Boscobel Chamber Music Festival 2025

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The Boscobel Chamber Music Festival returns this September, now in its fourth season! Presented in partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach and led by celebrated violinist and Artistic Director Arnaud Sussmann, one of our most highly anticipated events of the season brings world-class chamber music to our stunning Hudson River setting.

Join us for five extraordinary public programs featuring beloved returning favorites, musicians making their festival debut, and rising stars. From iconic masterpieces to intimate performances, a debut matinee concert, lecture, and beyond, expect a truly unforgettable experience.

Public Performance Schedule

Friday, September 5 | 7pm: Roaring Twenties 

Sunday, September 7 | 2pm: Sunday Matinee

Saturday, September 13 | 2pm: Violin Lecture with Carlos Tome 

Saturday, September 13 | 6pm: Beethoven and Dvorak 

Sunday, September 14 | 2pm: Family Concert: A Musical Adventure Around the World

Participating Artists

Arnaud Sussmann, Artistic Director & violin (@arnaudsussmann)

Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has distinguished himself with his unique sound, bravura, and profound musicianship. Minnesota’s Pioneer Press writes, “Sussmann has an old-school sound reminiscent of vintage recordings by Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, a rare combination of sweet and smooth that can hypnotize a listener.” 

Mr. Sussmann has recently appeared as a soloist with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, and the Vancouver, and New World Symphonies. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Tel Aviv Museum, London’s Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, and the White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg. He has also given concerts at the Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, and Seattle Chamber Music festivals, collaborating with many of today’s leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Wu Han, David Finckel, and Jan Vogler. 

Sussmann is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Co-Director of Music@Menlo’s International Program, and teaches at Stony Brook University. Mr. Sussmann plays the 1731 ‘Schneeberger’ Stradivari violin on loan from a private donor.

Benjamin Beilman, Violin

Benjamin Beilman is one of the leading violinists of his generation. He has won international praise for his passionate performances and deep rich tone which the Washington Post called “mightily impressive,” and The New York Times described as “muscular with a glint of violence.” The Times has also praised his “handsome technique, burnished sound, and quiet confidence,” and the Strad described his playing as “pure poetry.”

Beilman’s 2023-24 season includes his debut with the St. Louis Symphony under Cristian Macelaru, and returns to the Minnesota Orchestra with Elim Chan, the Oregon Symphony with David Danzmayr, and the Pacific Symphony, whom he will play-direct in a program of Vivaldi. The same season will also see six weeks of performances in Europe, including concerts with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart alongside Elim Chan, a return to the Kölner Philharmonie with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, and appearances at the Grafenegg Festival, Festpielhaus St. Pölten, and the Musikverein in Vienna with the Tonkünstler Orchester and Tabita Berglund. Beilman will also return to play-direct the London Chamber Orchestra, and will reunite with Ryan Bancroft in making his debut with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and with Roderick Cox in returning to Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie. He will also continue his performances of the Britten Concerto with the Estonian National Symphony.

In April 2022, Beilman became one of the youngest artists to be appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, and in March 2024 will lead a Curtis string ensemble in a national tour.

In recent seasons Beilman’s commitment to and passion for contemporary music, has led to new works written for him by Frederic Rzewski (commissioned by Music Accord), and Gabriella Smith (commissioned by the Schubert Club in St. Paul, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music). He has also given multiple performances of Jennifer Higdon’s violin concerto, and recorded Thomas Larcher’s concerto with Hannu Lintu and the Tonkünstler Orchester, as well as premiered Chris Rogerson’s Violin Concerto (“The Little Prince”) with the Kansas City Symphony and Gemma New.

In past seasons, Beilman has performed with many major orchestras worldwide including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle, Sydney Symphony, and Houston Symphony. He has also toured Australia in recital under Musica Aviva, including stops in in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, and Sydney.

Conductors with whom he works include Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Cristian Măcelaru, Lahav Shani, Krzysztof Urbański, Ryan Bancroft, Matthias Pintscher, Gemma New, Karina Canellakis, Jonathon Heyward, Juraj Valčuha, Han-Na Chang, Elim Chan, Roderick Cox, Rafael Payare, Osmo Vänskä, and Giancarlo Guerrero.

