Music at Grace Farms

Experience Grace Farms’ distinctive, daylit acoustic music performances in the glass-enclosed Sanctuary, against the backdrop of 80 acres of natural landscapes. Season highlights include a recital by internationally acclaimed cellist and 19-time GRAMMY® winner Yo-Yo Ma and GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, and a special recital by Grace Farms Artist-in-Residence and GRAMMY®-winning Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko.

An exceptional music experience

The Sanctuary was designed as a place of reciprocity and connection, where the audience is a participant, not an observer or critic, and builds connection with the performance, convening, or lecture, and the landscape beyond it. The half-moon shape of the audience seating creates sightlines to other members of the audience, while also enveloped in music, light, and inspiration. The result is a shared moment of awe, joy, and hope that was built together during the program, and remains a memory for years to come.

Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Solon Gordon, piano

Sunday, January 11, 2026 | 3 pm

Yo-Yo Ma will perform a recital with pianist Solon Gordon.

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo Ma strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

(80-minute performance)

About Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

Most recently, Yo-Yo began Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Our Common Nature follows the Bach Project, a 36-community, six-continent tour of J. S. Bach’s cello suites paired with local cultural programming. Both endeavors reflect Yo-Yo’s lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to understand how music helps us to imagine and build a stronger society.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, where he began studying the cello with his father at age four. When he was seven, he moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education.

Yo-Yo has recorded more than 120 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006, and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

About Solon Gordon

Solon Gordon leads a multifaceted career in music and technology. As a pianist, he specializes in collaborative playing and finds joy in working with a wide range of musicians, from young students to touring professionals. In recent years he has enjoyed partnerships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, baritone Jack Hornor, clarinetist/composer Jonathan Russell, and violinist Lily Tsai. He also performs frequent solo recitals for his neighbors at Youville Assisted Living.

In his work as a software engineer, Solon has contributed to fields including education technology and distributed databases. He also maintains an extensive live music calendar for the Boston area at bostonshows.org.

Solon is ever grateful to his principal musical mentors: Monique Duphil, at Oberlin Conservatory, and Sandra Dennis, at the Community Music School of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Broadway Inspirational Voices

Saturday, December 13, 2025 | 3:30 pm

Broadway Inspirational Voices returns to Grace Farms with a site-responsive program that connects us with the presence of the human voice to inspire the audience toward joy. The one-hour program features a holiday repertoire developed for Grace Farms by Connecticut native Allen René Louis, Broadway Inspirational Voices Artistic Director and GRAMMY®-nominated Creative Director and Producer.

Broadway Inspirational Voices is a diverse choir and service organization powered by Broadway artists using music to inspire hope and change lives.

(60 minute performance, no intermission)

About Broadway Inspirational Voices

Broadway Inspirational Voices is a diverse choir and service organization powered by Broadway artists using music to inspire hope and change lives.

In 1994 more than 32,000 people died from AIDS or AIDS-related complications in the U.S. Many of those deaths came from within the Broadway community. As Broadway grappled with the loss of an entire generation of artists, Tony and Grammy-nominated Michael McElroy (founder of the Broadway Inspirational Voices) saw in the community a profound need for hope, unity, and inspiration. He envisioned an organization where professional artists would come together and volunteer their gift to provide comfort, joy, and the promise of a better day–and as a result, The Broadway Gospel Choir was born. This magical synergy of authentic Gospel soul and Broadway bravura was re-imagined as the Broadway Inspirational Voices in 1999 and they have been the theatre community’s center of support and celebration ever since. In 2019, The Tony Awards Administration Committee presented the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre to four outstanding contributors to the Broadway industry, and Broadway Inspirational Voices was a recipient. The Tony Honor was a resounding endorsement of Broadway Inspirational Voices’s enduring work and impact and in celebration of 25 years of service. In 2020, McElroy hand picked composer/singer Allen René Louis to become the new Artistic Director for Broadway Inspirational Voices. Broadway Inspirational Voices’s diverse membership has represented over 140 Broadway shows since its inception.

Mon Rovîa

Sunday, November 16, 2026 | 2 pm

Mon Rovîa reflects journeys of humanity through his Afro Appalachian music as a singer and songwriter, and from his own experiences moving from the Liberia during the country’s civil war to the United States. He was named as one of Spotify’s 2024 Juniper Artists to Watch, has been featured in the GRAMMY Museum’s New York City program series, and has sold out every headline show to date, including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Newport Folk Festival.

(80-minute performance)

About Mon Rovîa

“I’m Mon, born in Mon Rovia, Liberia. My life can be summed up by being born into a civil war, escaping the life of a child soldier, rescued by the hands of missionaries. Spent a lot of my developmental years living in a variety of places with a number of life experiences. And then layered on top of all of this is the assimilation I felt being a transracially adopted refugee. My music in a nutshell is a culmination of these experiences blended with the empathy I feel for the experiences with others. The mission of my music is to heal with others – with every nation and tongue, in due time.”

Arlen Hlusko, cello

Saturday, February 21, 2026 | 4:30 pm

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, versatile artist who has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician across North & South Americas, Asia, and Europe. 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”), Hlusko also regularly performs with several other ensembles, including Manhattan Chamber Players, The Knights, and Dolce Suono Ensemble. She is also a member of the Harry Chapin Band and recent alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

(75-minute performance, 15-minute intermission)

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 2025-6, she will be the inaugural musician “Artist-in-Residence” at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT. 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-award 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.

Dianne Reeves

with Romero Lubambo

Saturday, April 18, 2026 | 4:30 pm

Grace Farms presents Dianne Reeves, one of the world’s preeminent jazz vocalists, who will perform a program of beautiful duets alongside Brazilian jazz guitarist Romero Lubambo. Reeves, a five-time Grammy winner who has recorded with award-winning orchestras and producers, while Romero, who has worked with artists including Yo-Yo Ma and saxophonist James Carter—who performed at Grace Farms in 2024—will create an unforgettable evening of artistry and improvisation, set against the picturesque backdrop of a flourishing spring landscape.

(75 minute performance, no intermission)

About Dianne Reeves

Jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves is a five-time GRAMMY winner. As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings — a Grammy first in any vocal category.

Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film’s soundtrack. In 2022, Reeves was the featured vocalist on the soundtrack of The Woman King starring Viola Davis. She has toured throughout the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone also featuring Angelique Kidjo and Lizz Wright. And she has performed at the White House on multiple occasions.

Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves was a mentor in the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative. She is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music and The Juilliard School and has been designated a Jazz Master by The National Endowment for the Arts — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists.

In April 2025 Reeves will join, among others, Arturo Sandoval, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Herbie Hancock in Abu Dhabi for International Jazz Day Festivities. Later this summer she will record an album with Branford Marsalis in what will be a tribute to the legendary John Coltrane / Johnny Hartman recording.

Lead 2025-2026 Season Sponsorship provided by