Horizon Line (Album)
Out June 12, 2026
Preview Tracks Here: https://s.disco.ac/sgiyjahngowd
Electronic Press Kit: https://www.roberthonstein.com/horizon-line-press-kit
Bandcamp: https://roberthonstein.bandcamp.com/
For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact:
David Stevens, (857) 245-5213, Abstraction.MusicGroup@gmail.com
Tracks
Continuous Interior: I. Flickering, light [05:45]
Continuous Interior: II. Languid, dreamy [05:36]
Continuous Interior: III. Urgent, breathless [05:45]
The Great Marsh: 1. Salt Hay [05:25]
The Great Marsh: 2. Mudflats [03:56]
The Great Marsh: 3. Seaside Sparrow [02:03]
The Great Marsh: 4. Estuary [07:36]
Arctic: I. Midnight Sun [03:07]
Arctic: II. Polar Night [13:56]
Length: 53:09
Credits
Tracks 1-3
Performed by Abby Fisher and Bergamot Quartet (Ledah Finck, Sarah Thomas, Amy Tan, Irene Han)
Recorded June 25, 2023
Bunker Studio
Brooklyn, NY
Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Mike Tierney
Tracks 4-7
Performed by Jacques Lee Wood, Alyssa Wang, Beste Tiknaz Modiri, and Kiyoshi Hayashi
Recorded January 15, 2025
Futura Recordings
Boston, MA
Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Mike Tierney
Tracks 9-10
Performed by Mivos Quartet (Olivia De Prato, Joshua Modney, Victor Lowrie, Mariel Roberts)
Recorded June 13, 2015
Oktaven Audio
Yonkers, NY
Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Ryan Streber
Tracks 1-7 Produced by Mike Tierney and Robert Honstein
Tracks 9-10 Produced by Ryan Streber and Robert Honstein
Album design and artwork by Laura Grey
Liner Notes by Robert Honstein
Ⓟ & ⓒ 2026 Robert Honstein, All Rights Reserved
Composer Robert Honstein releases “Horizon Line” — June 12, 2026 (New Focus Recordings)
BOSTON, MA (April 6, 2026) – Horizon Line, an album of music by Robert Honstein, features three compositions exploring landscapes and the pastoral - in nature, visual art, and urban space. The “horizon line” orients perspective and by implication, how we situate ourselves and derive meaning from the world around us. A conceptual through-line and a linear melodic line that carries through the album.
Within these landscapes, a common theme emerges – that of the “pastoral,” as a way of searching and being. The eponymous Great Marsh Reservation, the inspiration for the central work, comprises 25,500 acres of barrier beach, dunes, saltmarsh, and water bodies, is situated on the North Shore of Massachusetts; reflectively, the classical concept of pastoral is front-and-center in the music, evoking yearnings for connection to the natural expanse. Arctic, influenced by the artist Chris McCaw’s Sunburn series, approaches the sublime, where the human perspective is overcome by the brutality of nature. Continuous Interior attempts to reconcile the pastoral with interior modern expanse, beauty and meaning through contemporary experience.
Featuring three works that span a decade of the composer's career, the instrumental throughline of the album could be the String Quartet itself, representing a culmination of Honstein’s long engagement with the genre. Arctic was recorded in 2013 by Mivos Quartet, longtime collaborators of the composer, while Continuous Interior features the youthful Bergamot Quartet with percussionist Abby Fisher. The Great Marsh features New England artists who performed the work in the iconic coastal-adjacent Rockport Music-Shalin Liu Performance Center.
Performers
Bergamot Quartet [Continuous Interior]
Abby Fisher, vibraphone [Continuous Interior]
Mivos Quartet [Arctic]
Alyssa Wang, violin [The Great Marsh]
Kiyoshi Hayashi, violin [The Great Marsh]
Beste Tiknaz Modiri, viola [The Great Marsh]
Jacques Lee Wood, cello [The Great Marsh]
About Robert Honstein, composer
Celebrated for his “waves of colorful sounds” (New York Times) and “smart, appealing works” (The New Yorker), Robert Honstein (b. 1980) is a New York-based composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and film music. Recent accolades include the 2023 Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and a 2022 Emmy-nomination for his debut film score The Real Charlie Chaplin.
Ensembles and performers of Robert’s music include the Albany Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique du Mulhouse, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Dal Niente, Mivos Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Argus Quartet, TIGUE, New Morse Code, Colin Currie, Theo Bleckmann, Doug Perkins, Michael Burritt, Karl Larson, Ashley Bathgate, among others. Interdisciplinary collaborators include choreographer Omar Román De Jesús, photographer Chris McCaw, projection designer Hannash Wasileski, graphic designer Laura Grey, and director Daniel Fish. His music has also been programmed by numerous dance companies including the National Ballet of Canada (Alysa Pires, choreographer), Ballet Collective (Omar Román De Jesús, choreographer), and the Alberta, Cincinnati, and Orlando Ballets. His music has been released by New Focus Records, Soundspells Productions, Cedille Records, and New Amsterdam Records, as well as his independent label Up in the Attic Records.
