FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: the cell theatre Box Office • thecelltheatre@gmail.com
Venue: Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre, 338 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011
HAYDN: DIALOGUES (feat. Darian Donovan Thomas)
A Conversation Between Classical Heritage and Contemporary Composition
Saturday, February 7, 2026 • 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM EST
New York, NY — Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre proudly presents HAYDN: DIALOGUES (feat. Darian Donovan Thomas), a compelling evening of chamber music that bridges centuries of musical tradition and innovation. The performance is set for Saturday, February 7, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the intimate Chelsea venue located at 338 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011.
Haydn: Dialogues is an ambitious multi-season commissioning project that reimagines the classical string quartet cycle—pairing Franz Josef Haydn’s enduring masterpieces with newly commissioned works by contemporary American composers. This visionary series unfolds over the next decade, culminating in celebration of Haydn’s 300th birth anniversary in 2032.
Presented by the acclaimed Cramer Quartet, the evening features Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4 (“Sunrise”), followed by a new work, Sunrise No. 277 by composer and interdisciplinary artist Darian Donovan Thomas
The Cramer Quartet—Jessica Park (violin), Kate Goddard (violin), Maren Rothfritz (viola), and Michael Unterman (cello)—is known for its refined period-instrument performances at prestigious venues including The Morgan Library and the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia. Their ongoing Haydn: Dialogues cycle has garnered acclaim for fostering creative exchange between historical repertoire and contemporary perspectives.
HAYDN: DIALOGUES promises an evening of rich musical conversation—where tradition and modernity converse in vivid, unforgettable sound.
about the artists
The Cramer Quartet has recently performed at the Morgan Library, Academy of Early Music, the Stearns Collection of Instruments at the University of Michigan, the Portland Bach Experience, and the world premiere of cello quintet Soul Bop by Brian Nabors at the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia. The Cramer Quartet is in the midst of Haydn: Dialogues, an ambitious multi-year cycle combining Haydn’s 68 string quartets with sixteen new commissions by American composers. This season will also include the next installment of Haydn: Dialogues, featuring the world premiere of a new work by Darian Donovan Thomas to be performed alongside Haydn’s Op. 76 string quartets. Highlights of past seasons include performances of The Seven Last Words Project— an immersive multimedia journey through Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ as reflected upon by seven diverse contemporary composers— at Five Boroughs Music Festival; the quartet’s debut at Music Mountain Summer Festival as the first period instrument ensemble to perform in the concert series 92 year history, and a residency at Festival de Música de Santa Catarina in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil. The Cramer Quartet is generously supported by New York State Council of the Arts and the Copland Foundation, and is the recipient of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement Grant, Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward Grant. The ensemble takes its name from Wilhelm Cramer, a brilliant violinist who enjoyed a multifaceted career as London’s first major string quartet leader. Cramer is credited with popularizing a late 18th century violin bow which became the inspiration for the style of historical bows used by the Cramer Quartet.
Darian Donovan Thomas Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist Darian Donovan Thomas was born in San Antonio, Texas and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He is interested in combining genres and mediums into a singular vocabulary that can express ideas about intersectionality (of medium and identity). Necessarily, he is interested in redacting all barriers to entry that have existed at the gates of any genre – this vocabulary of multiplicity will be intersectional, and therefore all-inclusive.Darian has been commissioned by YOSA (the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio), Bang on a Can’s summer festival Banglewood, percussionists at Bard College Conservatory, Sam Houston State University, among others. His music has been premiered by So Percussion, YOSA, Bang on a Can Banglewood Fellows, SoSI Fellows, and performed in Iceland, Switzerland, Canada, and all around the United States. On any given night you can find Darian performing anywhere from a salon house show to a grungy basement to a bar/venue to a formal concert hall. As a means of exercising his interdisciplinary nature, Darian is currently performing with eight bands and ensembles in New York, as well as creating interdisciplinary work in different visual mediums. He has recently performed with Moses Sumney on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in a Tiny Desk concert with critically acclaimed dreambow band Balun, toured internationally to Iceland with Apartment Sessions, toured nationally and recorded with the Katie Martucci Band, is performing with MEDIAQUEER, Mordechai, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Prompts Collective, and constantly performs his solo set in different venues around NYC. He has toured China, England, Wales, and has performed nationally with the Josh Abbott Band to audiences of thousands of people. Darian received his Bachelors in Music Composition from The University of the Incarnate Word (2016) in San Antonio, Texas. He has since been a New Amsterdam Records Composer Lab Fellow (2018), So Percussion Summer Institute (SoSI) Composer Fellow (2018), Infinite Palette composer performer for Aeon Ritual at MASSMoCA (2019), and a Bang on a can Summer Institute “Banglewood” Composer Fellow (2019). He has studied with Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Sarah Kirkland Snider, William Brittelle, Andrea Mazzariello, Troy Peters, amongst others.With composition engagements scheduled through the coming year, he is currently composing for musicians in Australia, Germany, Russia, and Canada. He is writing a piece for Piano and Orchestra which will be toured by Adam Tender and YOSA around the north east next Summer, with a performance in Carnegie Hall.
TICKETS & INFO: Available now: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thecelltheatre/2032188
VENUE: Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre, 338 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011.
