Message from Seth Brenzel,
Executive Director
Dear Walden friends,
Spring is here, and the start of Walden’s 2026 summer season is less than two months away!
In the meantime, we have two wonderful Walden fundraising events coming up. This Sunday, April 26, Walden is hosting a celebration and fundraiser in Washington, DC, featuring pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and violist/violinist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli. Next month, we’ll be in in New York City, with a celebration and fundraiser on Sunday, May 17, featuring pianist Blair McMillen. I hope to see many Walden friends at these events! Please write to us if you are interested in attending.
There are just a few spots remaining in our student body for Summer 2026. Applications for Walden’s 2026 summer programs are being accepted and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Both the Young Musicians Program (YMP) and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) will be held on the beautiful Dublin School campus in Dublin, New Hampshire. Read on for more details, and please help us spread the word!
This edition of InterNetzo also includes a recap of last month’s Walden celebration in Los Angeles, featuring the amazing exilio vocal octet, as well as lots of exciting community news. Thank you for staying engaged with Walden, and please let us know if you have any updates for us to share in an upcoming newsletter!
Sincerely,
Seth Brenzel
Executive Director
(415) 587-8157
Upcoming Fundraising Events
A Walden celebration in Washington, DC
A Walden celebration in Washington, DCSunday, April 26, 2026
3 to 5 p.m.
DACOR Bacon House
Please join us this Sunday, April 26, for a wonderful Walden afternoon in Washington, DC! Enjoy a performance by the Mahidhara-Fort Duo, which offers audiences the rare experience of hearing both violin-piano and viola-piano works on the same program. At this event, pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and violist/violinist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli (a past visiting artist at Walden) will perform works by Mozart, French baroque composer Marin Marais, and contemporary Icelandic composer Veronique Vaka.
RSVP for Walden’s event in Washington, DC!
A Walden celebration in New York City
Sunday, May 17, 2026
3 to 5 p.m.
Salmagundi Club
Our next Walden fundraising event will feature pianist Blair McMillen, who will perform at the beautiful, art-filled Salmagundi Club in Greenwich Village. Hailed by the New York Times as “prodigiously accomplished and exciting” and as one of the piano’s “brilliant stars,” McMillen is a past visiting artist at The Walden School.
RSVP for Walden’s event in New York City!
We hope you will join us at one (or both!) of these events, as we gather to celebrate Walden and its mission of inspiring artistic expression and personal growth through experiential music programs. Contributions to The Walden School Annual Fund will underwrite essential student scholarships and inspiring artist residencies at Walden’s programs this coming summer.
RSVP or contact us with questions at donors@waldenschool.org or (415) 587-8157.
Event Recap
A Walden fundraiser and celebration in Los Angeles
We were delighted to see many Walden community members, and to meet several new friends, at our fabulous celebration and fundraiser in Los Angeles on March 14. The event was held in the elegant Victory Ballroom at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown LA. We enjoyed a performance by exilio, a dynamic LA-based vocal octet that champions underrepresented and emerging composers, and that includes two Walden School alums as vocalists and composers: Hannah Rice and Theo Trevisan, both of whom will be on faculty this summer at Walden’s Young Musicians Program. We are grateful to the members of exilio for sharing their talents and creativity with the Walden community.
We are very grateful to our host committee and all of our event donors, who contributed $8,080 to Walden’s Annual Fund as part of this celebration. Thank you!
Thanks also to Alan Chan and Amy Bryan for generously donating raffle gifts.
On behalf of our host committee, thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate music, community, and Walden in Los Angeles! And a big thank you to everyone who made gifts of support to Walden as part of this event.
Thank you to our host committee: JoAnn Balingit, Seth Brenzel, Amy Bryan, Alan Chan, Noah Mlotek, Joshua Rubin, Danielle Schindler Cheung, Stephen Smith, John Tarrh, Theo Trevisan, Jennifer Weidman, and Mindy Williams
A Few Spots Remain for Walden 2026
Applications are being accepted for Summer 2026!
