The Arts in Conversation
Bruce Wolosoff, Artistic Director
Past Programs
Blue-Tinged Classics
Featuring:
clarinetist Narek Arutyunian,
violinist Deborah Buck,
and composer-pianist Bruce Wolosoff.
Throughout history, classical music has continually revitalized itself by embracing fresh ideas and exploring diverse influences. Blue-Tinged Classics celebrates this tradition, highlighting how the soulful, emotive qualities of the blues have inspired classical compositions, creating music that is both innovative and deeply rooted in tradition.
Beginning with George Gershwin’s pioneering fusion of blues and jazz into classical forms, this influence traveled to Paris with composers like Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy incorporating the blues into some of their music, then it reflected back stateside to America in the work of composers like Aaron Copland and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, who infused a heavy dose of blues into his astonishing music for solo violin.
This program also featured premieres of two new works: Penumbra by world renowned film composer Carter Burwell, and Blue Mantra (after a painting by Margaret Garrett), by Reflections' artistic director Bruce Wolosoff.
Margarett Garrett, Blue Mantra, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 66 x 51 inches, Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Gary Mamay
Thursday, October 10th, 2024 at 6pm
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, New York NY
Saturday, November 23rd, 2024 at 6pm
The Church
48 Madison Street, Sag Harbor NY
Paradise Found
presented by the
Shelter Island Friends of Music
L-R: Bruce Wolosoff (Photo by Jamie Lopez), Michelle Ross (Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco), Clarice Jensen (Photo by Steph Larsen).
featuring:
composer-pianist Bruce Wolosoff,
composer-violinist Michelle Ross,
and composer-cellist Clarice Jensen
performing their own works and works by
Schubert and Piazzolla.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2024 at 6pm
Shelter Island Presbyterian Church
32 N Ferry Rd, Shelter Island, NY 11964
Music Inspired by Music
a solo piano performance by Bruce Wolosoff
As John Lennon famously said, "amateurs borrow, professionals steal"
(itself stolen from T.S. Elliot's "amateur poets borrow; mature poets steal.")
Composers are often inspired by other art forms, but most frequently they are inspired by other music. Often these influences are unconscious and the composers themselves may be unaware of them, and at other times there is a more deliberate "borrowing" which may or may not be acknowledged by the composer!
This program by Bruce Wolosoff is of music in which the composer fully acknowledges their musical influences, and includes music inspired by Bach by Villa-Lobos, music by Ravel written in the style of Borodin, a musical portrait of Chopin by Robert Schumann, and the program will feature the world premiere of Bruce Wolosoff's epic "Variations on House of the Rising Sun"
at The Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, NYC
Thursday, May 16th, 2024 at 8 pm
at The Church
48 Madison St, Sag Harbor
Saturday, May 25th, 2024 at 7:30pm
and
Reflections in Music
presents
LOVE STORIES
Untitled, Watercolor, Eric Fischl
an evening of chamber music
at The Church
Sag Harbor, NY
Saturday, Feb 24th, 2024 at 6 pm
PROGRAM
Apres un Reve - Gabriel Faure
Chanson Triste - Henri Duparc
Romanze - Clara Schumann
Oblivion - Astor Piazzolla (arranged for trio by Jose Bragato)
Vocalise -Sergei Rachmaninoff
The Loom (2023 version) - Bruce Wolosoff
Featuring:
Max Tan, violin
Aaron Wolff, cello
Luna Seongeun Park, soprano
Bruce Wolosoff, piano
Reflections on Sound & Spirit(s)
A soul-stirring journey through classical music with an exploration of sacred (and a touch of not-so-sacred!) musical realms, featuring composer and pianist Bruce Wolosoff, violinist Michelle Ross, and cellist Clarice Jensen performing music by Arvo Pärt, Eric Satie, and Olivier Messiaen.
What made this program even more extraordinary is that the performers, all accomplished composers themselves, performed their own compositions in addition to the classics.
