yMusic is

 

Alex Sopp,
Flutes/Voice

alexsopp.com

As the flutist of yMusic, The Knights and NOW Ensemble, the New York Times has praised Alex Sopp’s playing as “exquisite” and “beautifully nuanced.” Comfortable in many genres, Alex has commissioned, premiered, toured and recorded with some of the most exciting composers and songwriters of our time. In addition to playing the flute, Alex is a singer and a visual artist. Her debut album The Hem & The Haw was released in 2024.

Mark Dover, Clarinets

markdovermusic.com

Clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in classical music while ever- expanding into the vast world of improvised music. Since 2016 he has served as the clarinetist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore and Albany Symphonies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Mark was awarded a Grammy as a player and producer for “Best Classical Compendium” for Imani Wind’s latest release, “Passion for Bach and Coltrane.”

CJ Camerieri, Trumpet & Horn

cjtrumpet.com

A graduate of The Juilliard School, CJ Camerieri plays trumpet, french horn and keyboards for some of the most important artists of our time. He founded the classical ensemble yMusic, joined Bon Iver — winning two Grammy awards for the band’s sophomore album — and became an integral member of Paul Simon’s touring band in 2014, assuming a pivotal role in the legend’s last two records. To date, he has released two solo albums under the band name CARM. 

 

Rob Moose, Violin & Guitar

robmoose.com

Rob Moose is a three-time Grammy Award-winning arranger and string player based in Brooklyn. He’s written and recorded charts for thousands of albums, including work by Bon Iver, Taylor Swift, Paul Simon and Phoebe Bridgers. As an orchestrator, Moose’s work has been performed by the Atlanta, Colorado, Dallas, Indianapolis, and National Symphonies, as well as the Boston Pops. 

Nadia Sirota,
viola

nadiasirota.com

Nadia Sirota is a violist, conductor and Peabody Award-winning producer and broadcaster. As a soloist, Nadia has appeared with orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España, and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. To date, she has released four albums of commissioned music. Previously Creative Partner of the New York Philharmonic, Nadia joined the Juilliard faculty in 2023 and serves as the school’s first Creative Associate at Large.

Gabriel Cabezas, Cello

gabrielcabezas.com

Cellist Gabriel Cabezas is a true 21st century musician. Named one of “23 Composers and Performers to Watch in ’23” by the Washington Post, he is a prolific soloist and collaborator, and co-founded the string group Owls. Gabriel has appeared with America’s finest symphony orchestras and has premiered dozens of new works. In 2016, Gabriel received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. 

YMUSIC FULL BIO

yMusic is a genre-leading American chamber ensemble. Now in its 16th season, the group is renowned for its innovative and collaborative spirit. Since their inception, yMusic has had a unique mission: to work on both sides of the classical/popular music divide, without sacrificing rigor, virtuosity, charisma or style. They were recently praised by NPR Music as “...Deeply, profoundly skilled. They’ve formed a language all their own.” 

Named for "Generation Y”, yMusic and their cohort of composer-collaborators, who include Andrew Norman, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter and Caroline Shaw, have come to represent the vanguard of American Contemporary Music. Simultaneously, yMusic has been tapped to lend their orchestral sound and instantly-recognizable style to recordings and concert projects by a dizzying array of popular artists from Anohni to John Legend to Paul Simon.

yMusic is Alex Sopp, flute; Mark Dover, clarinet; CJ Camerieri, trumpet; Rob Moose, violin; Nadia Sirota, viola; and Gabriel Cabezas, cello. The group was founded Rob and CJ in 2008, who chose its unique instrumentation based on their friendships and the players' adaptability. The yMusic configuration has quickly become a staple orchestration for composers and ensembles inspired by the group’s work.

In 2023, the ensemble released their first album of self-composed work titled, YMUSIC. Written collaboratively by all six musicians, YMUSIC represents a creative breakthrough for the ensemble. “They’ve transcended all the conventions that they were trained in” (NPR Music), presenting "one of the most exciting and confident chamber music releases of the year” (Strings Magazine). yMusic also launched an ongoing collaboration, Stories x yMusic, a series of filmed performances and streaming singles featuring prominent artists performing with the ensemble an intimate acoustic setting.

In addition to their most recent album, yMusic has released four full-length albums of commissioned music, 2020’s Ecstatic Science, 2017’s First, 2014’s Balance Problems, and 2011’s Beautiful Mechanical, Time Out New York’s “#1 Classical Record of the Year.” They can be found performing around the world in a variety of contexts and have performed venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Madison Square Garden.

PRESS QUOTES

 

“Deeply, profoundly skilled. They’ve formed a language all their own.” — NPR Music

“yMusic delivers a necessary jolt of rhythmic energy to a generation of composers steeped in nonclassical idioms.”
- New York Times

“a sextet notable for blurring the lines between classical-minded indie rockers and accessible bouts of 21st-century composition.”
- Rolling Stone

“This is not classical music meant to soothe your jangled nerves. This is music meant to fire up the neurons in your brain and keep those neurons on alert”
- Popmatters

“[yMusic delivers] sharp-edged, vivid performances that are at once precision-tooled and full of autonomous life”
- San Francisco Chronicle

“With yMusic the performers act as co-conspirators in the compositional process, interacting with the music as a living document, not an abstract ideal.”
- New York Times

SELECTED PRESS

New Music Friday: The best releases out on May 5 — NPR Music

Review: Carnegie Hall Makes an Intimate Space More Intimate — The New York Times

Crafting a Way for Musicians to Play Together Over Zoom — San Francisco Chronicle

Meet yMusic, Paul Simon’s Genre-Crossing Chamber Ensemble of Choice — Rolling Stone

Bridging Genres and Generations on the Fly — The New York Times

Bruce Hornsby’s New Album is Complex and Untrendy. That’s Why It’s So Good. — The New York Times

yMusic Ignores Genre Boundaries — The Boston Globe

From Mozart to Michael Jackson: The Classical Contenders — NPR

yMusic — The New Yorker