Parlando, one of NYC’s most exciting chamber orchestras, presented a program in Merkin Hall on Sunday devoted to music from the Cold War era.  

As is Parlando’s usual practice, in lieu of written program notes, founder and music director Ian Niederhoffer addressed commentary to  the audience before each selection.  

Aaron Copland’s Nonet for Strings was written in 1960. It is an exploratory work that combines elements from his lyric, populist style with new explorations in the 12-tone milieu. And while audiences of his day may have been unsettled by its chromaticism, the Nonet’s combination of learned, joyful and searching qualities are today quite appealing.  

The Nonet deserves broader appreciation, and the kind of eloquent, engaged performances that Niederhoffer and his players gave it would undoubtedly bring this work many new friends.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg escaped the Holocaust in his native Poland by fleeing in the only direction open to him—east, to Moscow. As an educated Jewish foreigner, he came under severe and constant scrutiny from Stalin’s counter-intelligence machine.  

Despite the harassing surveillance, Weinberg’s 1948 Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra is a varied, highly creative, energetic work that has an optimistic charm amid darker, somber episodes. Aubree Oliverson played the Concertino for all it is worth, capturing its varied moods with passion, fire, tenderness and sorrow. Her collaboration with Niederhoffer and the Parlando musicians was natural and dedicated. 

Subsequently Oliverson treated the audience with a charming encore performance of Arches, a work for unaccompanied violin by contemporary American composer Kevin Puts. The work is essentially an exercise in arpeggiation, yet this approachable work in the virtuosic hands of Oliverson, was a joy to experience.

The second half of the concert was devoted to Edvard Mirzayan’s Symphony for Timpani and Strings, dating from 1962. An ethnic Armenian, Mirzayan was born in Turkey not long after the Armenian Massacre. As a child, he moved to the Soviet Union in the aftermath of a massive earthquake that destroyed his home town, an episode not dissimilar to the current geologic tragedy occurring in Turkey and Syria. After receiving thorough musical training under Soviet supervision, Mirzayan moved to Armenia, where his music was largely rejected as being devoid of Armenian elements. Mirzayen worked strenuously to recapture his cultural heritage, creating works that emphasized Armenian qualities.  

One of his great triumphs was this Symphony.  The work follows the traditional symphonic structure of four varied movements. Opening in a style that reflects elements of Armenian liturgical music, the Symphony progresses to  a movement tied to folk melody, followed by a lament that Niederhoffer related to the Armenian Massacre, before arriving at a triumphant concluding movement.  

Niederhoffer and his musicians gave a heartfelt, well-focussed performance of this engaging masterwork. Special praise goes to timpanist Andrew Beall for his brilliance, especially in the opening movement.

Conductor Ian Niederhoffer likes to ignore convention. Over the last few years, his chamber orchestra Parlando has established itself as a serious player on the New York classical scene through its presentations of lesser-known, and modern(ish) pieces. The conductor and founder of Parlando, Niederhoffer has displayed a knack for cultivating and curating unique and fascinating programs. This week's concert at Merkin Hall (on Marathon Sunday!) was entitled "Heroines and Heretics" and featured pieces that focused on some of musical history's most important women: 11th century, German Benedictine abbess (and polymath, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, yada, yada, yada...) Hildegard von Bingen; the patron saint of France, the Maid of Orléans, Joan of Arc (who has been the subject of over 500 musical compositions); and the most popular bad girl in the operatic repertoire: Carmen.

As is his tradition, Maestro Niederhoffer began the concert with brief details regarding the featured pieces. His audience has come to expect and look forward to the delightful elucidations about the pieces, as Niederhoffer possesses a relaxed, natural, story-telling gift that puts the audience at ease. He does not expound, delivering methodical, detailed, scholarly explanations, but rather straight-forward, comprehensible and entertaining, almost anecdotal insights. It is an extremely wise and useful convention on his part, as his programs often include some very challenging pieces. (Parlando!)

And this program was no exception.

