Our 20th Season
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Twenty Years In, concertnova Has No Interest in Looking Back
Cincinnati's contemporary chamber music collective announces Season 20: five new mainstage programs and three additional events, from a sculpture-filled forest to a Krampus-led holiday cabaret to a minimalism festival curated by Timo Andres.
CINCINNATI, OH — (August 28, 2026) — concertnova, Cincinnati's contemporary chamber music collective, today announced its twentieth season: five mainstage programs and three additional events that continue the organization's twenty-year experiment in putting classical music next to something it isn't supposed to touch.
"We're celebrating 20 years, but our instinct for adventure hasn't changed. Surprise opens people up, and what they let in from there is what transforms them," said Brianna Matzke, Executive Director of concertnova.
Two events precede the season proper. A preseason event, Wine + Beethoven: Beethoven as Bacchus, pairs five wines with live selections from five Beethoven string quartets, guided by music historian Ron Merlino and wine expert David Schildknecht (Friday, September 11, Somerhaus). concertnova also makes a guest appearance alongside composer and pianist Rachel Grimes, founding member of Rachel's, as part of the Talk Low Festival, alongside Faith Coloccia and Tashi Dorji (Saturday, September 26, Christ Church Cathedral).
Season 20 itself is built around five mainstage programs:
Between Forms (Saturday, October 3, Felicity, Ohio) — A #playwithus outdoor event staged across the sculpture-filled forested property of artists Steven Finke and Ana England, with musicians performing throughout the land in dialogue with Finke's life-size sculptures. Featured performers include Flutist Molly Barth of Eighth Blackbird, and percussionist Allen Otte. Guests come and go freely from noon through early evening.
Cincinnati Sandbox (Sunday, October 25, UC College-Conservatory of Music) — Grammy-nominated Sandbox Percussion, violinist Kristin Lee, and Cincinnati's Heavy Metal Marching Band turn discarded and found objects into music, including the Cincinnati premiere of Vivian Fung's Goddess//Insect.
Join the Naughty List (December 7–8, Commonwealth Comedy Club) — Part concert, part cabaret, part theatrical ritual: Krampus and the Ho Ho Ho's lead audiences out of forced holiday cheer and into an evening of dark folklore, hazy cabaret nightlife, and joyful misbehavior.
Mini Mini Fest (Sunday, February 21, 2027, venue TBA) — Pianist and composer Timo Andres curates and performs a two-part festival tracing minimalism from its early, process-driven roots through the post-minimalist music of the 1990s and 2000s. A related subscriber and donor event on Friday, February 19 brings Andres and concertnova musicians to the Lloyd Taft House, an award-winning modernist residence designed by architect Charles Gwathmey, for an intimate house concert curated in response to the building itself.
What If We're Beautiful (June 17, 2027, venue TBA) — Presented during Pride Month, musicians from Hub New Music and concertnova join forces for a program on chosen family and queer joy, built around Daniel Thomas Davis's What If We're Beautiful alongside music by Eve Beglarian, Jennifer Higdon, Benjamin Britten, and Julius Eastman.
The season also includes Bowtie Bluegrass: An Appalachian Concert Gala (Sunday, November 29, Newport Car Barn), featuring Kentucky native and Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark alongside Cincinnati cellist Sonya Moomaw, placing classical and bluegrass traditions side by side over an evening of Appalachian food, music, and a collaborative jam session. Proceeds support concertnova's artist-led programming.
Additional season events include instrument-making workshops at Indigo Hippo (September 20) and Wave Pool with the Heavy Metal Marching Band (September 29), and a subscriber and donor event featuring an exclusive Sandbox Percussion and Kristin Lee performance inside Cincinnati Public Radio's recording studio (October 24).
Subscriptions Season 20 subscriptions are $125 and include the best seats with RSVP, tickets to all mainstage concerts (including repeats), a bring-a-friend benefit for all concerts, access to subscriber/donor-only events, and discounts on #playwithus events and pop-up concerts.
About concertnova: concertnova is Cincinnati's contemporary chamber music collective. For twenty years, the organization has experimented with putting classical music where audiences don't expect to find it, pairing it with sculpture, bluegrass, cabaret, and more in pursuit of a simple idea: surprise opens people up, and what they let in from there is what transforms them.
Media Contact Brianna Matzke Executive Director, concertnova info@concertnova.com
