The Glass Clouds Ensemble (GCE) is a chamber music collective that performs imaginative concerts of classical & contemporary music centered around environmental themes and community partnerships. Founded in 2022 by Juilliard graduates, GCE has formed a wide community of NYC musicians, visual artists, dancers, and local environmental organizations. GCE is a first prize winner of the 2023 AVIMC competition, has held residencies at Yellow Barn and Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Chamber Music America.

GCE performs concerts of varying instrumentation for voice and strings, and has commissioned music by adventurous composers including Iván Enrique Rodríguez, Hannah Selin, Seare Farhat, Christian Quiñones, Matthew Greenbaum, Melissa Dunphy, and Hannah Ishizaki. GCE’s projects are rooted in partnerships with local environmental organizations, including Beyond Organic Design, Earth Matter NY, and the Climate Imaginarium, with collaborations involving hands-on volunteering, rehearsal residencies, and the commissioning and performance of site-specific music.

GCE is a 2026 Organization-in-Residence with Governors Island Arts, presenting free programming in a historic venue on Governors Island every weekend from May to October. The residency features art and sound installations, regular chamber music performances, and workspaces for artists- and composers-in-residence. Learn more about the residency here, and view upcoming residency performances on our Luma page.

GCE loves working with artists across disciplines. With dance company Jody Oberfelder Projects, the ensemble curated and performed music for And Then, Now (2024), an immersive dance production at Green-Wood Cemetery. GCE has a multi-season partnership with the Anita Rogers Gallery, curating performances in dialogue with the gallery’s exhibits. The ensemble also regularly performs contemporary chamber music with live electronics, and has worked closely with Mari Kimura and her motion-sensing technology MUGIC. The ensemble’s projects have been featured on the panel discussion “Creative Catalysts: Performance Art Reacting to the Climate Crisis” at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and granted a Presser Award from The Juilliard School.