THE 2026 SEASON IN SAN FRANCISCO

Anna Katharina Wildermuth – violin
Noëmi Zipperling – violin
Caspar Vinzens – viola
Lukas Sieber – cello

Expressive, dynamic, spectacular – the Aris Quartet has been at home on international stages for more than a decade. With its unmistakable sound, it has long been known as one of the world’s top-rank chamber music ensembles.

The musicians have performed in venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Herbst Theatre San Francisco, and the Philharmonie de Paris. Their choice of chamber music partners is exceptional: Christiane Karg, Tabea Zimmermann, Daniel Müller-Schott, Eckart Runge, Kit Armstrong and Nils Mönkemeyer.

The ensemble also devotes itself to cross-genre projects, including with the jazz pianist Omer Klein. From the very beginning, the musicians have also placed a special focus on contemporary music. Composers such as Lukas Ligeti, Gerald Resch, Misato Mochizuki, and Pierre Dominique Ponnelle have entrusted the Quartet with world premieres of their works.

Founded in Frankfurt am Main in 2009, the Aris Quartet, one of whose most important mentors has been Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), continues to perform to this day in an unchanged format. The ensemble’s success is no coincidence: having earned numerous first prizes at prestigious competitions, the Aris Quartet quickly achieved its international breakthrough. The musicians have also been honored as ECHO Rising Stars by the European Concert Hall Organisation, were among the BBC’s New Generation Artists, and have won five awards at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

In addition to regular appearances on radio and television, the Aris Quartet has already released six CD productions that have received considerable acclaim from critics. Further releases on Deutsche Grammophon and STAGE+ will follow in 2023 and 2024.

Hong-Kong born pianist Tiffany Poon has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia since she was first accepted to the Juilliard pre-college program at the age of eight where she studied with Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein.

In February 2024, Tiffany released her debut album on Pentatone, “Diaries: Schumann”, which has amassed over 10 million streams and charted at No.1 on Apple Music Classical across four continents.

In the 2024-25 season, Tiffany gives her Carnegie Hall debut at Zankel Hall in a programme of works from her album, as well as performances at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Los Angeles. Other recent highlights include recital debuts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Southbank Centre (London), Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Whyte Concert Hall, Dublin, as well as her debut with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto. Other debut performances include the Klavierfestival Ruhr, Rheingau Musikfestival’s KlassikMarathon and the Sèries Jeunes of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Tiffany has collaborated with pianist Louie Lortie and conductor Josep Caballé Domenech at the Moritzburg Festival, and made further debuts at the Herbst Theatre with Chamber Music San Francisco, Munich’s Herkulessaal for the Klassik vor Acht series, and as part of the Washington Performing Arts’ Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center.

With a YouTube community of 328k subscribers and over 50 million views, Tiffany is dedicated to building new audiences in classical music through insights into her life as a musician with the aim of making music more accessible for all. She is also the Founder and President of ‘Together with Classical’, a charity which empowers people of diverse musical backgrounds to learn and share their experiences with classical music through online community engagement, grant-giving, interviews and educational videos. Tiffany studied philosophy at the University of Columbia, where she graduated in 2018 as a John Jay Scholar.

In 2023, acclaimed violinist Stella Chen, violist Matthew Lipman, and cellist Brannon Cho formed a string trio that performed for the first time at the Casals Forum in Kronberg, Germany, and has since debuted in New York, Boston, Toronto, and Chicago (Ravinia).

Stella Chen garnered worldwide attention with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition, followed by the 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. Since then, Stella has appeared across North America, Europe, and Asia in concerto, recital, and chamber music performances. She recently made debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Baltimore Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, and many others and appeared in concertos at the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie. In recital, recent appearances include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Phillips Collection, Rockport Music Festival, and Nume Festival in Italy. She appears frequently with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both in New York and on tour.

