Chromatica Orchestra brings its 2025/26 season to a close with New York, New York – a programme that charts the city after dark through some of the most vivid orchestral writing of the twentieth century. From the lonely nocturnal streets of Copland’s Quiet City to the propulsive energy of Steve Reich’s City Life, the concert paints a portrait of a metropolis in all its moods.
At the heart of the programme is Ryan Wang, who in 2024 became BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 17, captivating audiences with his interpretation of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2. He joins Chromatica for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, the iconic jazz-classical fusion that has soundtracked New York’s image for over a century.
Wang is widely regarded as one of the most exciting young pianists to emerge in recent years. Alison Balsom has described him as “a truly remarkable musician” with “an extremely rare ability to communicate something other-worldly.” In 2024 he became the youngest-ever recipient of the Prix Cortot Award at Paris’ Salle Cortot.
The programme also features Charles Ives’ Central Park in the Dark (1906), a visionary piece that places the listener in the park’s nocturnal stillness, decades ahead of its time in its layering of dissonance and ambient sound.
Chromatica Orchestra is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musical talent by bringing together outstanding emerging orchestral players, brilliant soloists, and early-career conductors. The orchestra’s Orchestrate community programme works with secondary schools to form and develop school orchestras, with students performing side-by-side with Chromatica players in rehearsals and concerts.
Programme
Copland – Quiet City
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Ives – Central Park in the Dark
Reich – City Life
Performers
Ryan Wang, piano
Chromatica Orchestra
Concert details
Wednesday 17 June 2026, 7.30pm
Battersea Arts Centre, London
Tickets: from £15–40
Book now at https://www.chromaticaorchestra.com/concerts/new-york-new-york/