On the surface, Bingen, Joan of Arc, and Carmen might seem to have little in common, but Niederhoffer neatly tied them together explaining that their uniqueness and exceptionalism resulted in each of their different struggles and the corresponding hostility (misogyny) they faced - Hildgard and Joan in life, Carmen in art.

Hildegard von Bingen's "Rex noster promptus est" began the program. Usually heard in vocal arrangement, the Parlando version was a stunning, austere, string arrangement that produced an almost immediate hypnotic effect. The piece was written as a Responsory for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a Christian feast in remembrance of the massacre of newborn children in Bethlehem by King Herod, in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus. The slain children were regarded by the early church as the first martyrs, hence the somber, contemplative nature of the work.

When performed by strings (as opposed to voices) the work possesses less of a "religious chant" feeling and a more secular quality. The work begins with a droning note below the melody that immediately invokes an almost middle eastern flavor. One by one, a cello, then a second cello then a double bass join, passing the melody and deepening the texture and resonance. This reviewer had never heard this particular arrangement and reached out to Maestro Niederhoffer to ask the province of the arrangement and not surprisingly the conductor provided a pithy response: "the original arrangement was by Marianne Richert Pfau, but we flipped some of the octaves and instrumentation ourselves. We actually experimented a bit in rehearsals to see what would be most effective for the bass drones. For some of the repetitions we did harmonics, and others we played with open strings or different octaves."

And Parlando made it their own. Under Niederhoffer's supple but languid hand, the piece took on a transcendental, evocative and soul-stirring quality.

The second piece in the program was a composition by African-American composer Julius Eastman. The score for the piece was lost after the composer's repeated battles with drug addiction left him homeless and his estate in chaos. Cellist Clarice Jensen painstakingly re-constructed a transcription of the work from an archival video of the work's only live performance in 1981. In the original format, composer Eastman delivered a maniacal, sermon-like intro to the music (composed for 10 cellos). The prelude was reportedly a complete improvisation, featuring the names of the saints (and Archangel Michael) whom Joan of Arc invoked during her trial. Whether or not it was actually intended as a note-for-note melodic composition is not clear. Nonetheless, all subsequent performances have included the prelude as the composer initially delivered it.

"When they question you, speak boldly," St. Joan claimed they told her, and tenor Aaron Crouch did just that. His powerful and passionate rendition of the prelude gave gravitas to the composers somewhat haphazard lyrics (full disclosure: this reviewer had heard the prelude only once before and hoped never to hear it again). However, it was clear that in a live listening, the piece is indeed far more impactfull and impressive than on recording, Through sheer will and a great deal of repetition, the composer condensed St. Joan's legendary trial, of which hundreds of pages of documentation exist, into just a few lines. Mr. Crouch delivered the prelude with great reverence and solemnity and his clarion clear tenor rang out triumphantly.

The prelude typically dissolves into the cello section it proceeds, but Maestro Niederhoffer cleverly went directly into the final work of the concert Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen Suite. Had the prelude been a more well-known work, the extremely cool juxtaposition of the two pieces would have been more apparent to the audience (but it was a fairly ingenious decision nonetheless!).

The Shchedrin Carmen Suite was composed as ballet music for his wife prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya (who, as Niederhoffer explained, had first asked Dimitri Shostakovich then Arman Khachaturian, only to have both tell her to use her husband!). Of all the Carmen Suites (and there are many) this is by far the most original, in scoring and audacity.

The composer brilliantly "suggests" rather that directly states musical themes throughout the score. Bits and pieces of the famed arias are heard and then disappear, allowing the listeners' brains to fill in the gaps or continue the melody lines in their own imaginations. Often, the underscoring is presented without the melodic line, giving the listener just a hint of something and making them sit up and listen - and THINK. Notably, Shchedrin uses a great deal of percussion and focuses on the rhythmic elements of the score more so than the famous melodies. This requires the composer to maintain a very clear pulse and Maestro Niederhoffer was up to the challenge - as was his especially fine percussion ensemble. The listener is treated to most of the big melodies albeit usually in truncated forms, but certainly enough to have them humming along.

