Carnegie Hall Affiliate Ensemble, Decoda, in Concert Sept. 15

The Furman Department of Music will host a concert featuring Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, Thursday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. in Daniel Recital Hall on the Furman campus.

The concert is free and open to the public and is presented by the Furman University Partners in the Arts initiative funded generously by the Duke Endowment.

In residence at Furman University Sept. 13-16, Decoda is a chamber ensemble comprised of virtuoso musicians, entrepreneurs, and passionate advocates of the arts. Based in New York City, the collective creates innovative performances and engaging projects with partners around the world.

Says Dr. Anna Barbrey Joiner, Furman viola professor and Program Coordinator for Furman Partners in the Arts, Community Outreach, “Decoda is stretching the boundaries of classical music for the traditional concert hall, reaching people outside the standard concert-going audience, and most importantly, educating future emerging musicians about outreach and how to engage audiences.”

The artists of Decoda first collaborated in the renowned Ensemble ACJW fellowship program created by Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. The artists now extend that relationship as an Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall.  Since its inception in 2011, Decoda’s projects have reached audiences in schools, hospitals and prisons in addition to prominent concert halls across the globe.

Recent travels have taken Decoda to United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Denmark.

Decoda’s engagements have included performances at the Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Bay Chamber Concerts (Maine), in the UK at the Southbank Centre and the Barbican (London), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), Chelsea Music Festival (NYC), Carnegie Kids @ Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival (UAE), Við Djúpið Festival (Iceland), Programa de Educación Musical Fomento Cultural Banamex & Carnegie Hall (Mexico), and the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase.

Since 2011, Decoda has participated in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program, undertaking creative projects at New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility and Beth Abraham Hospital, Clinton High School in Bronx, N.Y., Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C., and Valley Lodge Shelter, a homeless facility in N.Y.’s Upper West Side.

Decoda musicians lead the Skidmore Chamber Music Institute at Skidmore College (N.Y.) where young musicians explore leadership and community service through the intensive study of chamber music.

Learn more about Decoda. For more information about the concert and Decoda’s residency, contact the Furman Music Office at (864) 294-2086. Or contact Dr. Anna Joiner at anna.joiner@furman.edu.