MOSA Concerts is thrilled to welcome Dust Roots for our second concert of the spring season
Specializing in jazz and free improvisation, the Harlem-based ensemble Dust Roots is led by Colin Babcock, a trombonist, composer, improvisor, and teacher originally from Pickerington, Ohio. He is one of the founders of the New York City Brass Choir and the Brownstone Brass Quintet. He is also a member of William Parker’s “Little Huey’s Pocket Watch”, the Fort Greene Orchestra, and can be found freelancing in various groups of all genres across the NYC area. He released his albums “Circle” in 2020 and “Concrete” in 2024. Colin is Music Partners Faculty and Program Manager at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
Concert at 7 • Doors open at 6:30
Program: Colin Babcock & Aakash Mittal—Original works (announced from stage) / Sun Ra—Springtime Again / John Coltrane—Peace on Earth
Ekmeles vocal ensemble gives their annual Valentine’s Day performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s landmark 1968 work Stimmung. The work is a touchstone of 20th century composition, a meditative concert-length work wholly based around a single tone and its acoustically tuned overtones. The spirit of the 60s is present not only in the work’s experimental striving, but also its personal eroticism, which inspired Ekmeles’s Valentine’s Day tradition and the title and motto for the event: Stimmung is for lovers.
Stimmung translates literally to “tuning”, and also can refer to “atmosphere” or “harmony”, encompassing both the theoretical focus of the work, and its meditative aspects. Composed while Stockhausen was living on Long Island Sound in Connecticut, Stimmung is a captivating balance between intellectual rigor and spiritual exploration. The pitch material of the work is derived from a single low Bb, overtones of which the singers articulate on pulsing rhythmic patterns of vowels. Treating each of the overtones of this fundamental Bb as new fundamentals on which to produce overtones, Stockhausen multiplies the timbral possibilities of the work into the hypnotic and rich textures it is known for.
Director and baritone Jeffrey Gavett will be joined by sopranos Charlotte Mundy and Amber Evans, countertenor Timothy Parsons, tenor Tomás Cruz, and bass Steven Hrycelak.
Join us for our first concert of MOSA’s new 2026 season! The Katarina Quartet presents a thrilling, wide-ranging classical program.
Grand Prize winner of the 2025 Fischoff Competition, and currently in residence at The Juilliard School, the Katarina String Quartet has quickly distinguished itself as one of North America’s most compelling young ensembles. The tightly-knit and community focused quartet presents a dynamic program of old favorites and contemporary masterpieces in MOSA’s first concert of the 2026 season.
Program to include:
Joseph Haydn—String Quartet in C Major, Op. 50 No. 2 (1787)
Vivian Fung—String Quartet no. 5 “Spiraling” (2021)
Québecois folk selections (to be announced)
Benjamin Britten—String Quartet No. 2, Op. 36 (1945
Join MOSA co-directors Lauren Conroy and Matthew Schultheis (performing as Magpie Duo) for a popup fundraiser concert Come early for snacks and drinks, enjoy a wide selection of cozy, low-key classical and contemporary violin/piano miniatures, and support MOSA’s upcoming season at the close of the holidays!
The program will include favorites by Bach, Debussy, and gems from composers like Carl Nielsen, Eugène Ysaÿe, George Enescu, and more, featuring a new premiere by Matthew Schultheis.