Stella plays the General Kyd 1720 Stradivarius, on generous loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

ARTIST’S WEBSITE

Matthew Lipman has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and by the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman has become one of the most sought after instrumentalists of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber musician.

Lipman recently debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival, and the American Symphony Orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center, with additional appearances including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Brevard Sinfonia, and Ensemble Resonanz. He has collaborated with leading conductors including the late Sir Neville Marriner, Edward Gardner, Osmo Vänskä, Nicholas McGegan, Leon Botstein, Josep Caballé-Domenech, and Yue Bao. Additionally, he has performed solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Zürich Tonhalle, among others, and has been a featured soloist at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Wigmore Hall in London, Seoul’s Kumho Art Hall, and at Michael Tilson Thomas’s Viola Visions Festival at the New World Symphony in Miami.

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Brannon Cho is the First Prize winner of the prestigious 6th International Paulo Cello Competition, and is also a top prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth, Naumburg, and Cassadó International Cello Competitions. Most recently, Brannon Cho is the recipient of the 2020 Janos Starker Foundation Award, the Landgraf von Hessen Prize from Kronberg Academy, the 2019 Ivan Galamian Award previously held by James Ehnes, and is a scholarship holder in the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Brannon Cho has appeared as a soloist with many of the top orchestras around the world, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Belgian National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Brussels Philharmonic.

Born in New Jersey, Brannon Cho received his Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music under Hans Jørgen Jensen. He was awarded the Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser. He also completed the Professional Studies program at the Kronberg Academy, under the tutelage of Frans Helmerson. Brannon Cho performs on a rare cello made by Antonio Casini in 1668 in Modena, Italy, and is sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld.

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Angela Hewitt occupies a unique position among today’s leading pianists. With a wide-ranging repertoire and frequent appearances in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, Americas and Asia, she is also an award-winning recording artist whose performances of Bach have established her as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters. In 2020 she received the City of Leipzig Bach Medal: a huge honour that for the first time in its 17-year history was awarded to a woman.

In March 2024, Hewitt embarked on her latest major project entitled ‘The Mozart Odyssey’, comprising the composer’s complete piano concertos, first appearing with Pierre Bleuse and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. This follows Hewitt’s highly acclaimed Bach Odyssey cycle (2016–22), in which she performed the complete keyboard works of Bach across 12 recitals, also presented worldwide. The Mozart project continues in 2024/25 with a variety of engagements spanning nine countries; conductor-led performances include the Brussels Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, NAC (Ottawa), Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and Ulster orchestras, among others. Hewitt is also much in demand as a play-conductor, collaborating with the Cameristi della Scala, Bochumer Symphoniker, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Mozart Odyssey. She has previously led Hong Kong and Copenhagen philharmonic orchestras, Lucerne Festival Strings, Zurich, Basel, Swedish and Stuttgart Chamber orchestras, Salzburg Camerata, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, and Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna’s Musikverein. 

Elsewhere in 2024/25, Hewitt continues to maintain a busy recital schedule, including concerts in New York City, Seoul, Toronto, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Utrecht, Bern and Oxford, as well as her regular appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall. The season also features two return recital tours to Australia and Japan, including performances in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Tokyo and Kyoto.

Hewitt’s award-winning cycle for Hyperion Records of all the major keyboard works of Bach has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times). Her discography also includes albums of Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Fauré, Debussy, Chabrier, Ravel, Messiaen and Granados. Her most recent recordings include the first two volumes of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas, released in November 2022 and October 2023, with the final set due for release in 2025. In 2023, Hewitt’s complete catalogue became available on all major streaming platforms following Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Hyperion; included in the first release in July was her critically acclaimed Diapason d’Or recording of the Goldberg Variations, which is also the first of her recordings to be issued on vinyl in September 2024. A regular in the USA Billboard chart, her album Love Songs hit the top of the specialist classical chart in the UK and stayed there for months after its release. In 2015 she was inducted into Gramophone Magazine’s Hall of Fame thanks to her popularity with music lovers around the world. 

