NEWS
MONTHLY ENEWS
February 2024 - February Enews January 2024 - January Enews December 2023 - December Enews November 2023 - November Enews
September 2023 - September Enews August 2023 - August Enews
July 2023 - July Enews June 2023 - June Enews
May 2023 - May Enews
April 2023- April Enews March 2023- March Enews
February 2023 -February Enews
January 2023 - fivebyfive in the Big Apple!
December 2022 - Happy Holidays from fivebyfive!
November 2022 - Two Successful Residencies and One to Go!
October 2022 - Special enews…."Of and Between" in GRAMMY® Award "For Your Consideration" phase
October 2022 - Residencies Bring World Premieres: "Of Breath & Fire"
September 2022 - Come FRINGE with us on Sept. 18!
August 2022 - New Look, New Season!
NEWS
02/01/24 Fivebyfive Stuns At Strasenburgh In Celebration Of The Coming Eclipse …A unique event deserves to be celebrated in a unique way by a unique ensemble. Made up of Laura Lentz on flute, Marcy Bacon on clarinet, Ken Luk on electric guitar, Eric J. Polenik on bass and Haeyeun Jeun on piano, fivebyfive certainly fit the bill. But the compositions called for the band to stretch it’s legs even more with some auxiliary sounds and techniques…
01/17/24 fivebyfive, plus one …The expression “five by five” dates to the 1940s and ‘50s world of radio transmissions and means “good signal strength” or “loud and clear.” When a group of musicians in Rochester, NY, decided to form a quintet in 2015 it chose the phrase as its name, suggesting a sense of clarity, informality, and lack of pretension sometimes missing from the world of chamber music…
10/22/23 Two music groups collaborate in Rochester to unify people through music
…Providing a variety of sounds and displays, artists hope to bring a new experience to the audience. “We hope that this is a moment, these two hours that we're together can maybe bring a sense of unity,” Lentz said. “We hope that art can be a respite for the difficult times that many people are experiencing and going through.”…
3/20/23 fivebyfive hosts 'Lead Me Home, Rochester: Our City'
The goal of the event was to bring people closer together by creating a collective space for individual exploration into what it means to call Rochester home.
1/17/23 Composer Advocacy Notebook: In Search of the New “Normal”
Review from Frank Oteri, New Music USA:
Friday night’s (Chamber Music America Showcase Performance) marathon opened with a formidable Rochester NY-based artist-led ensemble called fivebyfive …
1/16/23 Rochester-Based Chamber Ensemble Fivebyfive Impress In Performance At Chamber Music America Conference In NYC
…Rochester’s collaborative chamber ensemble fivebyfive impressed the crowd at the Chamber Music America Conference in New York City during their performance on Jan. 6. In a statement, Nam said that she was “thankful for the privilege to work with a team of musicians who share my motivation of igniting curiosity and joy in their audiences…
1/13/2023 fivebyfive impresses at chamber music conference in NYC
…Rochester’s collaborative chamber ensemble, fivebyfive is basking in the afterglow of its performance during the Chamber Music America Conference in New York City…
1/1/2023 fivebyfive kicks off Chamber Music America Conference in NYC …Thrilled to be one of 14 ensembles chosen from across the country for this unique opportunity.
9/22/2022 Innovation Theater Heats up
…in keeping with its innovative spirit, fivebyfive launches its new season at the Rochester Fringe Festival, Innovation Theater…
9/19/2022 Rochester City Newspaper: Fiery performance at Rochester Fringe
“…More Fire” was an ambitious piece of art timing. The audience watched a video screen set up at the back of The Theater at Innovation Square stage as a camera prowled the floor in real time at More Fire Glass Studio… Also in real time was the avant-garde Rochester ensemble fivebyfive, playing at the front of The Theater at Innovation Square stage…
9/18/2022 NBC News: Rochester in Focus
…a show called “More Fire” where artists will create blown glass in real-time while local chamber ensemble fivebyfive provides inspiration…
9/13/2022 Rochester City Newspaper: Must-see Shows at Fringe
The contemporary classical ensemble fivebyfive is undoubtedly the local group most dedicated to performing the works of living composers. With its new performance at Rochester Fringe, the quintet deepens that reputation but with some unexpected collaborative partners…
3/31/2022 fivebyfive Announces Guitarist Ken Luk as New Ensemble Member
The award-winning, artist led Rochester, NY-based music ensemble fivebyfive today announced Ken Luk (pronounced “Luke”) as its new electric guitarist. fivebyfive Artistic Director and flutist Laura Lentz acknowledged and thanked Sungmin Shin for his “lasting legacy” as the group’s founding guitarist…
3/18/2022 Fox News: fivebyfive to play first in-person show since the pandemic
Forming in 2015, fivebyfive is a Rochester-based ensemble with a mission to engage audiences in the collaborative spirit and creativity of today’s chamber music…
3/18/2022 City News: Fivebyfive gets 'heavy' with ARTISANworks concert Sunday
The end of 2021 was an auspicious time for the Rochester contemporary classical quintet fivebyfive. The chamber group released its debut album “Of and Between” on Dec. 1, and two weeks later it was awarded two grants from the New York State Council on the Arts.
