Boscobel Chamber Music Festival 2026

Details:

The Boscobel Chamber Music Festival returns this September, celebrating its fifth 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 four extraordinary public programs featuring beloved returning favorites, musicians making their festival debut, and rising stars.

Public Performance Schedule

Friday, September 4 | 6-7:30pm: Opening Night 

Sunday, September 6 | 7-8:30pm: Beethoven and Dvořák with Fireworks

Thursday, September 10 | 6-7:30pm: Closing Night 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Participating Artists

Arnaud Sussmann, Artistic Director & Violin

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.

 

Edward Arron, Cello

Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician, throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

The 2025-26 season marks Mr. Arron’s 13th season as the co-artistic director with his wife, Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes String Quartet and he is a regular performer at the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Bargemusic, Caramoor, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival in Korea, Music in the Vineyards Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed numerous times in Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, The Seoul Arts Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Town Hall and the 92nd Street Y. Other festival appearances include Salzburg, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, PyeongChang, Bravo! Vail, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Evian, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival. He has participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project as well as Isaac Stern’s Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters. Mr. Arron’s performances are frequently broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today. In 2021, Mr. Arron’s recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with pianist Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation.

In 2022, Mr. Arron stepped down after 15 years as the artistic director of the acclaimed Musical Masterworks concert series in Old Lyme, Connecticut. In 2013, he completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, a chamber music series created in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Museum’s prestigious Concerts and Lectures series. Mr. Arron was also the artistic director of the USCB Chamber Music Series in Beaufort, South Carolina from 2009-2021, and the Chamber Music on Main concert series at the Columbia (SC) Museum of Art from 2009-2018.

Edward Arron began playing the cello at age seven in Cincinnati and continued his studies in New York with Peter Wiley. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro. In 2016, Mr. Arron joined the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst, after having served on the faculty of New York University from 2009 to 2016. 

 

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.

 

Blake Hinson, Bass

Blake Hinson is a New York based performer and teacher. Assistant Principal Bass of the New York Philharmonic since 2016 and section member since 2012, Mr. Hinson enjoys a dynamic career balanced between performing and teaching. In addition to his work with the Philharmonic, Mr. Hinson joined the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center (formerly known as Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra) in 2023 and was a member of the Gerard Schwartz’s All Stars Orchestra for their 2022 and 2023 seasons. Mr. Hinson has recorded on numerous movie soundtracks, including movies such as West Side Story (2021), In the Heights and Don’t Worry Darling. Prior to his arrival in New York, Mr. Hinson served as Principal Bass of the Grand Rapids Symphony.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Hinson performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach. He also performs regularly for the Philharmonic’s Merkin Hall Chamber Music series.

In spring of 2024  Mr. Hinson joined the Manhattan School of Music college and precollege faculty. From 2016 through 2023 Mr. Hinson served as Double-Bass faculty for Stony Brook University.  He has taught for the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, and has given masterclasses at Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and NYU. He also serves as a regular coach for New York Youth Symphony.

Mr. Hinson received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Edgar Meyer and Hal Robinson.

 

Paul Neubauer, Viola 

Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing have earned him praise as “a master musician” from The New York Times. In the summer of 2026, he will premiere a new Viola Concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with conductor JoAnn Falletta at the Brevard Music Center. In 2025, he released two albums for First Hand Records, each presenting the final works of two great composers: an all-Bartók album, which includes the revised version of the Viola Concerto, and a Shostakovich album, featuring the monumental Viola Sonata.

At age 21, Mr. Neubauer was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position he held for six years. He has since appeared as a soloist with over 100 orchestras, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki Philharmonics; the Chicago, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth Symphonies; and the Mariinsky, Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle Orchestras. He has also premiered viola concertos by Béla Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Reinhold Glière, Gordon Jacob, Henri Lazarof, Robert Suter, Joel Phillip Friedman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Detlev Müller-Siemens, David Ott, Krzysztof Penderecki, Tobias Picker, and Joan Tower.

In addition to his solo career, Mr. Neubauer performs with SPA, a trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, exploring a wide range of repertoire, including salon-style songs. He has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded for numerous labels, including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical.

Mr. Neubauer is a frequent performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and serves as the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey. He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.

 

Jakob Taylor, Cello

Praised for his ridiculous virtuosity and innate musical sensibility, Jakob Taylor is a recipient of Yale’s Aldo Parisot Prize for gifted cellists who show promise for a concert career. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, he has recently completed his Masters of Musical Arts under the esteemed cellist of the Emerson Quartet, Paul Watkins.

