Student discounted tickets are available! Call the Box Office to request: 518-273-0038
Music history is the story of premieres—Beethoven’s concerto debut in Vienna, the Rhapsody in Blue, The Rite of Spring. And nowhere is it more exciting than when the next generation takes the stage: students, making their debuts in the hall renowned for some of the greatest acoustics in the world. Combine that with the enormous wealth of music programs here in the Capital Region, Mid-Hudson & Berkshires, and you have a festival of music as only the young can bring it: from a flute trio to the Moldau, from Renaissance polyphony to percussion quintet and even the World Premiere of a Sonata by one of the performers, they bring their energy and excellence to a program that spans centuries and a debut that will only ever happen this once. Be there to enjoy and support them! Students from SUNY Schenectady, UAlbany, UMass Amherst, Queens College CUNY, SUNY New Paltz and RPI, curated and hosted by your WMHT-FM hosts live on stage and recorded for broadcast on both WMHT TV and radio.
Next Generation Festival 2026
presented by WMHT and the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Sunday March 22, 3pm
WMHT & Troy Savings Bank Music Hall present
NEXT Generation Festival
March 22, 2026
Welcome to this 2nd annual event celebrating the next generation of classical musicians. Six colleges and over 100 young musicians come together to represent the best of what classical music has to offer. This dynamic and wide-ranging program brings together outstanding collegiate ensembles and faculty artists from across New York and Massachusetts in a celebration of musical artistry spanning the Baroque era to the present day, including a World Premiere! Together, these performances showcase a vibrant collaboration among institutions, honoring tradition, innovation, and the power of live music across centuries and styles.
Very many thanks to all of them for their enthusiasm and their hard work and enjoy this wonderful afternoon – the future is in glorious hands.
CUNY: Queens College Baroque Ensemble
Selections from Water Music Georg Phillip Telemann (1681-1767)
TWV 55:c3, Hamburg Ebb & Flood
Ouverture in C major
Gavotte: Spielende Najaden (Playing Naiads)
Harlequinade: Der schertzende Tritonus (The joking Triton)
Tempête: Der stürmende Aeolus (The stormy Aeolus)
Menuett: Der angenehme Zephir (The pleasant Zephir)
Gigue: Ebbe und Fluth (Ebb and Flow)
Canarie: Die lustigen Boots Leute (The merry Sailors)
Flute
José Eduardo Gutierrez Becerril
Xiaomei Chen
Violin
Alexandra Calabro
Alejandra Fred-Estada
Ryan Jablonski
Shilin Liao
Lancelot McCaw
Viola
Fritz Bernardin
Cello
Maxwell Keller
Double Bass
Aaron Li
Harpsichord
Vlad Praskurnin
Lindsey Williams
Percussion
Najee Marcelin
Masayuki Maki, Adjunct Assistant Professor
The Queens College Baroque Ensemble, based at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY, brings together undergraduate and graduate performers, as well as Ph.D. students in musicology and theory from the CUNY Graduate Center and guest artists. The ensemble is directed by Masayuki Maki, a specialist in historical keyboard instruments, chamber music, and the recreation of early repertoire through historically informed performance. Under his leadership, the ensemble has developed creative projects, for example, including past productions such as Baroque Music Composed by Us and the Chaconne Festival. For this concert, the ensemble presents a work by Telemann in the genre of "program music", vividly portraying the sound and movement of water. The composition was originally written to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Hamburg Admiralty and was first performed in 1723.
SUNY Schenectady County Community College
World Premiere
Violin Sonata Mark Ferri
Lyra Lenigk, Violin
Mark Ferri, Piano
Ann Marie Barker-Schwartz, Director of Chamber Music Ensembles
Chris Brellochs, Dean of the School of Music
SUNY: New Paltz Chamber Singers
O Radiant Dawn James MacMillan (b. 1959)
A Boy and a Girl Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Fatiše Kolo arr. Ivan Markovich (1929-2017)
Soprano
Susanna Gilgert
Learsi Hernandez
Ashe Matteson
Emmeline Wilson
Kana Hashimoto
Alto
Margaret Caserta
Marley Ihne
Julia Kotilar
Chloe Ramsey Lavoie
Kyra Saffon
Tenor
Kacey Clement
Peter Harvill
Brandon Newell
Aidyn Sotelo
Bass
Indiana Ingberman
Michael Puglisi
Aidan Stoddard
Tyler Washington
John Wilson, Assistant Professor & Director of Choral Activities
Today, the SUNY New Paltz Chamber Singers will perform three works. The first is a sacred motet called "O Radiant Dawn" by Scottish composer James MacMillan. The text depicts this unique dawn as heralding new and positive change. MacMillan's striking setting leans into the radiant and brilliant nature of this rising of the sun. Whitacre's "A Boy and A Girl" is a gorgeous setting of Octavio Paz's lush poetry, portraying in three short stanzas, a life-long love story that begins with rapture, matures in depth, and ultimately evolves into something that transcends time and mortality. The final work - Fatiše Kolo (pronounced fa- TEA - shuh KO - lo) is a Serbian folk dance that embodies joy.