As an educator Robert has taught composition seminars and workshops around the country and is Program Director of Concert Composition and Composition Faculty at NYU, Steinhardt. For more information, visit roberthonstein.com
Performer Bios
The Mivos Quartet, “one of America’s most daring and ferocious new music ensembles” (The Chicago Reader), is dedicated to advancing and performing new music in all its variety to diverse audiences worldwide. The quartet commissions and premieres new repertoire for string quartet, working closely with composers over extended time periods, treating each new piece as a true collaboration. Mivos maintains an active international performance schedule, with regular appearances as ensemble-in-residence at festivals including June in Buffalo, Shanghai New Music Week, and VIPA (Spain). Mivos takes part in many educational residencies at universities and summer festivals, working with young performers and composers to develop their skills. The quartet also runs two composition prizes to help discover and promote emerging composers in the US and abroad. Beyond these activities, Mivos is committed to collaborating with guest artists, exploring multi-media projects involving live video and electronics, and performing improvised music.
Abby Fisher is a percussionist and educator, focused on performing and supporting continued growth of new music, with expertise in contemporary and classical percussion.
National and international performances include: Stony Brook University's TEDx, Transplanted Roots Percussion Symposium, New Music Gathering, Big Ears Festival, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, One World Trade Center, Universidad de Guanajuato (Mexico), and at universities around the US. Abby is a co-founder of the percussion duo Fisher/Lau Project with Matthew Lau, and she regularly collaborates with composers and musicians on new works. In February 2025, she released her debut solo album 100 works in resonant aluminum by D. Edward Davis through CMNTX records.
Abby is a dedicated educator and serves as the Steven Hemphill Endowed Professor of Percussion, Assistant Professor of Percussion, and Director of Percussion Studies at Northern Arizona University. She currently serves as the President of the Arizona Percussive Arts Society chapter, and as a co-chair for the Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Committee. She is a member of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, NAU’s premier contemporary music group Ensemble Flageolet, and a regular performer and board member of the Interference Series, a non-profit Flagstaff-based organization dedicated to presenting experimental music.
Abby is supported by Marimba One, Black Swamp Percussion,Vic Firth, and Zildjian.
Bergamot Quartet is fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers with creative programming, community-oriented audience building, and frequent commissioning. The quartet is in high demand as interpreters and co-creators of new music, having premiered hundreds of works by students of all ages and developed numerous significant new pieces with composers at the forefront of contemporary concert music. They maintain a full season each year of concerts ranging from DIY events to appearances at major venues.
Bergamot’s 2025 season includes a concert at National Sawdust celebrating the release of Samuel Torres’ A Dance for Birds”, composed for Bergamot and Torres’ Latin jazz sextet; the premiere of Eli Greenhoe’s evening length work “Holdfasts”, and the premiere of Paul Pinto’s multimedia work “OCTET” at CultureHub in collaboration with the Rhythm Method Quartet, among other appearances. They have recently launched “Project Resonance” with composer/performer Dan Trueman, a multi-tiered project which will foster the creation and performance of new works for Bergamot playing a set of hardanger instruments (traditional Scandinavian 9-stringed folk instruments). As educators, Bergamot serves on faculty at New Music On The Point and Arts Letters and Numbers Creative Music Intensive. In 2025 they have conducted residencies with Tulane University, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University as well as served as the faculty ensemble for Wildflower Composers Festival.They also operate the monthly concert series “Bergamot Quartet Extended” as a medium to showcase their many inspiring collaborators and present new work.
Based in New York City, Bergamot Quartet is Ledah Finck and Sarah Thomas, violins; Martine Thomas, viola; and Irène Han, cello. Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the Mannes School of Music 2020-2022, where they were mentored by the JACK Quartet.
Jacques Lee Wood, cello
Jacques Lee Wood is a Boston-based cellist known for his diverse musical career. His artistic interests include historical performance on Baroque cello, commissioning new works for both modern and Baroque cello, improvisation incorporating live electronics, and writing original works. An avid banjo player, he also enjoys exploring musical traditions beyond the classical repertoire. He has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia. He serves as Principal Cellist of the Cape Symphony and performs regularly with a wide range of chamber, orchestral, and early music ensembles. Wood is on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Intensive Community Program, where he teaches a studio of talented cellists and is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians. He studied at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser and earned his MM and DMA at Yale University under Aldo Parisot.
Alyssa Wang, violin
Alyssa Wang is a passionate and versatile conductor, violinist, and composer. She is a recipient of the 2024 New Music USA Creator Fund and the 2023 Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award. Alyssa is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Boston Festival Orchestra, and the Music Director of the Cape Symphony and the Cincinnati Ballet. As a violinist, Alyssa has soloed with ensembles across the country and is the newest member musician of the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Beste Tiknaz Modiri, viola
Violist Beste Tiknaz Modiri was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and is currently Professor of Viola at Istanbul University State Conservatory and head of the Music department, as well as Founder and Artistic Director of Bosphorus International Music Academy and Vice President of Turkish Viola Society and Music Director of Point Counter Point Session 4 in Vermont. She is the principal violist of Istanbul Chamber Orchestra, currently dividing her time between Berlin and Istanbul.
Kiyoshi Hayashi is a professional violinist, health and career coach, speaker, and entrepreneur based in Boston, MA.He is the founder and Managing Director of the Rasa String Quartet, is a Co-Artistic Director of Palaver Strings, and is the Career Advising Manager at the New England Conservatory of Music. Kiyoshi is passionate about using music to catalyze social change and empowering young musicians in developing the business skills and holistic lifestyle necessary to design meaningful and sustainable careers.