Born in New York City, Jakob began playing the cello at the age of three. His passion for sharing music has led him around the globe with engagements in the United States, Germany, Cuba and the United Kingdom. As a soloist, Jakob has performed at such venues as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Jordan Hall, Woolsey Hall, and Stude Hall at Rice University.

Jakob’s passion for chamber music has allowed him to collaborate with artists such as Ani Kavafian, Ettore Causa, Marcy Rosen, Steven Tenenbom, Hye-Jin Kim, Wu Han and Matthew Lipman. He has spent his summers working and performing at programs such as Music@Menlo’s International Program, Ravinia Steans Institute, Four Seasons Spring Workshop, the Taos School of Music, Music Academy of the West, among others.

Recognizing the importance of new music, he has premiered new works by composers such as Paul Cantelon and Paul Miller and has worked closely with rising composers such as Caroline Shaw and Timo Andres.

An avid proponent of music education, Jakob has worked as an educator alongside prominent institutions such as Yale University, the Boston Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Lighthouse School for the Blind.

Jakob received his Masters of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music studying with Desmond Hoebig. He has also studied at the New England Conservatory, and at The Juilliard School. He was the recipient of the Harvey R. Russel Scholarship and Irving. Gilmore Fellowship at Yale University. There, he recently performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of Leonard Slatkin as the winner of the 2022 Yale School of Music, Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition. He is also the winner of the 2020 Shepherd School of Music concerto competition.

 

Wu Qian

Selected as the classical music bright young star for 2007 by the Independent Newspaper, Wu Qian was born in Shanghai, where she received her early training before being invited to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School. At fifteen she performed Mozart’s E flat Major concerto (K449) in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and again at the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. She also played the Saint-Saens Concerto No.2 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in St. John’s Smith Square. She made her debut recital at the South Bank Purcell Room in 2000 and has since played there again on several occasions, including a recital broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

Qian has given recitals throughout Europe including the Steinway Halls of Hamburg where her performance was broadcast throughout Asia. Other international engagements have included appearances at the Steinway Hall in New York, the Hong Kong City Hall, the Koblenz Festival in Germany, the Santander International Festival, the Yale Summer Music Festival. In the UK Qian has appeared at the Wigmore, Royal Festival and Bridgewater Halls, the Harrogate, Grassington, Norfolk and Norwich festivals, the London Chopin Festival and many others.

Qian regularly appears in many articles, radio and television programs including being interviewed on BBC 4 and BBC World. Her concerts have been broadcast by NHK for Japan, Phoenix TV for China as well as BBC Radio 3 in the UK.

Qian’s debut recording of works by Schumann, Liszt and the young composer Alexander Prior was released in April 2009 on the Dal Segno label to world-wide acclaim, drawing comparisons to many of the great pianists of the last century. In the same year, Qian represented China in the Europalia festival performing Chopin’s 2nd piano concerto with the Brussels Philharmonic in a tour of Belgium.

Future plans include a new CD release with works by Schumann and future engagements in England, Italy, Norway and Germany. This season she has made her recital debut at the Chamber Hall of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and has performed other recitals in Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Padova and Koblenz. She has just returned from performing the “Yellow River” Concerto at the Toronto Center for the Arts in Canada.

In 2011, Qian was awarded the 1st prize at the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition with Alexander Sitkovetsky.

Qian is also a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Trio, with which she has performed all over the UK and Europe, including the Beethoven Triple with the Munich Symphoniker and the Orchestra of the Swan. The trio was awarded the prestigious 2009 NORDMETALL-ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival and the 1st prize at the Kommerzbank Trio competition in Frankfurt. It has performed in numerous concert halls and Festivals in the UK and abroad including the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Chamber Hall of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw as well as the Wigmore Hall in London. Future plans include the Beethoven Triple with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin as well as further regular appearances at the Wigmore Hall.

Qian is supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

 

Chelsea Wang, Piano

Chelsea Wang, praised by The New York Times as an “excellent young pianist,” is an award-winning soloist, chamber musician, and educator who has performed widely across North America, Europe, and Asia. Her appearances have taken her to leading venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Phillips Collection, Koerner Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Taipei National Concert Hall, the Weiwuying Center for the Arts, and Hong Kong City Hall. A prizewinner and finalist in numerous national and international competitions, she has been recognized with special awards at the Seoul International Piano Competition, the Washington International Piano Competition, and the New York International Piano Competition.

