Gabriel Kahane’s Orchestral Programs
Singer, composer, and storyteller Gabriel Kahane unveils a bold quartet of programs that reimagine the concert hall as a space for intimate conversation, cultural inquiry, and musical communion, with programs featuring Heirloom with his father, pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane and If love will not swing wide the gates…written for clarinetist, Anthony McGill.
Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States
Gabriel's Guide to the 48 States is a musical journey through America, blending Gabriel Kahane's music with historical texts from the 1930s American Guide Series. This 40-minute song cycle takes audiences on a road trip from Southern California to New York City.
Gabriel Kahane | Attacca Quartet
I’ve known Nathan Schram of Attacca Quartet for almost a decade; he performed in the production of The Ambassador at BAM, and is a deeply soulful musician and person.
Photo credit: David Goddard
Gabriel Kahane | Sandbox Percussion
Sandbox Percussion is the newest addition to my musical community. We’ve admired each other from afar for a while, and they have a particular—and, to me, appealing—interest in moving the percussion quartet beyond the spectacle of highly “gridded” music.
Photo credit: Noah Stern Weber
Gabriel Kahane & Pekka Kuusisto | Council
After nearly a decade of musical friendship, it seems only fitting that the iconic Finnish musician Pekka Kuusisto and cult American singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane have formalized their collaboration under the moniker ‘Council.’ Now, they present an evening of intimate and sonically varied songs & chamber music, written during several writing retreats in Northern Karelia and Portland, Oregon.
Photo credit: Sam Gehrke
Gabriel Kahane | Roomful of Teeth
Fresh from their GRAMMY-winning album Rough Magic, Roomful of Teeth opens the evening with Caroline Shaw’s The Isle—a spellbinding work that blurs ancient myth with modern vocal invention. Gabriel Kahane follows with an intimate solo set, setting the stage for the centerpiece: Elevator Songs. Written and performed by Kahane, Elevator Songs is a poignant 35-minute tapestry of interwoven lives set in a hotel suspended across space and time. With Roomful of Teeth cast as the kaleidoscopic inhabitants, and contributions from Caroline Shaw/Eliza Bagg on violin and Jodie Landau on vibraphone, this work brims with wit, pathos, and sonic brilliance. A deeply human journey—comic, tragic, and wholly transporting—Elevator Songs is the culmination of years of collaboration between Kahane and Teeth, showcasing both the ensemble’s expressive range and Kahane’s singular narrative voice. A new album of the piece is currently in development, promising to bring this richly imagined world to listeners everywhere.
Gabriel Kahane | emergency shelter intake form
Homelessness, eviction, and the lack of affordable housing are of great concern to many. The release of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted shed further light on the eviction crisis and was one of the inspirations for composer Gabriel Kahane’s emergency shelter intake form.
Gabriel & Jeffrey Kahane | Duo Recital
Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane are offering a special recital program in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons from this father-son duo.
Jeffrey Kahane photo credit: E.F. Marton Productions
Gabriel Kahane & Anthony McGill | Rhapsody
The history of Blacks and Jews in America is, and always has been, complex and multivalent. Stories of solidarity in labor movements in the 1930s and ‘40s, as well as in the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s, are well-documented. Sadly, there is also a rich history of anti-Black racism in Jewish communities, and antisemitism in Black communities.