Born into a musical family, Hewitt began her piano studies aged three, performing in public at four and a year later winning her first scholarship. She studied with Jean-Paul Sévilla at the University of Ottawa and, in 1985, won the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition, which launched her career. In 2018 Angela received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015 she received the highest honour from her native country – becoming a Companion of the Order of Canada (which is given to only 165 living Canadians at any one time). In 2006 she was awarded an OBE from Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, has seven honorary doctorates, and is a Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse College in Cambridge. In 2020 Angela was awarded the Wigmore Medal in recognition of her services to music and relationship with the hall over 35 years.

Angela lives in London but also has homes in Ottawa and Umbria, Italy where, 20 years ago, she founded the Trasimeno Music Festival — a week-long annual event which draws an audience from all over the world.

The Myriad Trio brings together flutist Demarre McGill, violist Che-Yen Chen, and harpist Julie Smith Phillips in a group dedicated to exploring the rich sonic possibilities of the flute, viola, and harp. Inspired by the colors and textures made famous in Debussy’s Sonate en Trio, the ensemble unites three celebrated artists who share a commitment to dynamic collaboration and expressive depth.

Formed in 2009 while performing together in the San Diego Symphony, The Myriad Trio has captivated audiences across the globe. Described as “superb” by The Washington Post and praised by sandiego.com for both their ensemble playing and individual artistry, the trio has performed at the Kennedy Center, Irvine Barclay Theatre, the Kingston Music Festival, Art of Elan, and Lyon & Healy’s 150th Birthday Celebration. In 2017, they toured China, sharing their distinctive sound in performances for both adult and youth audiences as part of a cross-cultural exchange.

The trio is committed to expanding the repertoire for this instrumentation and has premiered new works by Timo Andres, David Bruce, Jeremy Cavaterra, Avner Dorman, Lei Liang, and Rand Steiger. In addition to commissioning living composers, the members frequently collaborate on their own arrangements and transcriptions, bringing fresh perspective to traditional and contemporary works alike.

Their debut album, The Eye of Night, was released in 2011 to critical acclaim. With a shared passion for collaboration and discovery, The Myriad Trio remains committed to presenting dynamic performances and expanding the reach of this unique instrumentation.

“… the Quatuor Danel plays with warmth and conviction.” – The Boston Globe

The Quatuor Danel has been at the forefront of the international classical music scene for decades with their bold, vibrant, and concentrated performance style, and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022. The Danel’s 2023-24 North American tour included concerts for Aspect Chamber Music Series, Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, Music Toronto, Chamber Music in Oklahoma, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy. Additional touring activities this season include performances in France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

The Danel is known for its deeply personal interpretations of the string quartet cycles of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. Its lively and fresh vision of traditional quartet repertoire has won the Danel lavish praise from both the public and the press. In addition, Russian composers have a vital place in the Danel’s repertoire: the Quartet has regularly championed the string quartets of Shostakovich, and its very recent release of the complete quartet cycle which was recorded at the Gewandhaus Leipzig has already won a range of prizes and has been recognized as the quartet’s next benchmark recording.

Uniquely among string quartets, the Danel has worked closely with both the late Valentin Berlinsky formerly of the Borodin Quartet as well as Irina Shostakovich to refine the deeply personal interpretations of Russian music for which the Quartet is revered in Europe. The Danel’s long personal relationship and exceptionally close work with Dmitri Shostakovich’s widow Irina informed these performances in a specific and profoundly personal way, offering a very rarely accessed glimpse into Shostakovich’s genius.

The Quatuor Danel was the first quartet ever to record the complete and previously unknown quartet oeuvre of Mieczysław Weinberg, the neglected contemporary of Shostakovich, for the CD label CPO. The Quartet will continue to offer this breathtakingly beautiful and too little known repertoire in coming seasons. In addition, they have collaborated with major contemporary composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Helmutt Lachenmann, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pascal Dusapin, and the stars of the younger generation including Jörg Widmann and Bruno Mantovani.

