The Phoenix Concerts

The Art of Music continues to evolve around us: sometimes clashing with the past, sometimes drawing from it, the music of our time reinvents, reinterprets and restates the stuff of which we are made as music-listeners, music-lovers, performers, and composers. Now more than ever, even within the world of concert music, the number of terms used to categorize the various kinds of contemporary music is overwhelming: from minimalist to postmodernist; from modernist to neo-romantic; from cross-over to fusion and beyond, there are enough labels to render the division of music into "types" a task frustrating to some and simply meaningless to others. The language alone is enough to scare off the uninitiated concertgoer who asks "Where do I start?"

The Phoenix Concerts at the Church of St. Matthew & St. Timothy embraces this question. Committed to the presentation of contemporary concert music, The Phoenix Concerts presents a broad range of works that reflect the evolving nature of the music of our time. The four-concert season creates a space for any curious listener, offering programs of modest length, notes by the players and/or composers of the newly presented works, free student admission, and post-concert receptions where audience members can meet the performers and composers themselves.

In its first two years, The Phoenix Concerts has already enjoyed the overwhelmingly positive support of its audiences. Drawing from its core group of musicians — The Phoenix Players — the series' widely-varied concert events have established a strong basis for its continuing mission:

To offer excellent contemporary concert music of a broad stylistic range performed by New York’s finest musicians; to commission new works by emerging and established composers; and to remain committed to the inclusive nature of musical performance.