There’s still time to apply to The Walden School’s 2026 summer programs! Applications to both the Young Musicians Program (YMP) and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) are currently being accepted and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Don’t delay!
We encourage you to share the news with your friends, family, colleagues, students, and teachers.
Creative Musicians Retreat
June 13–21, 2026
Dublin School, Dublin, New Hampshire
for musicians ages 18–98
Young Musicians Program
June 27–August 2, 2026
Dublin School, Dublin, New Hampshire
for pre-college musicians, ages 9–18
Application materials for both programs are available on our website.
Write to us at applicants@waldenschool.org with any questions.
Opportunities for Composers
Did you know that Walden hosts a continually updated webpage of competitions, awards,
and calls for scores? Please let us know of additional opportunities that may be of interest to the Walden community.
Here are some featured opportunities with upcoming deadlines:
Score Follower Call for Works 2026
Approximately 30 works will be selected by the Score Follower jury, produced as “score videos,” and uploaded to the Score Follower YouTube channel. Composers of any age, nationality, or background may submit up to three works for instruments and/or electronics. Apply by May 1, 2026.
Azrieli Music Prizes 2028
The Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) offer opportunities for the discovery, creation, performance, and celebration of excellence in music composition. For the 2028 edition, there are three prizes for chamber music: the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music; the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music; and the Azrieli Commission for International Music. Winners are commissioned to create new works, to be delivered in summer 2028. Apply by May 6, 2026.
Susan Bergman Gurrentz ’56 Art Gallery at Chatham University Sound+ Installation Proposals
Chatham University’s Music Program and Arts, Design, & Communication Department are seeking sound and multimedia installation proposals from the SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) membership for its new Susan Bergman Gurrentz ’56 Art Gallery to be exhibited during the Fall 2026 semester. Exhibition attendance is not required for featured composers and artists, though those that are able to travel to Chatham’s campus in Pittsburgh will be invited to give a presentation about their work. SEAMUS membership is required to submit. Apply by May 17, 2026.
Franco Carillon Composition Proposal Contest
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) invites proposals for the biennial Franco Carillon Composition Proposal Contest. The GCNA encourages composers who are relatively new to carillon composition to enter the Proposal Contest in order to receive support throughout the compositional process of a new carillon piece. The goals of this contest are to bring new voices to the carillon repertoire and to increase awareness of the carillon and its vast technical and expressive capabilities. Prize-winning proposals will be awarded $2,000 and will be published and premiered at the next GCNA Congress. Apply by June 16, 2026.
Community News
Peter Jones launches Sondheim podcast
Peter E. Jones, an alum of Walden’s Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR), has created a new podcast titled Loving You: The Untold Sondheim. Jones, who is Stephen Sondheim’s archivist, co-hosts the podcast with British theater artist Martin Milnes. The 12-episode podcast features previously unheard archival material and interviews with friends and collaborators of the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist, including Julie Andrews, Mia Farrow, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The podcast began airing on March 5, and approximately half of the episodes have been released.
Marilyn Crispell releases album
Pianist Marilyn Crispell, an alum of the Junior Conservatory Camp (JCC), released a new album in March on the ECM record label. The album, Memento, is a collaboration with Swedish bassist Anders Jormin and features numerous compositions by Crispell, including Dragonfly, which she wrote in memory of bassist Gary Peacock. Also included on the album are several improvisations by each performer and by the duo.
YMP alum signs with Giant Music, releases debut singles 
YMP alum Maya Engenheiro has signed with the Giant Music record label under the artist name Maya Engen. With a sound described by HITS Magazine as “pop, jazz, and a tinge of country,” Maya released her debut single, called “Fool,” last month and recently released a second single, “Jade.” Both singles were also released as music videos. Congratulations, Maya!
New work by Lila Meretzky receives premiere performance
On April 16, London-based new music ensemble Apartment House premiered a new work by Lila Meretzky, a Walden faculty member. Her Quartet was performed alongside music by Michaël Lévinas, Tim Parkinson, and composer duo Morison/Opit. Presented at BBC’s Maida Vale Studio 3, the concert was recorded with plans for future broadcast on Radio 3’s New Music Show. Congratulations, Lila!