UMASS Amherst Percussion Ensemble
Kyoto for Percussion Quintet John Psathas (b. 1966)
Cameron Smith, Vibraphone 1
Philip Hanifin, Vibraphone 2
Morgan Sutherland, Marimba 1
Eunice Sun, Marimba 2
Nicholas LaCava, Percussion
Ayano Kataoka, Professor of Percussion
Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, Associate Professor
Kyoto for percussion quintet (2011) was composed by John Psathas, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and widely performed contemporary composers. The title references a 1976 improvised performance by legendary jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, which was recorded live in Kyoto, Japan. The work captures the spirit of improvisation and rhythmic drive associated with Jarrett’s performance while translating it into a vibrant and virtuosic chamber work for percussion ensemble.
The University of Massachusetts Percussion Group is dedicated to performing the expanding repertoire of percussion ensemble literature, with programming that spans multi-percussion works, mallet ensemble repertoire, and theatrical compositions from the 20th and 21st centuries. The ensemble regularly performs both on and off campus and has been invited to perform at the McCormick Marimba Festival in Tampa, Florida and at Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The group also performs annually at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and participates in numerous concerts and collaborative events throughout the academic year.
University at Albany Minerva Ensemble
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op 45 (1856) Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
I: Allegro deciso
Magdalena Ramos, Flute
Jordan Subocz, Cello
Charlotte Parque, Piano
Hilary Walther Cumming, Director Minerva Ensemble, Lecturer
Michael C Lister, Lecturer, Music Program Director, Department of Music & Theatre
Eszter Szalczer, Chair, Department of Music & Theatre
UAlbany’s Minerva Ensemble is a flexible group of UAlbany students dedicated to the study and performance of chamber music. Led by Instructor Hilary Walther Cumming, UAlbany’s chamber music program is small but energetic, and the diverse Minerva Ensemble members reflect the broad abilities and passions of UAlbany students. One sub-grouping from the Minerva Ensemble will be performing on today’s concert: Charlotte Parque, a pianist hailing from California, currently in the graduate school for Psychology; Magdalena Ramos, a violinist from Hudson NY, majoring in Chemistry, Music and Education; and Jordan Subocz, a cellist from Monroe NY majoring in Computer Science. Other gifted members of the Minerva Ensemble are wind players studying Mendelssohn’s Quartet Op 12; a brass quintet preparing Grieg and Joplin; a flute-clarinet duo working on a piece by the prolific German composer Kaspar Kummer; and a flute-violin-piano trio wrestling with a stately Loeillet Trio. Although these small ensembles rehearse separately, the diverse students who make up the umbrella Minerva Ensemble underscore the University’s commitment to the fine arts and reflect UAlbany’s great potential for building community through the performing arts. Come experience the vitality of the arts at UAlbany at this year’s campus-wide Showcase which is occurring on campus April 30th 2026.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Orchestra
Vltava (Die Moldau) from Má vlast (1879) Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
Piccolo
Mansi Airen
Flute 1
Benjamin Halpin
Flute 2
Audrey Niedland
Oboe 1
Casey Hanauer
Oboe 2
Sam Clements
Clarinet 1
Patrick Affissio
Clarinet 2
Matthew DiLorenzo
Bassoon 1
Alice Einhorn
Horn 1
Calvin Clardy
Horn 2
Christopher Bialas
Horn 3
Benjamin Black
Horn 4
Uma Banavara
Trumpet
Fiona Walker
Michael Lyga
Sarah Baker
George Ghabious
Trombone
Aidan O'Connor
James Bialas
Tuba
Daniel Berczuk
Percussion
Christopher Abbamont
Oscar Peterson-Veatch
Piano
Armstrong Wang
VIolin I
Shira Lichter
John Kramer
Christopher Kurbiel
Sofia Callaghan
Kristopher Yuan
Ian Lee
James Smith
Elliott Putnam
Roman Stone
Violin II
Jun Simons
Helen Wilson
Garrett Brooks
Kevin Shreenauth
Ritika Brahmadesam
Kevin Morrow
Johnny Gao
Lapis Gruszecki
Andrew Wang
Andrew Tullock
Viola
Bowen Yu
Tim Lund
Isadora Turbek
Jun Iguchi
Teddy Feirman
Ryan Doan
Cello
Christian Yamada
Lily Bosshard
Winston Hewitt
Frank Peters
Joseph Miele
Dominic Penalosa
Abigail Fischer
Nicolas Lawrence
Jack Neeleman
Angus Whitman
Bass
Marcus Welch
Joseph Morello
Avery Lifton-Jochnowitz
Mehren Blair
Nathan Liu
Conductor: Dr. Robert Whalen, Lecturer in Music and Conducting
Dr. Rob Hamilton, Department Head, Arts Department
Dr. William Gibbons, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The RPI Symphony Orchestra is an auditioned 80-member ensemble which brings together musicians from across the campus community to prepare and present programs which explore the connections between traditional symphonic repertoire, overlooked historical works, and contemporary compositions. Students in the Orchestra represent 26 different majors across all five Schools at RPI, including everything from Music to Nuclear Engineering. Due to the unique nature and profile of the Arts at RPI, the RPI Symphony Orchestra seeks to create opportunities for multimedia and technological collaboration. The RPI Symphony Orchestra hosts an annual Concerto Competition and performs a major work annually in collaboration with the Empire State Youth Orchestra’s Symphony Orchestra. This season, this collaboration will feature Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 1 performed both at EMPAC Concert Hall on March 31st at 7pm and April 26th at 3pm at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Charlotte Wilson, Mary Darcy, and Rob Brown at WMHT
Fenimore Asset Management, FAM Funds
John Keal Music
This concert will be rebroadcast on WMHT-TV and Classical WMHT-FM in the near future! Stay tuned!
