In partnership with The Friend’s of Music at St. Mark’s

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
111 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan, CT 06840

Tickets
VIP (First Rows): $50
General: $35
Members: $30
Students: $15

“You will be moved, profoundly and intensely.” — The New York Times

Join acclaimed pianist Adam Tendler for an hour-long concert in New Canaan’s modernist St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, designed by Sherwood, Mills and Smith and completed in 1961. Tendler will perform selections from his GRAMMY®-nominated project, Inheritances alongside other works.

After his father’s unexpected death, Tendler received his inheritance as a literal wad of cash in a parking lot—an encounter that became the catalyst for a groundbreaking, one-of-a-kind contemporary music phenomenon that has touched listeners from across the globe. Inviting a wide-ranging group of composers and sound artists, including Devonté Hynes, Laurie Anderson, Missy Mazzoli, and Nico Muhly, among others, Tendler asked each to respond to the idea of “inheritance,” resulting in a deeply personal yet universally resonant body of piano works that explore lineage, memory, loss, and place, and form a meditation on how we confront the past while shaping the future. Inheritances earned a 2026 GRAMMY® nomination for Best Classical Instrumental Solo and has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and CBS Sunday Morning, among publications and broadcasts worldwide.

As a recording artist, Tendler has been featured on Wild Up’s GRAMMY®-nominated anthology of Julius Eastman’s music, and has also released albums of music by Franz Liszt, Robert Palmer, and of his own original work. In 2026 alone, he recorded for artists as wide-ranging as Nelly Furtado, Devonté Hynes, Michael Fiday, and Ellis Ludwig-Leone.

St. Mark’s Church was designed to express Gothic principles in a modern design. The triangular vaults of the roof are supported by thirteen white, reinforced-concrete columns, each 40 feet tall. The soaring space includes modern stained-glass designs by American artist Odell “Billie” Prather and a 42-foot-tall reredos created by sculptor Clark Fitz-Gerald. St. Mark’s, which was listed in 2021 on the National Register of Historic Places, is considered essential to the context of New Canaan’s midcentury-modern architecture.

About the artist

A “daring pianist” praised for his “adventurousness and muscular skill” (The New York Times), GRAMMY®-nominated artist Adam Tendler has been called “the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), “relentlessly adventurous” (Washington Post), a “remarkable and insightful musician” (LA Times), an “intrepid… maverick pianist” (The New Yorker), and “one of contemporary classical music’s most intentional and daring pianists” (Seven Days). CBS Sunday Morning’s Lee Cowan said of Tendler on a recent segment seen by approximately 7 million people, “If you’re a cutting-edge composer these days, you want Adam to perform your pieces.”

A pioneer of DIY culture in classical music, at age 23, Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty states as part of a grassroots tour called America 88×50, the subject of his memoir, 88×50. He has since become one of classical music’s most recognized and celebrated artists, receiving Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award, the Yvar Mikhashoff Prize, and appearing as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Sydney Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, NJ Symphony, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, as well as on the main-stages of Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall, Sydney Opera House, BAM, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tanglewood, and other leading series and stages worldwide. Tendler is a Yamaha Artist and serves on the piano faculty of NYU.

Glass House Presents is an ongoing series of talks, performances, and other live events that extend the site’s historic role as a gathering place for artists, architects, and other creative minds.

The Friends of Music at St. Mark’s enriches the life of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and the broader community through the promotion of God’s immeasurable gift of music.  We sponsor both choral and instrumental works throughout the year in the beautiful and acoustically acclaimed setting of St. Mark’s. We welcome all lovers of music to join us to experience the artistry of our performers and the hospitality of our post-concert receptions.