Cellist Juan Sebastián Delgado teams up with pianist Kristhyan Benitez in a program of original music for cello and piano from Latin America, featuring works by Astor Piazzolla, Mario Lavista, Francisco Mignone, Carlos Chavez, and Manuel Ponce. First-prize winner at the 2008 Latin-American Cello Festival, Delgado is active in the creation and dissemination of new works that explore the cello in innovative ways. Grammy award winning pianist Kristhyan Benitez is exciting audiences worldwide with his vivid and passionate concerts, presenting both Classical and Latin American repertoire with depth, passion and charisma.

The U.S. Army Blues, a component of the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” will perform a free concert at UMBC in honor of Jazz Appreciation Month. This special event will feature the 2023 Collegiate and High School solo competition winners from the Army Blues Young Artist Competition, alongside Naptown Jazz Kids, the premier jazz organization for young people in Annapolis.

Pianist Joel Sachs performs masterworks by Charles Ives, one of America’s greatest composers and one of the greatest modernists of the early 20th century. His rarely heard Piano Sonata No. 1 will be preceded by “The Alcotts” and “Thoreau,” the third and fourth movements of his more famous second Sonata, “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860,” a tribute to the literary giants of that little town. Taken together, these compositions offer an unforgettable view of Ives’s unique vision of music that is both universal and deeply American.

The Department of Music presents RUCKUS, the contemporary music ensemble in residence at UMBC, in a program of works by Pierre Boulez, Julius Eastman, Salina Fisher, Alexandra Gardner, Elainie Lillios, Emma O'Halloran, and Vicki Ray.

The Department of Music presents the UMBC Wind Ensemble under the direction of Brian Kaufman in Love Notes, a program of music inspired by love. The event will feature critically acclaimed multi-instrumentalist improviser Rob Flax and the UMBC String Chamber Orchestra directed by Philip Mann.

Inscape, praised by The New York Times as "brilliant," performs a program featuring works by Steven Stucky's Ad Parnassum, Joan Tower's Into the Night, and other works. Originally commissioned by the group Eighth Blackbird, Tower says Into the Night commemorates the treasured final months she and her late husband had together.

The Baltimore Classical Guitar Society presents classical guitarist David Russell, who is world renowned for his superb musicianship and inspired artistry, having earned the highest praise from audiences and critics alike. Russell appears regularly at prestigious halls in main cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Toronto, and Rome. Russell received a Grammy award for his CD “Aire Latino” in the category of best instrumental soloist in classical music.

Join us for the grand finale of UMBC’s 2025 Guitar Fest, a one-of-a-kind concert presenting guitar artistry across eras, geographies, and traditions. Featuring works ranging from J. S. Bach to Pat Metheny, this concert brings guitarist Felipe Garibaldi performing highlights of the classical and popular repertoires, along with original compositions. He is later joined by jazz guitarist Tom Lagana and classical guitarist Andres Palacios, creating an extraordinary fusion of guitar worlds, promising an unforgettable evening of music.

The Shriver Hall Concert Series presents charismatic rising stars the Ivalas Quartet in a program of three works traversing the musical heavens. Osvaldo Golijov took inspiration for his poignant Tenebrae from a planetarium visit with his son. Sparked by a lecture on physics, Eleanor Alberga’s rich and spellbinding quartet explores the ideas of swirling particles and stargazing from outer space. Finally, the group infuses one of Beethoven’s final works with “tremendous heart and beauty” (The Strad).

The Department of Music presents the INTERFERENCE: new music collective (William Brent, computer, visiting artist and dancer Miřenka Čechová, and Nancy Jo Snider, cello). Their concert will feature a group of three new works in a lecture demonstration format that will describe the artistic processes involved in the technological interplay that exists between the performers in each of the selected works. The discussion will invite questions and input from the audience.

The Department of Music presents renowned percussionist Aiyun Huang in a solo recital utilizing video and live electronics. Huang enjoys a musical life as soloist, chamber musician, researcher, teacher and producer, and has been globally recognized since winning the 2002 First Prize and Audience Prize of the Geneva International Music Competition. 

The Department of Music presents Pianorama, a keyboard spectacular featuring pianists Audrey Andrist, Teodora Adzharova, Hui-Chuan Chen, and Hsiao-Ying Lin, who will perform works by Ravel, Debussy, and Stravinsky.

The Baltimore Classical Guitar Society presents Made in Baltimore, featuring new works for classical guitar written by local composers commissioned by BCGS. For the 2024–2025 season, the awardees are Zhishu Chang, Zac Fick-Cambria, Antonio Sanz Escallón, and UMBC student Jack McGrath, who will write ensemble works inspired by Charm City.