In recital and chamber music, Beilman performs regularly at the major halls across the world, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Kölner Philharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Louvre (Paris), Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo) and at festivals he has performed at Verbier, Aix-en-Provence Easter, Prague Dvorak, Robeco Summer Concerts (Amsterdam), Music@Menlo, Marlboro and Seattle Chamber Music, amongst others. He also continues to perform with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Beilman studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank, and with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy, and has received many prestigious accolades including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a London Music Masters Award. He has also recorded works by Stravinsky, Janáček and Schubert for Warner Classics. He perfoms with the ex-Balaković F. X. Tourte bow (c. 1820), and plays the “Ysaÿe” Guarneri del Gesù from 1740, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Nicholas Canellakis, Cello
Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation. The New York Times praises his playing as “impassioned … the audience seduced by Mr. Canellakis’s rich, alluring tone.”

Canellakis’s recent highlights include concerto appearances with the Albany, Delaware, and Lansing Symphonies, and the New Haven Symphony as Artist-in-Residence; international tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with appearances in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Louvre in Paris, and Shanghai’s National Concert Hall; and recitals throughout the United States.

Canellakis is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals, including Santa Fe, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Bard, and Bridgehampton. He was recently named Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona, in Arizona.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory, his teachers have included Orlando Cole, Peter Wiley, Paul Katz, and Madeleine Golz.

Estelle Choi, Cello

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, cellist Estelle Choi has garnered top prizes as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has gained international recognition as a founding member of the Calidore String Quartet, an ensemble that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2020. Praised by the New York Times for its “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” the Calidore won the Grand-Prize of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Calidore, Choi is an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist award, BBC 3 New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust recipient. Choi and the Calidore are members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and alumni of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). Choi’s artistry with the Calidore has been broadly praised by critics like Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times who wrote that “her tone is rich, deep and powerful, giving the impression that music and the room are a single living being.” Choi studied with John Kadz in Calgary, Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music and Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Conservatory. She instructed cello performance and chamber music at the University of Houston. With the Calidore, Choi teaches and performs at the University of Delaware. She holds a Masters degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor and Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music.

Jose Franch-Ballester, Clarinet
Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester is a captivating performer of “poetic eloquence” (The New York Sun) and “technical wizardry” (The New York Times). He plays regularly at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, the Skaneateles Festival, Camerata Pacifica, and Music from Angel Fire. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Orchestra, and numerous Spanish orchestras.

Winner of the 2004 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, he was presented in debut recitals in New York and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center. In 2008, he won a coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. He was awarded the Cannes’ Midem Prize, which aims to introduce artists to the classical recording industry. With the Chamber Music Society, he has recorded Bartók’s Contrasts on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Born in Moncofa, Spain into a family of clarinetists and Zarzuela singers, Mr. Franch-Ballester graduated from the Joaquin Rodrigo Music Conservatory. He earned a bachelor’s degree from The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Donald Montanaro and Pamela Frank.

Karen Gomyo, Violin

Karen Gomyo possesses a rare ability to captivate and connect intimately with audiences through her deeply emotional and heartfelt performances. With a flawless command of the instrument and an elegance of expression, she is one of today’s leading violinists.

Highlights of recent seasons have included Karen’s subscription debuts with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Orquesta Nacional de España, the Czech Philharmonic and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Karen also returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris under Mikko Franck and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln with Cristian Macelaru.

Karen’s 23/24 season engagements include her debuts with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Semyon Bychkov, the Chicago Symphony with John Storgårds, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland with Lio Kuokman, and KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul with Pietari Inkinen. She also appears with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg with Constantinos Carydis, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with John Storgårds, Gulbenkian Orchestra with Giancarlo Guerrero, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao with composer-and-conductor Samy Moussa, and the Vancouver Symphony with Gerard Schwarz. In February 2024 Karen will return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Year 2020, a Concerto for Trumpet, Violin and Orchestra by Xi Wang, with trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth and conductor Fabio Luisi. Together with conductor Jakub Hrůša, with whom she collaborates regularly, Karen will return to Japan to perform with the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra.

Further afield, Karen continues to be sought after in Australasia and will be touring the region in August and September 2024, returning to the Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian symphony orchestras.

As a passionate chamber musician, Karen has had the pleasure of performing with artists such as Olli Mustonen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Enrico Pace, James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Daishin Kashimoto, Emmanuel Pahud, Julian Steckel, the late Heinrich Schiff, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and guitarist Ismo Eskelinen with whom she has recorded the duo album “Carnival” on Bis Records.

