Decoda

This week Decoda continues our residency with Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme, CT with a five-day songwriting workshop at Cheshire Correctional Institute, a maximum security facility in Cheshire, CT. Following up on our successful songwriting project at Cheshire in Fall 2023, four musicians (Brad Balliett, bassoon; Catherine Gregory, flute; David Kaplan, piano; and guest vocalist Majel Connery) facilitate the creation of brand new music composed by the incarcerated participants. The project culminates in a prison-wide performance on Friday, July 12th.

This songwriting project is particularly special to this community as the first creative musical program of its kind, and gives participants the opportunity to be creative and forge connections within the prison community. The theme of the songwriting project (chosen by the participants) is ‘Heavy Pain’, and will provide a creative outlet to discuss the painful experience of incarceration.

Happy 4th of July from Decoda! 🎆Celebrate by spinning our new record, DECODA — featuring an all-American program of music by and Decoda’s own arrangements of William Bolcom by 🇺🇸 Special thanks to and Jonathan Blumhofer for this awesome review! Special shoutout to 🎉Birthday Girl🎉 and in Reza Vali’s Folk Songs (Set No.9) — “Flautist Catherine Gregory and cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir deliver an impassioned, vibrant account of it all.” Link in 🔗 🌳 🎆

A bittersweet day has arrived 🥹 A week has flown by in the Swannanoa Valley of North Carolina at Warren Wilson College, and what a week it has been. In a matter of six days, these twenty-three extraordinary musicians have immersed themselves in chamber music but most importantly, the ideals of sharing and connecting with audiences from an array of communities in the greater Asheville area. On Tuesday the entire DCMF community was fortunate enough to be invited inside the Western Correctional Center for Women in Black Mountain where Decoda faculty premiered two new works by our DCMF performer-composers .mili.meter and 🎵 the experience left a huge impact on our hearts and it was a musical memory that will be remembered for a long time to come. Additionally, the festival artists performed at — an organization serving people living with brain injuries, and Givens Highland Farms — a residential community for seniors. Needless to say, it’s been an AWESOME week and we are so grateful for our partnership with Warren Wilson who have welcomed us and made us feel so at home here on this beautiful campus. Special thanks to Liz Brace and for their collaboration and generosity. Many more updates and pictures to come but for now, enjoy a glimpse into our week at DCMF. Today also marked the final day of the fiscal year for nonprofits. We hope that you will consider making a donation today in honor of all of these talented musicians who we have no doubt will will be making impact in their own communities. Join us today at 3 PM ET for our festival finale concert, which will be streamed live on our page. HAPPY 10 YEARS DCMF 🎉🎂🥳

We had such a wonderful time at Hinds' Feet Farm yesterday! Thank you very much for welcoming us into your community for a meaningful morning of music! 🎵 💜

Today is the day! 🥳 10th Anniversary Season of Decoda Chamber Music Festival kicks off in our new North Carolina home at Warren Wilson College! The Decoda faculty and WW staff have been hard at work getting the campus ready for a week filled with music, collaboration and community. Today our 23 DCMF Festival Artists arrive from all over the country and we cannot wait to greet them at our picturesque summer home in the Swannanoa Valley! Watch this space for happy, joyous, musical content 🤩

🎉The 10th Anniversary Edition of the Decoda Chamber Music Festival commences in less than a week 🎉 We are beyond excited to trek to the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina at our new home at Warren Wilson College later this week! Most exciting of all are the outstanding 23 festival artists around the country who will be joining five Decoda faculty members in an exploration of great chamber music repertoire building and sharing creative collaboration with the Asheville community from June 23-30, 2024. All three of our performances are free and open to the public: June 26 at 7pm; June 28 at 6:30pm; and June 29 at 3pm! Please join us for an exciting and celebratory week 🌲🏕️🌲✨

Introducing the 2024 Festival Artists for the 10th Decoda Chamber Music Festival at our new home — Warren Wilson College! What a fantastic group of young artists from all over the country, representing 17 Universities, Colleges and Conservatories! Five Decoda faculty will welcome these 23 talented musicians to Swannanoa, NC for a week of creativity, collaboration and connection through music in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains from June 23-30. There will be 3 free performances on campus during the week, including a special work, Arboretum, by Decoda’s own Brad Balliett, which uses the beautiful green space of the campus as our stage. Stay tuned for more information and give some love to these fantastic DCMF participants 🩵🌲🌺

Warren Wilson College Catherine GregoryDavid Joachim Kaplan Clara Lyon Claire Bryant Brad Balliett

