One of the most celebrated works of chamber music ever written — Felix Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major – will be featured in New Canaan Chamber Music’s December concerts. Artistic Director Andrew Armstrong has assembled a unique group of musicians to present the Octet – a quartet of internationally acclaimed musicians plus a quartet of outstanding rising stars – for a performance that is sure to be dazzling for the musicians to play and enchanting for our audiences to hear.
The concerts will be held Thursday, December 11, at 3pm, and Friday, December 12, at 7pm at the First Presbyterian Church in New Canaan at 178 Oenoke Ridge. Tickets are available at www.newcanaanchambermusic.org.
Our audiences are in for a rare experience when this season’s largest ensemble performs the Mendelssohn Octet that blends Classical elegance and Romantic expressiveness. With eight string players, the sound is fuller than a quartet but still intimate—like a miniature orchestra. The concert also includes Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, one of the most popular and frequently performed works in chamber music known for its elegance, emotional depth, and technical brilliance.
The world class musicians are stellar professionals who have individually performed in international concert halls including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, with famous conductors, multiple chamber groups, and are prize winners in challenging competitions. They are Nathan Meltzer and Simone Porter, violin, Melissa Reardon, viola, and Alice Yoo, cello. Joining them for the octet are “Rising Stars” sought after in the world of classical music who are performing professionally while pursuing master’s degrees at The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music. They are Virgil Moore, violin, and Carlos Walker, viola, Luna Hayoung Choi, violin, and Sara Scanlon, cello.
Armstrong, Founder and Artistic Director of New Canaan Chamber Music, is a virtuoso pianist, and is also Artistic Director of the USC Beaufort’s Chamber Music Series as well as Columbia’s “Andy & Friends,” presented by the South Carolina Philharmonic. He was recently interviewed and played live on WSHU public radio based in Fairfield, CT, and his performances are heard regularly on stations across the country and on National Public Radio, and WQXR, New York.
In just five years, New Canaan Chamber Music has become a thriving new addition to the concert scene. It also provides growing and inclusive programs of outreach with the Children’s Concerts and programs during the year that bring great music to seniors, youth orchestras, and local schools in New Canaan, Stamford, and Norwalk. NCCM is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
