2026–27: New album, new pieces, two nights at the Met, and not enough sleep.

I just got back from the Camp for Composers in Sweden, where I had the chance to teach artists across a wide stylistic spectrum.

This past year I became a father. It has been the best and most exhausting thing. The season ahead is full, and I’m going into it on very little sleep but a lot of goodwill.

Recently

This summer, Sandbox Percussion and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City premiered The Only Way Is Through, an outdoor work, at Caramoor. It then traveled to the Music Academy of the West, where their Sing! chorus and Percussion Fellows performed it in Santa Barbara.

It was my first time making a work for the outdoors, and the ambient world became part of the piece — wind, birds, the sounds of people settling in. Mary Birnbaum directed it with real care. I wanted to write something about finding meaning in forward motion, even when you can’t see where you’re headed.

Last week, the ARSO Orchestra and Alexandra Balog gave the European premiere of The Air Suspended at the Kortárs a kastélyban Festival in Hungary.

Premieres

It Looks Quite Curious
The London-based Stile Antico
A setting of a letter from Walt Whitman to his mother about the strange state of the capital.
Oct 15 · Miller Theatre  ·  Oct 16 · Boston Early Music Festival  ·  Oct 18 · Brevard, NC

Quintet
Calder Quartet + Dashon Burton
Two of my ongoing collaborators — baritone Dashon Burton and the amazing Calder Quartet from LA — tour a new work written for Dashon, paired with Barber’s Dover Beach, among other pieces.
Mar 24 · Tucson  ·  Mar 30 · Napa Valley  ·  Apr 3 · Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

New work for flute and piano
Gregory–Kaplan Duo
A new work for flutist Catherine Gregory and her husband, David Kaplan, exploring the possibilities of flute and piano through extended techniques and preparations.
Jan 22 · Santa Rosa  ·  Mar 21–22 · Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC

Meander, Spiral, Explode
Epoch Percussion · wind ensemble arrangement
Originally premiered by Third Coast Percussion, now in a new arrangement for wind ensemble, co-commissioned by the University of Alabama, UT Austin, and the Dallas Winds.
Feb 4 · University of Alabama  ·  Mar 10 · UT Austin

Nervous Systems
String Orchestra of Brooklyn · new orchestration
A newly orchestrated version of Nervous Systems for string orchestra, commissioned by the SOB as part of their twentieth-anniversary season.
Apr 4 · Roulette, Brooklyn

Joy Is Coming
~Nois + Lindsay Kesselman
A new project for the amazing ~Nois saxophone quartet, my dear friend and ongoing collaborator Lindsay Kesselman, soprano, and electronics.
Jun 11 · DePaul University, Chicago

New Album

I have a new album: New Addresses comes out November 6 on Better Company Records with Hub New Music. It features works they commissioned — New Addresses and Barnes Dances — as well as a new recording of South Catalina, with guest percussionist Ian Rosenbaum and guest pianist Adam Tendler. The release show is November 10 at Miller Theatre.

The Met

The Metropolitan Museum is a place I’ve been going my entire life, and the idea of presenting a concert there is particularly special. On January 27 and 28, in the Charles Engelhard Court, Sandbox Percussion, Conor Hanick, and Elspeth Davis give the first complete performance of my entire album Don’t Look Down — the Grammy-winning record we made together.

Beyond that, New York is full this season: David Kaplan performs Passagework at 92NY in February, New Addresses at Carnegie Hall on February 27, and Stef Van Vynckt gives the American premiere of Swift Interval at Lincoln Center in March.

Selah at SPCO

We brought the premiere of Selah to LACO this past spring (Violinist.com, SF Classical Voice), and this season the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra takes it up, May 7–9, with Anthony Marwood and Coleman Itzkoff.

This Coming Week

The New Jersey Symphony plays Barnes Dances at the Jersey City Music & Arts Festival on September 24, and the next night Orange Road Quartet plays Can’t and Won’t at the DiMenna Center. I’ll be at both.

Full season details, tickets, and program notes: christophercerrone.com/events