Pleasantville Chamber Music Society

October 6, 2024 • 3 pm

Adam Cockerham, guitar
Aisslinn Nosky, violin
Shelby Yamin, violin
Stephen Goist, viola
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Sarah Stone, cello.

Described as "truly excellent" and "studded with stars in the making" by the New York Times, New York Baroque Incorporated (NYBI) is a conductorless orchestra of period instruments based in New York City. NYBI has graced prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, Spoleto Festival USA, and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.

NYBI will present a program of great variety and entertainment – all by Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805):

Guitar Quintet No.9 in C Major, G.453 (1799)
La Ritirada di Madrid

La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid (1780)

Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D Major (1789) G. 448
Fandango

November 10, 2024. •. 3 pm

Cellist Ani Kalayjian returns to perform for the Society again along with pianist Philip Edward Fisher and clarinetist Anton Rist.

Armenian-America cellist Ani Kalayjian leads a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, collaborator, artistic director and educator that has taken her to Japan, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, and throughout the United States.  She is artistic Director of Carriage House Concerts in Englewood, NJ and and Co-artistic Director of Lyrica Chamber Music in Chatham, NJ as well as teaching and presenting master classes around the country.

Philip Edward Fisher, pianist, has appeared across his native United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.  Our Society is grateful to him for joining Ani in presenting a wonderful on-line concert during COVID when we could not offer in-person concerts.

Anton Rist serves as principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and in several Broadway productions.

February 2, 2025 • 3 pm

Letitia Quante, violin
Emily Taubl, cello
Hiromi Fukuda, pian0

The Champlain Trio captivates audiences with their compelling performances and deep dedication to the arts.  Formed in the spring of 2020, violinist Letitia Quante, cellist Emily Taubl, and pianist Hiromi Fukuda—all Vermont residents—united during a time when concerts, tours, and festivals were halted. This pause in their usual schedules provided a unique opportunity for them to come together and form an ensemble dedicated to bringing high-quality chamber music to the community.

Each member earned degrees from the Juilliard School, among other institutions. They hold academic positions at Amherst College, the University of Vermont, and Middlebury College as well as in the Vermont Symphony and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

In 2022, the Trio received a Vermont Arts Council Grant to record Croatian composer Dora Pejačević’s Piano Trio, Op. 29.

April 6, 2025 • 3 pm

Curtis Macomber, violin
Anna Lim, violin
Marka Gustavvson, viola
Chris Finckel, cello

Hailed by the Boston Globe as “a national treasure,” the MANHATTAN STRING QUARTET is celebrating its 51st season. Well known for their performances of 20th-century “classics,” the Manhattan Quartet has established a significant international reputation with regular concert appearances throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The Quartet has established itself as an advocate of new music through the commission and performance of new works from composers, most recently including Laura Kaminsky (American Nocturne), Eric Moe (The Salt of Broken Tears), Craig Walsh (String Quartet), Steve Ricks (The Pure Forces’ Gravity), and Laurie Altman (Shirakawa River Song).

In 2011, in collaboration with the Sarajevo Academy of Music, the Manhattan Quartet established the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival. Centered on teaching, master classes and concerts, the Festival program endeavors to bring chamber music to the Bosnian people, to celebrate the Sarajevo Academy of Music’s accomplished faculty and to give local music students the sense of Bosnia as a place where positive international attention, collaboration and recognition is possible.

The Manhattan Quartet’s distinguished catalogue of recordings includes the complete Shostakovich quartets; a Mozart/Beethoven pairing of live concert recordings; Schubert’s Quartets Nos. 14 & 15 (Death and the Maiden); Adagio for Strings, featuring Dvorak’s American Quartet; popular encores by Turina, Wolf, Puccini, Kern, Gershwin and Barber; and Carl Maria von Weber’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings with clarinetist Jon Manasse.

https://manhattanstringquartet.com