On Saturday, December 20th, Rocket City New Music premieres my Everything, Anywhere for large chamber ensemble at Avilution Hanger in Huntsville, AL.

Concert Blurb

Rocket City New Music once again transforms an airplane hangar into a concert hall for our 2025 Season Finale, Please Repeat The Question. World-class musicians from across the country gather in Huntsville to explore some of the most fundamental yet confounding aspects of the human experience through art. We don’t promise answers—but we never stop asking the questions.

Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question (1908)

David Lang - Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1993, rev. 1995)

Ted Hearne - The Answer to the Questions That Wings Ask (2016)

Gregory Vajda - Pulitzer Portrait (2025)

Robert Honstein - Everything, Anywhere (2025)

Julius Eastman - Stay On It (1973)

Program Notes

Everything, Anywhere for eight instruments, is a meditation on the human arc inspired by the memory of Paul C. Blau. The piece reflects on the idea of a life well-lived—one filled with deep connections, meaningful experiences, and insatiable curiosity.

The composition’s three contrasting movements trace a journey from anxious beginnings to joyful affirmation. The first, Wanderlust, portrays a potent mixture of promise and anxiety, echoing the turbulent ebb and flow of youth. Driving rhythms, sudden textural shifts, and yearning melodic interjections express this volatile energy.

The second movement, Doubt, is a solitary contemplation. Unresolved chords circulate in pulseless, hazy progressions, painting a nocturnal image of growing disquiet and lingering uncertainty.

Finally, the last movement, Bounce Back, is a vibrant, joyful reaffirmation. The instability of the previous music gives way to an overflowing sense of love and vitality as the rhythmic, ebullient music bounds to a brilliant conclusion.

Everything, Anywhere was commissioned by Rocket City New Music with the generous support of Constance Blau in loving memory of Paul C. Blau. It was premiered December 20, 2025 at Avilution in Huntsville, Alabama by Rocket City New Music.

NYU appointment, Rocket City New Music commission, Juvenalia & Sonnets premiere, and videos of my Hong Kong residency

News and events for Robert Honstein! Visit my website for more info. View this email in your browser Robert Honstein's 25-26 Season Preview Performing Sonnets for soprano, percussion and piano at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theater, Hong Kong with soprano Joanne Shao and percussionist Matthew Lau, June 7, 2025 (Photo Credit: Jeff Cheng) Hello friends, Happy fall and the start of the 2025-26 concert season! I have some exciting premieres coming up, but first, I wanted to let you know that I’ve accepted the position as Clinical Assistant Professor of Music at NYU Steinhardt, starting this year. As most of you know, I've been teaching and working at NYU in various capacities for almost ten years. During that time, working with NYU students and colleagues has been a privilege, joy and source of constant inspiration. I'm thrilled to continue that work in this new role and excited to see where it takes me next. On to the music... Last season ended on a high note, with a week long residency with the Up:Strike Project at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, culminating in a portrait concert where I performed in a new version of my Sonnets for soprano, percussion, and piano, while the Up:Strike Project premiered my Yet in my sad heart for percussion quartet and track alongside older works, Patter and Is it Auburn?. We were even interviewed on Hong Kong’s RTHK, with a preview performance of Sonnets (Video here). On the premiere front, I’m currently finishing up a large chamber ensemble work for Rocket City New Music. Premiering December 20th in Huntsville, AL, with a Meet-the-Composer event on the 18th, the three-movement work is scored for eight performers (oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, cello, vibraphone, and piano). In March and April, percussionist Garrett Arney will premiere the wind ensemble arrangement of my percussion concerto, Juvenalia, with the ASU Wind Symphony, Yale Concert Band, and East Carolina University Wind Ensemble. Finally, the complete eight-part song cycle Sonnets for soprano and chamber ensemble will be premiered and recorded by the No Exit New Music in Ohio May 28-30, 2026.  Last but not least, keep your ears out for an album of my string quartets, slated for release in June 2026 on New Focus Recordings. Much more to come about that as we get closer to the release date. In the meantime, please take a look at my full season calendar here: https://www.roberthonstein.com/202526-season Thanks for tuning in, Robert Recent Works: Yet in my sad heart for percussion quartet and track Sonnets, version for soprano, percussion and piano Music to Hear, commissioned by The Living Earth Show and Tanner Porter (more info soon) Interview/Performance on Ratio Television Hong Kong Upcoming Performances Oct. 3: "Bow Lines" from An Economy of Means in Cologne, Germany Oct. 29: De Apostolis in Manitoba, Canada Nov. 2: Iwo Jedynecki and Karolina Mikolajczyk perform selections of Floriography, arranged for accordion and violin. Nov.13-15: VT Percussion Ensemble performs An Index of Possibility with choreography at PASIC  Jan. 30: The Living Earth Show with Tanner Porter perform Music to Hear at PIVOT Festival in San Francisco Feb. 14: Colin Currie & Ensemble 360 perform Continuous Interior Yet in My Sad Heart was commissioned by The Up:Strike Project, Dr. Matthew Lau & Karen Yu, directors. It was premiered on Saturday, June 8, 2025 at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theater, Hong Kong by the Up:Strike Project, featuring Matthew Lau, Karen Yu, Samuel Chan, and Bevis Ng. face tweet web YouTube Copyright © 2025 Robert Honstein, All rights reserved. You are in this list because you might be interested in my music. But, please, unsubscribe if this is not the case. Our mailing address is: Robert Honstein 2 Barney Park Irvington, NY 10533 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

This past month, I was thankful to have a residency in Hong Kong with The Upstrike:Project, culminating in a Portrait Concert. Working with them on the new work Yet in my sad heart was a highlight. Here’s some photos and videos from their rehearsals!

