Chelsea Music Festival announces Copland & Twain – A Theatrical Concert at Open Jar Studios, 1601 Broadway, Floor 11, NYC, set for Thursday, June 25, 2026 from 7-9pm. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased at https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org/2026-events/june25.

Copland & Twain is a theatrical concert by director Bill Barclay (former Director of Music at Shakespeare’s Globe), produced by Concert Theatre Works, that weaves Aaron Copland’s stirring incidental music — including Music for Movies and Music for Theatre — together with the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve and other writings. Five diverse actors perform in costume before the Festival Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Ken-David Masur in this NY Premiere with costumes, lighting, and projections bringing this uniquely American collision of voices to life. The production poses a timely question at the heart of the American experiment: will the nation grow from its wounds toward a deeper love of neighbor, or let its scars tear it apart?

Bill Barclay, writer and director
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Concert Theatre Works, producer
Arthur Oliver, costume designer

Caleb Mayo, actor
Chloe McFarlane, actress
Maurice Emanuel Parent, actor
Robert Walsh, actor
Carson Elrod, actor

Program
Aaron COPLAND Music for the Movies (NY Premiere, chamber orchestration)
Aaron COPLAND Music for the Theater (NY Premiere, chamber orchestration)
Mark TWAIN Diaries of Adam and Eve

Reception by Niederegger to follow