The Frick Collection Celebrates Its Reopening with a Spring Music Festival

Exciting Series of Performances April 26 through May 11, 2025, will Inaugurate the New Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium

Program Highlights Include the World Premiere of a Commission by Nico Muhly performed by the Jupiter Ensemble and Anthony Roth Costanzo, as well as New York Premieres of Piano Works by Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer

New York (January 28, 2025) — The Frick Collection announced details of a two-week Spring Music Festival held in conjunction with its eagerly awaited public reopening on April 17, 2025. The festival, from April 26 through May 11, continues the Frick’s long tradition of presenting intimate and exceptional concerts by renowned international artists and emerging young talent. The Spring Music Festival invites audiences to experience an expansive program of classical, baroque, twentieth- and twenty-first-century music performed by several of the world’s preeminent soloists and ensembles. The program includes the world premiere of a specially commissioned work by Nico Muhly performed by the Jupiter Ensemble and Anthony Roth Costanzo; the Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk; the New York premiere of works by Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer, and more.

Organized by Jeremy Ney, the Frick’s Matthew Christopher Pietras Head of Music and Performance, the festival also celebrates the opening of the new Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium. Designed by Selldorf Architects, the circular 220-seat auditorium features state-of-the-art acoustics for concerts, lectures, and other programs.

“It is a privilege to bring music back to the Frick after a five-year hiatus, celebrating a beloved aspect of the visitor experience in conjunction with the museum and library’s reopening to the public,” commented Ney. “In planning this festival, I have sought to highlight the breadth and vitality of classical music. This series of concerts builds on the Frick’s long-standing tradition of chamber music while embracing contemporary perspectives and forging new thematic connections with the museum’s permanent collection. It’s an invitation for audiences, both familiar and new, to experience a range of compelling musical performances in a dynamic and intimate setting.” 

Tickets for the Spring Music Festival, beginning at $65 ($55 for Frick members), will be available to purchase from March 10 at frick.org/concerts. Program details for each concert follow below, and additional information about the Frick’s renovation project and inaugural season are available here.

Jupiter Ensemble, Lea Desandre, Anthony Roth Costanzo
Music by Handel and the world premiere of a new commission by Nico Muhly
Saturday, April 26, 7:00 p.m.

For the inaugural performance in the Frick’s stunning Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium, the acclaimed Jupiter Ensemble and mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre bring their unparalleled energy and vitality to the music of George Frideric Handel. Led by lutenist Thomas Dunford, the Jupiter Ensemble has garnered critical acclaim for its interpretations of music by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and Monteverdi. To mark this special event, superstar countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo will join Dunford for the world premiere of a new work by American composer Nico Muhly, inspired by Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, an iconic painting from the Frick’s permanent collection.

Takács Quartet & Jeremy Denk, piano
Thursday, May 1, 7:00 p.m.

The Frick welcomes back an ensemble of artists who first performed at the museum during formative moments in their careers, the Takács Quartet (1983/84 season) and pianist Jeremy Denk (1996/97 season). Now seasoned and highly regarded internationally, they join forces to perform Johannes Brahms’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor, Op. 34. The Takács Quartet also presents Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 1, Op. 18, and Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1.

Sarah Rothenberg, solo piano
Saturday, May 3, 7:00 p.m.

Sarah Rothenberg presents a program featuring the New York premiere of two major works, Tyshawn Sorey’s For Julius Eastman (2025) and Vijay Iyer’s For My Father (2022). Both Sorey (the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for composition) and Iyer are recipients of the MacArthur Genius Grant. The program also features Arnold Schoenberg’s aphoristic early piano suite from 1913, Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19.

Alexi Kenney, violin & Amy Yang, fortepiano
Sunday, May 4, 5:00 p.m.

This concert offers the rare opportunity to hear the complete violin sonatas of Robert Schumann performed on instruments dating from the composer’s time. Written between 1851–53, toward the end of Schumann’s life, the three sonatas are among some of the most musically rich and emotionally poignant chamber works of his output.

Ruckus, Baroque ensemble & Emi Ferguson, flute
Thursday, May 8, 7:00 p.m.

Part of a generation of young musicians breathing new life into early music, the New York City–based Ruckus ensemble collaborates with daring flutist Emi Ferguson for a program of miniature fantasies by Georg Philipp Telemann and György Ligeti. Selections from Telemann’s flute fantasias and Ligeti’s Musica ricercata find unexpected communion in the hands of players who seek unique connections in music separated by time and style.

Mishka Rushdie Momen, solo piano
Sunday, May 11, 5:00 p.m.

British pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen presents a program of keyboard music from the Tudor age, a period of political and religious upheaval immortalized by Hans Holbein the Younger’s portraits of Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, cornerstones of the Frick’s permanent collection. The evening features selections from the artist’s acclaimed 2024 album Reformation, including music by Byrd, Gibbons, Bull, and Sweelinck.

For more detailed program information and to purchase tickets, please visit frick.org/concerts. Tickets are also available by telephone at 212.547.0715.

Seats are unreserved, and children under ten are not admitted. All sales are final, and programs, artists, and dates are subject to change.

FESTIVAL SUPPORT

The Spring Music Festival is made possible through major support from Christian Keesee, Karen Z. Gray-Krehbiel and John H. Krehbiel Jr., and Jane Moss and Ravenel Curry. Additional funding is provided by Jane L. Richards.

Image:  Jupiter Ensemble and Lea Desandre, photo: Angéline Moizard