Rossini Club opens its 2026 summer season with l’Histoire du Soldat, Igor Stravinsky’s multidisciplinary vaudeville of a soldier who trades his violin to the devil in exchange for infinite fortune, only to confront the true cost of that bargain. Lead by conductor Francisco Noya of the Boston Civic Symphony, the work is a virtuosic tour-de-force for the musicians, full of ragtime and Russian folk music. Urgent, theatrical, and as fresh as when it premiered in 1918, this performance sets the stage for a season that explores how we navigate a world in flux.

Rossini Club opens its 2026 summer season with l’Histoire du Soldat, Igor Stravinsky’s multidisciplinary vaudeville of a soldier who trades his violin to the devil in exchange for infinite fortune, only to confront the true cost of that bargain. Lead by conductor Francisco Noya of the Boston Civic Symphony, the work is a virtuosic tour-de-force for the musicians, full of ragtime and Russian folk music. Urgent, theatrical, and as fresh as when it premiered in 1918, this performance sets the stage for a season that explores how we navigate a world in flux.

Founded in 2008 by composers Howard Frazin and Tom Schnauber, WordSong is Boston’s premier interactive concert organization, dedicated to reconnecting audiences and performers through shared, participatory musical experiences. Blending live performance with open dialogue, WordSong invites listeners into the creative process, fostering a deeper, more intuitive understanding of new music. For over 17 years, WordSong has presented more than 100 performances, including over 70 new works across the U.S. and internationally, engaging texts ranging from Theodore Roethke to Langston Hughes.

WordSong Forum XVI centers on William Shakespeare’s “Full fathom five thy father lies” (The Tempest), featuring four new musical settings by Howard Frazin, Tom Schnauber, Nick Davies, and Lansing McLoskey, performed by soprano Carley DeFranco, clarinetist Nick Davies, and pianist Wesley Ducote.

Each forum begins with a shared reading of the text, followed by performances and a guided conversation between audience, composers, and performers. Through repeated listening and discussion, WordSong creates a space for communal reflection, revealing the many ways a single text can inspire diverse musical and emotional interpretations.

Our annual Meet & Greet invites audiences to explore the music of the season through its history, context, and inner workings. This year, we’ll share and discuss our season highlights from Olivier Messiaen, Robert Schumann, and excerpts from our 2026 production, Voices of Ecstasy.

Come curious as we’ll be taking questions and diving into conversation with our guest artists in an open & engaging setting.

Screening Susan Sandler’s film portrait of Ned Rorem in his Paris years “THE ARTIST MUST GROW EVER MORE SELFISH” Drawn from Rorem’s Paris Diary, the film offers a candid and intimate portrait of the young composer in 1950s Paris, narrated in his own words. Through diary excerpts and music, it reveals a self-searching artist moving through a cultural world of writers, composers, and tastemakers. Personal and provocative, the film captures Rorem’s fearless honesty, his reflections on love and ambition, and the formative experiences that shaped his artistic voice.

Join us for a special evening of solo performances from our incredible cast of musicians. This concert offers a unique opportunity to get to know our artists on a more personal level, and to witness the magic that happens when they step into the spotlight and show off a bit. After the performance, stick around to chat with us about the festival, this season’s exciting lineup, and discover more about who we are and what fuels our passion for music. It’s the perfect chance to connect, celebrate the artistry that makes the Rossini Club so special, and share in the joy of live performance.

Nilo Alcala, Dabda | Nadia Boulanger, Trois Pièces | Mozart, “King” Arias | György Kurtág, Tre Pezzi & Tre Altri Pezzi | Rebecca Clarke, Piano Trio

With Voices of Ecstasy, we invite you to join our protagonist on her journey of exploring the many facets of ecstatic expression. Seeking to discover the limits of emotional intensity, she experiences states of euphoria, spiritual awakening, and a descent into desolation.

This theatrical production will feature soprano Christine Honein and violinist Emelyn Bashour, with support from cellist Bree Ahern and pianist Welsey Ducote, and will be directed by Benjamin Boskoff.

The Rossini Club is committed to creating welcoming, immersive performances that foreground both artistic excellence and human connection. We pair rarely heard works with beloved masterpieces, crafting programs that are evocative, thought-provoking, and deeply resonant—celebrating the vitality of the arts within our community.

