The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor

Millbrook Community Partnership in Millbrook, NY is delighted to welcome the Knights to the Thorne Building for a final performance in the former school auditorium before the building undergoes a complete renovation and re-opens as the Thorne Center.

Program:

Komitas Armenian Folk Songs

Béla Bartók Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.68

Pyotr Tchaikovsky II. Waltz from Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48

Chen Yi III. Romance of Hsiao and Chien and IV. Flower Drums in Dance from Sound of the Five

Featuring Joseph Gramley, marimba

Antonín Dvorák II. Waltz from Serenade for Strings, Op. 22

Tommy Potts (arr. C. Jacobsen) The Butterfly

Colin Jacobsen A Short While to Be Here

Delight in a family-friendly concert featuring folk music influences from North America, Ireland, Armenia, China, and more. The Knights collaborate with Play Out, an organization founded by Caitlin Sullivan that creates interactive performances for all ages. Designed specifically for younger audiences and their parents and caregivers, this concert provides a fun, engaging introduction to classical music and features live drawing video projections by Colombian artist Jorge Carvajal.

This concert is free. Advance registration is required. Follow the link below to reserve your seat

This performance is presented through the generous support of the Sea Island Foundation.

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor

The Knights are thrilled to make their annual return to the Clark Art Institute this Labor Day Weekend! In celebration of the exhibition An Exquisite Eye: Introducing the Aso O. Tavitian Collection, the orchestra’s program highlights Armenian folk songs composed by Komitas that celebrate the collector Aso O. Tavitian’s heritage. The exuberance continues with compositions by Antonín Dvorák, Chen Yi, and Colin Jacobsen.

Bring a picnic and your own seating. Rain moves the performance indoors to the Manton Research Center auditorium; seating will be first-come, first-served.

This performance is presented through the generous support of the Sea Island Foundation.

Program:

Komitas Armenian Folk Songs

Béla Bartók Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.68

Pyotr Tchaikovsky II. Waltz from Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 48

Chen Yi III. Romance of Hsiao and Chien and IV. Flower Drums in Dance from Sound of the Five

Featuring Joseph Gramley, marimba

Antonín Dvorák II. Waltz from Serenade for Strings, Op. 22

Tommy Potts (arr. C. Jacobsen) The Butterfly

Colin Jacobsen A Short While to Be Here

Lighthouse Works Presents Island Concerts: A Knights Family Show

The Knights are thrilled return to Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island with an interactive program for the whole family. Join us to sway, play, and experience the fun of live music!

Lighthouse Works Presents: The Knights at Fishers Island

The Knights are thrilled return to Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island with a program featuring two contemporary chamber works by Valerie Coleman and The Knights’ Alexandra Sopp alongside music by Mozart, Bach, Bartók, Villa-Lobos, and more.

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director & conductor
Christina Courtin, violin & voice
Conrad Tao, piano

The Knights celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a bold new festival across iconic New York City parks and the historic Caramoor Center. In a three-part musical showcase, audiences will experience the multifaceted potential and power of American music—rooted in history, alive in the present, shaped by many voices, and brimming with possibility.

Experience a vibrant celebration of the American sound as the boundary-breaking orchestral collective The Knights joins forces with visionary pianist Conrad Tao for an afternoon of fearless music-making. Led by Artistic Directors Eric and Colin Jacobson, the program anchors the spirit of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Tao’s acclaimed, "explosive" interpretation within a broader narrative of musical innovation. From the pastoral beauty of Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite and Margaret Bonds’ soulful Troubled Water to contemporary rhapsodies by Jessie Montgomery and the ensemble's own Christina Courtin, this performance bridges the gap between classical tradition and modern energy.

Program:

Margaret Bonds Troubled Water (arr. Bruno Lima)

Jessie Montgomery Rhapsody No. 2 for solo violin and chamber orchestra (arr. Michi Wiancko)

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring Suite

Christina Courtin rhapsody on being giant proof

Christina Courtin, violin & vocals

George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Michael P. Atkinson)

Conrad Tao, piano

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director & conductor
Tessa Lark, violin
Christina Courtin, violin & vocals

The Knights celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a bold new festival across iconic New York City parks and the historic Caramoor Center. In a three-part musical showcase, audiences will experience the multifaceted potential and power of American music—rooted in history, alive in the present, shaped by many voices, and brimming with possibility.

Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto No. 2: PULSE, featuring Naumburg Competition winner and Grammy-nominated soloist Tessa Lark, weaves hymns and fiddle tunes into a bold, modern concerto. Samuel Barber’s beloved Adagio for Strings is a heartfelt offering to our dear New York audiences. Knights violinist and singer-songwriter Christina Courtin’s rhapsody on being giant proof was commissioned as part of the Rhapsody Project initiative, and refracts inspiration from Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue through Courtin’s singular musical senseibility. Caroline Shaw’s The Mountain That Loved a Bird sets to music a heartwarming children’s tale with a universal message of love and friendship.

No tickets are required to attend this celebratory outdoor performance with Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, and seating will be offered on a first come first serve basis. The concert will also be broadcast live on WQXR.

Program:

Christina Courtin rhapsody on being giant proof (2025)

Christina Courtin, violin and voice

Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968) Violin Concerto No. 2: PULSE (2025)

Tessa Lark, violin

Intermission

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Adagio for Strings (1936)

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) The Mountain that Loved a Bird

Jamie Bernstein, narrator

Paul Simon American Tune

Christina Courtin, violin and voice

The Knights

Guest Artists

J. Kenji López-Alt, James Beard Award-winning chef and author, and founder of Tasting Notes

Tessa Lark, GRAMMY-nominated violinist

Gabriel Kahane, musician, writer, and storyteller

Host & Moderator

Ed Levine, founder of Serious Eats

You are warmly invited to The Knights’ Annual Benefit 2026: A Musical Feast. This special event is a live mash-up of music food and culture curated by The Knights and J. Kenji López-Alt. Inspired by works performed by The Knights and special musical guests, Chef J. Kenji López-Alt demonstrates dishes in response to the music, with the creative process projected in real time. This year, we honor Joe Rose for his distinguished leadership and enduring commitment to the arts, and for the Knightsian spirit with which he brings people together and strengthens our community.

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Anthony McGill, Clarinet
Christina Courtin, Vocals

Driven by a “passion for musical discovery” and an “open-hearted spirit of camaraderie,” The Knights bring fresh excitement and insight to every performance. Tonight, conducted by Eric Jacobsen, they traverse a vast soundscape of American music as part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 festival. The program features Copland’s Pulitzer Prize–winning, folk-infused masterpiece: the Appalachian Spring Suite, plus the New York premiere of a concerto written by Gabriel Kahane for clarinetist extraordinaire Anthony McGill, part of the ensemble’s multi-year Rhapsody project. Cherished short works also undergo a “Knightsian” transformation, including Ellington’s ballad “Sophisticated Lady”; Bonds’s “Troubled Waters,” based on the spiritual “Wade in the Waters”; Brumley’s “I’ll Fly Away”; and Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin’s Garmoshka (“little accordion”).

Program:

Ljova Garmoshka

Duke Ellington “Sophisticated Lady” (arr. M. Gould)

Margaret Bonds “Troubled Waters”

Gabriel Kahane If love will not swing wide the gates for Clarinet and Orchestra (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by The Knights, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony & Carnegie Hall)

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring Suite 

Albert Brumley "I'll Fly Away" (arr. Christina Courtin)

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director

The Knights return to Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with a program of chamber music for strings led by Co-Artistic Director Colin Jacobsen. The evening is bookended by Jacobsen’s own composition Beloved, do not let me be discouraged and the forward-looking Octet by Felix Mendelssohn. Between these works, experience renowned composer Osvaldo Golijov’s Ever Yours, a work of “vitality, love, and attention,” whose title references Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother and the “intensity of being” expressed within.

Program:

Colin Jacobsen Beloved, do not let me be discouraged

Osvaldo Golijov Ever Yours (NY Premiere)

Felix Mendelssohn String Octet, Op. 20

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director & Conductor

An intoxicating sense that anything is possible comes with each new performance by The Knights. Colin Jacobsen and Eric Jacobsen lead the ensemble in a program bookended by one of Haydn’s light-footed early symphonies and the sweeping, forward-looking Octet by Felix Mendelssohn. Several exciting surprises await between these beloved repertoire pillars. Hear The Knights’ unique take on Arvo Pärt’s In spe, a spacious experiment in tintinnabuli that grants its performers extraordinary freedom. Plus, experience the New York premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ever Yours, a work of “vitality, love, and attention,” whose title references Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother and the “intensity of being” expressed within.

