The dynamic and innovative musicians collective The Knights will give a free public performance at Ithaca College on Monday, Nov. 6. The 8:15 p.m. concert in Ford Hall of the James J. Whalen Center for Music is sponsored by the Shirley and Chas Hockett Chamber Music Series. The group will also hold an open rehearsal and audience Q&A at the same location at 5 p.m.
Since their inception in New York City in the early 2000s, The Knights have challenged assumptions about orchestral music. The ensemble grew out of informal chamber music readings at the home of brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen — now the group’s artistic directors — and was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2007. The members of The Knights are accomplished soloists, orchestral players and chamber musicians as well as composers, singer-songwriters and improvisers who bring a range of cultural influences to the group.
Special guests for the Ithaca College concert will be the trailblazing mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital and soulful clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh.
The program will include traditional European styles, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern idioms, and improvisational and newly composed works. In addition to pieces by Bach and Purcell, songs by Schubert and Mendelssohn in new arrangements by members of The Knights, and Golijov’s haunting “Lullaby and Doina” — inspired by the music of Romanian gypsies— it will feature the world premiere of Azmeh’s concertino grosso for clarinet, violin and mandolin.
Established as a permanent endowment in 2000, the Shirley and Chas Hockett Chamber Music Concert Series honors two longtime educators and musicians.