Most recent recording projects consist of the three Tchaikovsky quartets, the Quartet and Piano Quintet by Franck with pianist Paavali Jumppanen, and the earlier mentioned Shostakovich String Quartet Cycle for the label Accentus. The Danel’s next CD release will feature a Prokoviev overview to be released in early 2025. Following that release, the Quartet will concentrate, again in collaboration with Gewandhaus Leipzig and Accentus, on a CD-release of the complete Beethoven String Quartet cycle in 2027.

At the very heart of the Quatuor Danel’s work lies its ambassadorship for young musicians in general and string quartets in particular. As the artist-in-residence at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) since 2005, the Quartet works closely with students, with teaching and master classes as a fundamental part of their activities.

Winner of the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Competition, major prizewinner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the youngest person ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a holistic and multifaceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician, with a passion for both standard and contemporary repertoire. 

Nathan – called “supremely polished . . . exuding maturity . . . stunning” by Gramophone – has performed as a soloist with major orchestras around the world, including the Aalborg Symphony, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Finnish RSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Charlotte Symphonies, among others. 

As a chamber musician, Nathan has performed at celebrated series such as Parlance Chamber Concerts, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Kallos Chamber Music Series, the Terezin Music Foundation, Project Music Heals Us, Midori’s Partners in Performance, and the Heidelberger Frühling, as well as at festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, Krzyzowa Music, the Moritzburg Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Perlman Music Program, and the Verbier Festival Academy. He is also the Artistic Director of The Green Room Ensemble, a nonprofit chamber music organization dedicated to performing, recording, and commissioning works of composers from historically underrepresented communities. 

A Juilliard graduate and student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, Nathan plays on a Storioni violin on generous loan from the Rin Foundation. 

Carion Wind Quintet is an award-winning Danish-Latvian ensemble which brings a truly unique and innovative chamber music experience to audiences. Carion fascinates audiences with its carefully choreographed and dramatized performances of classical and modern works, making music on stage visible and adding a new dimension of traditional concert events.

Carion Wind Quintet’s trademark is its unusual way of presenting on stage: without music stands or chairs, there is space for nuanced choreography that adds a theatrical element to the music. Musical structures are visualized through steps, movements and formations and the distribution of roles within the instruments is made visible, inspiring and delighting audiences and critics alike.

Carion Wind Quintet has performed to critical acclaim in Europe’s most prestigious festivals such as the BBC Proms, Rheingau Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Beethovenfest Bonn, Bergen Festival, and Helsinki Festival. Carion has also performed in Dubai and Japan. The ensemble has received first prizes at the Danish Radio Chamber Music Competition and the Marco Fiorindo Competition in Italy.

Carion collaborated with electronica guru Bjørn Svin, as well as legendary flutist Sir James Galway and the Leipziger Streichquartett.

Since Carion Wind Quintet’s formation in 2002, the ensemble has released five albums, receiving stellar reviews from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, among others. Carion also presents its dynamic music videos on its YouTube channel, accumulating almost 4 million views.

With a vivid onstage presence, dazzling technique, and keen musicality, pianist Olga Kern is widely recognized as one of the great artists of her generation, captivating audiences and critics alike.

In 2001, Olga launched her U.S. career at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, winning a Gold Medal— the only woman in the last fifty years to do so. She has since performed extensively with top-tier ensembles, among them the St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Czech Philharmonic, and Filarmonica della Scala. She has also scored successes with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic, and Pittsburgh Symphony. She was a soloist on widely acclaimed U.S. tours with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine; and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2018, 2019, and 2022. Olga performs riveting recitals throughout the world, playing in places such as New York, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, and Italy as well as with renowned organizations including The Gilmore Piano Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia Festival, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, Bad Kissingen (Germany), Radio France Festival Montpellier, and others.

