Indie Event Details

Eleanor Alberga: The String Quartet Cycle with support from Solaris

When

Friday, October 30, 2026 at 7:30 PM EDT

Where

National Sawdust
Brooklyn, Williamsburg

Address

80 N 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Listing checked

Aug 28, 2026

The Green Room Ensemble is thrilled to present the U.S. Premiere performance cycle of Eleanor Alberga’s Three String Quartets, along with the World Premiere of her Second Piano Quintet with the composer herself at the piano. Eleanor Alberga, OBE, is one of today’s most esteemed and influential composers and pianists. Originally inspired by a local music teacher in Kingston, Jamaica, her compositional journey began with her work for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, where she honed her evocative and riveting musical style. Her Three String Quartets stand as monumental achievements, each heavily varied in style and tone, yet all uniquely of her voice. They are a profound contribution to the genre. // This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org. ABOUT THE GREEN ROOM ENSEMBLE Photo by Steven Pisano ‍ The Green Room Ensemble, Inc. is a performance organization dedicated to expanding and enriching the landscape of classical chamber music. Comprising a rotating roster of musicians, the Green Room Ensemble performs a wide range of music, with emphasis on new music and historically unexplored or neglected works by composers from a variety of backgrounds and heritages. ‍ ABOUT NATHAN MELTZER Photo by Tam Photography Recipient of a 2026 Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Competition, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a holistic and multi-faceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician. A major prize winner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, he has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Finnish RSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Alabama, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Montreal, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, among others. As a chamber musician, Nathan has performed at festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, Krzyzowa Music, Moritzburg Festival, and Music@Menlo. He is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Green Room Ensemble, a chamber music organization dedicated to new music and historically underrepresented works. A Juilliard graduate and student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, Nathan plays on a 1682 Andrea Guarneri violin. ‍ ABOUT THOMAS BOWES Thomas Bowes is one of the UK’s most versatile and accomplished violinists - as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and artistic director. Between 1988 and 1993 he was the founding leader of the Maggini String Quartet and together with his wife, the composer and pianist Eleanor Alberga OBE, he formed the duo Double Exposure in 1995. The duo toured extensively with concerts and broadcasts in the United States and Europe and together they made a major tour of China in 1997, winning the hearts of their audiences wherever they played. They returned to China in November 2019. Bowes has been a constant advocate of Alberga’s music and has given first performances and made recordings of many of her works including her two violin concertos. Bowes is privileged to own and play a violin by one of the great Cremonese makers—a splendid 1659 Nicolo Amati. ‍ ABOUT JORDAN BAK Photo by Dario Acosta Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. Critics have described him as “an exciting new voice in Classical performance” (I Care If You Listen), “a powerhouse musician, with a strong voice and compelling sound” (The Whole Note) and lauded his “haunting lyrical grace” (Gramophone). The recipient of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Alexandra Jupin’ Award and former Young Classical Artist Trust’s (YCAT) ‘Robey Artist,’ Bak was also a prizewinner in the Sphinx, Lionel Tertis, and Concert Artists Guild Competitions, and has received accolades from ClassicFM, MusicalAmerica, and WQXR. ‍ ABOUT STERLING ELLIOTT Photo by Titilayo Ayangade Acclaimed for his stellar stage presence and joyous musicianship, cellist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Still in his mid-twenties, Elliott has appeared with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. As a chamber musician, he continues his residency in the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appearing with CMLSC at Alice Tully Hall and on tour throughout the United States He is an ambassador of the Young Strings of America, a string sponsorship operated by Shar Music. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization. ‍ ABOUT ELEANOR ALBERGA Eleanor Alberga is a highly-regarded mainstream British composer with commissions from the BBC Proms and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. With a substantial output ranging from solo instrumental works to full-scale symphonic works and opera, her music is performed all over the world. In 2015, her commissioned work Arise Athena! for the opening of the Last Night of the BBC Proms , was seen and heard by millions and cemented her reputation as a composer of huge originality and consummate skill. ‍ Eleanor has gathered a number of awards, most notably a NESTA Fellowship in 2000 and a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2019. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Eleanor was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 for Services to British Music. ‍ WITH SUPPORT FROM SOLARIS Solaris is a group of graduate students from Yale who curate intimate, immersive music experiences with classical instruments in spaces ranging from the concert hall to warehouses, abandoned buildings, museums, and the outdoors. Driven by younger audiences' hunger for third spaces that offer raw, human connection, Solaris combines original and often improvised music with striking lighting and visuals, transforming unconventional everyday spaces. We focus on presenting the virtuosity of classical training with utmost vulnerability, diverting from the etiquette typically associated with classical music through active dialogue between musician and audience, all set within a thematic presentation. For the 2026–2027 season, Solaris presents The Fortune Teller , a concert series in New Haven and New York City exploring the symbolism of tarot cards. Each one-hour program takes listeners through contrasting soundscapes, each inspired by the imagery of the cards.