She is also a champion of the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla. She regularly collaborates with Piazzolla’s long-time pianist and tango legend, Pablo Ziegler, as well as with bandoneon players, Hector del Curto, JP Jofre, and Marcelo Nisinman. In 2021 Karen released ‘A Piazzolla Triology’ on BIS Records, recorded with the Strings of Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and guitarist Stephanie Jones.

Renowned for her commitment to commissioning new repertoire, Karen has given the US premieres of Samy Moussa’s Violin Concerto ‘Adrano’ with the Pittsburgh Symphony – and Matthias Pintscher’s Concerto No. 2 ‘Mar’eh’ with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington under the baton of the composer. In May 2018 she performed the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ new Chamber Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, a work written specifically for Karen and commissioned by the CSO’s ‘Music Now’ series for their 20th anniversary.

Born in Tokyo, Karen began her musical career in Montréal and New York, She studied under the legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School before continuing her studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and New England Conservatory. Karen also participated as violinist, host, and narrator in a documentary film produced by NHK Japan about Antonio Stradivarius called The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, which was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD.

Beth Guterman Chu, Viola

Beth Guterman Chu is one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. Before joining the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2013 as Principal Viola, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and enjoyed a varied career as a chamber musician and recitalist. Chu is still an avid chamber musician, and collaborates with many artists including Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, Menahem Pressler, Jaime Laredo, James Ehnes, and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, and Orion quartets. As a recording artist, she has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Tzadik, Naxos, and the CMS Studio Recordings.

During the summer Chu performs and works with young musicians at the Aspen Music Festival and School, National Youth Orchestra-USA, and at the Marlboro Music Festival. In recent years, she has also performed at festivals in Seattle; Lake Champlain, Vermont; Portland, Maine; as well as Luzerne, Bridgehampton, and Skaneateles, New York. Chu has also performed as soloist with many distinguished conductors including Hannu Lintu, Bramwell Tovey, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, and James DePreist.

Chu received her Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory studying with Kim Kashkashian, and her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School studying with Masao Kawasaki and Misha Amory. She lives in St. Louis with her husband Jonathan, another violist, and their three children.

Teng Li, Viola

Teng Li is a diverse and dynamic performer internationally. Recently Ms. Li was appointed as Principal Violist of the L.A. Philharmonic after more than a decade as Principal with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She is the Artistic Director of Morningside Music Bridge.

Ms. Li is also an active recitalist and chamber musician participating in the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Mostly Mozart, Music from Angel Fire, Rome, Moritzburg (Germany) and the Rising Stars Festival in Caramoor. She has performed with the Guarneri Quartet in New York (04/05), at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) and with the 92nd St. “Y” Chamber Music Society. Teng was also featured with the Guarneri Quartet in their last season (2009), and was also a member of the prestigious Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two Program. She is a member of the Rosamunde Quartet (led by Noah Bendix-Balgley, Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Toronto-based Trio Arkel.

Ms. Li has been featured as soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Haddonfield Symphony, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, the Canadian Sinfonietta and Esprit Orchestra. Her performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio 2, National Public Radio, WQXR (New York), WHYY (Pennsylvania), WFMT (Chicago), and Bavarian Radio (Munich).

Amy Schwartz Moretti, Violin

With a distinguished career of broad versatility, violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti is equally accomplished as chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist, and educator. Recognized as a deeply expressive artist, she appears as soloist and chamber music artist at music festivals and concert series internationally. She is a member of the Ehnes Quartet, touring and recording with violinist James Ehnes, violist Che-Yen Chen, and cellist Edward Arron. In 2007, she became the inaugural Director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Georgia, leading their new string program for gifted young artists within the School of Music supported by full-tuition scholarships. Since then, together with founder Robert McDuffie, she has developed and guided this unique program. She has established and expanded the Fabian Concert Series bringing esteemed artists to campus for performances and classes.

As professor and Director of the McDuffie Center at Mercer University, she is honored to hold the Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings and teach the violinists of the Center. Before joining Mercer University, Amy was concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony in Portland. Her professional career began as concertmaster of The Florida Orchestra in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. She has served as guest concertmaster for the Atlanta, Houston, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, The New York Pops and Hawaii Pops, and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado, Grant Park and Grand Teton.

