The numbers don’t lie: 6 concerts; 38 performers; 4 days; and at least 30 composers.
Queens New Music Festival 2024 is at The Secret Theatre in Woodside from Thursday, May 9, through Sunday, May 12.
Presented by Random Access Music under Thomas Piercy’s artistic direction, this annual extravaganza features a diverse program of everything from chamber music to string quartets to experimental genres this year.
General admission is $20 per concert (students pay $10), and a six-show festival pass costs $60. Click here for advanced purchase or used cash or credit at the venue.
Here’s the schedule.
May 9
8 pm: RAM Composers and Players. Music by Masatora Goya, Zhihua Hu, Beata Moon, Allen Schulz, Frances White, and RAM’s 2024 Call for Scores winner Xinyang Wang. The performers are Lish Lindsey (flute and ryuteki), Thomas Piercy (clarinet and hichiriki), Sabina Torosjan (violin), Aaron Wolff (cello), Jay Sorce (guitar and electric guitar), and Tengku Irfan on piano.
May 10
8 pm: Pianist Kathleen Supové does her own installation piece and music by Randall Woolf, Masatora Goya, and Rahilia Hasanova.
May 11
4 pm: RECAP Percussion Quartet. Set list: Lixando-Se; Jenny Beck; Moving through Fog; Inner Child; and Settles.
7 pm: Hypercube with Jay Sorce (classical and electric guitar), Andrea Lodge (piano and accordion), Erin Rogers (saxophones), and Chris Graham on percussion.
May 12
4 pm: Clarinetist Matthew Fontana and pianist Marina Iwao play compositions by Jorge Montilla, Masatora Goya, Juan Ruiz, Michael Fontana, and Horacio Fernandez Vazquez.
7 pm: Music Kart is a Tokyo-based ensemble that combines Contemporary Classical and Pop. Members are Go Mochizuki (Mandolin), Thomas Piercy (clarinet), Gaku Yamada (electric guitar), Pablo Lanouguere (electric bass), Hiroaki Takaha (piano) and Satoshi Takeishi (drums). The night features world premieres of music composed for Thomas Piercy and Music Kart by Tokyo and NYC-based composers Gilbert Galindo, Masatora Goya, Yu Kuwabara, Fernando Otero, and Emilio Teubal.
The Secret Theatre has a 60-seat auditorium at 38-02 61st St. There’s free street parking, and the venue is one block from the 7 train’s 61 St-Woodside station. It’s also a few blocks from the 65 St-Broadway station on the R and M lines.
RAM supports the creation and performance of new music. The nonprofit first produced the Queens New Music Festival in 2012.
Images: Thomas Piercy