Big Thursday news! We are honored to have our debut album, DECODA, included in today’s NYTimes “5 Classical Albums You Can Listen to Right Now”. Thanks to Seth Colter Walls for the flattering words and review. This album is a milestone for our ensemble, as well as our first NYTimes review and feature! Grab your copy DECODA today! Link in 🔗 🌳 🌟

The New York Times Bright Shiny Things Carnegie Hall

Featuring performances by: Catherine Gregory, Moran Katz, , Clara Lyon, Nathan Schram, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, David Joachim Kaplan

Music by: , , , ,
Recorded Tippet Rise Art Center by and and produced by .d

Many thanks to at Tippet Rise

TONIGHT: a most very special way to close out our 23/24 season in the beautiful Weill Music Room at spotlighting extraordinary composer and friend of Decoda and Xiaobao He. We met “Yoshi” through work with Musicambia and Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, and his music ranges from tender and touching to festive and toe-tapping. For those who are able to join us for tonight’s sold-out performance, you are in for a truly memorable evening!

Huge thanks to and for your thoughtful words about our debut album, and for so clearly seeing and hearing all we set out make with this record!

Repost from I Care if You Listen:
On their self-titled debut album, Decoda brings attractive style and artistry to an eclectic mix of compositions. The star-studded chamber music collective, which includes GRAMMY winning and nominated musicians, has spent the last decade performing as Carnegie Hall’s affiliate ensemble. Marking their 10th anniversary, the album explores the concept of revelry as “humanity’s universal need to connect through celebration,” but not always in the ways you might expect.

✨🎶 What an absolutely electrifying night at Carnegie Hall! Our performance of “Reverberations” explored the interconnected web between inspiration and imagination, and was completely SOLD OUT! Thank you to everyone who came out to support live music and made this evening an unforgettable experience.

Featuring the work of Aaron Copland, Hanns Eisler, Hannah Kendall, Woody Guthrie/Billy Bragg/Claire Bryant, and a world premiere performance of Ringdown’s heartbreaking and gorgeous “Every Stone in Cambridge Reminds Me of You,” we will carry this one in our memory for a long time.



Photos by Fadi Kheir,

Officially SOLD OUT! ✨
✨

What’s the best way to celebrate a debut record? A celebratory show at Carnegie Hall of course! This coming Tuesday 5/14 at Weill Recital Hall, we present a super special and unique program of music entitled “Reverberations”. The program explores the profound relationship between inspiration and imagination, and presents a series of musical escapades that reveal an interconnected web of influence. Featuring our friends (Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan) the evening will be filled with old and new sounds of Copland to Hanns Eisler to Hannah Kendall to a Decoda arrangement of a song by Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg, and finally a brand new Carnegie Hall commission by Ringdown for our two ensembles. Come one, come all and get your tickets soon because they are almost gone!

🎉OUT TODAY!!! Our debut album, DECODA is now available on Bright Shiny Things and streaming platforms everywhere. This record features the world premiere recording of Revelry by Valerie Coleman, original arrangements by Decoda artists of William Bolcom’s Three Rags, and Reza Vali’s flute-cello duo, Folk Songs (Set No.9). 📀 💎 📀

Recorded at the incomparable Tippet Rise Art Center in January of 2023, the repertoire was chosen to reflect the human desire to connect through celebration. The album celebrates our first decade as an ensemble with a vibrant program of American music that showcases Decoda’s flexibility, versatility and sense of play.

Grab your copy TODAY and stream us on your favorite platform! 🎉🎉🎉 Link in comments!

Featuring performances by: Catherine Gregory, Moran Katz, Brad Balliett, Clara Lyon , Nathan Schram, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, and David Joachim Kaplan
Music by: Valerie Coleman , Reza Vali, Composer, Hamilton Berry , Anna Elashvili, Nathan Schram
Recorded .rise by and and produced by .d

Tippet Rise Art Center, MT. Photo: Kevin Kinzley © 2023 Tippet Rise, LLC

⚡️⚡️⚡️IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS we present “Reverberations” at with our friends ⚡️⚡️⚡️ — May 14, 2024 7:30PM Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Music by Aaron Copland, Hannah Kendall, Hanns Eisler, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg, and a world premiere of “Every Stone in Cambridge Reminds Me of You” - a Carnegie Hall commission for Decoda, by and featuring Ringdown. Tickets are hot, snap yours up!🔔

Tickets and more information available at www.carnegiehall.org

Have you heard the newest single from DECODA yet?

Check out our performance of Hamilton Berry’s whimsical arrangement of William Bolcom’s “Poltergeist” - featured this week on the Classical New Releases playlist! Link in stories and comments.

