Music at Grace Farms | Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano and Arlen Hlusko, cello

Music at Grace Farms

This distinctive concert series invites audiences into the Sanctuary, a glass-enclosed amphitheater, to experience a one-of-a-kind acoustic music performance timed with the sunset. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning firm, SANAA, the Sanctuary’s glass walls offer 360-degree views of 80 acres of natural landscapes, while the room’s exceptional acoustics enhance the musical performances happening within. This unique setting provides an immersion into a singular moment where music intertwines with nature and elevates a collective sense of hope and possibility. Past performers include Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell, Mon Rovîa, jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, and Grace Farms Artist-in-Residence cellist Arlen Hlusko.

About Elizabeth Joy Roe

Pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe is widely recognized for her boundary-defying artistry, poetic depth, and charismatic virtuosity. Lauded as “brilliant” and “riveting” (The New York Times), “an artist to be taken seriously” (Chicago Tribune), “incisive, lyrical” (BBC Music Magazine), and “electrifying” (The Dallas Morning News), she has appeared at major venues on five continents: from Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center to the Seoul Arts Center, the Esplanade in Singapore, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. She has appeared at renowned festivals such as the Gilmore, Ravinia, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Bravo! Vail, Banff, Chautauqua, and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Roe’s multifaceted endeavors are distinguished by artistic versatility. Her discography—featured on Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, and the Steinway label—includes the complete Nocturnes by John Field, the Britten and Barber Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, a solo album Images Poetiques, and five Billboard-charting albums as one half of the groundbreaking Anderson & Roe Piano Duo. Since 2017, she has served as the on-air host of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition’s live broadcasts, one of the most watched classical music events worldwide.

Career highlights include a PBS special, Jazz & The Philharmonic, alongside Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea; the Carnegie Hall premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen during the composer’s centennial hosted by Pierre Boulez; keynote performances for the United Nations and global leadership forums such as the EG Conference, Chicago Ideas Week, and La Ciudad de las Ideas; and an artistic residency under the sponsorship of the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. She has mentored for the national YoungArts organization and presented masterclasses and talks at leading institutions including Juilliard, NYU, Eastman, and Northwestern.

As a concerto soloist, Roe has appeared with dozens of orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. A devoted collaborator, she has worked with an array of musicians ranging from conductor Leonard Slatkin to jazz pianist Shelly Berg. She is a founding member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, and a driving force behind the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, whose visionary music videos (garnering millions of views) and galvanizing performances have attracted international acclaim and media coverage from MTV, NPR, the BBC, Gramophone, and The Huffington Post.

A native of Chicago, Roe launched her professional career at age 13 after winning the IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition in Italy. She made her concerto debut two years later with the Chicago Philharmonic and went on to earn both undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School, where she was a full scholarship recipient and the winner of the prestigious William Petschek Award.

Committed to arts advocacy and education, Roe was an inaugural member of Ensemble Connect, a fellowship of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. She has held faculty positions at Smith College and Sonoma State University and was awarded the McGraw-Hill Companies’ Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach.

Roe is a Steinway Artist and Soros Fellow whose mission is to connect through the inspiration, joy, and essential humanity of music.

About Arlen Hlusko

Hailed for her “sublime cello prowess” (Take Effect), “absorbing originality” (Gramophone), and “mesmerizing beauty” (NY Music Daily), internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko is a dynamic artist who has performed as soloist and chamber musician across North & South Americas, Asia, and Europe. She is “capable of playing with great delicacy but also fearlessness; regardless of the character of the material, she executes it with authority and conviction […] and open-hearted expression is present throughout” (Textura). Cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars sextet (extolled by the New York Times for “combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble”), Arlen regularly performs with other ensembles, including Manhattan Chamber Players, The Knights, and Dolce Suono Ensemble, and is a member of the Harry Chapin Band and recent alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

In 2025-2026, she became the inaugural musician “Artist-in-Residence” at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT, and continues for the 2026-2027 season. Interested in a wide array of music, she has collaborated closely with artists from Jordi Savall to Midori to Meredith Monk to David Byrne, and is a GRAMMY® winner for her collaboration with The Crossing, as well as a laureate of several competitions. Arlen has been featured on CBC’s “30 Under 30,” and is a Larsen Artist. She has debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic, among others, and has been invited to several pre-eminent chamber music festivals, including Spoleto USA, Tippet Rise, Bay Chamber Concerts, and Music from Angel Fire. Committed to using her music to connect with and serve her community, Arlen founded her own interactive chamber music concert series, Philadelphia Performances for Autism, and is involved with numerous communities, including Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

2026-2027 season

The 2026/2027 season deepens our ongoing exploration of the programmatic theme, We all build, through a new slate of one-of-a-kind experiences rooted in our mission to foster more grace and peace locally and globally. Join us for unforgettable musical performances, stirring dialogue from today’s leading thinkers, and community moments — each held in an immersive setting where boundaries between people, architecture, and landscape dissolve. Visit us throughout the seasons to sit at this unique intersection and explore topics that aim to inspire both introspection and joy. From there, we hope you connect with our theme that encourages all to build a more graceful and peaceful world, every day.

thank you to our 2026-2027 season sponsor