Upcoming Concerts:
June 20, 2026
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Acclaimed composer Sheila Silver’s new song cycle, Songs of Resilience, will receive its world premiere on World Refugee Day, Saturday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m. at St. George's Episcopal Church in Maplewood, New Jersey.
Songs of Resilience will feature soprano Melissa Citro, soprano Teresa Castillo, and pianist Francesco Barfoed. Silver’s powerful new song cycle gives voice to individuals confronting urgent social, political, and humanitarian crises. In addition, flutist Juan Carlos Narváez and pianist Francesco Barfoed will perform Borderless Dreams, a new work by composer Arturo Rodriguez. This passionate work explores the interior narrative many immigrants experience when contemplating emigration, spanning from hope to trepidation, and from home toward the unknown.
The concert is co-produced by Melissa Citro, Sheila Silver, and PROTESTRA. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit organizations supporting immigrants and families of immigrants detained at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. Beneficiaries include First Friends of New Jersey and New York, and Cosecha.
June 27, 2026
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PROTESTRA will present a concert on Saturday, June 27, 2 PM at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church (263 W 86th St.). Titled “Founding Mothers,” the program will feature works by contemporary and historic American women composers.
This concert is produced in partnership with the American Composers Forum as part of the multi-year Recomposing America initiative and will feature newly commissioned works by two women composers living and working in NYC. Timed with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Recomposing America aims to refresh and reimagine the “who,” “what,” and “why” of the United States and the stories therein. The new orchestral works will highlight the concepts of girlhood and womanhood as they relate to the history and future of America.
The concert opens with the premiere of Matriarch by PROTESTRA Associate Conductor Danielle Jagelski, written in honor of the knowledge systems created and sustained by the enduring wisdom of indigenous female leadership. The second premiere, JL Marlor’s YELLFIRE, features voice and electric guitar alongside the orchestra and explores female rage becoming a force of transformation. The program closes with Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4, the final symphony composed by the first African-American woman to have her work premiered by a top American orchestra.
Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to two NYC-based charities whose work supports and uplifts women and girls: Hour Children and Girls for Gender Equity.
TAKING A STAND SHOULD BE THE STANDARD.
PROTESTRA (protest + orchestra) bridges the divide between advocacy and classical music through grassroots orchestral benefit concerts.
You may have heard about the President’s restrictions on the art we are permitted to create and the way artists are able to express themselves.
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced new funding guidelines for FY 2026, canceling its grant program that prioritized bringing the arts to underserved communities nationwide. In an unprecedented move pulled directly from the authoritarian playbook, President Trump has fired 18 members of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees, appointed a new interim Executive Director for the center, and installed himself Chairman as part of an effort to prevent the venue from staging future productions that feature performers in drag or anything else he deems “anti-American propaganda.”. In his words, he has unilaterally decided to remove individuals “who do not share [his] Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Freedom of expression is one of our most valued American ideals. We unequivocally refuse to remain silent in the face of our Executive Branch’s desire to curtail this constitutional right and control the national cultural narrative.
These attempts at stifling artistic expression show that our leaders are well aware of the importance of the arts and the impact they have on society. We founded PROTESTRA to use music to speak out against injustice. We are prepared to stand up for the right to make artistic choices free from government interference.
We have ambitious plans to advocate for causes including trans rights, free gender expression, artistic liberty, immigrant and refugee rights, women’s rights, and climate action.
To make these goals a reality, we need to grow our resources, our team, and our reach. It is common for nonprofits in our position to begin pursuing government grants in order to help fund their activities. Yet many arts organizations are now at a crossroads with regard to such funding: Choose a watered-down message to fit revised grant guidelines or face budget cuts.
As a young organization, the majority of our funding has thus far come from individual donors; we aren’t beholden to federal grant guidelines that would restrict our work and our message of social justice for all. We intend to keep it that way and will not back down from our vision of being a pioneer for change in the classical music industry. We realize that to truly be an orchestra “for the people”—rather than one subject to government influence—we must take the leap and fully commit to our grassroots approach.
PROTESTRA is steadfast in our commitment to create art in response to the dismantling of fundamental rights. Join us in taking a stand.
