CHAMBER @ THE DRAKE
An eight part series of Classical Music - Sundays 4pm
Founded in 2022, Chamber @ the Drake is a series dedicated to making classical music engaging and accessible. This season presents eight concerts on Sundays at 4pm. The series is devoted to the belief that chamber music is profound in its essence. Our intimate bar setting invites artists and audience to connect through sound and conversation. Chamber @ the Drake has presented artists such as the Ying String Quartet, Matt Haimovitz, Now Ensemble, Solomiya Ivakhiv, Peter Blanchette, Edward Arron and Jeewon Park. The upcoming season includes world class musicians such as Johnny Gandelsman, The Horszowski Trio, The Lydian String Quartet and Albert Cano Smit, among others.
‘25-‘26 Concerts
September 7
October 19
November 23
December 7
February 22
March 8
April 26
May 17
Sunday September 7 at 4pm
Edward Arron and Jeewon Park, cello/piano
Performing works by Brahms, Schumann,
Schnittke, and Prokofiev.
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, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, 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. Other festival appearances include Salzburg, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, PyeongChang, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Evian, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival. 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. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Arron currently serves on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Praised for her “deeply reflective playing” (Indianapolis Star) and “infectious exuberance” (The New York Times), Korean-American pianist Jeewon Park has garnered worldwide acclaim for her poetic lyricism and dazzling technique. She maintains a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, performing a wide-ranging repertoire from J.S. Bach to today’s leading composers. Since making her orchestral debut at age 12 performing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Park has appeared as soloist with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and The Florida Orchestra. She has performed extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Park serves as co-artistic director of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute and is a founding member of the Palladium Chamber Players. She has appeared at numerous prestigious festivals and concert series across the United States, including the Manchester Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Lake Champlain, Chamber Music Northwest, Caramoor, Bargemusic, Bridgehampton, Tucson, Spoleto USA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 92nd Street Y, Maui, Taos, Norfolk, Chautauqua, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Pablo Casals and Four Seasons. Internationally, Ms. Park has been featured at the inaugural festival of The IBK Chamber Hall at Seoul Arts Center, Seoul Spring Festival, Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea, Emilia-Romagna Festival in Italy, Music Alp in Courchevel, France, and Kusatsu Music Festival in Japan. Her acclaimed recording of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano with cellist Edward Arron was released on Aeolian Classics and received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. Ms. Park has presented master classes at Amherst College, Williams College, Swarthmore College, University of Washington, University of South Carolina Columbia, and other institutions. A recipient of Korea’s most prestigious national music prizes, she moved to the United States in 2002 and holds degrees from Yonsei University, The Juilliard School, Yale University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Ms. Park performs on Steinway pianos provided courtesy of Steinway & Sons, New York.
Sunday October 19 at 4pm
Albert Cano Smit, piano
Performing works revolving around Wanderer Fantasie by Franz Schubert and The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach
A musician who has been praised as “a moving young poet” (Le Devoir), Spanish/Dutch pianist Albert Cano Smit enjoys a growing international career on the orchestral, recital, and chamber music stages. Noted for his captivating performances, storytelling quality and nuanced musicality, the First Prize Winner of the 2019 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions has appeared as a soloist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Montréal Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Elgin Symphony, Aiken Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río, Barcelona Symphony, Catalonia National Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Nottingham Youth Orchestra, and American Youth Symphony. Recital highlights have included his Carnegie Hall debut presented by The Naumburg Foundation, his Merkin Hall debut presented by Young Concert Artists, recitals at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C., Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival, and at the Steinway Society in San Jose. Albert has been presented in recital by Festival Bach Montréal, Merkin Hall (New York City), the Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.), University of Florida Performing Arts, the Krannert Center (Urbana, IL), and Matinée Musicale (Cincinnati, OH). He recently premiered Katherine Balch’s "Spolia" with flutist Anthony Trionfo taking them to the Morgan Library and Carnegie Hall. Recent recitals with Trionfo have included the Alys Stephens Center, Kravis Center, Evergreen Museum & Library, and others. Cano Smit is set to continue touring with violinist William Hagen, with whom he has recorded the CD, Danse Russe. Albert was First Prize winner at the 2017 Walter W. Naumburg Piano Competition. Additional special prizes at the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Auditions include The Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Concert Prize for support of his Kennedy Center debut, the Friends of Music Concert Prize (NY), and the Sunday Musicale Prize (NJ). Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Albert recently completed an Artist Diploma with Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School, where he was awarded the 2020 Rubinstein Prize for Piano. Early on, he studied music at Montserrat mountain’s Escolanía de Montserrat choir, where he sang as an alto. Later, he studied piano with Graham Caskie, Marta Karbownicka, and Ory Shihor. He is an alum of the Verbier Festival Academy and holds a BA in Piano Performance from the Colburn School, as well as a MM from the Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City.