Yes, there were a few nitpicks of intonation and a few moments where pizzicatos were not the most crisp, but the blemishes were too small and inconsequential to dwell on. Maestro Niederhoffer has once again shown his impressive and powerful command of his forces in another challenging program. We look forward with great anticipation to Parlando's next offering.

Peter Danish

Parlando continued its exploration of new, underrepresented, and standard works in a fascinating program entitled “Heroines and Heretics” that featured music composed or inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, Joan d’Arc and Carmen. 

The connection between the three women—two of whom were actual saints and the third fictional, and anything but pure—may seem tenuous, but conductor Ian Niederhoffer provided the link. The concert, presented Sunday at Merkin Concert Hall, was intended to be a celebration of women who lived in societies that were hostile to them for simply being exceptional.

The three composers, the twelfth-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen, the twentieth-century African-American composer Julius Eastman, and his near contemporary, the Soviet/Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, lived in completely different social environments, which is reflected in their music. What came as a surprise, however, was that although separated by centuries and countless other factors, the music of Hildegard von Bingen and Eastman seemed to spring forth from the same deep spiritual source. 

There are more surviving chants by Hildegard von Bingen than any other composer from the Middle Ages. Celebrated as a composer, poet and mystic, she lived most of her long life in sequestered religious communities. The music that she wrote was intended to be sung by nuns during religious services, but resonates today with those seeking solace, or perhaps just beautiful, otherworldly sounds.

Parlando performed a string arrangement of Hildegard von Bingen’s “Rex noster promptus est,” a Responsory for the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Although minimalism was a concept unknown to Hildegard von Bingen, the music she wrote is simple and in this wordless version of the hymn repetitive. Listening to Parlando’s strings play this heavenly music made it easy to discern a thread that links Hildegard to contemporary Holy Minimalists such as Henryk Górecki, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener.

The melody of “Rex noster promptus est” was first heard played by a solo cello accompanied by a drone. It was then taken up by another cello and eventually the entire section with the addition of one double bass. Even though the musical texture and sonorities increased in depth, the mesmerizing sense of quietude was consistent. 

The hymn served as a prelude to a far more dramatic and intense spiritual journey depicted in Eastman’s Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc. Eastman composed the Prelude for unaccompanied, solo tenor voice in 1981, as the introduction to The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, a chamber piece scored for ten cellos. Stylistically, it is Eastman’s take on minimalism, but a departure from that of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. 

A gay activist and social provocateur, Eastman found strength in meditating on the name of the pious peasant girl who led the French army to victory over the English and was burned at the stake when captured by the enemy. Eastman set the incantations by Saints Michael, Margaret, and Catherine, who were her patron saints, which she received in visions before her trial for heresy that culminate with the demand, “When they question you, speak boldly.” 

Tenor and activist Aaron Crouch gave voice to the saints’ admonition, which in Eastman’s setting consists of only a dozen or so words. Exploiting the full range of his voice, Crouch did so with confidence and power. His demeanor was probing and calm, rather than defiant however, as if he was approaching the mystical with awe and reverence. 

The final piece on the program was Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite. Shchedrin created the one-movement work in 1967 as a ballet for his wife, the Bolshoi prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Scored for string, timpani and four percussionists, the suite is as humorous and iconoclastic, as it is dramatic. It is Shchedrin’s use of percussion, both as solo instruments and accompaniment, that is its most remarkable feature. 

The drama is inherent in Bizet’s opera, but the humor is totally Shchedrin’s doing. Apart from the musical surprises that he sprinkles generously through the score, the fun comes from the occasional absence of a familiar melody, which the mind supplies in an instant. Shchedrin’s suite begs for dancers and you can almost imagine the choreography in a performance as lively and brilliant as this one. 

As they had in the prior two works, given a melody or even a snappy accompaniment, the strings, apart from some messy pizzicati in the violins, played exceptionally well. Shchedrin was at his most creative and daring, however, in assigning melodies to instruments such as the marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel and bells. Parlando’s percussionists reveled in the opportunity to shine in such virtuosic flights of fancy.

