Mezzo-soprano Sharon Harms and the Talea Ensemble will give the New York premiere of Eric Chasalow’s “Muriel’s Songs” on April 23, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City.

The monodrama was inspired by the memoirs of Chasalow’s grandmother, Muriel Gellert Chasalow (1903–2000), drawn from a collection of writings she produced at a senior center creative writing course in her eighties. The work traverses 20th-century American life through stories of piano lessons, marriage, and family vacations, with each song drawing from a distinct stylistic world ranging from Baroque to Tin Pan Alley, Latin Jazz, Disco, and Milton Babbitt.

The program also includes Alex Weiser’s “Coney Island Days” and Joan Tower’s “Petroushskates.”

Eric Chasalow is the Irving Fine Professor of Music at Brandeis University, where he directs the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio. A recipient of awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, his music has been performed by ensembles across the United States and Europe.

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