Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski and pianist Melinda Lee Masur open the 2026 Chelsea Music Festival with an evening that weaves together the American immigrant experience, the poetry of Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the theme of dreaming across cultures and generations. The performance is set for June 20, 2026 at 7PM at St. Paul’s German Church, 315 West 22nd Street, New York, NY, 10011. Tickets start at $92.55 and can be purchased at https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org/2026-events/june20.



The program pairs Aaron Copland and Erich Wolfgang Korngold — two composers living and working almost congruently, one American-born, one an immigrant from Vienna — alongside New York Premieres by Reinaldo Moya, Frederick Piket, Mark Carlson, and Steven Ward, and Libby Larsen’s This Unbearable Stillness, a song cycle celebrating the everyday lives of Arab American women in its NYC Premiere. Damien Sneed’s luminous spiritual arrangements provide the thread connecting the evening’s two halves, from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry to Langston Hughes’s timeless I Dream a World, scored for string quartet and piano — an opening night that asks what it means to dream in America, and who gets to dream.

Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano

Melinda Lee Masur, piano

Claire Bourg, violin

Yuyu Ikeda, violin

Angela Lee, cello

Program

Mark CARLSON III. Stars -The Dream Keeper (poem by Langston Hughes) (NY Premiere)

Aaron COPLAND Three Old American Songs

Eric Wolfgang KORNGOLD Three Songs

Libby LARSEN This Unbearable Stillness: Songs from the Balcony (NYC Premiere)

Reinaldo MOYA DREAM Songs (NY Premiere)

Frederick PIKET The Dream Keeper (poem by Langston Hughes) (NY Premiere)

Damien SNEED All Night, All Day

Damien SNEED I Dream A World (poem by Langston Hughes)

Steven WARD Invitation to Love (poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar) (NY Premiere)

Reception to follow.

ABOUT THE CHELSEA MUSIC FESTIVAL

Chelsea Music Festival celebrates great music by convening world-leading musicians & artists in the performing, culinary, and visual arts for an international audience. The Festival invites artists, composers, and performers to collaborate in pursuit of new perspectives in artistic expression. Inspired by its Chelsea roots, the Festival reflects the creativity of one of New York City’s most dynamic neighborhoods. Programs span musical genres ranging from classical to contemporary to jazz with a special emphasis on Festival commissions by composers whose works are not in the traditional western canon. In addition, the Festival hosts an online library of recordings so music enthusiasts, artists, and students alike can explore unique interpretations of classical, jazz, and contemporary works via high-quality videos of world-class performances.

Since 2010, the Festival has established itself as a critically-acclaimed, accessible and interactive gateway to chamber music in non-traditional concert spaces such as art galleries, public squares, schools, and churches. Programming includes concerts, lectures, exhibitions, family events, and free outreach performances. In 2020, the Festival inaugurated its Online Encores and Online Originals YouTube series; Online Encores presents highlights from Festival archives while Online Originals presents new performances and recordings. We are proud to give emerging voices, particularly those of women and people of color, a stage and work to build an audience and intimate community to support a new generation of musicians, composers, and artists.

ABOUT KEN-DAVID MASUR

ABOUT MELINDA LEE MASUR

Festival Sponsors & Partners:

Carl Brandt, Inc., Brotherhood Winery, Columbia Alumni Association Arts Access, Consulate General of Germany in New York, Fordham University, German International School New York, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Masterwork Arts Foundation, Materials for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Polycast Productions, Radeberger Gruppe USA, Sennheiser, Skylight Arts Productions, Steinway & Sons, Tarisio Fine Instruments & Bows, WBGO, Weinhaus Traubengold, and WQXR.

STAY UPDATED:

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LinkTree – ChelseaMusicFestival Facebook – Facebook.com/ChelseaMusicFestival

Twitter – @CMF_NYC Instagram – @CMF_NYC

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