Norfolk Chamber Music Festival–Yale Summer School of Music

Musical Bridges Project

Chamber music is not something fixed but something evolving and growing, and we need to participate in that.

Melvin Chen,
Director, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival

The Commissions

Musical Bridges is made possible through the generous support of the Desai Family Foundation.

2024: Vijay Iyer

“Vijay Iyer could be the poster boy for twenty-first-century jazz: omnivorous in his musical interests, socially and politically aware, his powers as a pianist, composer, and bandleader ever expanding."
The New Yorker

2023: Juhi Bansal

The music of Juhi Bansal weaves together themes celebrating musical and cultural diversity, nature and the environment, and strong female role models. As an Indian composer brought up in Hong Kong, her work draws subtly upon both those traditions, entwining them closely and intricately with the gestures of western classical music.

2022: Angel Lam

A first call composer with works in the repertoire of soloists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras around the world, Angel Lam's new work for pipa, cello and piano features GRAMMY nominated pipa virtuoso Wu Man.

2021: Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)

"Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna is a work... that will seek to musically respond to the confrontations and conversations that have and are happening between Black men, people of color, law enforcement, and an undefined civic morality."   ⏤ DBR