Composer Victoria Bond's curated-program “Tarot Magic in Music” opens The Morgan Library & Museum’s 2026-27 classical season
September 23 concert features premiere of a new version of Bond's "Instruments of Revelation" with clarinetist Charles Neidich, flutist Carol Wincenc, and others
Plus, October 1: The Village Trip presents Bond’s Ulysses-inspired work “Sirens” at Church of St. Luke’s in the Field
Composer Victoria Bond has curated a very special program to open The Morgan Library & Museum’s 2026-27 classical concert season. On September 23, 2026 at 7 p.m., The Morgan (225 Madison Ave, Manhattan) presents “Tarot Magic in Music” with Carol Wincenc, flute; Charles Neidich, clarinet; Hahnsol Kim, violin; Michael Nicolas, cello; and Mohamed Shams, piano.
The program is centered around the world premiere of the four-movement version of Bond's “Instruments of Revelation,” a work inspired by the tarot cards the Magician, High Priestess, Fool, and The Wheel of Fortune. It opens with excerpts from the opera Carmen, in which Carmen reads her own tarot cards. Plus, works by Pierre Boulez, Maurice Ravel, and Katherine Hoover touch on folk magic themes and traditions. The concert draws inspiration from the exhibit Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions at The Morgan, on view through October 4. Tickets are $60, available here.
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The new film version of The Odyssey has brought fresh attention to this classic saga, but it is hardly the only treatment. James Joyce based his Ulysses on Homer’s work and set it in Dublin. In her composition “Sirens,” Victoria Bond was inspired by one of the episodes in which two alluring barmaids tempt customers into their bar. “This episode, along with the overall theme of Joyce’s Ulysses, is about being an outsider who is scorned and reviled,” says Bond. “He is also everyman or everywoman who feels apart and alone in the midst of a world that has no use for him or her.”
On October 1 at 7:30 p.m., "Sirens" will be performed by the Cygnus Ensemble, for whom it was written, at the Church of St. Luke’s in the Field (487 Hudson St, Manhattan) as part of The Village Trip festival. Cygnus will be joined by soprano Amy Justman, mezzo-soprano Devony Smith, tenor Maximillian Jansen, baritone Patrick Wilhelm, and narrator Emmanuel Chumaciero. The program also features music by Samuel Adler, Dina Kosta, and Nehemiah Luckett. Tickets are $30, available here.
For a full schedule of performances of Victoria Bond's music, visit this link.