Verdigris Ensemble has big plans for North Texas Giving Day: opening its ninth season.
“North Texas Giving Day is a celebration of generosity—an annual reminder that our cultural ecosystem is sustained by community investment. For Verdigris, NTGD has been critical in helping us grow from a daring idea into a nationally recognized ensemble. This year, our goal is to raise $30,000, which will directly fund the bold productions in our Reimagine season and also our burgeoning education initiatives at W.E Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy, Townview High School, and expansion beyond. On the day itself, we’ll be opening Betty’s Notebook for a special event at the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts,” Sam Brukhman, Verdigris Ensemble’s Founding Artistic Director, said.
Reimagine, Verdigris Ensemble’s 2025-2026 season, includes four concert series.
“For us, Reimagine is both an invitation and a challenge. It asks: What else can stories hold beyond sentences in a book? At Verdigris Ensemble, we see music as a portal into memory, identity, and possibility. To reimagine is to imagine the expansion of the boundaries of genre and tradition—it’s to let immersive music converse with technology, with storytelling, with lived human experience. This season, we’re not simply presenting concerts. We’re creating immersive spaces where music becomes an encounter: with history, with community, with the unknown,” Brukhman said.
Richard Hill Photography
Richard Hill Photography
Sam Brukhman, Verdigris Ensemble’s Founding Artistic Director, conducts during a recording session of “Betty’s Notebook” during the pandemic. The recording resulted in the first classical music NFT and was auctioned on May 8, 2021, and acquired by Metapurse for \$375,000.
The season begins with a familiar piece for Verdigris Ensemble audiences, Betty’s Notebook by Nicholas Reeves. The piece is based on teenager Betty Klenck’s notebook documenting what sounded like Amelia Earhart’s distress calls as Klenck listened to a short-wave radio in 1937. The choir first sang Betty’s Notebook in concert in 2019. In 2021, the piece became the first classical music NFT ever sold, acquired by Metapurse for $375,000.
Verdigris Ensemble continues to evolve the experience of the music to begin its new season. For this production, patrons journey room by room, surrounded by shifting soundscapes, projections, and archival fragments that recreate the sensation of listening to a 1930s shortwave radio. Along the way, visitors use an interactive app to follow clues and shape their own path through the story.
“Betty’s Notebook is our origin story of sorts. It was the piece that placed Verdigris Ensemble on the map, not only in Dallas but internationally. The work embodies what we strive for – melding archival history with bold, immersive storytelling and creating something utterly new in the process. Revisiting Betty’s Notebook at the start of our season allows us to ground Reimagine in the DNA of our ensemble. But this time, we’re adding a new layer – an immersive installation. It’s a reminder of where we’ve been and a statement of where we are going: deeper, stranger, and more fearless in what we create,” Brukhman said.
Verdigris Ensemble will present Betty’s Notebook September 18 – 28 at the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson, marking the first time the choir has sung in the Dallas suburb.
“Bringing Betty’s Notebook to the Eisemann Center is an act of expansion. It’s a way of saying that boundary-pushing, experiential music belongs everywhere, not only in downtown spaces or traditional arts districts. We want audiences in Richardson and beyond to feel ownership of this work—to experience something they may not expect in their backyard,” Brukhman said.
Justin Locklear
Justin Locklear
This production of Betty’s Notebook allows patrons to journey room to room to experience the piece in a different way.
The 2025-2026 season also includes In C, Terry Riley’s legendary work transforms into a living breathing concert audiences move through at place and time to be determined; This Place Called Dallas, a world premiere by Aleksandra Vrebalov exploring what makes a city a home March 13 – 15 at the Hamon Hall at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas; and Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, a timeless tale brought to life through music, projections and joy May 15 – 18 at the Dallas Children’s Theater.
It is a season that reflects Verdigris Ensemble’s growth.
“Nine seasons ago, Verdigris was a scrappy startup ensemble with a dream. Today, we are a recognized leader in rethinking what choral performance can be. This ninth season is defined by scale and ambition: larger productions, deeper collaborations, and a broader reach across North Texas. We’ve grown from a group of singers with a bold idea into a company with an artistic identity—immersive, interdisciplinary, and dynamic in its vision,” Brukhman said.
Learn more: Verdigris Ensemble