Among the highlights of the evening were the world premiere of a A Piano and a Cello Walk into a Bar, a new concert work by distinguished film composer Carter Burwell and the world premiere of Trio: galaxies have fallen into my hands, I have drunk the stars by Reflections artistic director Bruce Wolosoff.
You can read about the program here in the East Hampton Star
Thursday, November 2nd at 8 pm
The Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street in NYC's West Village
Friday, November 10th at 7 pm
The Church
Sag Harbor, NY
Reflections on Inspiration
Reflections artistic director Bruce Wolosoff performed the music from his newly released album "Memento" and discussed the inspirations behind the music on Sunday March 5th, 2023 at The Church in Sag Harbor, and on Thursday March 16th at the Greenwich House Music School in NYC.
Reflections on Ellington
A joyous celebration of the music of Duke Ellington featuring Art Baron & The Duke's Men, November 12th, 2022, at The Church, in Sag Harbor. The first half of the program focused on Ellington's concert music and sacred music, and the second half of the program was a super- fun dance party!
REFLECTIONS ON MATISSE
A musical homage to Henri Matisse, presented on June 18th, 2022, The Church, Sag Harbor.
Our program opened with Michelle Ross performing an improvisation and the Adagio from Bach’s first violin sonata, a piece that Matisse loved.
Then we presented the world premiere of Reflections artistic director Bruce Wolosoff's new Matisse Fantasies, scored for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. Bruce was joined by clarinetist Narek Arutyunian, violinist Michelle Ross, and cellist Clarice Jensen in this performance.
The program closed with a set of compositions and improvisations by west coast based composer-pianist Jeremy Siskind inspired by pieces from Matisse's beautiful Jazz series of collages.
REFLECTIONS ON DEBUSSY
"Reflections on Debussy" premiered in-person on Sunday, March 6th, 2022 at the Church in Sag Harbor. The program streamed online from March 16 - March 30th.
In this program, composer-pianist Bruce Wolosoff provided an insider's look at some of the most popular works for piano by one of his favorite composers, Claude Debussy.
"Subtly poetic and beautifully shaded." -The New York Times
“The World is Still Beautiful” streamed from Sunday, December 12th, 2021 through January 2nd, 2022.
When times are dark, the artists in a society remind us of the beauty of this world, and in so doing, give us hope for renewal.
In addition to music by Franz Schubert, saxophonist Hayes Greenfield, and Bruce Wolosoff (performed with cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio), this program included art work by April Gornik, and a special viewing of “New Song,” created by choreographer Andrea Miller for the New York City Ballet.
MUSIC IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Reflections in Music made its return to live, in-person concerts on October 9th 2021, at The Church in Sag Harbor, with the world premiere of two cello sonatas written by our new artistic director, composer and pianist, Bruce Wolosoff.
Composed during the height of the pandemic, the sonatas offer two meditations on climate change. Requiem for the Planet is a four-movement work that considers the prospect of irrevocable loss, while Paradise Found was written as an affirmation of the preciousness of life.
Joining the composer was world renowned cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio, a Grammy-award winning cellist, founding member of the Eroica Trio, and a regular collaborator of Wolosoff's.
Paradise Found and Requiem for the Planet, Premiered October 9, 2021
REFLECTIONS ON POETRY & INSPIRATION
We launched our new season with an online mini-festival exploring the power of poetry to inspire other art forms. The first program presented a livestream performance of music, dance, and video art inspired by poetry, along with some of the poems that inspired them.
(Mostly) Music Inspired by Poetry,
Premiered April 29, 2021
Watch the full playlist here
In our second program, we presented responses to the music of three leading contemporary composers by six poets and three dancers.
Watch the full playlist here
In continuing our theme for this Spring, Reflections presented a curated performance of young musicians performing music inspired by poetry. Clips from the event can be seen on our YouTube channel.
May 20th, 2021 @8pm: Young Musicians Concert: "More Music Inspired by Poetry"