As part of our 2026 season, we honor the preeminent Hungarian composer György Kurtág on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Voices of Ecstasy features selections from his groundbreaking work Kafka Fragments for soprano and violin, and explore other classical works for this unusual but expressive pairing of instruments, including music by J.S. Bach, Gustav Holst, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Barbara Strozzi.

Rossini Club’s 2026 Gala celebrates the razor-sharp wit and musical brilliance of Tom Lehrer. Featuring selections from his iconic songbook, this program brings Lehrer’s delightfully irreverent humor to life with skewering politics, culture, and human nature with equal parts charm and bite.

Performed by a single pianist-vocalist, this intimate, cabaret-style evening highlights the charm and virtuosity at the heart of Lehrer’s music where incisive satire meets effortless musicality.

Music of the northmost reaches of the world has often been noted for its starkness, reflecting the simple beauty of snow or the vast wilderness of Scandinavia. In this concert, we pair two Soviet-era works of opposing generations — the cheeky fairytale Cello Sonata of Sergei Prokofiev, and a Trio for clarinet, violin and piano from the much younger Galina Ustvolskaya, a student of Dmitri Shostakovich who was described as “the woman with the hammer” by Dutch critic Elmer Schönberger. Danish composer Carl Nielsen rounds out the evening with his beloved Wind Quintet: a lush romantic work, punctuated by the quirky flair of this trickster composer, and dedicated to his closest friends.

György Kurtág, Schatten | Prokofiev, Cello Sonata, Op. 119 | Galina Ustvolskaya, Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano | Carl Nielsen, Wind Quintet

With Voices of Ecstasy, we invite you to join our protagonist on her journey of exploring the many facets of ecstatic expression. Seeking to discover the limits of emotional intensity, she experiences states of euphoria, spiritual awakening, and a descent into desolation.

This theatrical production will feature soprano Christine Honein and violinist Emelyn Bashour, with support from cellist Bree Ahern and pianist Welsey Ducote, and will be directed by Benjamin Boskoff.

The Rossini Club is committed to creating welcoming, immersive performances that foreground both artistic excellence and human connection. We pair rarely heard works with beloved masterpieces, crafting programs that are evocative, thought-provoking, and deeply resonant—celebrating the vitality of the arts within our community.

As part of our 2026 season, we honor the preeminent Hungarian composer György Kurtág on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Voices of Ecstasy features selections from his groundbreaking work Kafka Fragments for soprano and violin, and explore other classical works for this unusual but expressive pairing of instruments, including music by J.S. Bach, Gustav Holst, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Barbara Strozzi.

Few composers have tied their music as closely to literary works as Robert Schumann. The grand Fantasie for piano offers a narrative reminiscent of his favorite author, E.T.A. Hoffman (the author of The Nutcracker) while the bucolic Waldszenen evokes the poetic nature of authors like Goethe and Schiller, exploring the sunniest and darkest expressions of his volatile life. These echoes reverberate throughout the pithy music of living Hungarian composer György Kurtág, whose music is inspired by not only Schumann but works of literary modernists like Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett. From tender intimacy to striking concision, the program moves seamlessly between reflection and passion.

György Kurtág, Hommage à J. S. Bach & Traumend | C. Schumann, Three Romances | György Kurtág, Wind Quintet, Op. 2 | R. Schumann, Waldszenen, Op. 82 | R. Schumann, Fantasie, Op. 17

January 15, 1941: Stalag VIII prisoner of war camp, deep in modern day Poland. The inmates huddle together, guarded by German officers, awaiting the first performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le Fin du Temps. The composer was inspired by the Book of Revelations during his internment in the middle of the Second World War to write the quartet, drawing on his deep Catholic faith to create a work that summons both the ecstasy and abyss found in the telling of the end of days. Two companion pieces by Reena Esmail and Toshio Hosokawa begin the performance, works which reflect on the eternity of music, and music for the beginning of time.

György Kurtág, Humble regard sur Olivier Messiaen | Reena Esmail, Tasveer | Toshio Hosokawa, Stunden-Blumen | Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time