New Music Miami ISCM Festival: Opening Night

An opening concert launches a multi-day contemporary music festival with chamber works that bring together living composers, voice and strings in an intimate performance setting.

XXIX New Music Miami ISCM Festival 2026: Opening Night takes place on Wednesday, January 14 at FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios on Miami Beach. The program features the Amernet String Quartet, FIU’s ensemble-in-residence, joined by guest composer Daniel Asia and mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway for an evening focused on recent and contemporary chamber music.

The concert includes works by Daniel Asia, Judith Zaimont, Stephen Dankner and Steven Gerber, offering a range of approaches that move between lyrical writing, rhythmic intensity and reflective textures. Asia’s music, which spans chamber, vocal and orchestral forms, is presented alongside Calloway’s vocal performance, adding a distinctive dimension to the opening program.

Now in its 29th edition, the New Music Miami ISCM Festival is presented by the FIU Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts and curated by Artistic Director Orlando Jacinto Garcia, continuing the festival’s long-standing focus on showcasing contemporary composers and performers within Miami’s cultural landscape.