Sunday November 23 at 4pm
Apple Hill String Quartet
Elise Kuder, Jesse MacDonald, violins
Mike Kelley, viola; Jacob MacKay, cello
Performing works from Paquito D’Rivera, Aurelio Tello, Franz Joseph Haydn and Pavel Haas.
Called “dashing and extraordinary” by The Strad Magazine, the Apple Hill String Quartet are the Artistic Directors and resident musicians at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, winner of the CMAcclaim award from Chamber Music America. The Quartet serves as the Music Directors for Apple Hill’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop in Nelson, New Hampshire, known for cultivating connection among people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ages through its guiding philosophy, Playing for Peace. During the regular concert season, the Quartet performs concerts and conducts educational residencies locally in New Hampshire, nationally in major U.S. cities, and internationally around the globe—in venues as diverse as the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, at the Shalin Liu Center for Performing Arts at Rockport Music, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program, ChatterABQ, Burncoat High School in Worcester, Project STEP in Boston, Albuquerque Academy, the Lakeside School in Seattle, WA, St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH, Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities in Keene, NH, the Ketermaya refugee camp outside Beirut, Lebanon, the Moscow Conservatory, the Conservatorio National de Musica in Lima, Peru, the Gitameit Music School in Yangon, Myanmar, and the Harrisville General Store. The Quartet’s eclectic and dynamic concert programs reflect the diversity of Apple Hill: pieces amplifying new voices in classical music; compositions from places representing the Quartet’s global travels and the summer workshop community; and music from the historic canon and new commissions, especially from renowned alumni. The Quartet has collaborated with members of the Brentano and Attacca String Quartets, Silk Road Ensemble, Dorian Wind Quintet, Warp Trio, and Hirsch-Pinkas Duo. Members of the Quartet have received degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, the Juilliard School, New England Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Brandeis University, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and a Fulbright Fellowship to London, England.
Sunday December 7 at 4pm
Crystalline Chamber Collective
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin, Laura Sacks, viola
Chris Gross, cello, Steve Beck, piano
Performing quartets from Josef Rheinberger
and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Crystalline Chamber Collective is comprised of a group of dear friends- New York City musicians who are enthusiastic about performing chamber music at the highest level. As individuals we often play with the top ensembles in New York City, such as the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and the Knights. When we join together for a Crystalline concert, we offer familiar masterworks as well as lesser-known pieces of great beauty. Now in its fifth season, Crystalline performs frequently at venues such as Bargemusic, Downtown Music at Grace (White Plains), and Saugerties ProMusica. Part of our mission is to offer exceptional chamber music experiences that are accessible to all, so we regularly perform free concerts in the West Village at St. John’s in the Village, as well as outreach concerts at venues like the New Jewish Home in Manhattan. As an organization, we are proud to be fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas. Please visit our website, www.crystallinechambercollective.com, to learn more.
Sunday February 22 at 4pm
Horszowski Trio
Jesse Mills, violin, Ole Akahoshi, cello, Rieko Aizawa, piano
Performing trios from Smetana and Ravel.
Giving performances that are “lithe, persuasive” (The New York Times), “eloquent and enthralling” (The Boston Globe), and described as “the most compelling American group to come on the scene” (The New Yorker), the Horszowski Trio is a vital force in the international chamber music world. In 2023, the “Horszowski Trio Prize” was created by the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, to award piano trio winners. In 2019, the Horszowski Trio made its London debut in a sold-out concert presented by Wigmore Hall followed by a successful 21-concert tour of Germany. The Horszowski Trio has appeared at major venues in the U.S., including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, as well as Mexico, Canada, Japan, and throughout Europe and Asia. Their recording of the complete piano trios of Robert Schumann on AVIE Records received tremendous acclaim: “great care and affection” (BBC Radio); “intoxicating” (Gramophone); “exciting and deeply felt” (Strings); “fresh, supple and fantastic” (The Strad). The Horszowski Trio is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. Recent premieres include Piano Trio #2 written by Charles Wuorinen (1938-2000) at the Library of Congress. The trio members learned that this work was written for them when it was discovered on the composer’s desk after his death. In addition, they have been presenting “Phantasiestücke Project – Homage to R. Schumann” which commemorated their 10th anniversary with three new works by Derek Bermel, Paul Chihara and David Fulmer. The Trio’s violinist Jesse Mills, a two-time Grammy nominee who is also a composer and arranger, wrote “Painted Shadow” for the ensemble; the work was commissioned by and premiered at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, New York in January 2015. The Trio takes its inspiration from the musicianship, integrity, and humanity of the pre-eminent pianist Mieczysław Horszowski (1892–1993); the ensemble’s pianist, Rieko Aizawa, was Horszowski’s last pupil at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The Horszowski Trio is based in New York City. It is Ensemble-in-Residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and of the Leschetizky Association in New York City.