Ms. Wang made her orchestral debut at the age of six and has since performed with ensembles such as the Fort Worth Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New Orleans Civic Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, among others. She has appeared at major festivals including Music@Menlo, Ravinia Steans Institute, Bravo! Vail, Tippet Rise, Music Academy of the West, Orford, PianoTexas, Fontainebleau, Music from Angel Fire, Four Seasons, Banff, Amalfi Coast, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

A dedicated chamber musician, Ms. Wang has performed as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Chamber Players, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Hong Kong Intimacy of Creativity, and the Samos Young Artist Festival. She has collaborated with leading artists such as David Shifrin, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, David Finckel, Roberto Díaz, Paul Neubauer, Peter Wiley, and Bright Sheng. Her performances have been broadcast on NPR’s From the Top, WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), WHYY (Philadelphia), WSMR (Sarasota), and other regional stations, as well as on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes It Great. As a passionate and enthusiastic educator, Ms. Wang serves on the faculty of the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute’s Young Performers Program and has led numerous interactive performances in schools and community venues throughout New York City and across the United States. She is an alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, Ms. Wang began piano studies at age four with Chiu-Ling Lin and Ksenia Nosikova. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Meng-Chieh Liu and Ignat Solzhenitsyn, where she received the Sergei Rachmaninoff Award upon graduation. She holds a Master of Music degree and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Leon Fleisher and Yong-Hi Moon, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Northwestern University with James Giles. Ms. Wang is one of the newest members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (2027-2030), and resides in New York City.

Rising Artists

Gabrielle Després, Violin

Praised for her “gorgeous, rich tone” and fresh, insightful interpretations, Canadian violinist Gabrielle Després has emerged as a compelling young artist, enjoying a diverse career as a soloist and chamber musician. As a recent finalist of the 2025 Sibelius International Violin Competition, she was also first-prize winner of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and a top prize recipient at the Michael Hill, Elmar Oliveira, and Washington International Violin Competitions. She has garnered major honors including the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, Verbier Academy’s Prix Reyl, and Juilliard’s distinguished William Schuman Prize. In 2020, CBC recognized her artistry by naming her to its list of 30 Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30.

As a soloist, Gabrielle has appeared with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, and Peninsula Symphony, among others. Her recital credits span leading series and festivals, including the Schiermonnikoog Festival, Gualala Chamber Music, St. Albert Chamber Music Society, and Kelowna Chamber Music Society. During her two-years as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra(2021–2022), she led concerts under eminent conductors, including a celebrated performance of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben with Sir Antonio Pappano.

A passionate chamber musician, she has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, Music in the Vineyards, IMS Prussia Cove, and the Edmonton Summer Solstice Music Festival, and collaborated with ensembles such as the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and CMS of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music series. Committed to using music as a force for connection, Gabrielle has served as a Gluck Community Engagement Fellow at Juilliard, creating interactive programs for hospitals and nursing homes throughout New York City, and collaborates with Project: Music Heals Us, teaching and performing in carceral facilities across California. Alongside her dear friend Coco Mi, she is the co-founder of the NYC-based concert series, Lyrical Libations, which features pairings of chamber music and cocktails in intimate bars.

Gabrielle earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship and is now pursuing an Artist Diploma there, studying with Catherine Cho. Her formative mentors include Donald Weilerstein, Joseph Lin, Masao Kawasaki, Robert Uchida, and James Keene. Her artistic development has been supported by major awards from her home province of Alberta, including the Queen’s Jubilee Award, the Anne Burrows Music Foundation Award, and the Winspear Fund Scholarship, as well as immersive summers at leading programs such as Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, the Perlman Music Program, and the Verbier Festival Academy.

Gabrielle performs on a violin of Zosimo Bergonzi and a bow of Étienne Pajeot, graciously provided to her by CANIMEX INC., from Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, and gratefully acknowledges the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation for its invaluable support of her artistic journey.

Katie Liu, Viola 

The US-American violist Katie Liu has an impressive academic and musical career. She initially attended the Pre-College division of the Juilliard School, where she completed her training in Violin Performance under Masao Kawasaki. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University, she studied at the Colburn School with Paul Coletti and at the Yale School of Music with Ettore Causa.

Katie Liu has won numerous awards, including being a live round participant at the ARD International Music Competition and the Prague Spring International Viola Competition in 2023, as well as being a semifinalist at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in 2023.

She has extensive orchestral experience. Since October 2023, she has been working as a substitute violist with the New York Philharmonic, and since January 2023, she has been serving as a section violist with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she served as Principal Violist with various orchestras, including the Yale Philharmonia under the direction of Peter Oundjian, the American Youth Symphony under Carlos Izcaray, and the Colburn Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her ensemble and festival experiences include performances as a soloist at the Verbier Festival Academy in July 2023 and at the NUME Academy & Festival in June 2023.

---

Tickets 

• $25 – $85 for adults 
• $15 – $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.