Pleasantville Chamber Music Society

Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
400 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570

Admission is Free

Curtis Macomber, Violin
Calvin Wiersma, Violin
John Dexter, Viola
Christopher Finckel, Cello

www.manhattanstringquartet.com

Hailed by the Boston Globe as “a national treasure,” the Manhattan String Quartet is celebrating its 45th season. 

Well known for their performances of 20th-century classics, the Quartet has established an international reputation with appearances in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The group has been Quartet-in-Residence at Colgate University since 1988. In 2011, the Quartet established the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival, bringing chamber music to Bosnia and celebrating the distinguished Sarajevo Academy of Music. 

The Quartet’s extensive discography includes a notable recording of the complete Shostakovich quartets, which Time magazine called “one of the most important musical events of 1991.”

The program includes: String Quartet in G Major, K. 387 (Mozart); String Quartet in F Major (Ravel); and String Quartet in D major, Op. 76 #5 (Haydn).

Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
400 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570

Admission is Free

Ani Kalayjian, Cello
Ayano Ninomiya, Violin
Maurycy Banaszek, Viola

anikalayjian.com
ayanoviolin.com
eccorchestra.org/maurycy-banaszek

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “representing the young, up-and-coming generation,” and a “superb cellist with a large, expressive, singing tone, passionate musicianship, and magnificent playing” by the Journal Tribune,  Armenian-American cellist Ani Kalayjian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and educator that has taken her to Japan, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, and throughout Europe and the United States.

Winner of numerous prizes, Ayano Ninomiya has performed with orchestras across the U.S., Switzerland, Bulgaria, and most recently in Carnegie Hall.  Praised for her "deeply communicative and engrossing" (The New York Times) performances, she has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Moab, Bowdoin, Kingston, Adams (New Zealand), Canberra International (Australia), and Prussia Cove (England) festivals. She has been featured on Musicians from Marlboro Festival tours in the U.S. and France, and gave a TEDx talk at the University of Tokyo. As a recipient of the Beebe Fellowship, Ayano studied in Budapest at the Liszt Academy after graduating from Harvard University and The Juilliard School.

Maurycy Banaszek joined the Concert Artist Faculty at Kean University in 2011. His festival appearances include Marlboro, Seattle, Santa Fe, Aldeburgh, Moritzburg. Founding member of the conductor-less chamber orchestra ECCO, he toured with the Musicians from Marlboro, performed with the Guarneri String Quartet and has frequently appeared at Barge Music in New York. He was recently featured as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
400 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570

Admission is Free

Katrina Owens, Flute
Anna Pennington, Oboe
Kristen Mather, Clarinet
Sam Kaestner, Clarinet
Briana Lehman, Bassoon
Drew Mangus, Horn

www.ventnouveauny.com

Some of the finest wind and brass players in the New York area have come together to form a new ensemble that brings the best music for winds, brass, and percussion to all sorts of great places. Vent Nouveau is dedicated to bringing attention to the wide variety of underperformed repertoire for winds and brass. It is the first group of its kind in the NYC area. 

Their program will include:

"Deuxième Suite," Op. 122, Charles Lefevbre
"Divertimento No. 3," K. 439b, W.A. Mozart
"Divertimento for Winds," Malcom Arnold
"Mladi," Leos Janacek

Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
400 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570

Admission is Free

David Wechsler, Flute
John Cheek, Piano
Brian Snow, Cello

theomniensemble.org

The OMNI Ensemble is a chamber music group created to perform a uniquely flexible repertoire. From the Renaissance to the contemporary Avant-Garde the ensemble presents programs of enormous variety, all designed to provide their audience with a musical diversity not ordinarily encountered in a single musical event. This variety of styles endows the group with its unique perspective. The core of The OMNI Ensemble is David Wechsler, flutes, saxophones and midi wind controller, Brian Snow, cello, and John Cheek, piano and synthesizer. Since 1983 The OMNI Ensemble has produced a successful concert series noted for its innovative combination of programming and guest artists. These have included Composer/Instrumentalist David Amram, Mezzo Sopranos Katherine Ciesinski, Charlotte Hellekant & Misa Iwama, Soparanos Charlotte Dobbs & Erika Banks, Harpsichordists Gerald Ranck & Rebecca Pechefsky, performance artist John Kelley, Kumongo player Jin Hi Kim, Saxophonist Roy Nathanson and accordionist Guy Klucevsek. Commissioned composers have included David Lang, Lee Hyla, Michael Bushnell, Eric Klein, Allen Campbell, David Wechsler and Jim Lahti. The OMNI Ensemble has appeared on NPR, WNYC radio, The Voice of America, Hawaii Public radio, WKCR, and WQXR, as well as Westchester Public Access television.