MATA Presents at Carnegie Hill Concerts:

Azalea Twining | Anna Heflin

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Program:

AZALEA TWINING Enough Rope (2023-2025) World Premiere

Azalea Twining, Soprano
Sebastian Grinberg-Bly, Piano
A new song-cycle

ANNA HEFLIN: The Wonderland Series (2019)

Shannon Reilly, Violin/Vocals
a one-act opera for singing/acting violinist
by Anna Heflin
for Shannon Reilly

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Featuring:

Anna Heflin - composer, librettist, director, videographer
Shannon Reilly - acting violinist in the roles of Scholar, Charles Dodgson, Alice, Queen(s), Flowers
Katie Weissman - animal handler, bird trainer, rabbit keeper
Evan Courtin - electronic track support
Molly the cat - Dinah

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Enough Rope (2023-2025) is a song cycle of miniatures set to poems from Dorothy Parker’s collection of the same name. I first came across Parker’s poetry the Summer after graduating High School and instantly fell in love with her writing. Concise and cutting, yet sensitive–her  work articulated my own experiences and feelings, so I began composing while reading. I chose six poems: “Prophetic Soul,” “The Thin Edge,” “Anecdote,” “The Small Hours,” “Portrait of the Artist,” and “August” to string together into a song cycle which describes the protagonist's loss of a relationship and identity, followed by her struggle to reclaim and grow into herself through the restorative properties of her artistic process.

Anna Heflin’s The Wonderland Series (2019) is “fascinating and impossibly concise…a dense, 33-minute fever dream in which music is fully integrated in a one-woman play that investigates numerous facets of author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s life and his work under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.” (Roc City News) In this opera for singing/acting violinist Shannon Reilly, Reilly is joined onstage by accompanying pre-recorded audio and video, all of which features her portraying the various characters. There are three layers to the piece: the music which is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s writings, scholarly research about the work and Carroll, and the character of Lewis Carroll himself (i.e. Charles Dodgson) which uses quotes from the author. After falling into Wonderland, the listener will encounter Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson, The Scholar, Alice, The Queen, the Garden of Live Flowers, the Playing Cards, Dinah the Cat and others over the course of their journey. Themes in the work include Dodgson’s campaign against voter manipulation, his obsession with 42 and its relevance to Christianity and the Jabberwocky, the Carroll/Dodgson split identity, how Darwin’s work influenced Alice in Wonderland and more.

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Azalea Twining (19) is a soprano and composer. As a 2020-2021 fellow of the Luna Composition Lab at Kaufman Music Center, Azalea studied composition with Ellen Reid and composed Under Her Voices for piano trio, which was the winner of the 2021 G. Schirmer for Luna Lab Prize. She has continued to study composition and create pieces with a focus on singing her own work.

Azalea’s most recent and current projects include “Echo” for solo flute, commissioned by Intersection, The Red House for saxophone quartet, commissioned by Second Stage and Composers Now, and Evelyn: Four Bodies One Life, a dance opera created and performed by her family.

Azalea studied voice with Eileen Clark from 2014-2023 and is an alumni of the WNO Opera Institute, Eastman Summer Classical Studies programs, and NYU MPAP Summer Classical Voice Intensive. She is currently a music major at Columbia University, where she studies voice with Josephine Mongiardo-Cooper and is a member of the early-music choral ensemble, Collegium Musicum.

She is also honored to work outside of university—premiering works by composers Elizabeth Hoffman and Cecilia Olszewski. In the past year, she has had the pleasure of performing at The Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, SEAMUS Festival, and MATA Festival.

Azalea hopes to foster a career as a composer/performer.

Anna Heflin is a composer and writer who constructs high-octane, humorous, and sensual worlds with non-linear narratives that thrive on musical and psychological fragmentation. Whether writing a symphony or a staged literature-inspired solo opera for an instrumentalist, she is drawn to the unexpected and channels her highly imaginative virtuosic visions into complex characters and unorthodox narrative arcs that often integrate text and staging. Her long-term collaborations with individual artists and organizations developed over years of working as a freelance violist are central to her process and her core values include trust, risk-taking, experimentation, play, open communication, and creative problem-solving.