She has received multiple Juno awards for her recordings with James Ehnes and has also recorded for Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, Onyx Classics, CBC Records, BCMF/Naxos and Sono Luminus. Recent projects include the 2024 recording of a concerto written for her by composer Christopher Schmitz, and the filming of the documentary, “Chaos Becomes Order,” illuminating the process of the concerto’s collaboration with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Stefan Sanderling.

The Cleveland Institute of Music has recognized her with an Alumni Achievement Award and she is the 2014 San Francisco Conservatory of Music Fanfare Honoree. In 2018, Moretti was selected as one of Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals of the Year, and in 2022, she received the Macon Arts Alliance Cultural Award, given to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the cultural life of Central Georgia. Amy lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons. She performs on her treasured Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin made in Paris in 1874.

Michael Brown, Piano
Michael Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his “fearless performances” (The New York Times) and “exceptionally beautiful” compositions (The Washington Post).
Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Brown has recently performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids symphony, and many others. He has given recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Caramoor. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing frequently at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has appeared at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, and Music@Menlo.
Brown was First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, a winner of the Bowers Residency from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (formerly CMS Two), a recipient of the Juilliard Petschek Award, and is a Steinway Artist. He earned dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th century Steinway D’s, Octavia and Daria.

Orion Weiss, Piano

One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). With a warmth to his playing that outwardly reflects his engaging personality, Weiss’s “delicate, even fingerwork” (Washington Classical Review) and “head-spinning range of colors” (Chicago Tribune) have dazzled audiences around the world. He has performed with all of the major orchestras of North America, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic.

In February of 2025, Weiss released Arc III, the final album in his recital trilogy, on First Hand Records. Weiss’s 24-25 performance schedule includes engagements with violinist James Ehnes, who joins Weiss for a return to London’s Wigmore Hall and for performances of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Seattle. Among numerous engagements with U.S. orchestras, Weiss makes his David Geffen Hall debut in New York with the American Symphony Orchestra. He performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Newport Classical in Rhode Island, among other recitals. He is featured in performances at Italy’s Teatro Marrucino Biglietteria and in the Great Artists Series at Washington University in St. Louis, on a tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at LaMusica Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida. Weiss also tours Japan, playing the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with Akiko Suwanai and performs the complete Grieg Sonatas with James Ehnes in Bergen, Norway. Over the last year, Weiss made his return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Michael Tilson Thomas, and debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Ken-David Masur. He also toured the United States and Asia with violinist Augustin Hadelich and performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with Augustin Hadelich, as well as fellow violinists William Hagen and James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Weiss has appeared at venues and festivals including the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Schubert Club, Hong Kong Premiere Performances, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Series, the 92nd Street Y, and at summer music festivals including Bard, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Bravo! Vail, Sunriver, and Grand Teton, among many others.

Other highlights from Weiss’s recent seasons include a live-stream with the Minnesota Orchestra; a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the release of his recording of Christopher Rouse’s Seeing, the first two installments of his critically acclaimed Arc recital trilogy; a recording of Korngold’s Left Hand concerto and other works with Leon Botstein and TON; and recordings of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta.

Weiss can be heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung, and Artek labels on recordings such as The Piano Protagonists with The Orchestra Now, led by Leon Botstein; a disc of Scarlatti Sonatas for Naxos; a solo recital disc of Bartók, Dvorák, and Prokofiev; Brahms Sonatas with violinist Arnaud Sussmann; a solo recital album of J.S. Bach, Scriabin, Mozart, and Carter; and a recital disc with cellist Julie Albers. In March 2022, First Hand Records released the first album of Weiss’s Arc Trilogy – Arc I: Granados, Janáček, Scriabin – a recording exploring the omens and tension of the period preceding World War I. Gramophone Magazine praised the album as “expansive, colorful, and texturally varied.” Arc II, featuring the music of Ravel, Brahms, and Shostakovich, was released in November 2022. Arc III, featuring works by Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, Dohnányi, Ligeti, and Talma, was released in February 2025 and called a “a worthy successor to the distinguished predecessors” by Gramophone. Over recent years, Weiss has also raised his profile through video, assembling a broad and growing YouTube videography that includes Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the Op. 39 Rachmaninoff etudes, and Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, among many others.

In the summer of 2011, Weiss made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood as a last-minute replacement for Leon Fleisher. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Itzhak Perlman.

