MainStage: The Music That Inspires Us

Celebrate music born from music - works that draw from history, tradition, and artistic lineage in the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s 2025-2026 season opener The Music That Inspires Us.

• Reena Esmail: Avartan
• Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
• Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite

This concert will be approximately 1hr, no intermission. Reception with the musicians to follow.

Composers often find inspiration from other music, drawing from history, tradition, and artistic lineage. The Music That Inspires Us begins with Reena Esmail’s Avartan, a transcendent fusion of Indian and Western classical traditions. Next on the program is Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte for string orchestra. Written in 2011, the piece was inspired by a moment in a Haydn string quartet where the music suddenly shifts in tone and texture. Shaw describes Entr’acte as “taking you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass,” a kind of musical portal that begins in a classical idiom and gradually distorts it. We will conclude the program with Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. Taken from his ballet on the Italian commedia dell’arte character, the Pulcinella Suite is a witty and colorful homage to 18th-century Italian Baroque music filtered through Stravinsky’s modernist lens.

PHOTOS & RECORDING: This event may be recorded, and video and photos may be posted on our website, social media, and elsewhere. If you would prefer not to be visible, please let a WHCO team member know.

REFUND POLICY: Please note that WHCO does not offer refunds for tickets. You may donate them to WHCO for a tax credit, contact us for a credit for a future concert, or consider gifting them to a friend or family member as a way to share the music and support WHCO.