Her compositions do not fit neatly into a box and neither does she – she is invigorated by approaching music from every angle and can be found writing program notes for the LA Phil, giving academic lectures, hosting radio shows, leading roundtable discussions, and running her journal Which Sinfonia. Recent highlights include the sold-out run of Heflin’s The INcomplete Cosmicomics (2025) — her hour-long Calvino-riff opera full of “sly humor and eternal cosmic peace” (Classical Voice North America) for vocalizing cellist Aaron Wolff and looper at The Tank in NYC as produced by Experiments in Opera. 

Heflin is currently based in Los Angeles pursuing her Doctorate in Music Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music.

annaheflin.com

Violinist Shannon Reilly thrives in the passionate pursuit of excellence in decoding and performing experimental contemporary music. A dedicated collaborator, she often premiers her colleagues’ compositions and works with emerging and student composers.

She regularly plays with ensembles, including Slee Sinfonietta and Liminal Space Ensemble, and has appeared with the Buffalo Chamber Players, Ensemble Signal, Buffalo’s Friends of Vienna series, and the Alla Balena Ensemble. She’s recorded new works by Anna Heflin, Connor D’Netto, and Duo Purla, in addition to her own active recital schedule and an upcoming premiere recording of works by Ákos Rózmann.

This is Reilly’s seventh year as Concertmaster and performance faculty for the June in Buffalo Festival at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where she also held the violin professorship for four years, and she routinely performs with the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Reilly holds both a Bachelor’s and a Masters degree in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied violin with Reneé Jolles and Charles Castleman, and with Brad Lubman in the Musica Nova ensemble.

Reilly is an avid reader, currently making her way through the works of Terry Pratchett, and lives in Buffalo, NY, with her three dogs.

shannonreillyviolin.com

Sebastian Grinberg is a high school junior currently residing in Harrisonburg, VA. He has had 10 years of experience playing the piano and has studied under Christopher Liccardo at the Aaron Copland School of Music, as well as Dr. Paulo Steinberg, professor of piano at James Madison University. An enthusiastic and dedicated collaborative pianist and accompanist, he has attended the Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany, where he got the chance to perform chamber music with young musicians from around the globe. He is an avid accompanist in his community and has served numerous choirs, orchestras, dance programs, and musicals. He also takes incredible joy in accompanying soloists performing classical repertoire and has had the privilege of working with numerous pianists, violinists, cellists, saxophonists, and opera singers. He is so honored to be here accompanying Azalea for the debut of one of her original compositions, and hopes he can share the joy of this music with the audience. For college, he hopes to return to the city and attend NYU to pursue medicine or law, while maintaining a robust involvement in the arts. 

Choose-What-You-Pay Admission

To make the concerts more accessible, admission is available on a Choose-What-You-Pay basis. There is a suggested ticket price of $25.00 and a minimum ticket price of $5.00 per person.

Piano on Park at Carnegie Hill Concerts Presents:

Hear This Now!

An evening featuring new chamber music written by Randal Despommier, Ben Rosenblum, Andrea Casarrubios, Marc Migó and Cyrus von Hochstetter.

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Program:

Ben Rosenblum - A Stallion’s Dream for violin solo

Andrea Casarrubios - Maktub for string trio & Afilador for clarinet and string trio

Marc Migó - Extinct Bestiary No. 2 for clarinet and piano

Cyrus von Hochstetter - Piano Trio No. 1

Randal Despommier - Adrian’s Atlas for saxophone and string quartet

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Featuring:

Louis Arques - clarinet

Randal Despommier - saxophone

Luke Henderson - violin

Ron Shitrit - violin

Daniel Simmons - viola

Ian Maloney - cello

Cyrus von Hochstetter - piano

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Ben Rosenblum

Pianist, accordionist and composer Ben Rosenblum has traversed a truly unique musical path, one that has seen him perform alongside world-class musicians across more than twenty music genres and twenty-five countries, lead bands at prestigious venues across the world, all while maintaining a signature, melodic musical voice. Rosenblum’s journey has taken him on tours with Grammy-winning pop artist Rickie Lee Jones and Juno-winning contemporary Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia. He’s played Brazilian choro with Ephrat Asherie Dance and Brazilian forró with The Late Night Show’s Nêgah Santos and famed forró band Forró in the Dark. His roots in jazz have led to an over ten-year relationship with Grammy-winning bassist Curtis Lundy, performing at festivals alongside jazz luminaries Bobby Watson, Sean Jones and Warren Wolf. He has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on accordion, and as a guest soloist on piano at Carnegie Hall’s Stern-Perelman Auditorium with Maestro Reona Ito’s New York Harmonic Band. Throughout it all, Rosenblum has always maintained the same priority - to tell a compelling story with his music, reaching the hearts of his audience and connecting on an emotional, intellectual and spiritual level.

