Con Vivo Music Invites “Exceptet” to Perform Contemporary Classical Music in Art House

On Friday, April 17th, 2026, Con Vivo Music invited Exceptet to perform an all out contemporary music concert called “Game of Squares” for free in Art House, Jersey City. Exceptet is a critically acclaimed Brooklyn-based new music septet that performs commissioned orchestral compositions by modern composers. 

Exceptet is a group of seven musicians: Sarah Goldfeather (violin), Chuck Furlong (clarinet), Alexis Cerise (bassoon), Hugh Ash (trumpet), Dan Linden (trombone), Catherine Deskur (double bass), and David Stevens (percussion).

In “Game of Squares,” Exceptet performed four pieces: Matt Evans’ “mesh ii,” which is one of their repertoire compositions, two newly commissioned pieces from their “ 2026 Call for Scores” titled “Sheer” and “Volition,” and Max Vinetz’s “Game of Squares,” which was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation and will soon be a world premier. 

Sarah Goldfeather, the violinist and a Jersey City resident, explained each piece and the vision of the composers. She explained the meaning behind the two compositions that won the “Call for Scores” competition, a competition in which composers from all over the world would submit their compositions. The first one “Sheer” is about “the black canyon of Gunnison National Park. It is evocative of that feeling of standing on that cliff and the natural wonders of the park.”

The fan favorite, “Volition” by SAY MAYFIRE, was unique because the score was shaped like a diamond, edited on Canva. “It’s kind of like a choose your own story game,” Goldfeather explained. “There are some harmonic components and some melodic components.” Each musician took their own path in discovering the heart of the music, and the audience was left wondering how one could interpret such a music score. “It came to the composer in a dream,” Goldfeather added. 

Finally, “Game of Squares,” which the entire performance revolved around, was performed. The composer, Max Vinetz, explained the piece: “When I was presented this challenge, I started digging into this instrumentation that was originally introduced by Stravinsky. I read his biography, listened to his compositions, and studied his music. But his music was too blocky.” Vinetz found ways to dissect his compositions, and make them how he liked them, always exciting, something that never makes the listener bored. This 25-minute-long was the epitome of contemporary music, unexpected, yet engaging. 

“The thing about performing modern contemporary music is that no one knows how it will sound, because each musician has their own style,” Zach Herchen, the director of Con Vivo Music and a saxophonist, said. “It’s amazing to see how they will all come together.” With Exceptet, each musician has their own distinguishable style.

Something unique about their playing is that each musician’s playing can be heard and isolated from the rest, a phenomenon that can’t be seen with classical orchestral music. One can focus on the bassist, moving towards their playing, and another can focus on the percussionist, inclined towards their beats. But when you listen to the whole music on its own, it all miraculously comes together in a symphony of fragmented pieces. 

The concert brought a whole range of listeners. Nysha, an 8-year-old from P.S. 16, came with her friends to listen to the music. “I play piano and guitar,” Nysha said, “I like that I get to play songs, I just play recital pieces though.” Experiencing these new methods of playing the instruments, such as using the bow to strum the strings instead of glide across it, or seeing the brass players huff into their trumpets instead of blowing to create a sound, opened her eyes to new styles of playing. 

Con Vivo Music is a Jersey City based chamber music non-profit that focuses on presenting excellent and adventurous performances to locals for free. Starting in 2007, the organization has already performed 156 free concerts around Jersey City. In May-June, they are planning to hold their annual “Spring Strings” event, where their string musicians will perform a series of concerts all around Jersey City parks for anyone to listen to. 

The performance was held at Art House, located on 345 Marin Blvd., Jersey City, NJ.