Your donation during this 2023 season of giving will help Sound Salon continue to present thoughtfully programmed performances that welcome, engage, and inspire.
“I was trained that music performance was a means of preserving ‘great culture’, but there’s an arrogance to that. That’s not my approach – and that won’t be Sound Salon’s.”
– Byron Schenkman, Artistic Director
We commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our relationships.
This Season:
- 65% of performers are People of the Global Majority (African American, Hispanic / Latino, Asian / Pacific Islander, American Indian / Alaskan Native, and other non-white backgrounds)
- 50% of performers identify as women.
In the 2022-2023 Season:
- More than 59% of performers were People of the Global Majority
- More than 59% of performers identified as women.
- More than 42% of pieces performed were by women composers and more than 70% of scheduled events include compositions by women.
Sound Salon shows care and appreciation for artists, audience, staff, and volunteers.
- Sound Salon began creating free, broadcast-quality digital concerts during the pandemic as a way to offer peace, solace, and community. Sound Salon continues producing these online concerts as part of the organization’s commitment to ensuring equal access to high quality performances.
- Regular-priced tickets are under $50. Ticket prices have not changed since the Sixth Season (2018/2019) when we increased the prices so we could increase artist pay.
- Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) are given to musicians & staff every year.
We relate our work to history and to the social realities of our time.
OCTOBER 2023 – “Baroque Meets Karuk” presented 17th century music for strings and harpsichord, highlighting the connections between Spain, Italy, Austria and the colonization of Turtle Island (now known as the North American continent.) A string ensemble led by Anna Okada performed works by Bartolomeo de Selma y Salaverde, Andrea Falconieri, and Isabella Leonarda, alongside music from the Karuk tradition of the Pacific Coast, gifted by violist and Karuk tribal member Breana McCullough.
ONLINE OCTOBER 2023 – About the repertoire featured in “French Harpsichord Salon” Byron Schenkman notes: “18th-century Paris was a center of salon culture, with some of the highest-level music making happening in people’s homes. The private nature of these performances allowed otherwise marginalized composers to showcase their work. In this context we are able to hear music by women such as Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon as well as music by the black violinist/composer Joseph Bologne.”
UPCOMING ONLINE
DECEMBER 10 2023 – This concert on the fourth night of Hannukah, features works by Russian Jewish violinists from the turn of the 20th century who created a new musical language combining the latest trends in classical music with traditions of the Eastern European Klezmer. Many were students at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the early 20th century, who grew up confined to the Pale of Settlement, often from families of cantors or klezmorim (traditional Jewish instrumental musicians.) Featuring violinist Steve Greenman, cellist Gretchen Yanover, and pianist Byron Schenkman.
UPCOMING IN-PERSON
DECEMBER 28 – Festive music by Joseph Bologne, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Marin Marais, and Georg Philipp Telemann. Joining harpsichordist Byron Schenkman will be flutist Joshua Romatowski, and violinist Anna Okada, with Caroline Nicolas on viol and Kevin Payne on theorbo.
