I Heard the Children Singing - Thursday @ 7 PM - You Are Invited

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I Heard the Children Singing

Chamber Orchestra Music New to New York

works by

Micah Joel, Max Lifchitz, Lansing McLoskey & Roydon Tse

performers include

Harrie Hyie-Ri Ahn, violin

Max Lifchitz, conductor

The North/South Chamber Orchestra

Thursday, February 19 @ 7 PM

DiMenna Center for Classical Music

450 West 37th Street

New York, NY 10018

FREE ADMISSION

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 and accessible works by composers

from Canada, Mexico, and the United States, with violinist Hattie

Hye-Ri Ahn as the featured 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.co...@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, her passions include 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 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/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lN5VU8mFCXjbAUh0if8DHAWHimjfu6e7s

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For further programming information, please visit the North/South