Andrea Casarrubios

Praised by The New York Times for having "traversed the palette of emotions" with "gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity," GRAMMY® nominated Spanish-born cellist and composer Andrea Casarrubios has played as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. First Prize winner of numerous international competitions and awards, Casarrubios has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts, Madrid National Auditorium, and the Ravinia and Verbier Festivals. Her latest engagements include commissions and concerts in Mexico, Spain, Romania, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Casarrubios' compositions have been programmed by organizations such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Sphinx Organization, NPR, and the Argentinian, Brazilian, Australian, and Spanish National Radios. Her acclaimed piece SEVEN "an intense and elegiac tribute to the essential workers during the pandemic" (The New York Times) was commissioned by Thomas Mesa, receiving its Carnegie Hall premiere in 2021. SEVEN has been performed around the world since, and it is featured in Casarrubios' latest album SEVEN Works by Andrea Casarrubios, nominated for the 2025 GRAMMY® Awards. Other recent compositions include the orchestra version of Afilador (2022-23) commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Herencia for String Orchestra (2023), a "stirring creation" (The Strad) and “a bond of humanity through music” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) commissioned for Sphinx Virtuosi's 2023-24 tour and premiered at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium in 2023.

Marc Migó

Born in 1993 in Barcelona, Marc Migó studied piano privately with Liliana Sainz and music theory with Xavier Boliart, leading to his acceptance in the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya where he continued his studies with Salvador Brotons. In 2017, Marc was accepted into The Juilliard School as a CV Starr Fellow to pursue his master’s in music. While at Juilliard, he was awarded the 2018 Orchestral Composition Prize, and would win the prize again in 2021. Following his enrollment in Juilliard’s inaugural Opera Lab program (2020), Marc received a commission from UrbanArias in Washington DC to compose an original opera with librettist John de los Santos as part of the Decameron Opera Coalition. The resulting work, The Roost, premiered later that year and was inducted into The Library of Congress’ Performing Arts COVID-19 Response Collection. After receiving his master’s degree, Marc continued his compositional studies with John Corigliano in pursuit of his doctorate, which was awarded in 2024. Marc’s other commissions include The Fox Sisters (2022, libretto by Lila Palmer) for The Liceu, Concerto Grosso "The Seance” (2022) for Verità Baroque, L’Illa Deserta (2023) for the Foundation for Iberian Music at CUNY, Faust [working title] (2021) for Dutch National Opera, and his first symphony (2024) for Metamorphosen Berlin. In addition, he has received the Pablo Casals Award (2019), the George Enescu Prize (2020), Organ Taurida Competition’s First Prize (2021), the inaugural Dominic Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition (2021), and the Leo Kaplan Award (2023.) Marc’s music has premiered and been performed in prestigious venues around the world, including Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo), Alice Tully Hall and National Sawdust (New York City), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), L’Institut de France (Paris), and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow). Moreover, he has worked with prestigious soloists, conductors, ensembles and orchestras, such as Osmo Vänskä, Salvador Brotons, Verità Baroque, Marisa Gupta, Mark Prihodko, Max Tan, Oliver Triendl, the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Barcelona Symphonic Band, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Metamorphosen Berlin, and the New Juilliard Ensemble, among others.

