Chamber Music Circle releases 2024-25 schedule
Akiko Sasaki, the music director at the Howland Chamber Music Circle, always tries to book top talent for the nonprofit’s annual concert series.
This year, she worked her connections and pulled off a huge coup by bringing pianist Emanuel Ax to Beacon for a solo recital. One of the biggest names in classical music, Ax just played with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Luxembourg and is performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto 14 with the New York Philharmonic on Sept. 13 and 15.
“When I tell people, their jaws drop,” she says.
That show is scheduled for Oct. 1, a Tuesday. Nearly all the others are on Sundays at 4 p.m., like the kickoff on Sept. 15 with the Brentano String Quartet, which will perform quartets by Haydn and Beethoven and the world premiere of Madrigal Mongolia by Chinese American composer Lei Liang.
The series’ fall session includes six concerts through the Ulysses Quartet on Nov. 17. A piano festival with four performances begins Jan. 12 with the Cann Duo and ends with Shai Wosner on March 2.
The spring session opens with the Daedalus Quartet on March 23 and concludes on May 18 with Imani Winds, a quintet that pushes the musical envelope, says Sasaki, who likes to book at least one wind ensemble each year.
Another boundary-stretcher is ArcoStrum (Oct. 6), with Strauss Shi (violin) and TY Zhang (guitar). The duo met at The Juilliard School and perform a jumble of styles from traditional Chinese instrumental music, progressive rock and what they call “original transcriptions of classical repertoire.”
There is no rock on their program, which includes Baroque (Vivaldi, Scarlatti), Spanish influences (Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla), three Asian composers (Li Zhihul, Haihuai Huang, Choi Jun Young) and the theme of Schindler’s List. Sasaki admires their “virtuosic energy.”
A first this year is an appearance by four singers from the Metropolitan Opera (May 4) who will perform “aria hits we might know and some we might not know,” says Sasaki. “Sometimes we have solo vocal recitals, but it’s nice to provide a taste of opera.”
To cultivate a generation of classical musicians and people who appreciate them, the circle collaborates with Arlington High School in Lagrangeville and the Jasper String Quartet to provide a chamber music experience for string students.
In November, the innovative So Percussion will perform at Beacon High School for music students in the fifth grade and higher. “They use everyday items to make their sounds, not just percussion instruments,” says Sasaki.
The Brooklyn-based quartet will perform a Classics for Kids concert at 1 p.m. on Nov. 3. Later that afternoon, they’ll play a program geared toward adults. Three more shows for the wee ones are planned this season.
Sasaki contracts some acts so far in advance that no music programs are available for performers in 2025. She also has fun with pop-up concerts booked a month ahead and held where “people wouldn’t normally expect to find classical music,” such as the Howland Public Library, an art gallery, churches and the outdoor space across from Hudson Beach Glass.
“People will have to stay on their toes to find out when it’s happening,” she says.
