Musical Bridges
Musical Bridges is a multiyear project in which the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival commissions new works that place classical chamber music within a broader musical and cultural context.
Chamber music is not something fixed but something evolving and growing, and we need to participate in that. Melvin Chen, Festival Director
2021 | Daniel Bernard Roumain
“I really am committed to creating projects that speak to social injustice, have something to say about racial and cultural identity… I’m trying to figure out how are we all going to live together.”
—DBR
About The Commission
Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna
Premiered: July 9, 2021
The inaugural work in the Festival’s series of commissions bridging music of different cultures with traditional Western classical chamber music features a composition by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) — a Black, Haitian-American composer who sees composing as collaboration with artists, organizations, and communities within the framing of ideas.
DBR describes Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna as “a work for piano, string quartet, and two singers, that will seek to musically respond to the confrontations and conversations that have and are happening between Black men, people of color, law enforcement, and an undefined civic morality.”
Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna is a commission of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.
2022 | Angel Lam
“All of my music is connected to something that’s deeply felt.”
—Angel Lam
About The Commission
The heart is deeper than the ocean
Premiered: Wednesday, July 6, 2022
The second in our continuing series of commissions bridging music of different cultures with traditional Western classical chamber music features Wu Man― GRAMMY-nominated pipa virtuoso and founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road project―performs in celebrated composer Angel Lam’s new work for pipa, cello, and piano.
During the concert you will first hear the work performed, followed by a discussion of the work between the composer and artists, and lastly a recap performance when you’ll have the opportunity to hear the work again, but with a different perspective.
The heart is deeper than the ocean is a commission of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.
2023 | Juhi Bansal
“I write music to try to understand the unknowable, to grapple with ideas too large to put into words, to bring people together by reminding us of the things we hold in common.”
—Juhi Bansal
About The Commission
Tum ho Meri Zameen
Premiered: Friday, July 14, 2023
The third work in our continuing series of commissions bridging music of different cultures with traditional Western classical chamber music features Hindustani vocalist Ranjana Ghatak, pianist Melvin Chen, and Norfolk Fellows in Juhi Bansal’s Tum ho Meri Zameen which merges Western and North Indian classical styles.
Tum ho Meri Zameen, grew out of an earlier collaboration with Hindustani vocalist Ranjana Ghatak in which they created music in response to stories from their communities about the women who inspire them. Waves of Change takes inspiration from the story of the Bangladesh Girls Surf Club, in the Cox Bazaar region of Bangladesh — a place where girls are forbidden from even entering the water.
Tum ho Meri Zameen is a commission of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.
2024 | Vijay Iyer
“To really hear everything that’s happening in the music and also hear what a person is saying and hear what they have to offer as a human being. It’s really this deep love that is at the heart of it.”
—Vijay Iyer
About The Commission
Variations on a Theme by Ornette Coleman
Premiered: July 27, 2024
The composer and multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman created the theme “War Orphans” during the thick of the US’s deadly operation in Vietnam. The piece has a unique, slightly obscure history, in that Coleman never created his own definitive recording of the piece, and his scores aren’t generally available. Coleman’s longtime collaborator, contrabassist Charlie Haden, borrowed the song and recorded a version in 1970 with his large ensemble, Liberation Music Orchestra; subsequent versions appeared by Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson, and others. All of these renditions offer solemn, reflective, even pastoral treatments of the theme. Then, in 2022, a live recording surfaced of Coleman’s quartet performing ”War Orphans” in Paris in 1971.
This piece begins with a transcription of the first minute of that 1971 performance, followed by ten variations that highlight these different facets, indicated in the score as follows:
Gentle and steady / Buoyant / Propulsive / Lament / Sunrays / Sonnet / Games / (Outerlude) / Echoes / March / Underworld / Aftermath
Variations on a Theme by Ornette Coleman is a commission of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.
2026 | Nahre Sol
For summer 2026, the Festival is collaborating with the American brand Bode. The new partnership is marked by Nahre Sol’s original work which will be the latest installment of the Festival’s Musical Bridges project.
Dust and Clover will premiere on August 8, 2026
Concert information + tickets →
About The Commission
Dust and Clover
To premiere on Saturday, August 8, 2026
Nahre Sol performs, composes and teaches an eclectic mixture of music that draws from aspects of improvisation, the avant-garde, traditional Western forms and harmony, jazz, and minimalism. She runs a notable series of videos on Youtube that distill her distinct perspective as a classically-trained pianist with an insatiable appetite for new ideas about music theory, harmony, practicing, and composition.
Dust and Clover is inspired by the ever-evolving American traditions that emerge when cultures meet. I filtered the sounds and spirit of cowboy songs and folk traditions through my own musical language, which is shaped by minimalism, impressionism, and a wide range of musical influences.
Dust and Clover is a commission of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.