2025-2026 Season
Friday, September 19, 2025
Splinter Reeds
One of the world's leading reed quintets makes its South Carolina debut. Splinter Reeds is "a group who combine exceptional virtuosity with an adventurous spirit, and a collective approach grounded in shared perceptiveness.” (The Wire Magazine, 2024).
Friday, November 14, 2025
Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives
USC faculty and students led by Greg Stuart and David Kirkland Garner present three scenes from Robert Ashley's "opera" Perfect Lives.
Friday, January 30, 2026
Tessallatum
Violist Nadia Sirota and cellist Gabriel Cabezas present Donnacha Dennehy's epic work Tessallatum.
Friday, March 20, 2026
Sacred Visions
A virtuosic all-female vocal new music super group, including USC's own Rachel Calloway, comes together in Columbia for a special night centered around John Zorn's The Holy Visions.
All Southern Exposure concerts are FREE.
Support Southern Exposure New Music Series
Patrons may reserve seats and support the Southeast’s most adventurous music series! A gift of $150 secures a seat for the entire 2025-26 season. To donate online, click here or contact Brad Martin at brad.martin@sc.edu, 803-777-0704.
About the Series
Founded in 2001 by USC associate professor of composition and composer John Fitz Rogers and now run by Michael Harley, professor of bassoon and a founding member of Alarm Will Sound the nonprofit series has grown steadily and attracts standing-room-only crowds from throughout South Carolina and neighboring states.
The series has achieved a national reputation for the quality and adventurous spirit of its four yearly concerts, unparalleled in the southeast for their mix of artistic quality, audience education and cutting-edge programming.
Southern Exposure New Music Series is pleased to announce the Duncan Endowment for Student Composers. The fund supports the annual recording of new works written by USC graduate and undergraduate composition students. Each year, four to six students are selected to write pieces expressly for the series. Guest ensembles will record the selected composers’ new pieces while at USC, with the composers in attendance to help produce.
Southern Exposure was awarded a 2007 Chamber Music America / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in its 2005-2006 season.
These free concerts are often standing room only and early arrival is suggested for seating. For a donation of $150 or more, you can reserve one seat for the entire Southern Exposure season. Donate online.
If you prefer to pay by phone, contact Brad Martin at
803-777-0704. You can also mail a check payable to "Southern Exposure New Music Series"
to:
Southern Exposure New Music Series School of Music, University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC 29208
Patrons who reserve seats for the season will receive seating priority in concerts with restricted access, and receive relevant information on a concert-by-concert basis when special reservations are required.
Groups and artists of international repute who have made their Columbia and South Carolina premiere performances in a Southern Exposure concert include:
- So Percussion
- Brooklyn Rider
- Karel Dohnal
- Argento Chamber Ensemble
- Tony Arnold and Jacob Greenberg
- International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
- Alarm Will Sound
- Imani Winds
- Los Angeles Piano Quartet
- Music from Copland House
- Calder and JACK string quartets
- Matt Haimovitz, internationally renowned cellist
- Kartik Seshadri, sitar virtuoso
- Lisa Moore, esteemed New York-based pianist
- Gamelan Galak Tika
For more information reach out to Michael Harley, Southern Exposure New Music Series artistic director.