Cyrus von Hochstetter

With his training in both classical and jazz piano, Cyrus von Hochstetter straddles the musical worlds as a pianist, composer, educator, lecturer and presenter. As a pianist, he has performed internationally and with various ensembles such as the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, toured the US and produced records with diverse musicians including Larry Campbell, Ryan Keberle, Stéphane Wrembel and David Taylor. He has composed music for the stage and for commercials and has brought his 7-piece ensemble the ‘Hat Music’, to Joe’s Pub in New York navigating a musical spectrum encompassing arrangements of music by Arnold Schönberg, Duke Ellington, and Cyrus von Hochstetter’s own compositions. With a passion for storytelling, he frequently speaks about the language of music and introduces audiences into the deeper fabric of classical music through his YouTube video series ‘My Music Notes’. He was invited to present at the University of Oregon and for the Oregon Music Teachers Association. Cyrus von Hochstetter is the founder of ‘Piano on Park’ a non-profit creating new opportunities for musicians to connect with diverse audiences and apply for grants. Concerts included performances by David Krakauer, JP Jofre, Rob Schwimmer, Stéphane Wrembel, Daniel Schnyder, David Taylor, Mark Peskanov. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the series streamed concerts by musicians recorded in their own living room, offering one of few opportunities for musicians to perform and connect with audiences during that time. As the director of the Two Bridges Music program in 2017 and 2018, Cyrus von Hochstetter launched a free concert series for New York’s Lower East Side community and also designed an innovative composition curriculum teaching children as young as seven years old how to write music from scratch. Within two years of enrollment in the program, these students were writing pieces for string orchestra. The ensuing collaborations with InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of NY and Third Street Music school orchestras led to public performances of the young composer’s pieces including a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His composition curriculum at Two Bridges Music received funding from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and he was invited to speak about the programs’ success at a convention of the New York State Council of the Arts. A Manhattan School of Music graduate under jazz pianists Garry Dial and Jason Moran, he expanded his education in classical piano with Zitta Zohar and complemented his training with studies of counterpoint and composition.

Randal Despommier

A multi-genre musician from New Orleans who “blends the suavity of Paul Desmond with the intensity of Dave Binney” (Musically Speaking), alto saxophonist Randal Despommier has captivated audiences at venues including Carnegie Hall (Weill), Bar Bayeux, Qintai Concert Hall in China, Lilla Jazzfestivalen, Soapbox Gallery, Dram, and Smalls with the Jason Yeager Quintet.Despommier released his debut album Dio C’è on Outside in Music in 2021 to critical acclaim. “Impressive in his debut as leader” (OffBeat), the record features his original quartet and showcases Grammy-winning bassist Jimmy Haslip as both guest artist and co-producer. His follow-up, A Midsummer Odyssey (Sunnyside Records)—a tribute to Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin—deepens his exploration of narrative and atmosphere. Featuring celebrated avant-garde guitarist Ben Monder, the album earned Despommier a nomination for “Best Contemporary Jazz Artist” from OffBeatand received praise in DownBeat. Despommier’s latest album, South, released on Sunnyside Records, is both a musical homecoming and a tribute to his New Orleans roots. Featuring Crescent City legends Johnny Vidacovich, David Torkanowsky, James Singleton, and his father Phil Despommier as guest artist, South blends reverence and originality in equal measure. As Dan Bilawsky writes, “New Orleans is inextricably linked to Randal Despommier's sound and sense of self, and he pays due respect with this highly agreeable appreciation… A sincerely felt musical homecoming, South is remarkably satisfying from every angle.”Whether through his genre-defying compositions, lyrical saxophone tone, or collaborations with artists across jazz, classical, and global traditions, Randal Despommier continues to carve a unique path—bridging worlds and honoring his New Orleans roots in search of new sonic possibilities.

Louis Arques

Louis Arques is a clarinet virtuoso, saxophonist, singer and conductor. One of the City’s most in-demand artist, he plays Classical and Contemporary music, as well as Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Jazz music and Early music on period instruments. As a soloist, Louis performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Empire State Symphony, the Debussy Clarinet Rhapsody with Camerata New York and the Zych Bass Clarinet concerto with Paris Ostinato Orchestra. Passionate about orchestra, he is principal clarinet of the Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, also occasionally joining the young talents of the Miami New World Symphony. Sought after chamber music partner, he multiplies collaborations with ensembles including the internationally acclaimed Quintet of the Americas and the City’s finest players of the Metropolis Ensemble. Louis regularly performs recitals in the US with pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev (ABT) and in France with pianist Nima Sarkechik with whom he recorded a Brahms Sonatas album. He recently joined the Bridget Kibbey’s Bach to Brazil Trio and finds the most thrill touring the U.S. concert series and university residencies with them. Advocating for contemporary music he constantly creates works by composers from the United-States and Europe. His love for the Afro-American rhythms led him to co-found Diálogos Duo with guitarist-composer Richard Boukas. Together they independently released two albums and became the Brazilian music duo with the largest body of original works for clarinet and guitar. Louis is a regular partner of the salsa band Sonido Costeño. To reconcile Classical and Contemporary music with his generation’s audience, he founded and conducted the orchestra NewOrch, and is now co-directing Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra. A Vandoren artist and MA from the New School (Professors Neidich and Krakauer), he taught in France for ten years (including Paris Conservatoire) and recently joined the faculty of the Diller-Quaile School of Music.

