Upcoming Events
Discover world-class music right here at UB.
At the University at Buffalo, music isn’t just something we study—it’s something we live. From genre-defying premieres to beloved classical traditions, our concerts and events celebrate the daring, the moving and the unexpected. Whether you're a student performer, an aspiring music major or simply someone who loves live music, you're invited.
Where world-class performances take center stage
The University at Buffalo Department of Music is the only place where you can hear all 16 of Beethoven’s string quartets performed live every year as part of the Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle, a tradition that’s been going strong since 1955.
But that’s just the beginning. Enjoy the Slee Visiting Artist Series featuring renowned performers, the innovative Rovert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music Series, experimental works at Hallwalls in downtown Buffalo and the distinctive sound of our historic Fisk organ in the Recitals on the Fisk programs.
View Concert Events:
BOGO Tickets
Buy one ticket, get one free! Available in person at the Slee Hall Box Office (11 a.m to 6 p.m.) or online at Ticketmaster.com (12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.) on September 2, 2026 and January 27, 2027. Online taxes and fees apply.
Jupiter Quartet
Date: Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
In partnership with BCMS, the celebrated and award-winning Jupiter Quartet is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music.
Clarice Assad: Canções da America
Juri Seo: Respiri
Shulamit Ran: Quartet No. 3 (“Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory”)
~~intermission~~
Brahms: Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2
“The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
LA Guitar Quartet
Date: Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
As part of the Buffalo Guitar Festival presented by Guitar Reach Buffalo, LAGQ brings a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from Bluegrass to Bach.
The Grammy Award-winning LAGQ is one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. The LAGQ is comprised of four uniquely accomplished musicians bringing a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from Bluegrass to Bach.
Karen Slack and Kevin Miller
Date: Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Grammy Award-winning and sought-after performer Karen Slack, soprano and Kevin Miller, piano perform the compelling work, "African Queens".
Praised as "one of opera’s strongest voices at present – both as a singer and a shaper of its culture” (The Washington Post), GRAMMY® Award-winning soprano Karen Slack is celebrated as both an extraordinary performer and a change-maker in classical music.
Visit the Karen Slack website for more information.
Black Moon Trio
Date: March 4-6 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall and Baird Hall
Black Moon Trio is a horn, violin and piano ensemble devoted to connecting audiences through stories that resonate across generations and communities.
March 4
Event: Lecture by the Black Moon Trio
Time: 3:30–5:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall, 250
Free to attend
Event: Open rehearsal, open to students and the public
Time: TBD
Location: Baird Recital Hall, 250
Free to attend
March 5
Event: Jeff Scott’s World premiere written for Black Moon Trio
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
March 6
Event: PhD Composer concert
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall
Free to attend
Slavic Soul Party
Date: March 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Slavic Soul Party pumps a strong Balkan brass sound through the filter of life in New York’s outer boroughs, making new music out of the unplanned results of immigration, proximity and globalization.
Over the past 15 years the band has released 7 full-length albums, and toured in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Turkey, and Zimbabwe, from pasha’s palaces to dive bars, Carnegie Hall to Serbian schoolyards, festival stages to prison courtyards
“Slavic Soul Party! doesn’t strain for authenticity… it plays its chosen music with skill and spirit.”
—Jon Pareles, New York Times
NEW! Beethoven String Quartet Season Pass
$95 for all six concerts in the Beethoven String Quartet cycle
Borromeo Quartet
Date: Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
The Borromeo String Quartet is acclaimed for thrilling performances and for pairing fresh readings of the classical canon with a deep commitment to 20 and 21st century music.
Lecture: Nick Kitchen, violin of the Borromeo Quartet
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall, 250
Free to attend
Program: Opp. 127, 18/1, 59/3
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall – Slee Hall
Ticketed event
"A remarkably accomplished string quartet, not simply for its high technical polish and refined tone, but more importantly for the searching musical insights it brings."
– The Chicago Tribune
Borromeo Quartet
Date: November 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
The Borromeo String Quartet, a technology pioneer, return for an additional performance.
Nov. 10
Program: Opp. 74, 18/2, 131
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
Nov. 11
Masterclass
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall
Free to attend
Program: Opp. 18/3, 133, 59/1
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
Harlem Quartet
Date: April 14-April 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
The Grammy-winning Harlem Quartet, has earned acclaim for its dynamic performances and fresh approach to classical music.
April 14
Program: Opp. 95, 18/6, 132
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
April 15
Program: Opp. 18/5, 130
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
April 16
Masterclass
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall – Slee Hall
Free to attend
Program: 18/4, 135, 59/2
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Ticketed event
"Harlem Quartet is one of the greatest string quartets I have ever heard. They can play anything." –Ted Nash, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Steve Reich@90: Erik Hall
Date: Sept. 28 at 3 p.m.
Locations: B1 Slee Hall
Class performance for Eric Huebner’s Mus 198 Exploding Piano course.
