Experience an evening of discovery and innovation as Random Access Music (RAM) presents its next concert at the historic Martha Graham Studio Theater on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7pm.

Under the artistic direction of  Thomas Piercy, RAM continues its mission of spotlighting adventurous contemporary chamber music.  In this concert, RAM brings together a bold mix of world premieres, reimagined works, and collaborations with some of New York’s most compelling composers.
 

This performance showcases new music by RAM composers Daniel Hass and Beata Moon, alongside works from distinguished members of the New York Women Composers Organization: Victoria Bond, Jane Leslie, Stefania de Kenessey, and Linda Marcel. The program reveals the diversity and vitality of today’s musical voices, each piece offering a fresh perspective on sound and storytelling.
 

Highlights include the world premiere of Daniel Hass’s “Susanoo Battles the 8-Headed Serpent”, a dynamic new work for bass clarinet and strings commissioned by Thomas Piercy for RAM and the critically acclaimed “Tokyo to New York” series, with support from the New York State Council on the Arts. Also featured are new quartet versions of Victoria Bond’s “Bridges” and Linda Marcel’s “The Other Garden”, along with Jane Leslie’s lyrical “The Open Road”, Stefania de Kenessey’s inventive “C-Fantasy", and Beata Moon’s evocative “Wandering."
 

The evening brings together a critically acclaimed lineup of performers:

Thomas Piercy (clarinet & bass clarinet), Sabina Torosjan (violin), Laurel Gagnon (violin), Julian Seney (viola), Daniel Hass (cello),
Yuki Nagase (double bass), and Marina Iwao (piano). 

Program

Victoria Bond
“Bridges” for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (2006/2025)
(World Premiere Quartet version)
 

Daniel Hass
“Susanoo Battles the 8-Headed Serpent”

for bass clarinet, string quartet, and double bass (2025) (World Premiere)
Commissioned by Thomas Piercy for "Random Access Music" and “Tokyo to New York” and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
 

Stefania de Kenessey

“C-Fantasy” for clarinet and piano (2025)

I wrote “C-Fantasy” for a 2025 concert sponsored by Composers Concordance, featuring the artistry of clarinetist Charles Neidich. Typically, I try to highlight the unusual or special abilities of the soloist for whom I am writing – but in this case, that proved to be a difficult approach: Charlie is known for his versatility, able to navigate avant-garde extended techniques as easily as lyrical classical phrases…. The result, then, was a smorgasbord of compositional ideas, from improvisation to familiar tonal melodies, held together by the underlying key of C.
I am honored to have the second performance of C-Fantasy in the equally able hands of Thomas Piercy.

Jane Leslie
“The Open Road” for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (2002/2025)

(World Premiere Quartet version)
“The Open Road” was inspired by a leisurely drive on a wide open country road. The melodies are joyful and lyrical, and the gentle piano rhythm suggests the movement of the car along the road. This music takes listeners on a journey, conveying feelings of freedom and limitless possibility, when traveling on an open road.

Linda Marcel
“The Other Garden” for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano (2025)
(World Premiere Quartet version)

Beata Moon
“Wandering” for clarinet, cello, piano (2022)
This trio was written as I found myself navigating through the many emotions that have bubbled up during and after the pandemic - feelings of loss, pain, anger, hope, uncertainty…(These feelings are coming up today as well!) I often give the title after I finish writing the music, and “Wandering” describes the journey of my questioning of accepted beliefs from a previous world view to a different one.
 

This program is funded in part by a grants from the New York Women Composers Organization, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Flushing Town Hall GO Queens program, and The Howard Gilman Foundation.

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