Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect program returns to Skidmore for October 2026 residency
Ensemble Connect — a group of extraordinary young professional classical musicians from Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education — returns to Skidmore College for its fall residency, part of a biannual program now in its 20th full year.
The public is invited to attend a culminating concert on Friday, Oct. 23. Known for “fresh, exciting performances charged with creativity, energy, and daring” (New York Classical Review), Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect presents a characteristically adventurous program featuring works by some of the chamber repertoire’s most distinctive composers. In addition to notable but underperformed works by György Ligeti, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Zoltán Kodály, the ensemble performs a favorite: Béla Bartók’s Contrasts, a piece created in response to requests by jazz great Benny Goodman and Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti.
The Ensemble Connect performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College. This event is free and open to the public; tickets are required. For more information, visit the Arthur Zankel Music Center website.
While in residence Oct. 20-24, fellows will engage with Skidmore students and the Saratoga Springs community through master classes, private lessons, class visits, and interactive performances.
About Ensemble Connect
Ensemble Connect is a two-year fellowship program that prepares extraordinary young professional classical musicians for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The fellowship includes a series of concerts where the musicians explore classical music in all its iterations, performing the timeless alongside new works. Since the inception of this residency in 2007, Ensemble Connect musicians have engaged with over 54,000 students and audience members through Skidmore class visits, lessons, and coaching, local school and community outreach, and premiere performances.
The October residency is made possible by the generous support of Beverly Sanders Payne ’59 and her late husband, David B. Payne. It is presented by Skidmore’s Department of Music and Office of Special Programs.