Erik Hall is a musician and composer in Michigan. He is best known for his multi-instrumental recordings and live performances of contemporary classical works, which have been featured by The Wire, Pitchfork, NPR Music, Bandcamp Daily, WNYC New Sounds, and The New York Times.
His 2020 re-creation of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians won the Libera Award for Best Classical Record, and his 2023 interpretation of Simeon ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato followed with a nomination in the same category.
Slee Sinfonietta
Date: Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall
Musicians from the Slee Sinfonietta perform works by Kurtag and Jolas in celebration of their 100th year.
Kurtág, Selections from Kafka Fragments for violin and voice
Selections from Jåtékok for 4 hands piano
Betsy Jolas work(s)
Steve Reich@90: Cordancia with Guest Quince Ensemble
Date: Oct. 11 at 3 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Performance of Reich’s Tehillim.
A treble voice ensemble dedicated to changing the paradigm for contemporary vocal chamber music.
Lachenmann@90: Seth Josel and Sungmin Shin
Date: Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall
Performance of Lachenmann Salut für Caudwell
As ensemble player and soloist, Seth Josel has been involved in the first performances of more than one hundred works. He has collaborated and consulted closely with such composers as Louis Andriessen, Gavin Bryars, Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail and James Tenney.
Korean-born American musician Sungmin Shin is an artist-teacher, arts leadership advocate, composer, consultant, engineer-producer, ensemble director, entrepreneur, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, music theorist and scholar.
Coltrane @100
Date: Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Asbury Hall - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
Isaiah Collier, sax and Tim Regis, drums
Isaiah Collier is a Chicago native, born and raised on the city's South Side. A compoer, arranger, educator, and self-described "sonic scientist," Collier has emerged as one of the most exciting voices in conemporary jazz. His work as earned numerous accolades from prestigious institutions and publications across the world.
Feldman @100; Mivos Quartet
Date: Dec. 13 at 2 p.m.
Location: Asbury Hall - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
Feldman String Quartet no. 2, 6-hour event with refreshments available.
The Mivos Quartet is devoted to bringing incredible new string quartet music, in all its variety, to diverse audiences worldwide. Since its founding in 2008, the quartet has performed and closely collaborated with established and emerging composers representing a broad range of demographics and compositional aesthetics.
NYNME 50th anniversary concert
Date: March 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall – Slee Hall
The New York New Music Ensemble is performing music by UB PhD Composers as well as compositions by living composers
Since 1976, the New York New Music Ensemble (NYNME) has been on a mission to push the boundaries of contemporary chamber music. We’ve commissioned, performed, and recorded some of the most groundbreaking composers of our time—often before the world knew their names.
Slee Sinfonietta
Date: April 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall – Slee Hall
UB PhD Student compositions and more
Program:
Jaman Dunn-Danger, Conductor
UB PhD Student compositions
Donatoni -
Refrain & Etwas Ruhiger im Ausdruck
Mivos Quartet
Date: April 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: B1 Slee Hall
Mivos Quartet performs Phd Student Francisco Corthey’s dissertation.
Mivos Quartet
Date: April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall
Mivos Quartet performs UB Phd Student compositions as well as compositions by living composers
UB Music
Date: Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
UB Music
Date: Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
UB Music
Date: Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
UB Music
Date: March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
UB Music
Date: April 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hallwalls - 341 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
Eastman Organists
Date: March 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Rising stars from the Eastman School of Music showcase the expressive range of the pipe organ in a rich and varied program.
The program offers concertgoers a rare opportunity to hear accomplished musicians perform on the historic Fisk Organ. Eastman organists have a long tradition of excellence, with past performers securing top prizes in international competitions and prestigious positions in the field.
Weicheng Zhao, organ and Fang Gao, violin with AGO
Date: March 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall - Slee Hall
Organist Weicheng Zhao is joined by violinist Fang Gao for a dynamic program featuring works by Saint-Saëns, Larry King, Qi Zhang, and Marcel Dupré, alongside arrangements of beloved Chinese melodies.
Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78, “Organ Symphony”
Finale
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
transcription by Weicheng Zhao
Revelations of Saint John the Divine for Organ and Tape
Larry King (1932–1990)
Symphony in the Teapot
Qi Zhang (b. 1984)
The Butterfly Lovers
Gang Chen, Zhanhao He (b. 1935), (b. 1933)
transcription by Weicheng Zhao and Fang Gao
Fang Gao, violin
A Soldier Returns to His Love
Changcheng Zhang, Ye Yuan
transcription by Weicheng Zhao and Fang Gao
Fang Gao, violin
Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20
Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
Made Possible by Supporters
The Slee Visiting Artist Series and Beethoven String Quartet Cycle are generously supported by the late Frederick and Alice Slee.
The Center for 21st Century Music is sponsored by the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music in the UB Department of Music. 🎼 Ming Tsao, Artistic Director