Shchedrin built applause into the work, so it would have been impossible for Niederhoffer to reign in the audience’s enthusiasm in that regard. Nonetheless, he maintained musical and dramatic cohesion in spite of the interruptions. For all of the thought that Niederhoffer puts into constructing a program, he isn’t afraid to have some fun. 

Conductor Ian Niederhoffer has accomplished two impressive feats by the age of 25. First, he has established, Parlando, a chamber orchestra, and secondly, he has found an audience. 

Merkin Hall was filled to capacity for its opening concert of the season titled “Between Sacred and Profane.” The latter of the two proved the most impressive and proof that his talent and entrepreneurship are on par with his ambition.

There were no printed program notes for the concert. Rather, Niederhoffer provided insights into the broad arc of the themes that inspired the concert—the sacred and the profane —as well as background information on each of the works. He is handsome, charismatic, enthusiastic and articulate, which together with his undeniable skills as a musician, makes for a winning combination.

In exploring the tension between the sacred and the profane in the context of classical music, Niederhoffer turned to less doctrinaire meanings of the two words. Noting that Western classical music developed out of the music of the Church, he put the term into a broader context to incorporate all things that we as a society hold dear, not just the religious. Likewise, he looked to an earlier meaning of profane, which meant anything that was not religious, without the connotations of blasphemous or sordid we associate with the word today.

Reena Esmail’s Teen Murta was the first work on the program. Currently, artist-in-residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Los Angeles-based composer was the Seattle Symphony’s 2020-21 composer-in-residence. Her works straddle the worlds of Indian and Western classical music.

Teen Murti Bhavani is the name of the former New Delhi residence of the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, which now houses a library, museum and planetarium. It is named for the three statues that stand in front of the complex. Esmail’s composition is not based on the sculptures, but takes its structure from them. Each of three musical tableaux are rooted in a specific raag, which is a melodic framework for improvisation.

The structure of Teen Murta, which Esmail compares to that of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was inspired by concerts which she attended by Hindustani musicians when she was in India. At the beginning of the concert, the performer would announce the raag to be sung or performed and immediately audience members would begin humming it, thus creating a drone to accompany the music being performed.

For being music inspired by the profane, Esmail composed a work that is highly spiritual and very beautiful. Niederhoffer led a performance in which shimmering string sound created a mystical atmosphere. The introduction and the interludes began as soft drowns in which solo violin, viola and cello began to play bits of melody, engaging in a dialogue of sorts. In the tableaux, the solos soared, at times blooming gloriously into flights of ecstatic lyricism.

There was no need for Niederhoffer to provide at thematic link to the program with the next work, as the title says is all. Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane was commissioned by the Paris firm of Pleyel to promote the chromatic harp, which had been invented by Gustave Lyon in 1894. The work proved to be a success, but alas not the chromatic harp. Perhaps anticipating the instrument’s future, Debussy included that the solo harp part could be played on the pedal harp, which has become the norm and was the case here with the exciting harpist Parker Ramsay as soloist.

Parker is an engaging speaker, as well as superb harpist. In discussing the differences between the chromatic and pedal harps, he also provided a personal link to the work. His mother is also a harpist who comes from a line of harpists originating with Lucile Wurmser-Delcourt—who premiered the Debussy work at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris in 1904. Originally scored for harp and string quartet, the arrangement by the renowned French harp virtuoso Carlos Salzedo was performed.

Parker’s playing transfixed the audience with its compelling mix of delicacy and vigor. Niederhoffer maintained a perfect balance through the contrasting two parts of the work, which Debussy described as having the contrasting qualities of gravity and grace. There were moments of pure bliss throughout in which the arabesques of the harp seemed to float above gentle waves of string sound.

The final two works on the program were by Beethoven, string arrangements of the Cavatina from String Quartet No. 13 Op. 130 and the Grosse Fuge Op. 133. Niederhoffer told the audience that for many, the Beethoven string quartets are almost sacred for their place at the summit in the canon of Western classical music. Niederhoffer introduced the profane into the two works by performing them in arrangements for string orchestra, something at which purists, he added, would most certainly bristle. 

