Miller announces the 2023-24 Season

Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey has once again curated an intriguing season of “immersive, cutting-edge work that sets the bar high” (The New Yorker), seeking out niche repertoires and championing unique artists whose music deserves to be heard more in the city. The 2023-24 season presents an exhilarating expanse of new and early music, as seen through core series Composer Portraits, Early Music, Bach, and Jazz, along with the return of Chamber Opera and community hits Morningside Lights and Pop-Up Concerts.

John Zorn courtesy of John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

“There are few series as satisfying as the Miller Theatre’s signature dives into one composer,” states The New York Times about Composer Portraits. This season opens with a three-concert celebration of NY legend John Zorn in honor of his 70th birthday. Each performance explores a different facet of Zorn's prolific work, from his mini-opera The Gas Heart to a heavy-metal organ trio. These events also showcase an array of Zorn's stellar collaborators, including guitarist Julian Lage, soprano Barbara Hannigan, and JACK Quartet.

The second half of this season's Composer Portraits features three distinct voices who present new Miller-commissioned works alongside pieces from across their oeuvres, all performed by ensembles who call Miller home. International Contemporary Ensemble plays four works by German boundary-blurring composer Carola Bauckholt; JACK Quartet presents a world premiere and other works by texture-focused composer Amy Williams; and Mivos Quartet and Yarn/Wire present U.S. and world premieres of new works by inventive composer Sarah Hennies.

Kate Soper by Matt Zugale for Miller Theatre

Miller's new music programming continues with the Chamber Opera Commissioning Initiative, which returns this year with a world premiere opera by Kate Soper, “one of the great originals of her generation” (The New Yorker), whose work has been championed by Miller through Composer Portraits and the podcast Mission: Commission. Her new opera THE HUNT uses a Medieval-era story to interrogate the modern-day obsession with regulating female sexuality. Previous opera commissions in this Miller Initiative include Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up and Han Lash's Desire.

Simone Dinnerstein by Mackenzie Stroh for Miller Theatre

In addition to its robust new music programming, Miller is home to world-class Early Music and Bach concerts. Preeminent ensembles like Vox Luminis, Stile Antico and The Gesualdo Six return to survey Renaissance and Baroque music, while the Tallis Scholars celebrate their 50th anniversary with a holiday concert. And, a special concert by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, who return to the U.S. for the first time since 2019, explores Baroque masterpieces. All five of these early music groups have made Miller Theatre their one NY stop all next season. Brilliant pianist Simone Dinnerstein returns for three Bach concerts that survey his suites, concerti, and sinfonias. Jazz is also a passion of Smey, and this year's lineup is stellar: Dezron Douglas Quartet, Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, and Linda May Han Oh.

Two favorite community programs return this season: Morningside Lights, which brings the people of Morningside Heights together for a beautiful illuminated outdoor procession featuring dozens of handmade lanterns built during free workshops; and spontaneous Pop-Up Concerts, which seats the public on the stage for bracing new music, inches from the musicians, with drinks in hand.

Subscriptions on sale starting Wednesday, June 21
Single tickets on sale starting Monday, July 17