North/South Chamber Orchestra to Open 46th Season with Free Concert Honoring 400 Years of New York

The program on November 3, 2025, will feature works by Christopher James, Max Lifchitz, Alexandro Rodríguez, and Andrew Thomas.

The North/South Chamber Orchestra will launch its 46th consecutive season with a free concert on Monday, November 3, 2025, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Fort Amsterdam, the birthplace of New York City.

The performance will take place at 7:00 p.m. at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, located at 129 West 69th Street in Manhattan. Admission will be free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The concert will include works by New York-based composers Christopher James, Max Lifchitz, Alexandro Rodríguez, and Andrew Thomas.

James’s Ode (2019) draws inspiration from the opening theme of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E Minor, Op. 90, written in a late-Romantic style reminiscent of Brahms and Elgar.

Lifchitz, founder and director of the North/South Chamber Orchestra, will present Yellow Ribbons No. 40, part of his ongoing series begun in the 1980s as a tribute to the former American hostages in Iran. The four-movement work — “Distant Fanfare,” “Waging Peace,” “Days of Wrath,” and “Reveries”—was composed in 2005 to mark the ensemble’s 25th anniversary.

Rodríguez’s newly commissioned work, New York, will honor the vitality of his adopted city while reflecting on Venezuela’s ongoing social and political struggles. The piece unfolds in three contrasting movements.

Thomas’s Premonitions for violin and ensemble pays homage to Latin dance traditions, integrating tango, bossa nova, mambo, and rumba rhythms into the orchestral texture.

The concert will feature Canadian violinist Claudia Schaer, a Juilliard-trained musician who has performed internationally and collaborated with the North/South Chamber Orchestra since 2004.

Founded in 1980, North/South Consonance, Inc. promotes music by composers from the Americas and beyond. The organization’s activities are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Music Performance Fund, the BMI Foundation, and individual donors.