New Music Miami ISCM Festival: andPlay Duo

An evening of contemporary chamber music centers on the violin-viola duo andPlay, whose practice is rooted in close collaboration with living composers and the continual expansion of the string duo repertoire.

The performance takes place Wednesday, January 28, at FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios as part of the XXIX New Music Miami ISCM Festival. The program features works by Ezequiel Viñao, Jacob David Sudol, Kaija Saariaho, Orlando Jacinto Garcia and Carolyn Chen, tracing a wide arc of current compositional approaches, from rhythm-driven intensity to spacious, meditative soundscapes.

Argentine composer Ezequiel Viñao is known for music that combines visceral rhythmic energy with expressive lyricism, often drawing on influences from tango, jazz and contemporary classical traditions. Jacob David Sudol, whose work frequently explores quietness, fragility and extended instrumental techniques, creates intimate pieces that reward close listening and subtle shifts in texture.

The program also includes music by the late Kaija Saariaho, one of the most influential composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her writing is celebrated for its luminous timbral color, spectral harmonies and immersive atmospheres that blur the boundaries between sound and sensation. Festival Artistic Director Orlando Jacinto Garcia contributes a work shaped by stillness and resonance, reflecting his long-standing interest in silence, duration and spatial listening. Composer and sound artist Carolyn Chen brings a poetic, exploratory voice, often integrating unconventional sound sources and a heightened awareness of physical space into her music.

Based in New York City, andPlay consists of violinist Maya Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson. Since forming in 2012, the duo has commissioned more than 50 new works and built an international reputation for performances that combine precision, curiosity and deep engagement with composers’ ideas. Their appearances regularly bridge concert performance, education and audience-centered dialogue, making them a natural fit for the festival’s emphasis on new music as a living, evolving practice.

This concert offers a focused look at contemporary string writing and the varied ways today’s composers rethink sound, gesture and form through the intimate lens of violin and viola.