1/20/2022 Heavy: Music with Bite Press Release:
Acknowledging the difficulty and challenges of the last two years, the innovative fivebyfive ensemble brings “Heavy: Music with Bite” to Rochester audiences in its first 2022 concert on Sunday, March 20 at 4 pm at ARTISANworks’s Elizabeth Regional Gallery...
12/20/2021 Rochester Business Journal NYSCA Story:
The Rochester-based quintet fivebyfive was awarded two grant awards from the New York State Council on the Arts: a three-year organization award of $25,000 annually, and a $10,000 award for artist support...
12/17/2021 NYSCA Press Release:
fivebyfive Announces TWO Major Grant Awards from the New York State Council on the Arts...
11/15/2021 Of and Between Press Release:
Forged in the heat of molten glass and dancing through the strange choreography of the pandemic comes fivebyfive’s debut CD Of and Between (ArtistShare), released on December 1, 2021...
10/11/2021 Rochester Business Journal Playful Music Story:
Rochester’s fivebyfive music ensemble to offer sensory-friendly performances...
9/29/2021 Playful Music Press Release:
fivebyfive’s “Playful Music“ Series Celebrates Shared Power of Music and Play..
06/29/2021 - New Music USA selected fivebyfive as an Organizational Fund Recipient
02/22/2021 - Thank you to Genesee Valley Arts Council for selecting fivebyfive for a 2021 Community Arts Grant.
02/26/2021 - Thank you to the Rochester Community Foundation for its support of fivebyfive’s Composer Chats (Spring 2021).
03/31/2021 - The Farash Foundation awarded fivebyfive with an Arts and Culture Gift.
2021 - fivebyfive is thrilled that our Glass Works recordings of music inspired by the stained glass art of Judith Schaechter are now traveling with Ms. Schaechter’s art to the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, where the exhibition “Path to Paradise” will run from February 12 to May 23, 2021.
11/2020 - fivebyfive is grateful to the Drs. Dawn and Jacques Lipson Enhancing Life Fund Award for its support of fivebyfive’s programming during the pandemic.
8/25/2020 - fivebyfive has been selected as one of 16 recipients for a Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant with composer/harpist Amy Nam!
7/1/2020 - fivebyfive is grateful to Humanities NY for being chosen as an Action Grant award recipient for its upcoming program “For the Future: Susan B. Anthony Historic District (music, art and action).”
4/29/2020 - fivebyfive thanks the Farash Foundation for its generous award from its 2020 Arts and Culture Fund.
2/27/20 - fivebyfive has been selected as a recipient of a Rochester Community Foundation Vitality Arts and Culture grant for our upcoming sensory friendly programming at six public libraries here in Rochester. Thank you Rochester Community Foundation!
2/3/20 - fivebyfive will be included in NPR’s Performance Today programming on Wednesday February 5, 2020 as part its first hour broadcasts, featuring the ensemble’s live performance on WXXI Radio, with banjo player Emily Pinkerton from May, 2019 of “Three Forks of Hell” from the song cycle Rounder Songs by Emily Pinkerton and Patrick Burke. American Public Media's Performance Today is America's most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country.
12/20/19 -fivebyfive is grateful to Genesee Valley Council on the Arts for being chosen as a recipient for a Community Arts Grant to support its 2020 programming.
11/27/19 - Thanks to Daniel Kushner at CITY Newspaper for this review of our new video of “Waiting in the Rain for Snow.”
11/25/19 - Thanks to New Music USA and I Care If You Listen for mention of our new video of David Crowell’s “Waiting in the Rain for Snow”, audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio.
10/3/19 - We are excited to announce that fivebyfive has been chosen as winner of the Eastman School of Music / ArtistShare New Artist Program.
7/15/19- Thank you to the Rochester Community Foundation and a private donor for their recent generous donation to fivebyfive!
7/2/19 - Thank you to New Music USA for awarding fivebyfive a Winter 2019 Project Grant for our upcoming collaboration at George Eastman Museum.
4/24/19 - Thank you to the Farash Foundation for its gift to fivebyfive as part of their ARTS & CULTURE grant category for 2019!
2/6/19 - Thank you to David Raymond, Daniel J. Kushner and Ryan Williamson for this Cover Story on fivebyfive in CITY Newspaper (Rochester NY).
1/27/19 - The composer Glenn McClure is writing a new work (working title: What Lies Beneath) for fivebyfive based on his recent research on Hawaiian volcanoes. The composer, educator, and scholar was the Winter-Spring Artist in Residence at Volcano National Park.
12/21/18 - fivebyfive is grateful to Genesee Valley Council on the Arts for being chosen as a recipient for a Community Arts Grant to support its 2019 programming.