In the 2022–2023 season, Olga appeared with the Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Ireland’s National Symphony Orchestra, and Colorado Symphony. She performed recitals at American Pianists Association Conference in Indianapolis and the International Piano Festival of Oeiras in Portugal as well as in Milan, Italy; Virginia Beach; Chicago; and San Francisco. Engagements in the 2023–2024 season include performances of Rachmaninoff’s monumental four concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Austin Symphony and Virginia Symphony Orchestra and a nationally broadcast New Year’s concert with the Czech Philharmonic. Other 2023–2024 engagements include Santa Rosa Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Asheville Symphony, a tour of South Africa, and performances with Prague Symphony, Taipei Symphony; and Tokyo Symphony.

Olga has served as a jury chairman of several high-profile competitions, including her own, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, of which she is Artistic Director. A dedicated educator, she has been on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music since 2017, and in 2019, she was appointed the Connie and Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music at the Virginia Arts Festival. She also established “Aspiration,” a foundation that provides financial assistance to musicians around the world. Olga is a Steinway Artist.

Her well-regarded discography includes works of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Brahms, and Shostakovich.

Olga’s iconic dresses are designed by Alex Teih (New York), and her jewelry is designed by Alex Soldier (New York).

– San Francisco Classical Voice

Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Highlights of the 2024-2025 season find Escher String Quartet performing in many of the great venues and organizations in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Shriver Hall Concert Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, University Musical Society at University of Michigan, Spivey Hall, and Chamber Music Houston, among others. In addition to their North American engagements, the quartet returns once again to Wigmore Hall for a BBC live broadcast recital as well as other engagements in Germany and continental Europe.

Escher String Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, OKM Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals.

Escher String Quartet achieved critical success last season in their performances of the entire cycle of string quartets by Bela Bartok in single concert format, both at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Their Bartok project was featured in The New Yorker in a substantial report by Alex Ross. Recently, the Escher quartet has had successful releases of multiple albums, including string quartets by Pierre Jalbert and the Escher’s studio recording of the complete Janacek quartets and Pavel Haas quartet no. 2 with multi award winning percussionist Colin Currie (BIS Label). Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received with the highest critical acclaim, with comments such as “…eloquent, full-blooded playing… The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” (BBC Music Magazine).

In 2019, DANCE, an album of quintets with Grammy award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was  enthusiastically received. In 2021, the Escher’s recording of the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber was met with equal excitement, including “A fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine). The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014.

Beyond the concert hall, Escher String Quartet is proud to announce the creation of a new nonprofit entity, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission as a nonprofit classical music organization is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages. In addition to their nonprofit work, the quartet has also held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and the University of Akron, OH. 

Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. 

Escher String Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

ARTIST’S WEBSITE

Brandon Patrick George, hailed as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, is a GRAMMY-winning flutist whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He is the flutist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others.

Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han. 

A sought-after orchestral artist, he has performed as guest principal flute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and toured internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

In September 2023, Brandon’s latest album, Twofold, was released on In a Circle Records. BBC Music Magazine gave Twofold a four-star rating for both the performance and recording, calling the album “a superb collection.” Twofold follows the success of Brandon Patrick George’s debut solo album, released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics. Brandon was profiled in The New York Times around the album’s release in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Solo Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance.”

Raised by a single mother in Dayton, OH, Brandon is the proud product of public arts education. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation, performing countless outreach concerts for school children every year, and mentoring young conservatory musicians of color embarking on performance careers. This commitment also guides his latest commissioning initiative, BPG: The Community Concerto Project, with extensive school visits and performance opportunities for local students built into every commission. Brandon trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Michel Debost, in Paris with Sophie Cherrier, and received a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Marya Martin. He continued his studies under the guidance of Lorna McGhee, now principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Brandon serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, Mannes School of Music, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In 2024, he was appointed as the Music Consultant at The Morgan Library & Museum, where he oversees the development and implementation of its music program.

ARTIST’S WEBSITE