Carnegie Hall

Ensemble Connect holds auditions every two years to find fellows who are extraordinary performers and are passionate about integrating education, community engagement, advocacy, and entrepreneurship into their performing lives.

The application for the 2025–2027 fellowship is now open. Deadline to submit online application and pre-screening materials is December 2, 2024.

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Thinking dynamically about programming and pushing the boundaries of the concert experience, Ensemble Connect performs chamber music at Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and other venues. Ensemble Connect has received accolades for the quality of its performances and its fresh and open-minded approach, performing a wide range of music—from centuries past to new works written for a concert.

Ensemble Connect also presents Up Close, a series in the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Music Room on the Lily and Edmund J. Safra Education Floor of the Judith and Burton Resnick Education Wing, aimed at reimagining the concert experience from the audience experience. These immersive concerts feature a collaborating artistic partner and push the boundaries of audience engagement and the concert format.

Ensemble Connect’s in-school residencies represent one of the largest and most in-depth collaborations between a cultural institution and New York City public schools. Each fellow partners with an instrumental music teacher at a public school for a residency totaling 25 days over the course of the year. Fellows serve as musical resources to schools and bring mastery of their instruments as well as a professional performer’s perspective to music classrooms. They work alongside their partner teachers to strengthen students’ musical skills through a tailored, creativity-focused approach. The two-year partnership culminates in a performance festival featuring groups from each partner school.

Each year, Ensemble Connect presents interactive performances in schools and community venues across New York City. Interactive performances are designed to invite audiences into the exploration and discovery of a piece of music or a musical concept and include listening activities aimed at deepening and enriching the concert experience. Fellows perform these assembly-style for large, schoolwide audiences and also adapt them for community venues such as prisons, senior care facilities, homeless shelters, and organizations supporting people with disabilities.

Ensemble Connect fellows are supported by a rigorous weekly professional development curriculum aimed at ensuring they have the skills they need to be successful in all areas of the program and to give them the tools they need to shape purposeful, personally rewarding career paths that redefine the role of the musician in the 21st century. The curriculum particularly emphasizes leadership, entrepreneurship, and audience engagement with workshops led by a variety of leaders in the field, including Ensemble Connect alums. Fellows also receive coaching sessions with musicians of their choice, along with access to world-renowned composers such as George E. Lewis, Kaija Saariaho, and Julia Wolfe.

Twice annually, Ensemble Connect participates in a five-day residency at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. The fellows work with students in the music department and beyond, visiting classrooms, offering master classes and lessons, and performing in the Arthur Zankel Music Center’s Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall. Ensemble Connect also serves the greater Saratoga Springs area through visits to K–12 schools and community venues.

On average, the time commitment for each fellow is approximately 20 hours per week for 40 weeks from mid-September to mid-June for two consecutive seasons. Fellows receive a stipend of $37,600, which factors in the cost of monthly unlimited MetroCard transportation. They also receive health benefits and access to rehearsal and performance facilities.

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