And, if you’d like our self-titled album DECODA to arrive in your inbox on May 10 click the link in bio to pre-order from our friends at Bright Shiny Things!

DECODA marks our first decade of eclectic and impactful concert experiences with a record that reflects the human desire to connect through revelry and celebration, featuring works by Valerie Coleman, Reza Vali, and captivating arrangements by Decoda artists and friends, recorded at the stunning Tippet Rise Art Center in January of 2023.

💎 BIG NEWS THURSDAY 💎 We are elated to announce the release of our long-awaited debut album, DECODA, coming to your ears on May 10, 2024 on Bright Shiny Things 💎 A little taste arrives on April 12th with our first single dropping tomorrow! The record features a world-premiere recording of Valerie Coleman“Revelry”, “Folk Songs set No.9” for flute and cello by Reza Vali, Composer and Decoda arrangements of three “Rags” by William Bolcom. Recorded at the stunning Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana in January 2023 with their incredible creative team and produced by the illustrious .d this vibrant program of American music showcases our collective’s flexibility, versatility and sense of play. Check the comments below to pre-order your very own copy today! 📀💿📀

✨✨✨

This is not an April Fools drill — you still have the chance for a Decoda summer thrill! DCMF has a few more spots left — especially for violins, violas and winds, so get those apps in! Rolling applications will be accepted through April 10th, however, scholarships and financial aid opportunities will not last long, so don’t delay. ⏰

Come join Decoda members and for a week of creative collaboration and community through music. Can’t wait to be in our new gorgeous home at in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina! Link in 🔗 🌲

Decoda congratulates the finalists of the NOLA Chamber Fest Emerging Ensemble Competition, and the winners of the High School and Junior Divisions! Judges Catherine Gregory, David Kaplan, and Clara Lyon were so impressed with the artistry, musicianship, and innovative programming of the participants, and it was a true joy to experience these performances. We also applaud the NOLA Chamber Fest Competition for your vision of celebrating true 21st-century artistry, and creating amazing opportunities for young artists to hone their skills. The future of chamber music is bright, and we look forward to following the careers of these ensembles for years to come!

Decoda performs at NOLA Chamber Fest on April 5th, and we can’t wait to hear the emerging ensemble finalists showcase their talents for the NOLA audience on April 4!

DECODA CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES NEW HOME - SUMMER 2024!

Decoda is elated to announce the 10th Anniversary Season of our celebrated festival for young artists at our new home, tucked away in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, right outside of Asheville, North Carolina, June 23 - 30, 2024.

Our new partner, Warren Wilson College, aligns harmoniously with our own mission to create, connect, and spread compassion through music. Believing that “the world needs curiosity,” Warren Wilson is a campus community that fosters relationships with community partners through meaningful engagement, sustainable agriculture practices, and by educating the next generation of “curiously insightful, experienced, and capable individuals.”

Decoda cannot wait to celebrate ten years of our unique summer festival, which is dedicated to training the next generation of young artists to rethink and reimagine their role in society. Through outstanding chamber music making, creative collaboration, and hands-on project design and development, DCMF cultivates the vision of community through music with the young artists of tomorrow.

Applications are open until March 31, 2024 — no application fee! Link in bio for all the information about joining Decoda this summer for an unforgettable experience 🌊⚡️☄️ Link in comments! Claire Bryant Catherine Gregory David Joachim Kaplan Clara Lyon Milad Daniari

DECODA You can return to our homepage by clicking here, or you can try searching for the content you are seeking by clicking here.

No caption necessary ☄️ DCMF24

TONIGHT (Friday 1/19) at we culminate a fabulously jam-packed 3-day residency at with a special program called BELONGING. Featuring works luminary composers and Decoda’s own and this FREE event is not to be missed! We hope to see many South Carolinians this evening, and promise to warm you up on this cold winter weekend with some meaningful music! Many thanks to our hospitable hosts here at USC for making all of this possible!

A special NYE message from Decoda Co-AD Clara Lyon —

✨Decoda believes that every person is creative, and that through performance, creative community projects, and sharing our work with younger generations of artists, we can create a kinder, more compassionate world through music. As a small nonprofit organization, we work tirelessly to make creative resources possible, and accessible, to our audiences year-round. Our dreams for the future are boundless, and only limited by what our finances can support.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting Decoda this end of year, and that you’ll be a part of our collective dreaming for years to come. We hope to see you in New York or on the road in 2024, and to share a little magic through music together! ✨

To donate, please visit www.decodamusic.org/donate Happy New Year! 🎊

Photo 1: courtesy of Carnegie Hall 📸 Pete Checchia
Photo 4: courtesy of ArtFields 📸 Second Floor Media