Niederhoffer led a performance of the Cavatina that was beautiful, tender, and flowing. As a conductor, his style is primarily marked by economy of gesture and elegance. The Grosse Fuge brought out his more dynamic and dramatic qualities, as he sliced through the air with his arms compelling the orchestra to play ever more fiercely. The structure of the work was ever present, but it was the emotion that ruled in this performance of one of the most musically and technically challenging works in the canon. 

For an encore, Parlando performed Massenet’s Le Dernier Sommeil de la Vierge. Soft, sentimental and luminous, this was music that for many is of one with the sacred.

Parlando presents “Heroines and Heretics” featuring the music of Julius Eastman, Hildegard von Bingen, and Rodion Shchedrin November 6 at Merkin Concert Hall. kaufmanmusiccenter.org 

The Chamber Orchestra will return to Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, with performances on September 22, November 6, February 26 and April 23.

Programs include performances of music by Reena Esmail, Julius Eastman, Friedrich Gulda, and Hildegard von Bingen, as well as works by Henryk Górecki, Mieczysław Weinberg, Aaron Copland, Rodion Shchedrin, Claude Debussy, Jacques Ibert, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Featured Soloists include Parker Ramsay, Henry Shapard, Aubree Oliverson, and Aaron Crouch.

All performances incorporate commentary with historical and musical context to create a uniquely intimate and educational listening experience.

Parlando will return to Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center this season, with a series of three programs incorporating its signature blend of performance, commentary, and historical and musical context, in order to create a uniquely intimate and educational listening experience.

The season kicks off Thursday, September 22 at 8 PM with Between Sacred and Profane. The program explores how composers grapple with the tension between the spiritual and the sacrilegious both in their music and in their personal lives. Featuring harpist Parker Ramsay performing Claude Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane, the concert continues with Reena Esmail’s Teen Murti and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cavatina and Grosse Fuge op. 130/133.

On Sunday, November 6 at 2 PM, Parlando presents Heroines and Heretics, exploring (colorful? Vibrant?) the varied portrayals of legendary women across musical eras. Featuring tenor Aaron Crouch performing Julius Eastman’s Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, the program also includes Hildegard von Bingen’s Rex noster promptus est and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Opera).  

The season continues Sunday, February 26 at 2 PM with Cold War, a program highlighting the sonic worlds on both sides of the defining conflict of the last 75 years. Featuring violinist Aubree Oliverson performing Mieczysław Weinberg’s Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra, the program continues with Aaron Copland’s Nonet for Strings and Edvard Mirzoyan’s Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani.

On Sunday, April 23 at 2 PM, Parlando’s season concludes with Requiem for a Polka, an exploration of popular genres of the past that have faded into obscurity. Featuring cellist Henry Shapard performing Friedrich Gulda’s uproarious Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra, the concert also includes Henryk Górecki’s Kleines Requiem für eine Polka and Jacques Ibert’s Divertissement.

Parlando was founded in 2019 by conductor Ian Niederhoffer with the goal of providing the musical and historical context to prepare every audience member for the music they are about to hear. Through short introductions to each piece, Parlando bridges the gap between audience and performer, creating an intimate, personal orchestral experience.

All performances will be at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center, 129 West 67th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, renowned for its excellent acoustics and intimate setting. Premium tickets are $35, regular tickets are $25, and both are available for purchase at kaufmanmusiccenter.org.

