The dynamic young Brooklyn-based orchestral collective The Knights is reimagining classical music programming and performance and leaving audiences ecstatic along the way. The ensemble’s expansive artistic vision has earned them critical acclaim, a Grammy nomination, concert tours alongside artists including Yo-Yo Ma, and more.

92Y’s Ensemble in Residence for the 2021-22 season, The Knights joins us for the first of three concerts this fall and spring with the kind of inspired program that is their hallmark. At the center of the concert are two beloved core classical works – Schubert’s ominous, radiant and magnificent “Unfinished” Symphony, and Vaughan Williams’ haunting and exquisite The Lark Ascending, featuring The Knights’ superb Colin Jacobson as violin soloist. Bookending the works are Records from a Vanishing City, an evocative contemporary tone poem with roots in an Angolan lullaby by acclaimed composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery, and the celebratory second symphony by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The program traverses Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1990s and Vienna in the 1820s, illuminates themes of renewal and rebirth, and highlights echoes of Schubert in the work of a Creole-influenced composer, all showcasing the very essence of this thrilling ensemble.

THE KNIGHTS
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Colin Jacobsen, violin