Walden Board member featured in table tennis profile
David Roberts, a member of Walden’s Board of Directors and the parent of a YMP alum, is also a competitive table tennis player. He plays at Seattle Pacific Table Tennis Club, which was recently featured in the Seattle Times. The article includes an action shot of David volleying a wide forehand. Congratulations, David!
Work of Walden faculty members performed by Talea Ensemble
On March 20, 2026, Talea Ensemble premiered a new work by former YMP faculty member Katie Balch, titled still life. The performance featured video projections designed by Ted Moore, an alum of Walden’s Teacher Training Institute (TTI) and longtime Walden faculty and staff member, who is married to Balch. Also on the program were premieres by Artun Çekem and Marti Epstein. Talea Ensemble includes several Walden visiting artists past and present: Laura Cocks (flute), Marianne Gythfeldt (clarinet), Rane Moore (clarinet), and Matthew Gold (percussion).
Yarn/Wire ensemble premieres work by George Lewis with New York Philharmonic
In concerts April 8-10, the piano/percussion quartet Yarn/Wire (a past visiting ensemble at Walden) and the New York Philharmonic premiered a new concerto by George E. Lewis, a past Composer-in-Residence at both of Walden’s summer programs. Conducted by Kwamé Ryan, the program featured Lewis’s new work, titled …ohne festen Wohnsitz…, alongside Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question and vocal selections by Igor Stravinsky, Carlisle Floyd, and Samuel Barber, sung by soprano Golda Schultz. Lewis’s work was a co-commission by the New York Philharmonic and Philharmonie Luxembourg.
In other Yarn/Wire news, the ensemble is excited to perform at the SPOR Festival in Aarhus, Denmark, April 23-24. They also recently welcomed a new member, percussionist Dustin Donahue. Congratulations to all!
Pictured above: George Lewis with the members of Yarn/Wire, from Yarn/Wire’s Instgram page
Michael Gilbertson celebrates two premieres
The Del Sol Quartet, a past visiting ensemble at Walden, premiered a new work by former YMP faculty member Michael Gilbertson on March 22. The concert took place at Boston Conservatory, where Gilbertson is a composition faculty member. The work, titled Prototype, was written for Del Sol and featured Gilbertson playing the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument invented in the 1920s. On March 29-30, the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra premiered Gilbertson’s Cello Concerto featuring cellist Zuill Bailey. The orchestra commissioned the concerto following a successful commission of Gilberston’s Symphony in the 2024-25 season. Also on the program were Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Congratulations, Michael!
Eliza Brown and Chris Wild welcome baby
We are delighted to congratulate Eliza Brown and Chris Wild on the birth of their daughter, Dahlia. Eliza is a YMP alum and longtime Walden faculty member. Chris is a longtime cellist in The Walden School Players and also a former Walden faculty member. Eliza and Chris look forward to introducing Dahlia to the Walden community. Congratulations and welcome, Dahlia!
In Memoriam
Nancy Tsuyuki Jerome
We are sad to share the news that Nancy Chiyoko Tsuyuki Jerome, a past YMP faculty member, passed away on November 22, 2025. She was an elementary school music teacher in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, until her retirement in 2013. She was very active at Christ Our Anchor Presbyterian Church in Cape St. Claire, Maryland, where she was involved in choir, bell choir, the Christmas Pageant, and their Music and Art Camp. She also directed their Children’s Choir for many years. Nancy is survived by her husband of 33 years, Jeffrey, her sons, Brandon and Michael, her parents, and her siblings. Our condolences go out to Nancy’s family and loved ones.
We Want To Hear From You!
If you have a recent or upcoming premiere or concert, publication, award, new job, or a celebratory life event, please share your news, which needn’t be music-related (although we love your music-related news to be sure!). Email your news to alumni@waldenschool.org.
Stay in Touch
You can like The Walden School page on Facebook and join The Walden School private group to hear about events and opportunities throughout the year. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, bandcamp, and at waldenschool.org.
- A dance at Walden’s Young Musicians Program
