Roslyn Young Memorial

02/11/2026

ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.

02/11/2026

Beauty is not caused - it is;
Chase it and it ceases,
Chase it not and it abides.
- Emily Dickinson

Happy Birthday, Roslyn!

01/17/2026

Today marks 22 years since we lost Roslyn. We miss her every day but her memory lives on through the Roslyn Young Memorial and the musicians and music of our annual concert.

10/20/2025

An absolutely stunning and deeply moving concert last night. Bravura performance by our Circle of Friends ensemble culminating in an enthusiastic standing ovation!

10/18/2025

The 4th member of our 'Quartet of Friends' is cellist, ROBERT BURKHART, who combines a deep commitment to the existing cello repertoire with what the New Yorker magazine calls an “adventurous” spirit in new music. With performance credits at Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and The Rose Studio at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Robert has also appeared as a soloist throughout Japan as a member of the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and been featured in recital on WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase.”
At the center of new music in New York, Robert has performed with the American Modern Ensemble, Argento New Music Project, Fireworks Ensemble, Newspeak, and SONYC. Recent collaborations include Uri Caine, Georg Friedrich Haas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Steve Mackey, Joan Tower, Charles Wourinen, and Chen Yi. He has performed the New York premiere of John Harbison’s Abu Ghraib for cello and piano, and was the soloist in Augusta Read Thomas’s Passion Prayers for cello and chamber ensemble at the New York Times Center.
Robert’s major teachers include Paul Tobias at The Mannes College of Music and Uri Vardi at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he has worked with Timothy Eddy, Aldo Parisot, and Janos Starker at festivals and masterclasses. Robert has taught at Juilliard Pre-college, Mannes Prep, Syracuse University, and Music Conservatory of Westchester, and been artist-in-residence at Yale University and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. His recent CD “20/21: Music for Cello and Piano from the 20th and 21st Centuries,” features pianist Blair McMillen and the premiere of a work for cello and piano by composer Andrew Waggoner. Robert’s recording of solo Bach on the American Express commercial “Don’t Take Chances. Take Charge.” has garnered national attention. Visit www.robertpburkhart.com.

10/15/2025

Violist Margrét Hjaltested is RYM's artistic director and will perform this Sunday in Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quartet, Op.15 in C minor. Margrét enjoys a diverse career as a freelance violist, teacher and project manager. Icelandic born, she splits her time between New York City, Reykjavík and Lubec, Maine.

Margrét has been a recitalist and chamber musician in concerts at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, and the Tenri Gallery. She is a
founding member and co-director of the baroque ensemble, Queens Consort. Margrét has played with many orchestras, including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, and as a baroque violist she has performed with The American Classical Orchestra, Abendmusik and La Fiocco. She has toured internationally with the NewYork Symphonic Ensemble on its annual tour of the Far East, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti ́s International Farewell Tour, Andrea Boccelli ́s Tour 2022 and the Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. Margrét has performed and recorded with many popular artists, including Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, and Paul McCartney. Her many television appearances include the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Night Show with David Letterman, and the historic broadcast at Madison Square Garden in October 2001 'The Concert for New York City.'
Margrét maintains a hybrid private studio for adults/amateur string players at all levels in New York City.
She received her B.Mus. from The Juilliard School, M.Mus. from Mannes College of Music and M.C.M (Master of Creative Management) from Bifröst University in Iceland.

10/12/2025

Meet Barbara Podgurski, pianist for next week's RYM concert:
A native of New York, Barbara Podgurski holds a DMA in piano performance from The Graduate Center (CUNY), a BM in piano performance and an MM in both piano performance and music theory from Mannes College of Music. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Europe, and has been featured on WQXR, WNYC’s “Soundcheck”, NPR, WQED and numerous others. Dr. Podgurski was featured in a television documentary for NHK Japan with violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn and the famed “Red” Mendelssohn Stradivarius. She was invited with her colleagues to perform at a private ceremony for Pope Francis and members of the UN in an interfaith prayer service during the last Papal visit to NYC.
A former faculty member at The Mannes College of Music, Hunter College and Mercy College, she is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at BMCC (CUNY), Staff Pianist for the Strings Department at NYU, and is on the faculty of the RiverArts Music Program in Hudson Valley. She is also the Assistant to the Conductor and pianist for the Oratorio Society of Queens. Barbara is featured in a documentary titled “A Taste of Chamber Music” which will be released in Spring 2025 on PBS.org and allarts.org. Barbara is the Associate Director of KIISS – The Krakauer Institute for Intensive Summer Study in Vaison-la-Romaine, France which takes place every summer (information is available by visiting krakauerinstitute.org). Barbara is the Executive and Artistic Director of Musica Reginae Productions.

10/11/2025