The centerpiece of the 2026 Festival is a newly commissioned concerto for cello and strings by the Spanish-born Casarrubios. Praised by The New York Times for performances that “traverse the palette of emotions” with “gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity,” she will perform as soloist in her own work alongside the Festival Fellows.Founder and Artistic Director Peter Askim leads the string orchestra in two additional world premieres: a new arrangement of Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh’sFor Love Seemed Easy at First, originally written for the Kronos Quartet, and a new work by Festival alumna Adeliia Faizullina. Born in Uzbekistan, Faizullina’s music paints delicate yet vibrant atmospheres inspired by the music and poetry of Tatar folklore.The Next Festival is dedicated to the nurturing and advancement of emerging artists with a passion for 21st-century music and multidisciplinary collaboration. Learn more at www.next-fest.org

This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.

ABOUT THE NEXT FESTIVAL OF EMERGING ARTISTS

Founded in 2013 by composer and conductor Peter Askim, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists is committed to advancing contemporary music and cross-disciplinary artistic creation through performance, creation, audience engagement, and the nurturing of emerging artists with a passion for 21st-century artistic creation and collaboration. Initially a one-week intensive, The Next Festival quickly expanded into a two-week festival consisting of performances, individual lessons, coaching, masterclasses, multidisciplinary collaborations, and professional recording sessions. With one week in New York’s Hudson Valley and a second in New York City, The Next Festival brings together early-career string players, composers, dancers, and choreographers from around the country and around the world.Since its inception, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists has provided more than 250 young artists with opportunities to learn, collaborate, and launch their careers. Festival Fellows work closely with a selection of renowned artists and mentors, including GRAMMY, Pulitzer, and MacArthur winners. Previous seasons have featured some of the most prominent figures in new music today: including guest artists Yvette Young, Matt Haimovitz, Jennifer Koh, Nadia Sirota, Richard Thompson, Pamela Z, Curtis Stewart, Seth Parker Woods, and the string quartet ETHEL; as well as choreographers Sidra Bell, Christopher D’Amboise, and S. Ama Wray. The Festival has appeared at venues such as National Sawdust, Roulette, (le) poisson rouge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance, as well as on WQXR.

ABOUT ANDREA CASARRUBIOS

Praised by The New York Times for performances that "traversed the palette of emotions" with "gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity," GRAMMY® Award-nominated Spanish-American cellist and composer Andrea Casarrubios has been commissioned by world-class orchestras, ensembles, and soloists and appeared as a featured soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The title work from her album SEVEN, described as "an intense and elegiac tribute to the essential workers during the pandemic" (The New York Times), was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

First Prize winner of numerous international competitions and awards, Casarrubios has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts, Madrid’s National Auditorium, and the Ravinia and Verbier Festivals. Recent engagements included the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s world premiere of Casarrubios’ large-scale concerto for cello and orchestra, MIRAGE, led by conductor Christopher James Lees and featuring the composer as cello soloist, and concerts at the Brussels Cello Festival, Festival Internacional de Violoncello León in Mexico, and the George Enescu Festival in Romania. From 2023 through 2025, Casarrubios served as resident composer for both CreArtBox in NYC and Festival ADAR in Spain.

Her compositions have been programmed by organizations including Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic, and the Sphinx Organization, and have been broadcast on NPR as well as national radio stations in Argentina, Brazil, France, Sweden, Australia, and Spain.

Commissioned by cellist Thomas Mesa, Casarrubios’ work SEVEN received its Carnegie Hall premiere in 2021, and has been performed in more than 36 countries since. The piece was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award following its release on the 2024 album of the same name (Odradek Records), which featured Casarrubios as cellist and composer in seven of her most recent works, including collaborations with Manhattan Chamber Players and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Casarrubios was born in a small Spanish mountain village, where she began piano studies at age two and cello at age four. She moved to the U.S. when she was 18 to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree from Johns Hopkins University, later receiving her Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the City University of New York. Her teachers have included Maria de Macedo, Amit Peled, Marcy Rosen, and Ralph Kirshbaum. As part of her Doctoral degree, Casarrubios also studied composition with John Corigliano. Often incorporating her own compositions into her recital programs, Casarrubios began accepting commissions and writing for other musicians when she was 24.

A dedicated mentor, Casarrubios has taught masterclasses in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, and China, and at numerous festivals and institutions including The Juilliard School, University of Colorado Boulder, University of North Carolina, Missouri State University, and the City University of New York.

Learn more at www.andreacasarrubios.com.