Program:

Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 8 in G Major, "Le soir"

Osvaldo Golijov Ever Yours (NY Premiere)

Arvo Pärt In spe

Felix Mendelssohn String Octet, Op. 20

“One of the moment’s most adventurous and relevant musicians” (New York Magazine) conjures a multimedia experience from the piano, Natural Machines 2.0, improvising with responsive computer programs he created and live visuals rendered in real time. The first installment of the project was hailed as “ingenious” (Rolling Stone). Experience this next chapter as Dan Tepfer explores the intersection of the mechanical and the natural, featuring an expanded ensemble made up of members of The Knights. 

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director
J. Mae Barizo, Poet & Performer
Sayuri Ishida, Actor
George R. Miller, Stage Director
Yuchang Xiao, Wearable Art/Costume Design
Jessie Char & Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Sound Design

Experience the Carnegie season’s first performance by the intrepid chamber orchestra The Knights, led by artistic directors Eric Jacobsen and Colin Jacobsen. In an inspired new collaboration, they intersperse Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 3—one of the composer’s most traditionally “classical” works—with Cloud Variations, a performance by prizewinning poet and multidisciplinary artist J. Mae Barizo. Even in its original form, this would be Carnegie Hall’s first performance of Glass’s symphony—but in the hands of The Knights, it’s something no audience has heard before. In the program’s second half, The Knights perform a timeless orchestral staple: Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, a work of complex dualities and grand Romanticism.

Program:

J. Mae Barizo Cloud Variations

Philip Glass Symphony No. 3

Robert Schumann Symphony No. 4, Op. 120

Hear the pipa, a Chinese instrument with 2,000 years of history, in the hands of the star soloist who carved its role in Western music.

For decades, Wu Man has reigned as the world’s leading exponent of the pipa, a pear-shaped Chinese lute whose history dates back more than 2,000 years. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the instrument, preserving and promoting millennia of ancient Chinese musical traditions while breaking new ground in Western classical, jazz, electronic, and folk music. Now, Wu Man returns to The Met to perform the Pipa Concerto of American composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003), one of the many pieces written especially for her, alongside traditional and original works for solo pipa. She is joined by the acclaimed Brooklyn orchestra The Knights—hailed as one of the ensembles paving “the future for classical music in America” (Los Angeles Times)—led by concertmaster and co-Artistic Director Colin Jacobsen.

This performance is presented in conjunction with The Met’s Department of Musical Instruments.

Tickets start at $35 ($30 + $5 fee)

MetLiveArts tickets include Museum admission on the day of the event, during Museum hours only. For more information or inquiries about accessible seating, call 212-570-3949 or email meteventtix@metmuseum.org.

This performance is made possible by the Grace Jarcho Ross and Daniel G. Ross Concert Fund, and Friends of Musical Instruments: The Amati.

Children 6 and under are not permitted to attend MetLiveArts performances.

Read visitor guidelines

Music lovers of all ages will delight in a family-friendly concert that celebrates world-class music and complements the A Room of Her Own exhibition on view at The Clark Art Institute. In this accessible afternoon performance, children and their parents/grandparents/caregivers discover the limitless imaginative possibilities that exist in classical music. This performance is designed specifically for younger audiences and is intended to provide a fun and engaging introduction to classical music.

This concert is free. Accessible seats available; for information, call (413) 458 0524. This performance is presented through the generous support of the Sea Island Foundation.

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor

The Knights make their annual return to The Clark Art Institute with a free outdoor program informed by an exhibition on view, A Room of Her Own: Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1875-1945. Led by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and collaboration, The Knights seek to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition and their passion for musical discovery.

Bring a picnic and your own seating. For accessibility questions, call (413) 458-0524. Rain moves the performance to August 31 at 4 pm. This performance is presented through the generous support of the Sea Island Foundation.

Program:

Dame Ethel Smyth Scherzo: Allegro vivace from Suite in E Major for String Orchestra op. 1a

Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending

Felix Mendelssohn Octet for Strings

Lighthouse Works Presents: A Knights Family Show

Join The Knights for a free, interactive family show, featuring excerpts and selections from the following works: 

Colin Jacobsen Beloved, do not let me be discouraged

Osvaldo Golijov Ever Yours

Felix Mendelssohn String Octet

Lighthouse Works Presents: The Knights at Fishers Island

The Knights are thrilled return to Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island with a program featuring two contemporary chamber works by concertmaster and composer Colin Jacobsen and Osvaldo Golijov alongside Felix Mendelssohn’s beloved String Octet.

