Special to the Times
Following on the success of its inaugural event last year, Beacon Ensemble is again offering Beacon New Music Festival Volume II from June 5 to 7.
🎺Opening night of the festival with Mink Duo is set for Friday, June 5, at 7 p.m. at Beacon Hill Friends House, located at 6 Chestnut St. on Beacon Hill.
MINK Duo is a new, new music collaboration between trumpeter Nick Hill and trombonist Mikayla Frank-Martin. They are strongly interested in the creation of a repertoire for the instrumentation, to be achieved via a three-step process: commissioning new works from composers all around the globe, performing these works frequently for many different audiences, and documenting through live and studio recording. MINK Duo values collaboration in many forms, having shared programs and worked jointly on larger works with other artists.
Night two of the festival follows with Reflections Duo on Saturday, June 6, at 7 p.m., again at Beacon Hill Friends House.
Reflections is a Boston-based new music duo comprising vocalist Emma West and violist Vincent Francis. Formed in the summer of 2025, Reflections began as a collaboration between friends to explore a shared passion of working with composers to create new and exciting explorations of sound, color, and text. The ensemble’s ever-growing repertoire includes elements from the genres of art song, avant-garde chamber music, and contemporary folk.
The finale performance of the festival features event host, Beacon Ensemble, on Sunday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at Church of the Covenant, located at 67 Newbury St. in the Back Bay.
This year’s octet lineup stars conductor Julian Gau, in collaboration with the neighborhood composer collective The Boston Troubadours. Their program will feature a roster of new works exploring the folk legends of New England and beyond.
Visit https://www.beaconensemble.org/beacon-new-music-2026festival for more information on the festival.