Salon/Sanctuary Concerts offers the special chance to hear pre-Romantic music performed by both emerging and renowned artists in intimate venues that complement the historical context of the repertoire.
Pleased to develop and present special projects that view history through the prism of music, the Salon/Sanctuary seasons feature many original programs which endeavor to encourage understanding among people of different faiths through the performance of sacred repertoire in houses of worship open to all. The series has pursued a path apart and garnered critical praise through insightful programming, and continues to attract a diverse audience for its innovative offerings.
Salon/Sanctuary Concerts is proud to include Carnegie Hall, Temple Emanu-El, the American Philosophical Society, Brotherhood Synagogue, Afro Roots Tuesdays, St. Paul’s Chapel of Columbia University, the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, NYU Maison Française and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò among its many American presenting partners.
During the pandemic year of 2020, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts added film producing to its many activities. Our first film, Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion, became the most decorated early music film in cinematic history, garnering over 90 laurels from film festivals across the globe. For more information on Babylon, please click here. Additional music film projects continue to attract international attention and gain new audiences for early music worldwide.
In recent seasons, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts has enjoyed collaborations with L’Associazione per Boboli, Palazzo Bardi, Palazzo Gondi, Palazzo Guicciardini, the Great Synagogue of Florence, NYU Villa La Pietra, Villa Finaly – La Chancellerie des Universités de Paris La Sorbonne, among other Florentine institutions, to launch an extended season of early music concerts in stunning venues of extraordinary artistic and historical importance in the Renaissance capital of Florence, Italy. In June of 2017, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts was offered an annual residency at Villa Finaly, the Florentine branch of the Sorbonne, in order to create special programs that explore and celebrate the artistic and historic ties between Italy and France in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. In December 2019, the series was invited by the Scuola Musica Antica Venezia at Palazzo Grimani to inaugurate a residency in order to develop interdisciplinary projects including Venetian baroque music and historical dance.
Other Italian collaborating institutions include the Bernini and Borromini-designed Sant'Agnese in Agone on Piazza Navona in Rome, and the Teatro all'Antica di Sabbioneta, one of three remaining Renaissance theaters in the world today and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Our mission is threefold:
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To present chamber music in the kinds of intimate salon spaces for which the music is intended
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To encourage understanding among people of different faiths through the performance of sacred works in sanctuaries appropriate to the repertoire
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To challenge audience expectations for historical performance through new explorations in interdisciplinary collaboration
Salon/Sanctuary Concerts was founded by Artistic Director Jessica Gould in 2009, and is a project of tJewish Creativity International, a 501 (c ) 3 non-profit organization. All contributions above $250 are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Jessica Gould, Founder and Artistic Director
Neal Epstein, Treasurer
Laura Kolb Araujo, Front of House Manager
Kathleen Chalfant
Monica Huggett
Hopkinson Smith
Tazewell Thompson
Daniele Angelotti
Angela Bankhead
Kevin Nathaniel Hylton
Priscilla Kauff
Krisy Mahome
William H. Roberts
Marco Rosa Salva
Ilaria Sainato