Purchase New Music and Sybarite5

Pieces From Sybarite5’s Favorite Playlist

titles announced from the stage

So It Goes

by Tadhg Martin

Clash of the Iguanas

by Lucia Vysohlid

performed by Sybarite5

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Chrysalis

by Drew Sennett

performed by Handong Bi, piano

Chemical Machine

by Amy Lune

performed by:

• Lucia Vysohlid, bass
• Leonardo Rinaldi, drums
• Tadhg Martin, piano

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Clique

by Melissa Nyman

A Study in Gold

by Amy Lune

performed by SYBARITE5

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Mass.

by Tadhg Martin

performed by Tadhg Martin, piano

All Caught Up

by Melissa Nyman

performed by:

• Amy Lune, piano
• Leonardo Rinaldi, drums

+++

With Me

by Drew Sennett

proactively, goodbye

by Maxie Lawrence Soja

Pieces From Sybarite5’s Favorite Playlist

titles announced from the stage

performed by Sybarite5

Purchase New Music presents newly-written works by Purchase composers that have been developed collaboratively with student members of the ensemble and/or have been composed for professional visiting artists.  This year, our ensemble-in-residence is Sybarite5. 

Sybarite 5

• Sami Merdinian, viloin
• Suliman Tekalli, violin
• Caeli Smith, viola
• Laura Andrade, cello
• Louis Levitt, double bass

Purchase New Music Performers:

• Handong Bi, piano
• Lucia Vysohlid, bass
• Leonardo Rinaldi, drums
• Tadhg Martin, piano
• Amy Lune, piano

Purchase New Music Composers:

• Tadhg Martin
• Lucia Vysohlid
• Drew Sennett
• Melissa Nyman
• Amy Lune
• Maxie Lawrence Soja

Faculty Coach

• Laura Kaminsky

So It Goes

There is, in my life, a childhood naivety and innocence I wish I wouldn’t have left behind. Yet with a thought I’m back to that time, it just isn’t the same now that I’ve lived. This piece was inspired by themes from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five. Tadhg Martin is a first-year student in Laura Kaminsky’s studio.

Clash of the Iguanas

Lucia Vysohlid is honoured to premiere her piece, Clash of the Iguanas, with Sybarite5. The piece explores the chaotic, explosive, and driving nature of the string quintet. Influenced by the works of Piazzolla, Coltrane, and Dvorak, they hope to emulate a very clashy, rhythmic, and intense sound as well as show the range of the bass as a bass player. As a very open-ended piece, they’d like for the listener to imagine their own storyline as it plays out. Lucia is a first year student in Laura Kaminsky’s studio.

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a single movement for piano. A chrysalis is the pupal stage of butterflies. Chrysalis can also refer more generally to a transitional state. Drew Sennett is completing his master’s degree in spring 2025 and is studying with Gregory Spears.

Chemical Machine

mostly thumping, funk-drenched techno-pop (with nerve ‘n verve). Amy Lune is a senior in Sequoia Sellinger’s studio.

Clique

Clique represents the complicated dynamics in the groups of people we choose to share our lives with. It is the playful, witty banter among friends that, no matter the route, always concludes amicably. Melissa Nyman is completing her master’s degree in spring 2025 and is studying with Laura Kaminsky.

A Study In Gold

Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon? There’s the golden thread running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it. - Amy Lune

Mass.

Life is heavy. And hard to comprehend. Its counterpart is equally so. Sometimes you’re in Massachusetts. - Tadhg Martin

All Caught Up

All Caught Up is a romantic scene that unfolds musically in a way a relationship might. Think of a first date at a candle-lit dinner. It feels unnerving at first but has the potential to be something far greater; a new sense of home. - Melissa Nyman

With Me

With Me is a single movement for string quintet. It was composed in September of this year. - Drew Sennett

proactively, goodbye

Logistics, calculating, with strategy. Food, water, sleep, medication, there is no reason to be anxious. Work, water, sleep, medication, there is no need to be upset. Work, therapy, sleep, medication, there is no need to be angry. And though I must release myself from this pattern- there is no need to have a reason to feel a certain way- I must be proactive in what is causing me distress. Work, therapy, melatonin, medication, control. I am still angry. Maxie Lawrence Soja is a senior studying with Gregory Spears.

Sybarite 5

Equal parts passion, grit, and musical ecstasy, Sybarite5 is an intoxicating cocktail of genre-breaking artistry expressed through the virtuosity of violinists Sami Merdinian & Suliman Tekalli; violist Caeli Smith; cellist Laura Andrade; and double bassist Louis Levitt. It’s the first ensemble of its kind to win the prestigious Concert Artists Guild competition and the group is constantly evolving, defying categorization, and keeping audiences on their toes. 

The group has performed in 44 states and counting, from the Library of Congress, (Washington DC) to Anchorage Concert Association, (Alaska) as well as concerts in Sybarite5’s home of New York City at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Le Poisson Rouge, the Cell Theatre, and in late 2023, as part of Death of Classical’s “The Crypt Sessions” series. Sybarite5 has also appeared at festivals including Ravinia, Grand Teton, Aspen, Caramoor, Wolf Trap, Interlochen, Chautauqua and many others. International appearances include Canada’s Tuckamore Music Festival and ChamberFest Ottawa, the New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina, and the Osaka Festa in Osaka, Japan. 

Dubbed “the millennial Kronos” (Theater Jones), Sybarite5 is chamber music’s most dynamic ensemble taking listeners on a musical journey of staggering breadth and depth with new works by living composers, as well as the group’s favorite selections from Radiohead, Coltrane, Komitas, Piazzolla, and Pete Seeger… but as Strings Magazine says “that doesn’t even begin to describe the range of their eclecticism or the depth of their repertoire. “

On October 20th 2023 Sybarite5 released their latest studio recording Collective Wisdom. The ensemble’s discography includes four other critically-acclaimed recordings: Live from New York It’s Sybarite5 (2020); Outliers (2018); Everything in its Right Place (2012) and Disturb the Silence (2010).  

The Conservatory of Music

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Your artistry will thrive here among other remarkable musicians, all preparing for professional careers while focused on excellence.

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Our proximity to New York City makes it possible for you to study with many of the most respected names in music today—and to benefit from their extensive professional experience as performers, composers, and producers. Through private lessons and small-group study, our faculty will guide and mentor you in your career choice. And because the Conservatory of Music limits its enrollment to only 400 students, including undergraduate and graduate candidates, you will receive personal attention and opportunities to perform and hear your music right from the start.

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No matter what program you pursue in the Conservatory of Music, you will be encouraged to play music that spans all genres and to perform in ensembles of all sizes and styles. Let us prepare you to meet the challenges of the music world in the 21st century.