“Enterprising new music organization” - The New York Times
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