In an exciting culmination of a collaboration that started in 2017, Kassia Ensemble premieres Kassia by Judith Shatin, May 19-21, 2022 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. The Ensemble, comprised of the unusual instrumentation of string quintet, harp and clarinet, performs for the first time as a complete septet in this video presentation. Kassia, the namesake of the group and work, was a 9th-century Byzantine abbess, poet and hymnographer, and is likely the first woman whose music has survived until now. Shatin draws on melodic fragments of two of Kassia’s major chants, The Fallen Woman and Augustus, the Monarch. The music opens gently then builds to crise of torment, resolving to dreams of a world beyond. This project was made possible with funding from the Sparkplug Foundation and Opportunity Fund of Pittsburgh.


Song from the Uproar, a multimedia opera by celebrated Brooklyn composer Missy Mazzoli, is a unique combination of live musical performance and original films inspired by the life and writings of early-20th-century explorer Isabelle Eberhardt.

Concert dates and time:
May 19th  @7pm
May 20th  @7pm
May 21st  @2pm & 7pm