2025-26 Garmany Concert Series Performances Announced

For its 17th season this year, the Garmany Concert Series has a new name-evolving from its former focus on chamber music to reflect a wider array of artistry in its four-concert season. And a new leader is at the helm: Gilda Lyons, who will serve as artistic and executive director, with Steve Metcalf as artistic advisor.

Opening the season on October 9, 2025 will be the Verona Quartet with saxophonist Steven Banks. Banks, who has quickly come to be regarded as one of the foremost saxophone soloists in the world, is a former Jackie McLean Fellow and Hartt adjunct faculty member. The program will feature the New England premiere of a major new piece for saxophone and string quartet by the distinguished American composer Christopher Theofanidis, alongside music by Debussy, Mozart, and others.

On October 23, 2025, the second fall performance will feature CONCORA - Connecticut Choral Artists & Baroklyn String Ensemble, conducted from the keyboard by Grammy-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, in a concert of music by J.S. Bach. This concert is part of a monumental multi-site 11-year project to perform every known work of Bach, conceived and executed by Music Worcester and its artistic director, Chris Shepard, who also holds that position with CONCORA.

On February 19, 2026, the series will welcome the koto and cello artists of Duo YUMENO. The duo collaborates to perform traditional & contemporary works exploring the dialogue between classical Japanese and western music. Offering cross-cultural programs since 2008, the duo performs regularly to sold-out houses in the US and Japan in venues that have included Aoyama Music Memorial Hall (Kyoto), Carnegie Hall, Japan Society, John F Kennedy Center, Myōnichi-kan Auditorium (Tokyo), Tokyo National Museum, and the United Nations.

Rounding out the series on April 2, 2026, The Dalí Quartet will perform Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 and works by Astor Piazzolla, Silvestre Revueltas, and Sonia Morales. Named Chamber Music America's 2024 Ensemble of the Year, the Dalí Quartet is acclaimed for bringing Latin American quartet repertoire to an equal standing alongside the Classical and Romantic canon. Devoted to audience development and to reaching communities of all kinds, the group received the 2023 ACMP Foundation's Susan McIntosh Lloyd Award for Excellence and Diversity in Chamber Music and Atlanta Symphony's esteemed Aspire Award for accomplished African American and Latino Musicians while performing for enthusiastic audiences across the U.S., Canada, and South America.

All performances are held in Millard Auditorium and scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for each concert are $25 for the general public. Admission is free for University of Hartford students, faculty, and staff. Purchase tickets or register for individual shows here, or call the box office at 860.768.4228.

About the Series

Since its founding in 2009, the Richard P. Garmany Concert Series has established itself as one of The Hartt School's signature activities attracting national attention for the quality and diversity of its offerings. Generously supported by the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the series has routinely played to capacity houses in Millard and been hailed as a "who's who of American chamber music."

Under the leadership of founding curator Steve Metcalf (2009-2016; 2021-25), curator Larry Alan Smith (2016-2021), and executive director Gilda Lyons (2021-2025), the series- dedicated to bringing a wide range of distinguished small ensembles and recitalists to the UHart campus-has become recognized as one of Connecticut's premier live music attractions.

For more information, visit hartford.edu/garmany or call the box office at 860.768.4228.