Calendar Listings:

September 22, 2022 at 8:00 PM

Parlando: Between Sacred and Profane

Ian Niederhoffer, Conductor

REENA ESMAIL – Teen Murti
CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Danse sacrée et danse profane Parker Ramsay, Harp
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Cavatina and Grosse Fuge Op. 130/133

––

November 6, 2022 at 2:00 PM

Parlando: Heroines and Heretics

Ian Niederhoffer, Conductor

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN – Rex noster promptus est
JULIUS EASTMAN – Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, Aaron Crouch, Tenor
RODION SHCHEDRIN – Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Opera)

––

February 26, 2023 at 2:00 PM

Parlando: Cold War

Ian Niederhoffer, Conductor

AARON COPLAND – Nonet for Strings
MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG – Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra, Aubree Oliverson, Violin
EDVARD MIRZOYAN – Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani

––

April 23, 2023 at 2:00 PM

Parlando: Requiem for a Polka

Ian Niederhoffer, Conductor

JACQUES IBERT – Divertissement
HENRYK GÓRECKI – Kleines Requiem für eine Polka
FRIEDRICH GULDA – Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra, Henry Shapard, Cello

MERKIN HALL AT KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER 129 West 67th Street, New York, New York (kaufmanmusiccenter.org)

Tickets: Premium $35, Regular $25, available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org parlandonyc.com

In musical scores, the Italian term “parlando” (speaking) indicates a passage whose rhythm and inflection mimic human speech. A concert by the chamber orchestra named Parlando doesn’t just mimic speech, it features the real thing, in the form of verbal introductions to each piece delivered by music director Ian Niederhoffer from the podium.

In Parlando’s program of music by American composers on Sunday at Merkin Concert Hall, the twenty-something conductor not only offered the kind of crisp and colorful performances one has come to expect from this group, but upped his game as a verbal communicator. Besides the approachable manner of an eager grad student, and his willingness to share a laugh with listeners when something struck them as funny, he came prepared with cogent historical points and details in each piece that got a lot across in only a couple of minutes of chat before he gave the downbeat.

If classical music doesn’t speak to you, maybe what you need is the performers speaking to you before they play.

That’s the idea behind the chamber orchestra Parlando, the new enterprise of Ian Niederhoffer, the 25-year-old Yale graduate and emerging conductor who introduced each selection, then led well-played performances of music by Webern, Ted Hearne, and Shostakovich at Merkin Hall Sunday afternoon. The last composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 got an extra lift from dazzling solos by pianist Maxim Lando and trumpeter David Krauss.

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We are thrilled to announce the Parlando 2021-2022 season! Come join us at Merkin Concert Hall for three exciting programs. Tickets available here.

Dialogues

November 14, 2021 at 2:00 PM

ANTON WEBERN – Langsamer Satz

TED HEARNE – Law of Mosaics

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH – Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor

Maxim Lando, Piano

David Krauss, Trumpet 

Cinema vs. the Concert Hall

February 27, 2022 at 2:00 PM

MICHAEL ABELS – Delights and Dances

BERNARD HERRMANN – Psycho (A Narrative for String Orchestra)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN – Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium”

Tai Murray, Violin

Spring Forward

April 24, 2022 at 2:00 PM

INTI FIGGIS-VIZUETA – Premiere

JEROD IMPICHCHAACHAAHA’ TATE – Premiere

ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT – Premiere

MASON BYNES – Premiere

AARON COPLAND – Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 Instruments

“The concert showed that Parlando is a fine ensemble, and this kind of user-friendly presentation is more than welcome in the classical world…

Everything built on the music-making, and Parlando hit the mark. They have a bright sound, full of texture and colors. Their playing of Schreker’s lovely Intermezzo was expressive and songful, they handled all the rhythmic and stylistic challenges Frank’s hybrid of classical and folk music threw at them, and Verklärte Nacht was full of passion for the music.”

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“Auspicious debuts seem to be in the air in NYC this fall. Last month the new Athens Philharmonic blew the roof off Carnegie Hall with an extraordinary Mahler 2 in its debut, and this month a new ensemble called Parlando did the same at Merkin Hall - in a vastly different kind of program.

Parlando is the brainchild of conductor Ian Niederhoffer, a young star on the rise. The mantra of Parlando seems to be: "go big or go home" and that philosophy informed the three eclectic choices on the program for their inaugural concert.”

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It's always exciting to witness the birth of a new musical ensemble. BroadwayWorldClassical speaks to PARLANDO founder and conductor Ian Niederhoffer about his inaugural concert at Merkin Hall, November 6th.