Program:

Colin Jacobsen Beloved, do not let me be discouraged

Osvaldo Golijov Ever Yours

Felix Mendelssohn String Octet

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Chris Thile, Mandolin and Vocals

The Knights join forces with mandolinist, composer, and singer Chris Thile at Caramoor’s Venetian Theater for a program including his brilliant songwriting and storytelling, instrumental virtuosity, and ever-present sense of humor.  

Program:

Philip Glass excerpts from Symphony No. 3

Caroline Shaw And So, featuring Chris Thile, vocals

Johann Sebastian Bach Double Concerto, BWV 1043, featuring Colin Jacobsen, violin and Chris Thile, mandolin

Chris Thile ATTENTION!, featuring Chris Thile, mandolin and vocals

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director & conductor

The Knights are excited to return to the iconic Naumburg Bandshell on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. No tickets are required to attend this celebratory outdoor performance with Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, and seating will be offered on a first come first serve basis. The concert will also be broadcast live on WQXR.

Program:

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Concerto Grosso from L’Estro Armonico for Two Violins, Cello, and Strings in G minor, Op. 3, No. 2 (RV 578), (1711)

1. Adagio e spiccato, 2. Allegro, 3. Larghetto, 4. Allegro

Colin Jacobsen and Nanae Iwata, violins, Alex Greenbaum, cello

William Grant Still (1895-1978), Summerland: for Flute, Harp, and String Trio, (1935)

Alex Sopp, flute, Megan Conley, harp

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038, (1732-35)

1. Largo,  2. Vivace, 3. Adagio, 4. Presto

Colin Jacobsen, violin, Alex Sopp, flute, Eric Jacobsen, cello, Steven Beck, harpsichord

Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889), Gran Duo for Clarinet and Double Bass

1. Allegro - Andante 2. Allegro vivace - Moderato

Agnes Marchione, clarinet, Zachary Cohen, double bass

Intermission

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Danses sacrée et profane, (1904)

Megan Conley, harp

Chen Yi (b. 1953), Sound of the Five (arranged for marimba and strings), (2001)

3. Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in, 4.Flower Drums in Dance

Joseph Gramley, marimba

Traditional, arr. Danish String Quartet (from Last Leaf)

Polska from Dorotea, Unst Boat Song, The Dromer

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director & Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Michael P. Atkinson, Associate Conductor
Kathryn Mueller, Soprano
Christina Courtin, Violin and Vocals
Alex Sopp, Flute and Vocals

The Knights is a self-described “fellowship of adventurous musicians” known for transforming the orchestral concert experience. In this concert, led by Artistic Director and violinist Colin Jacobsen, they perform a time-tested masterpiece—Dvořák’s ever-popular Serenade for Strings—alongside the New York City premiere of Reena Esmail’s The History of Red, a stirring work for chamber orchestra and soprano, inspired in part by Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The program also highlights the extraordinary compositional talents of The Knights’ own members, with a world premiere by violinist and vocalist Christina Courtin and a piece written collaboratively by Ms. Courtin with flutist and vocalist Alex Sopp.

Program:

Christina Courtin and Alex Sopp Pretty Pea in the Blue

Reena Esmail The History of Red, featuring Kathryn Mueller, soprano (NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE)

Christina Courtin rhapsody on being giant proof (WORLD PREMIERE)

Antonín Dvořák Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22 B52

Members of The Knights join acclaimed author Colum McCann for an intimate musical and literary salon at Maison Brooklyn. Led by concertmaster Colin Jacobsen, The Knights present a globe-traversing program inspired by McCann's new novel Twist, featuring the traditional Irish fiddler Dana Lyn and a chamber arrangement of the balafón virtuoso Fodé Lassana Diabaté's Sunjata's Time. The performance will bookend a conversation and Q&A with McCann to celebrate Twist. 

All tickets include a discount to The Knights' next concert at Carnegie Hall on May 15 (discount code provided in confirmation email). Space is limited.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Vocals

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor

In a new collaboration with enormous creative possibilities, GRAMMY-winning vocalist and MacArthur Fellow Cécile McLorin Salvant performs new arrangements of jazz standards created by composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue with the genre-defying chamber orchestra The Knights.