Luke Henderson

2020 Gold Medal Winner in the Fischoff and the Coltman National Chamber Music Competitions, Luke Henderson is 20 years old, from Raleigh, North Carolina, and currently studies with Li Lin at The Juilliard School. In 2021 Luke won The American Prize in Instrumental Performance and the Grand Prize at the World Classical Music Awards. Throughout high school, Luke was a member of the Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School led by Merry Peckham and of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Zander. He has performed internationally in Berlin, Salzburg, Budapest, Pecs, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Jihlava. Luke was awarded the New England Conservatory Eugene Lehrer Chamber Music Award and is featured on National Public Radio’s From The Top (Show 392). Luke's musical interests extend beyond European classical repertoire – namely Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, and South Indian Classical. Luke was featured in the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra during their residency at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, performing the music of Duke Ellington. Luke is dedicated to the study and performance of contemporary classical music. In 2023, he was featured in celebration performances for contemporary composers John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, and Reena Esmail. When not playing violin, Luke enjoys hiking and listening to John Coltrane.

Roni Shitrit

Roni Shitrit was born in 1999 in Israel. She began her violin studies with Mr. Oscar Shraiberman at the Ramla conservatory when she was 5 years old. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate studies at UNCSA with Professors Ida Bieler and Janet Orenstein. Roni is the first prize winner in the 2021 MTNA Young Artist National Competition, 1st prize winner of the IMKA music competition and one of the prizewinners of a national competition in Israel (2017). In addition, Roni received scholaships with exceptional distinction on her performances from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation. Roni was a member of the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra of the Jerusalem Music Center. She participated in the David Goldman Chamber Music Program for Outstanding Young Musicians, the Huberman Program, Keshet Eilon, and the Ilona Feher Violin Program. Roni participated in masterclasses with many world-renowned violinists, including Benjamin Schmidt, Miriam Fried, Grigory Kalinovsky, Itzhak Rashkovsky, Michaela Martin, Michael Kopelman, Hagai Shaham, and Daniel Heifetz.

Daniel Simmons

Violist Daniel Simmons enjoys connecting with diverse audiences through his expressive and dynamic performances. Daniel has showcased his talent at prestigious music festivals including the New York String Orchestra, Toronto Summer Music, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Lake George Music Festival, Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the USA, Curtis Institute Summerfest, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the Sphinx Performance Academy. In 2023, Daniel attended the Conservatoire Américain in Fontainebleau, France, where he won Third Prize in the Prix Ravel. That same year, he was a finalist in the 63rd Eastern Connecticut Symphony Competition. In 2024, he won the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Concerto Audition, performing the Walton Viola Concerto with the festival orchestra. Daniel has performed in many esteemed venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Dimenna Center, the Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Harvard Club of New York City, and the Château de Fontainebleau. As a chamber musician, Daniel has collaborated with renowned artists including Scott Yoo, Samuel Rhodes, Hsin-Yun Huang, Philip Chiu, and Angela Cheng, as well as members of the Pacifica, New Orford, and Ying Quartets. Daniel held the chair of principal violist of the Columbia University Orchestra, and frequently performs as principal violist with the Brooklyn Orchestra. Daniel studied economics at Columbia University. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Paul Neubauer and Steven Tenenbom.

Ian Maloney

Ian Maloney is a cellist, composer, and chamber musician studying with Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School where he is currently pursuing a Master of Music. Ian has appeared on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, NPR’s From the Top, and in music videos with Brooklyn’s Project Trio and violinist Joshua Bell. He has performed in master classes for Carter Brey, Philippe Muller, Clive Greensmith, Paul Katz, David Finckel, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr. He has earned first prize in numerous music competitions and has appeared as a featured orchestral soloist. In January, Ian performed at GlobalFEST 2023 with the New York Arabic Orchestra at David Geffen Hall. Ian has also attended the Young Artist Chamber Music Programs at Music@Menlo, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn, and was a featured young artist at the 2023 Music from Angel Fire festival.

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