The Brandenburg Project
The Lamont School of Music and Colorado College will co-present The Brandenburg Project on May 3 at 4:30 p.m. at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. The event will feature all six of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos alongside three newly commissioned works for period instruments.
The project is the result of a collaboration between Lamont faculty member Zoe Weiss and Colorado College faculty member Lidia Chang.
“Though we’re both also musicologists now, Lidia and I met 15 years ago when we were both performing Baroque music in Boston,” Weiss recalls. “Finding ourselves in Colorado and both working with student ensembles on early music, it made sense to collaborate.”
Presenting Bach Through Collaboration
Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are among the most beloved works in the classical canon, familiar to many students long before they ever encounter them in performance. For Weiss and Chang, that familiarity became an entry point.
“These pieces live in our cultural memory,” Weiss explains. “Students often already have a personal connection to them, whether through listening or performing on modern instruments. We knew they could inspire excitement around a large-scale project.”
Bach’s Brandenburg concertos are also one of the reasons Chang got into music. As a 3rd-grader listening to her father’s music collection, she heard the 4th Brandenburg Concerto and thought, “I want to be a part of this.” She vividly remembers the first time she got to play Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, as a college student first experimenting with the Baroque flute. She says of The Brandenburg Project, “I hope the students have a moment like that where they get to be a part of something they’ve heard before.”
Neither institution could have mounted the full set of concertos independently. Together, however, the combined ensembles—and the expertise of Weiss (cello), Chang (flute), and Colorado College’s Elisa Wicks (violin)—made it possible to bring the complete cycle to life.
Learning the Language of Early Instruments
A defining feature of The Brandenburg Project is its commitment to historically informed performance. Over the past year, students have immersed themselves in the study of Baroque instruments and techniques, with many encountering these “strange” and fascinating instruments for the first time.
The experience has pushed students beyond their comfort zones, demanding new approaches to tuning, articulation, and ensemble playing. The result, Weiss and Chang note, has been transformative: a noticeable elevation in both ensembles’ artistry and confidence.
Balancing the historical repertoire are three world premieres by emerging composers Carlos Bandera, Seare Farhat, and Manar Hashmi. Selected through an international competition that drew nearly four dozen submissions, the finalists were chosen by a panel including Lamont composition professor Sean Friar, cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman, and composer Molly Herron. Weiss and Chang then selected the winners who went on to compose new works specifically for The Brandenburg Project.
There were no stylistic guidelines given to the composers, but they were asked for works that “engage with early instruments, performance practices, and/or repertories in some way.” The three winners all worked with Chang and Weiss to learn about the period instruments available, hear them demonstrate the different sounds they can make, and ask questions about various extended techniques.
“We are delighted with how deeply each composer engaged with these instruments and with the music of J.S. Bach,” says Weiss. “Drawing inspiration from specific instrumentations, compositional procedures, and even direct quotation, the commissions speak to both the serious and silly sides of Baroque music.”
Meet the Composers
Seare Farhat draws inspiration from poetry, mathematics, Afghan heritage, and medieval music, often exploring how musical language can encode history. A recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship and a BMI Composer Award, Farhat is currently a doctoral candidate at Cornell University and has worked with ensembles such as the JACK Quartet and Longleash.
Manar Hashmi, a composer, conductor, and string player from Western Massachusetts, blends her love of storytelling, history, and nature into her music. With experience in both contemporary and Baroque performance, this project marks her first work for period instruments—an especially meaningful convergence of her artistic interests.
Carlos Bandera, a Chicago-based composer, is known for creating expansive, immersive sound worlds that transform simple materials into intricate textures. His works have been performed by leading ensembles including the American Composers Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and he is currently pursuing a PhD at Northwestern University.
The Brandenburg Project: Event Details
May 2, 2026 | 3:00 p.m.
Packard Performance Hall, Colorado College
Free and open to the public
May 3, 2026 | 4:30 p.m.
Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts
Free and open to the public
Free parking
Reception to follow
