Verdigris Ensemble, the Dallas-based choral group known for fusing classical voices with digital experimentation, is marking its 10th anniversary with a season built around a single word: breath. The BREATH season explores renewal, transformation and human connection, and it arrives as founder and artistic director Sam Brukhman readies his first original composition for the group he started a decade ago.
Brukhman founded Verdigris Ensemble in 2017, as reported by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. He had been working as a high school choir teacher in Forney at the time, and according to KERA, he was just 25 years old, a Westminster Choir College graduate and a 2015 ACDA national conducting competition semifinalist, when he set out to push choral music beyond the standard concert hall. Now, nearly 10 years later, Brukhman says he's not dwelling on where the ensemble has been. He told NBC 5 he thinks less about Verdigris's past and more about what it can become, adding that he hopes the next decade will bring new forms of music, gathering and connection.
A Season Themed Around Change
The 2026–2027 season carries the theme leave different, and per the station's report, it will include immersive performances, a studio album release, a new educational partnership and the world premiere of Brukhman's first original composition. Brukhman called the season his most personal yet with Verdigris, describing it as feeling like a pilgrimage to understanding himself and others, the outlet notes. The timing coincides with his selection as one of 83 members of the 2026–2027 NEW INC cohort, the cultural incubator at New York's New Museum that supports artists working at the intersection of art, technology and entrepreneurship, per the article.
That blend of art and technology is not new territory for Verdigris. In December 2023, the ensemble premiered “Beautification” at the Dallas Contemporary, a multi-sensory choral work inspired by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson and the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, featuring visual projections by designer Courtney Ware, according to KERA.
Betty's Notebook Returns With a Studio Album
Central to the anniversary celebration is the long-running saga of “Betty's Notebook,” a piece exploring the mysterious final radio transmissions a teenage girl heard in 1937. The storyline centers on shortwave radio logs recorded by teenager Betty Klenck, who believed she had transcribed final distress calls from missing aviator Amelia Earhart, according to the Eisemann Center. Composer Nicholas Reeves and audio designer Anthony J. Maglione adapted those radio logs into a multi-layered score, per the venue.
Verdigris premiered the piece as a live concert in 2019 and later toured it to the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association conference in 2022, per NBC 5's report. In May 2021, “Betty's Notebook” sold for more than $375,000 as an interactive NFT, a sale that, according to TACA-Arts, enabled Verdigris to pay 28 local Dallas musicians and artists a full year's wages during pandemic-era performance cancellations. The buyer was Metapurse, a crypto fund operated by Metakovan and Twobadour who had previously bought artist Beeple's $69 million digital artwork, as reported by KERA. “Betty's Notebook” was a first-of-its-kind programmable music NFT.
Verdigris later created “Betty's Notebook: The Immersive Experience & Re:transmit” in 2025, work supported in part by a $100,000 Eisemann Edge Initiative grant the ensemble received that year. That grant was funded through the Communities Foundation of Texas, an initiative established in 2019 by Charles Eisemann and the late Ann Eisemann to support regional arts groups integrating technology, according to the Communities Foundation of Texas. This season, Verdigris will release a studio album version of “Betty's Notebook” and hold a public listening party, though the date and venue have yet to be announced, NBC 5 reports.
A Sound Bath and a First Original Score
The mainstage portion of the BREATH season will unfold at Moody Performance Hall, the City of Dallas-owned venue in the Arts District that seats 750 patrons. “CANTUS SOUND BATH” is set for January 29–30, 2027, at the hall, created by composer and electronic artist Ricardo Romaneiro and performed with Verdigris under Brukhman's direction.
Then on April 30–May 1, 2027, also at Moody Performance Hall, Verdigris will premiere “Everything Is Okay,” Brukhman's first original composition, presented with support from Keith P. Mankin and Julia R. Fielding. The piece draws on Brukhman's personal experiences and family history, reflecting on stroke, recovery, immigration, resilience and the human condition, per NBC 5's reporting. It marks a milestone for Brukhman, who is also collaborating with Pegasus Contemporary Ballet on a November 2026 dance-and-music production at Dallas Contemporary titled “Overgrowth,” according to Pegasus Contemporary Ballet.
Expanding Into Dallas Classrooms
Verdigris is also launching a new educational and performance partnership with Parish Episcopal School this season, one designed to create opportunities for students to engage with innovative vocal music and creative collaboration, per the station's report.
Verdigris says it will hold additional special events throughout the year to celebrate its first decade and its community, though specifics beyond the announced mainstage shows have not been detailed. Tickets for the 10th anniversary season are on sale now, with limited early bird pricing starting at $27, student tickets at $20, value seating at $35, standard seating at $45 and premium seating at $65. Group discounts are available for parties of 10 or more, and those interested can reach the ensemble's group sales contact at [email protected].
