Timo Andres: The Blind Banister — Metropolis Ensemble

2025 GRAMMY Awards Nominee

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New York Times — Best Classical Music Albums of 2024

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NPR — Best Classical Albums of 2024

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Gramophone — Best Classical Music Albums of 2024

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2025 GRAMMY Awards Nominee / / / New York Times — Best Classical Music Albums of 2024 / / / NPR — Best Classical Albums of 2024 / / / Gramophone — Best Classical Music Albums of 2024 / / /

 
 

The Best of 2024

The New York Times, Gramophone, and NPR celebrate The Blind Banister in their "Best of 2024" lists.
  • “Behaves like a single, grand gesture of descending scales and fascinating harmony” (The New York Times)
  • “A beautifully recorded introduction to Timo Andres’s pianistic voice” (Gramophone)
  • “Mesmerizing… darkly textured… pensive yet filled with promise” (NPR)
 

2025 GRAMMY Awards Nominee

The Recording Academy nominated The Blind Banister for the 2025 GRAMMY for Best Engineered Album, Classical.
  • Engineers Silas Brown, Doron Schachter, and Michael Schwartz at Legacy Sound
  • Mastering engineer Matt Colton at Metropolis/The Power House
  • Performed by Metropolis Ensemble (conductor Andrew Cyr), composer and pianist Timo Andres, and cellist Inbal Segev
 
 

 

“Wonderfully controlled and poised performance… and the irrepressible Andres on top of his game… I cannot recommend this album highly enough.”

(Gramophone Editors Choice)

 
 

 
 

About the Album

Released March 22, 2024 on Nonesuch Records

Metropolis is preparing for the release of a new studio album on Nonesuch Records, featuring works for chamber orchestra from Timo Andres. The album was recorded in June 2023 at Adelphi University Performing Arts Center with Grammy-winning producer, Silas Brown.

  • The Blind Banister for chamber orchestra and solo piano (Timo Andres). Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Music. This piano concerto in three movements was written for pianist Jonathan Biss in 2015. This work was commissioned by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

  • Colorful History for solo piano (Timo Andres). This chaconne, commissioned by pianist Russell Hirshfield in 2021, stems from a single augmented triad, and following the course of various directions it suggests.

  • Upstate Obscura for chamber orchestra and solo cello (Inbal Segev). This cello concerto with three movements was co-commissioned by Inbal Segev for Metropolis Ensemble and MetLiveArts in 2017. The work was presented at our concert, Time Travelers to Versailles at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

 

Recent News

 

 
 

“Orchestra suddenly falls away, leaving the pianist to wrestle with the two basic elements of the piece—rising and falling.”

Timo Andres, Composer

Pianist and composer Timo Andres is a fixture in the Metropolis community, from solo confections like Small Wonder for cellist Ashley Bathgate to bold experiments like Mozart’s re-composed Coronation concerto from our 2013 studio album that earned producer David Frost a Grammy Award.

 
 

 

Project In-Depth

 

 
 

Behind the scenes recording at Adelphi University Performing Arts Center in June 2023. Photos courtesy of Henry Wang and Inbal Segev.

 
 

 

Timo Andres

Composer and pianist Timo Andres is a Nonesuch Records artist, a Yale School of Music graduate, a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist and is on the composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music at the New School. Timo Andres (b. 1985, Palo Alto, CA) is a composer and pianist who grew up in rural Connecticut, studied at the Yale School of Music, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. A Nonesuch Records artist, he has received wide acclaim for an album of orchestral works, Home Stretch, and for his debut album, Shy and Mighty. Current projects include an orchestral arrangement for Sufjan Stevens and New York City Ballet, Justin Peck’s “Principia;” a new work for the Calder Quartet through the LA Phil; and an oratorio for the Orchester Cottbus Staatstheater. Recently, Andres programmed and performed “American Perspective,” a concert with the Cincinnati Symphony, Andre de Ridder, Dance, and cellist Inbal Segev. He received his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2024. More »

 

 

Inbal Segev

Inbal Segev is “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone), making solo appearances at leading international venues and with preeminent orchestras and conductors worldwide. Celebrated for her fresh insights into music’s great masterworks, the Israeli American cellist is equally committed to reinvigorating the cello repertoire, and has commissioned and premiered major new works from an international who’s who of today’s foremost contemporary composers. A native of Israel, Inbal Segev began playing the cello at the age of five. At 16 she was invited by Isaac Stern to the U.S., where she continued her cello studies with Aldo Parisot, Joel Krosnick, Harvey Shapiro and Beaux Arts Trio co-founder Bernard Greenhouse, earning degrees from Yale University and the Juilliard School. Today she lives in New York City with her husband, their three teenage children and her cellos, made by Francesco Ruggieri (1673) and Carl Becker & Son (1958) respectively. More »

 

 

Silas Brown

Silas Brown is a New York City area producer, engineer, and mastering engineer at Legacy Sound, who specializes in classical and jazz recordings. He has more than 25 years of production credits including many Grammy winning and nominated recordings. Since moving into immersive mixing and mastering, Silas has worked on new Atmos and Spatial Audio projects including releases for the Chicago Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and many others. Silas is an Assistant Professor in the Music and Technology Department at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music. More »

 

 

Meet the Artists