The work is now available here: https://www.roberthonstein.com/yet-in-my-sad-heart

Program Notes

Yet in my sad heart for percussion quartet and track draws inspiration from the opening of Chopin’s Prelude No. 8 in F sharp Minor. The title comes from pianist Alfred Cortot’s vivid description of the prelude: “The snow falls, the wind screams, and the storm rages; yet in my sad heart,the tempest is the worst to behold.”

Chopin’s Prelude, marked Molto agitato, is a powerful and technically demanding work. It features a continuous flow of thirty-second notes in the right hand against triplet sixteenths in the left, creating a tempestuous, virtuosic soundscape. Within this intricate polyrhythm, a melancholic melody emerges, giving voice to the “sad heart” described by Cortot.

My piece, Yet in my sad heart, offers a hazy, dream-like reinterpretation of the Chopin. Fragments of the Prelude arise from the keyboard percussion instruments, slowed down and stretched out against long, sustained synth tones. Meanwhile, as the music shifts into different key areas, the same four chords that began the Chopin, slowly cycle in the background. We stay in this space, a web of percussion, long synth chords and pulsating rhythms, until eventually a delicate cloud of piano arpeggiations in the track take over, slowly enveloping the live musicians. Finally, the piece culminates in a stream-of-consciousness soundscape of swirling, ghostly tones mixed with real world audio samples, eerily concluding this strange, Chopin-inspired fever dream.

SONNETS: Robert Honstein Composer Portrait Concert
Delighted to announce this concert featuring all works of Emmy-nominted composer Robert Honstein, including new arrangements of his works, AND A BRAND NEW PERCUSSION QUARTET written for Up:Strike. This concert will mark Robert’s 7-day residency in Hong Kong. He will be working with the students at the HKAPA and members of Up:Strike. Get your TIX NOW!
2025. June 7 (SAT) 8 pm Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre (5/f)

Louisville’s Music for a Purpose recently premiered my arrangement of Olmsted’s second movement for string quartet. Enjoy!

Here’s some wonderful photos from my work with BalletCollective., who premiered my 20-minute ballet Love Me While I’m Here, with choreography by Omar Román De Jesús.

Image of Kennedy Targosz, Ruby Lister, David Gabriel, Devin Alberda and Sebastián Villarini-Vélez in Love me while I’m here by Brendon Cook/BFA.com

Ruby Lister and David Garcia in “Love Me While I’m Here.” Photo © Whitney Browne.

Ruby Lister, David Gabriel, Devin Alberda, and Sebastián Villarini-Vélez in Love me while I’m here captured by Brendon Cook/BFA.com

Kennedy Targosz, Ruby Lister, David Gabriel and Devin Alberda in “Love Me While I’m Here.” Photo © Whitney Browne.

David Gabriel and Ruby Lister in rehearsal for Love me while I’m here.

Hi friends,

Hope you all have been able to stay cool for this scorcher of a summer! I was lucky enough to make a quick trip to Finland for a performance of my new Endless Landscape at Avanti's Summer Sounds festival, followed by a short visit to MASS MoCA for a stellar performance of An Economy of Means by Doug Perkins at the Bang on a Can Loud weekend, and finally an amazing week in Del Mar, California, teaching at the Del Mar International Composers Symposium. As we head into the fall, I'm excited to give you a season preview and share some new music, upcoming performances and albums in the works.

If you've been following my Facebook Page or Twitter, you'll know that my score for The Real Charlie Chaplin was honored with a News & Documentary Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Music Composition! It continues to be a fun adventure and hope to be able to share more news about the soundtrack soon.

No Exit New Music will premiere a new work of mine for soprano and chamber ensemble in April, and you can check out the ever-expanding season calendar here.

For all the saxophonists and sax/perc. duos out there, Echolocate for alto/soprano sax and marimba is now available for purchase. More info here.

Lastly, an album featuring my An Index of Possibility, Down Down Baby, and Lost and Found, will be released in the spring, with superb performances by TIGUE, New Morse Code, and Michael Compitello. More info coming soon.

Other News

• Check out new score follow videos of Olmsted and Arctic, and subscribe to my YouTube channel for new releases.

• Other Sheet Music Releases: Evergreen for two percussionists and Endless Landscape for eleven instruments are both now available in PDF and Print Formats.

• Alysa Pires's choreography to Conduit: II. Pulse will be programmed by the Alberta Ballet in the Fall. Tickets here.

thanks for tuning in,
Robert

We are excited to let you know about three important releases this fall!

1. Evergreen, for two percussionists, had its live premiere in September, featuring the outstanding Seattle-based Arx Duo. They have upcoming performances in Bellevue, WA (livestreamed), Omaha, NE, and Mission Woods, KS.

2. The brand new Echolocate, commissioned for saxophone and percussion by the Hutchens/Myers Duo, receives its premiere October 26th at the University of South Carolina.

3. My first film score for The Real Charlie Chaplin is making the festival rounds this Fall. See a review here. It premiered a Telluride and will be released in theaters this fall and then air on Showtime.

THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN. Courtesy of SHOWTIME / TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL

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