The Brass Tree Live at Queens Botanical Garden
Rossen Nedelchev and composer Greg Hammontree blend brass, percussion and electronics into evolving soundscapes, each voice a branch in a living sonic canopy.
Music
Music — change
SPY, Empty Shell Casing, Spite House, No Guard, Pyrex
A multi-band bill at Saint Vitus: SPY, Empty Shell Casing, Spite House, No Guard and Pyrex share one stage in a single night, so it's worth arriving early for the whole lineup.
Ida, Garrett Klahn (of Texas Is The Reason)
Ida's hushed, intimate songs share a bill with Garrett Klahn, the voice of Texas Is The Reason, in Elsewhere's smaller Zone One room, a close-up pairing for fans of that emo era.
Growing • Ryan Sawyer Shaker Ensemble
Growing and the Ryan Sawyer Shaker Ensemble share a bill at Union Pool, a night of live music built around two acts you can hear back to back.
The Max Light Quartet
Guitarist Max Light's album Chaotic Neutral drew an Editor's Pick from Downbeat, which called it a master class in cutting paths through tricky meters.
The Courettes • The Dracu-Las • Todd-O-Phonic Todd
A multi-act night of live music at Union Pool, with The Courettes, The Dracu-Las and Todd-O-Phonic Todd sharing one bill. Come early enough to catch every act.
HOW TO PLAY BASS
Anna Abondolo plays solo double bass, just the instrument and one player, opening her four-night residency in a small, artist-curated room for experimental music.
Missing Link, Age of Apocalypse, Gemstar, Scorched Earth Policy
A night of live bands at Saint Vitus, with Missing Link, Age of Apocalypse, Gemstar and Scorched Earth Policy sharing one bill. Good for catching several acts in one go.
Leenalchi, Femcel
A seven-piece Seoul band turns pansori, the Korean storytelling song tradition, into bass-heavy psychedelic funk. Two bassists, four vocalists, no guitars. Local post-punk duo Femcel opens.
Eleanor Alberga: The String Quartet Cycle
The Green Room Ensemble plays all three of Eleanor Alberga's string quartets, each different in style and tone, plus the world premiere of her Second Piano Quintet with her at the piano.
Joris Lacoste: Nexus de l'adoration
Nine officiants sing, chant, testify, and dance through devotional phrases from many faiths, part concert and part ceremony. Hypnotic, funny, and genuinely strange.
CONDOLENCE Or A Rug & An Elf
Ain Gordon and Josh Quillen mourn family absences in a world premiere of little songs and tales, from a thrift shop rug to a garden elf, with bracing candor and silly detail.
Vampyr + Live Score
Vampyr screened with a live score, so the music is played in the room as the film unfolds. It's part of the cinema's Kaboom lineup.
Sexmob Kurt Weill Halloween
Sexmob takes on Kurt Weill in a one-night program that closes Steven Bernstein's residency, with Bernstein on slide trumpet, Briggan Krauss on sax, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums.
GIFT: A Live Score by Eiko Ishibashi & Film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Eiko Ishibashi, a multi-instrumentalist who moves between film scores, improvisation and songwriting, plays live to Ryusuke Hamaguchi's GIFT in a rare main-hall appearance.
Lecture on the History of Skywriting
Paul Lazar plays the sky itself in Anne Carson's text, moving through song, dance, video and phone calls, with imagery by Annie-B Parson. Strange, funny and tender.
Saturday Salons
Artists, writers, musicians and performers show works-in-process, and the rougher and stranger the better. Jennifer Krasinski curates a lineup with Trinie Dalton and Sibyl Kempson.
PAF New York 2026: Bestiary of Darkness
Valentýna Janů's neo-noir video, partly shot at Pioneer Works, gets live performance woven through it. Vojtěch Fröhlich scales the building floor by floor, then 33 close with a set.
The Music of Siena: Graindelavoix
Björn Schmelzer leads Graindelavoix in a visceral, ornament-rich take on early music, hearing Siena's golden age through the Franco-Flemish polyphonists who sang in its cathedral.
HANDEL + HENDRIX With Dither, R.B. Schlather, and Ruckus
Electric guitar quartet Dither open with new commissions channeling Hendrix's experimental language, then director R.B. Schlather and Ruckus shrink Handel's final opera, Deidamia, to chamber scale.