Weiss’s list of awards includes the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at The Juilliard School, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. He won the 2005 William Petschek Recital Award at Juilliard and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. Also in 2005, Weiss made his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. From 2002-2004, he was a member of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). A native of Lyndhurst, Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Program through high school, where he studied with Paul Schenly, Daniel Shapiro, and Sergei Babayan. His other teachers include Joseph Kalichstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Kathryn Brown, and Edith Reed. In February 1999, Weiss made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The next month, with less than 24 hours notice, Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was immediately invited to return for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto that October. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

Rising Artists

Angela Chan, Violin

Praised for her sensitivity and incredible tone, Hong Kong born Chinese violinist Angela Chan has found success both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She is the winner of 2024 Hannover Joseph Joachim Violin Competition and recipient of the prize for the best interpretation of commissioned work, first prize and winner of the best interpretation of concerto prize in the 2017 Louis Spohr Violin Competition, and laureate of the Singapore International Violin Competition and Shanghai Isaac SternInternational Competition. Founder and violinist of the AYA piano trio, the trio has won first prize of the WDAV Chamber Music Competition and Yellow Spring Chamber Competition. Ms. Chan is fast emerging as one of the most unique and polished violinists of her generation.

As a soloist, Angela has appeared with numerous orchestras including NDR Radiophilharmonie, The Staatskapelle Weimar Orchestra of Germany, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, EOS Orchestra of Beijing, and the Hong Kong Symphonia. In 2016, Ms. Chan was selected as a soloist to a tour around the states with The Curtis Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Chan has held many recitals in various cities such as Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Hong Kong, Beijing, Xiamen, and Guizhou.

As an active chamber musician, Ms. Chan has collaborated with world famous artists such as Nobuko Imai, Phillip Setzer, Hsinyun Huang, Peter Wiley, Gary Hoffman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Marcy Rosen etc.

Angela’s festival appearances as a soloist and chamber musician include Heifetz Institute of Music as Artist-in-Residence, Verbier Festival Academy, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Chan recently attended the renowned Marlboro Chamber Music Festival.

Born in Hong Kong, Angela started playing the violin at the age of 3 under her mother. She continued her violin studies with Michael James Ma, Vera WeiLing Tsu in Beijing, China, and Shmuel Ashkenasi, Pamela Frank, and Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. With full scholarship granted, she received her master’s degree with Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory of Music. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

Ms. Chan is the first awardee of the Music and Dance Distinguished Performance Commendation Scheme of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and the scholarship recipient of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance fund and the Lin Yao Ji Foundation.

Matthew Hakkarainen, Violin

Matthew Hakkarainen became the first American violinist to be awarded first prize at the Premio Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition, in Gorizia, Italy, where he also received three special prizes for “a young, deserving talent,” the best interpretation of a 19th century sonata, and the best interpretation of a 19th century concerto. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Pamela Frank, and he is currently attending the Juilliard School, studying with Sylvia Rosenberg and Ronald Copes. Previous teachers Matthew has studied with include Charles Castleman, Mauricio Fuks, Borislava Iltcheva, Huifang Chen, and Maree Sawhney.

In 2013, Matthew was a finalist at the Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists held in Weimar, Germany. He won the Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA) Southern Division Junior Performance Competition the following year. In 2018, he won first place in the New World Symphony’s Concerto Competition and performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony. Later that year, Matthew served as Concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America for its concert tour in Asia, again under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. In 2021, he was a semifinalist in the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition. This past summer, he won the Aspen Music Festival and School’s Violin Competition, and performed as a soloist with the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra. He was Concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for its 2021-2022 season, and is Associate Concertmaster of Symphony in C. He has also appeared several times as a Substitute Violin with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and as Substitute Principal Second Violin with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.

Matthew has been featured on National Public Radio’s “From the Top,” and has performed as a guest artist at FestivalSouth. In 2019, he went on a solo recital tour across three towns in Northern Italy. Matthew has appeared as a soloist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Bulgaria Classic di Plovdiv, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, New River Orchestra, and others. Festivals he has attended include the Aspen Music Festival and School (as a New Horizons Fellow studying with Kathleen Winkler), Castleman Quartet Program, Sardinia International Master Class, Orford Musique, Ferme de Villefavard Summer Academy, Meadowmount School of Music, Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Summer Program. He also attended the Music Academy of the West as the recipient of a William Hymanson Endowed Full Scholarship in Violin, awarded to those participating in the Concertmaster Program led by Glenn Dicterow. Additionally, Matthew has played in masterclasses for esteemed artists including Zvi Zeitlin, Gordon Nikolić, Gerardo Ribeiro, Roman Simović, Vadim Gluzman, Alexander Sitkovetsky, and others.

