EVENTS

Enjoy an evening of new music and stargazing at Long Island's oldest public observatory!

This performance features the Rites of Spring Ensemble, a group that embodies the spirit of the new music culture and is dedicated to performing innovative, collaborative, and exciting works of living composers and the contemporary works from composers of the recent past. Whether you're a classical lover or a lover of extraordinary experiences, this program pushes the boundaries of a traditional music event with a very exciting evening of music and stargazing! New Music Under The Big Sky aims to bring people together and focusing on what is happening today in the global arts world. Come and slow down with us, be immersed with music and the stars!

This will be an inspiring evening of chamber music featuring a dynamic program of contemporary and modern works for violin and double bass.

Following the concert when the skies are dark, Observatory staff will provide guided tours of the night sky (weather permitting) through the many telescopes on site, including the apochromatic Zerochromat telescope in our historic observation dome.

$45 Adult, $30 Custer Observatory Members and Friends of R o S, Children Under 16 FREE. Attendance to this in-person performance will be limited - reserve your seats early! This will be an indoor performance - seating will be provided.

PROGRAM

Krzysztof Penderecki - Duo Concertante
Luciano Berio - Duetti per due Violini
-Béla (Bartók)
-Camilla (Adami)
-Leonardo (Pinzauti)
-Alfredo (Fiorenzani)
-Igor (Stravinsky)
-Mauricio (Kagel)
Francois Rabbath - Ode D’Espagne*
Lloyd Goldstein - The Way Back*
Edgar Meyer - First Movement from Concert Duo
Jennifer Higdon - Smoky Mountain Air**
John Corigliano - Stomp**
Mark O’Connor- Limerock
Xavier- Irish Fantasy Duo

*Bass Solo
** Violin Solo

Yezu Woo, violin

Marguerite Cox, double bass

THE MUSICIANS

Yezu Woo is a New York–based violinist whose work centers on chamber music, artistic collaboration, and the creation of artist-led platforms. Following an early solo debut at Carnegie Hall at age sixteen as the youngest performer to present all twenty-four Paganini Caprices, she has developed a multifaceted career that brings together performance, curation, and cross-cultural dialogue.

A committed chamber musician, she is the violinist of the string quartet The Overlook and a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, as well as Novus NY and Delirium Musicum. She appears regularly with ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble and Ensemble Modern and maintains close collaborations across a wide spectrum of artists and projects.

Her artistic practice is shaped by a sustained engagement with contemporary music and cultural history, including over twenty premieres and collaborations with composers such as Rebecca Saunders, Unsuk Chin, and Sir George Benjamin. Her work has brought her to venues ranging from Pyongyang, North Korea, to the Korean Demilitarized Zone, reflecting an ongoing engagement with cultural exchange on the Korean peninsula. As a Fulbright Scholar in Germany (2019–20), she worked with the Ensemble Modern Academy and conducted research at the Isang Yun Haus in Berlin, culminating in the first complete recording of Isang Yun’s works for solo violin and violin with piano. Her recordings have been released on EMI Classics, ECM Records, Warner Classics, and KAIROS.

This approach extends into her work as a curator and artistic director. She is the founder of the SoriDari Young Artists Program, created in partnership with the Korean Cultural Center New York, supporting young Korean and Korean American musicians through mentorship and performance alongside established artists. She also serves as artistic director of the New York in Chuncheon Music Festival, a platform for chamber music and artistic exchange in her hometown of Chuncheon, Korea. In recognition of this work, she has been named Honorary Ambassador of the City of Chuncheon (2016) and Woljeongsa Temple (2023). She also serves on the advisory board of the Berlin Academy of American Music, reflecting a broader commitment to shaping collaborative and cross-cultural musical communities.

Marguerite Cox, a double bassist from northeast Ohio, is a versatile and in-demand collaborator in numerous musical settings throughout the United States.

A recent alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect fellowship, she performs regularly with A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and counts forthcoming appearances with The Knights, AMOC*, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Ruckus, Teatro Nuovo, and other chamber ensembles exploring music through the ages.

As a orchestral musician, she has appeared as a substitute with the Baltimore and Charleston Symphonies, held the principal bass position at Symphony in C from 2022 to 2024, and was a member of the 2023 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; she was also a member of the inaugural NYO All-Stars Orchestra.

In 2024, Maggie toured and recorded extensively with experimental folk band Big Bend in collaboration with producer and musician Shahzad Izmaily. In 2022, she was in residence at Avaloch Farm with composer Ted Babcock’s Dialogues Quintet.
Marguerite received her undergraduate degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School and her master’s at the Curtis Institute, where she was the first bassist to receive that degree. In 2016, inspired by studies within Rice’s Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities program, she founded the Ohio-based Artists for Action, through which she organizes community benefit concerts and other funding initiatives for local organizations. Based in New York, she instructs budding musicians of all ages across the city, lately at Brooklyn High School of the Arts through her Ensemble Connect placement.