Sunday March 8 at 4pm
Johnny Gandelsman
This is America
Performing works by Akshaya Tucker, Ebun Oguntola, Layale Chaker, Tomeka Reid, Christina Courtin, Olivia Davis and Rhiannon Giddens
Called “a violinist who can do anything” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Grammy-winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman integrates a wide range of creative sensibilities into a style unique amongst today’s violinists. Richard Brody of The New Yorker has called Johnny Gandelsman “revelatory” in concert, placing him in the company of “radically transformative” performers like Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin and Christian Zacharias. He is a 2024 MacArthur Fellow. As a founding member of Brooklyn Rider and a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Johnny has closely worked with such luminaries as Bela Fleck, Martin Hayes, Kayhan Kalhor, Yo-Yo Ma, Mark Morris, Anne Sofie von Otter, Alim Qasimov & Fargana Qasimova, Joshua Redman, Suzanne Vega, Abigail Washburn and Damian Woetzel. A passionate advocate for new music, Johnny has premiered over 80 new compositions. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires in California raged and America reckoned with entrenched systemic racism, police brutality and a deeply polarized presidential election, Johnny created the project This is America as a form of creative documentation and response to a time of disruption and disconnection. Working with twenty presenters across the country, he invited twenty-two US-based composers to reflect on the time they were living in. The resulting anthology was called “profound and engaging” (NPR music), “A new vision for classical music” (Pitchfork) and “potentially one of the important recordings of our time”. (Gramophone)
Sunday April 26 at 4pm
Lydian String Quartet
Clara Lyon, Julia Glenn, violins
Mark Berger, viola; Joshua Gordon, cello
Performing quartets from Franz Schubert,
Lembit Beecher and Benjamin Britten
Since 1980, the Lydian String Quartet has been acclaimed by audiences and critics for embracing the full range of string quartet repertory with "a precision and involvement marking them as among the world's best quartets" (Chicago Sun-Times). Awarded top prizes in the Evian, Portsmouth, and Banff competitions and winning the 1984 Naumburg Award for Chamber Music, the Lydians have performed throughout the USA at venues such as Jordan Hall in Boston; the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; and Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theater, and Weill Hall in New York City. Abroad, the Quartet has appeared in Armenia, Canada, England, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, and Taiwan. The Lydians offer traditional, thematic, contemporary, multi-media, and cross-cultural programming. Longtime champions of new works with performances, recordings, and university residencies, their work has been recognized by multiple Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, grants from the Meet the Composer/Rockefeller Foundation/AT&T Jazz Program in partnership with the NEA, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. In 2012 their first LSQ Commission Prize competition resulted with winner Kurt Rohde writing his epic treatises for an unrecovered past, recorded by the Lydians in 2015. Other LSQ Commission Prizes have been awarded to Steven Snowden, Saad Haddad, Lembit Beecher, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, who incorporated the quartet into his new chamber opera Barbaverde en Mineralis in collaboration with soprano Leah Brzyski, guitarist Dieter Hennings, and La Coperacha Puppet Company of Guadalajara, Mexico where it was staged in the spring of 2025. The Lydians' extensive discography includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Ives, Ornstein, and Schubert as well as contemporary composers such as Yu-Hui Chang, Eric Chasalow, Lee Hyla, Steven Mackey, and Yehudi Wyner. Their recording of John Harbison's String Quartet No. 3 and The Rewaking was chosen by The New York Times and The Boston Globe as one of the best classical recordings of 2001. Of their 2012 recording of Beethoven's late quartets, Jeremy Eichler wrote, "These distinguished readings are full of subtlety, tonal refinement, and a sense of accumulated musical wisdom.”
Sunday May 17 at 4pm
The Ulysses Quartet
Christina Bouey, Rhiannon Banerdt, violins
Peter Dudek, viola; Grace Ho, cello
Performing works from Jessie Montgomery, Ale Carr, Christina Bouey and Felix Mendelssohn alongside English and Danish Traditionals.
The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility…grave beauty….the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” by The Strad. Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. They were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. Ulysses garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet’s has performed in such prestigious halls as Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Performance highlights have included their debut at Alice Tully Hall, and appearances at the Chautauqua Institution, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Bilbao Philharmonic Society, Picasso Museumand Fundación March in Madrid, Teatro Mayor de Bogotá, Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima, Hong Kong Premiere Performances, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Campo do Jordão Festival in Brazil, Basel Kammermusik, the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul, Yale School of Music, Music Mountain Festival, and the San Juan Chamber Music Festival. In 2023, the Ulysses Quartet became GBH Music’s first-ever quartet in residence, made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation. Recent visiting residencies have included Louisiana State University, Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and Bucknell University. At Juilliard from 2019 to 2022, they were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, serving as Graduate Resident String Quartet for 3 years. Ulysses recently released their debut album, “Shades of Romani Folklore,” on the Navona label and 2 collaborative albums: “Sea Change Quartets” by Grammy-nominated composer Joseph Summer, and “A Giant Beside You” with guitarist Benjamin Verdery. The Ulysses Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and University of North Texas.