A native of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Matthew is currently pursuing his Master of Music in violin performance. Outside of music, Matthew is also notable for his academic achievements as a National Merit Scholarship recipient, a Kovner Opportunity Scholar, and a Sunshine State Scholar.

Brian Isaacs, Viola

American violist Brian Isaacs lives in Berlin, where he was a member of the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker from 2023-25. Having recently completed his Konzertexamen in the class of Tabea Zimmermann at HfMDK Frankfurt, Brian will continue his studies with her at the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies Programme from October 2025.

Brian is a prizewinner of international viola competitions including Rostal (2. Prize & all special prizes), Markneukirchen (3. Prize), and Nedbal (3. Prize & Martinů Prize). He has also received awards and prizes from institutions such as the Verbier Festival Academy, Yale University, and Frank Huntington Beebe Fund.

Brian has gained experience as a viola soloist performing concertos with ensembles including Barocco sempre giovane, Geringas Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester, Philharmonisches Orchester Gießen, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Yale Symphony, and Yale Philharmonia. He has benefited from working in masterclasses with violists such as Misha Amory, Yuri Bashmet, Noemie Bialobroda, Ettore Causa, Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Steven Tenenbom, Lars Anders Tomter, and Tabea Zimmermann.

An avid chamber musician, Brian’s recent festival appearances include Boscobel, Four Seasons, Gstaad String Academy, La Jolla SummerFest, Methow Valley, NUME, CMS Palm Beach, Taos, Thy, Tonhain Kollektiv, Verbier Festival Academy, Viridian Strings, and Yellow Barn. In summers 2025 and 2026, Brian will attend the Marlboro Music Festival.

As a member of the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker from 2023-25, Brian was mentored by Sebastian Krunnies. He participated in numerous performances of the Berliner Philharmoniker, including tours within Europe and the USA. He has also performed as guest principal violist with Les Musiciens du Louvre, as guest co-principal with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a substitute with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

A native New Yorker and graduate of Yale University, Brian received his MM in Viola Performance, studying with Ettore Causa, and his BA in Sociology. He plays on a modern viola made by Douglas Cox in Vermont, USA.

Sara Scanlon, Cello

Known for captivating audiences with her passionate performances and musical artistry, cellist Sara Scanlon, age twenty-three, is quickly becoming a sought-after talent in the world of classical music. Sara made her solo debut, performing the Elgar Concerto with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. She has been a featured soloist on NPR’s nationally broadcasted program “From The Top” and was the principal cellist for the Emmy Award-winning “Night of Georgia Music” on PBS.

A Native of Milford, Connecticut, Sara won the Chappaqua Orchestra, Adelphi Orchestra, Greater New Haven Orchestra, Hamden Symphony Orchestra, and the Townsend Orchestra’s Concerto Competitions. She has been a featured performer in the Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Program at the Aspen Music Festival, Orford Musique’s Gala du Prix, The Toronto Summer Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, the Fabian Concert Series, the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach Concert Series, and the 2022, 2023, and 2025 Rome Chamber Music Festival. Sara regularly performs in the New York City-based Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players Music Series and as a member of the Blue Hill Trio, showcasing her unique musical voice and resonant sound, gaining attention and acclaim from audiences and industry professionals alike.

Sara attended the Juilliard Pre-College Program, where she studied with Clara Kim and Richard Aaron. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree, graduating summa cum laude from The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings on a full merit scholarship, studying with Julie Albers, Richard Aaron, and Leo Singer. She continued her graduate studies at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Joel Krosnick and received a Master of Music degree in May of 2024. Sara has also had the opportunity to perform in masterclasses with esteemed artists such as Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Paul Katz, Colin Carr, David Finkel, Philip Glass, Edward Arron, Peter Stumpf, Michel Strauss, Laurence Lesser, Yegor Dyachkov, Amir Elden, Brian Manker, and The Brentano and Miro Quartets.

Tickets 

• $45 – $85 for adults 
• $25 – $45 for musicians and children (<16)
• Patrons + VIP Sponsorship packages start at $2,500; visit: boscobel.org/bcmf-support or contact our development team development@boscobel.org

Getting to the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival.
Tickets are non-refundable. Please see our ticketing policy for more info.
Performers and repertoire subject to change.