Boscobel Chamber Music Festival 2024

Details:

Boscobel House and Gardens is proud to announce the third annual Boscobel Chamber Music Festival in partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, led by Artistic Director and violinist, Arnaud Sussmann.

Over the course of nine days, from August 30th to September 8th, the festival will center around five public performances featuring some of the most acclaimed chamber musicians in the country, along with wide-ranging educational and community offerings on Boscobel’s historic site. Throughout the residency, artists will engage with Boscobel and the community through open rehearsals, school programs, VIP events, and field trips.

Alongside Sussmann, the festival’s international roster of artists includes several returning musicians: pianist Michael Stephen Brown, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, cellist Paul Watkins, as well as those making their festival debut: clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester, violinist Chad Hoopes, bassist Blake Hinson, violinist Tessa Lark, pianist Wu Qian,  and others to be announced.

August 30, 2024 – September 8, 2024

Public Programming Schedule 

Friday, August 30 | 7pm: Romantic Journey: Winds, Strings, and Piano

• Explore the variety and brilliance of romantic chamber music. Emotion is at the forefront in this passion-filled program that is driven by a unique combination of instruments.
• Artists: Jose Franch-Ballester, Tessa Lark, Kevin Rivard, Arnaud Sussmann, Paul Watkins, Wu Qian
• Venue at Boscobel: West Meadow Pavilion
•  Repertoire:
  • Johannes Brahms: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano
  • Max Bruch: Selections from 8 Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano
  • Ernst von Dohnanyi: Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Horn

Monday, September 2 | 6pm: Concert on the Lawn

• Music meets nature at this casual outdoor concert exploring the combination of clarinet, horn and strings.  Pack a picnic and blanket for world class music overlooking the best view in the Hudson Valley.
• Artists: Jose Franch-Ballester, Kevin Rivard, Tessa Lark, Chad Hoopes, Arnaud Sussmann, Paul Watkins
• Venue at Boscobel: Great Lawn
•  Repertoire:
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Quintet for Horn and Strings
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings
  • John Ireland: Serenade for Winds and Strings

Saturday, September 7 | 2pm: Stradivarius: A Maker of the Past, Present, and Future with Carlos Tome

• Hear from Carlos Tome of Tarisio Fine Instruments and Bows, the world’s leading violin auction house. Antonio Stradivari, the most famous violin maker, had an immeasurable influence during his lifetime (1644-1737). Hear from Carlos and see demonstrations on some of Tarisio’s fine Stradivarius instruments, illustrating how the Stradivari influence soared well beyond his own time, leaving a major influence on the present, and is sure to have a continued impact on the future. 
• Venue at Boscobel: To be announced

 

Saturday, September 7 | 6pm: Schubert’s Trout Quintet: Masterworks Revealed and Revisit

• Dive into Schubert’s beloved Trout Quintet paired with a hidden gem of trailblazer Louise Farrenc. The richness of piano and strings is showcased in two masterpieces of resounding brilliance.
• Artists: Arnaud Sussmann, Milena Pajaro-van-de-Stadt, Nick Canellakis, Blake Hinson, Michael Stephen Brown
• Venue at Boscobel: West Meadow Pavilion
•  Repertoire:
  • Farrenc Piano Quintet
  • Schubert Trout Quintet

Sunday, September 8 | 2pm: Family Concert at the West Meadow Pavilion

• Artists: Arnaud Sussmann, Milena Pajaro-van-de-Stadt, Nick Canellakis, Blake Hinson, Michael Stephen Brown
• Venue at Boscobel: West Meadow Pavilion
• Repertoire to be announced

 

Tickets & Festival Support 

Tickets to the public are on sale starting June 1 on Boscobel’s website, boscobel.org. To support the festival, and for access to early tickets and special VIP events visit: boscobel.org/bcmf-support

• $45 – $85 for adults 
• $25 – $45 for musicians and children (<16)
• Patrons + VIP Sponsorship packages start at $2,500; contact Martha Pearson, Development Director, for more details, at mpearson@boscobel.org

Thank you to our Festival media sponsor, Chronogram

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About The Artists

Arnaud Sussmann, Artistic Director, Violin/Viola

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.

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

Chad Hoopes, Violin

Acclaimed by critics worldwide for his exceptional talent and magnificent tone, American violinist Chad Hoopes has remained an impressive, consistent, and versatile performer with many of the world’s leading orchestras since winning First Prize at the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. Hoopes is a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Career Grant.

He has performed with leading orchestras including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston and National Symphony, as well as Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Hoopes frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Additionally, he has performed recitals at the Ravinia Festival, Tonhalle Zürich, the Louvre, and at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series in New York City.

Born in Florida, Hoopes began his violin studies at the age of three in Minneapolis, and continued his training at the Cleveland Institute of Music under David Cerone and Joel Smirnoff. He additionally studied at the Kronberg Academy with Professor Ana Chumachenco, who remains his mentor. Hoopes serves as Professor of Practice in violin at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
​
Hoopes plays the 1991 ex-Isaac Stern Zygmuntowicz and a 1766 G.B. Guadagnin

 

 

Tessa Lark, Violin

Violinist Tessa lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category, and she is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky.

Highlights of Lark’s 2023-24 season included the world premiere of Carlos Izcaray’s Violin Concerto and performances of Michael Torke’s violin concerto, Sky – both pieces written for her – as well as her European orchestral debut with the Stuttgart Philharmonic. She also performed with the Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, England’s City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and others; and gives duo concerts with double bassist Michael Thurber and jazz guitarist Frank Vignola. Lark’s newest album, The Stradgrass Sessions, was released this past spring. Her debut commercial recording was the Grammy-nominated SKY, and her discography also includes Fantasy; Invention, recorded with Michael Thurber; and a live recording of Piazzola’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Lark plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

 

 

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, Viola

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has appeared as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra; and has performed in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe.

As violist of the Dover Quartet, ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt won first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2013, and the grand prize in the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include top prizes at the Tokyo International Viola Competition and the Sphinx Competition.

Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Díaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. She received a master’s degree in string quartet performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she studied with James Dunham. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was appointed to faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and teaches at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.

 

 

Kevin Rivard, French Horn

Kevin Rivard joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra as Co-Principal French Horn in 2008. Known for his “delicious quality of tone”, he also holds the position of Principal Horn in the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Music@Menlo, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Winner of numerous solo competitions, he was awarded Grand Prize at the 2008 Concours International d’Interpretation Musicale in Paris, the 2007 International Horn Competition of America and the 2003 Farkas Solo Horn competition.

Kevin has served as guest Principal Horn with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed with the Philadelphia and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras. He was also a featured soloist with the Houston Symphony. Previous positions include the Colorado Symphony and Florida Orchestra. A Julliard graduate, Kevin has performed with Santa Fe Opera, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music and the Verbier Music Festivals. As a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Kevin loves teaching and inspiring young students. Every year he volunteers at local schools, performing for youth hoping to give as many children as possible the opportunity to enjoy live music.

 

 

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.

 

Paul Watkins, Cello

Acclaimed for his inspirational performances and eloquent musicianship, Paul Watkins enjoys a distinguished career as concerto soloist, chamber musician and conductor. He is the Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit (since 2014), the cellist of the Emerson String Quartet (since 2013) and Visiting Professor of Cello at Yale School of Music (since 2018). He took first prize in the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition, and has held the positions of Music Director of the English Chamber Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra. Watkins has performed with prestigious orchestras across the globe including the Netherlands Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony and Queensland Orchestras, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

A dedicated chamber musician, Watkins was a member of the Nash Ensemble from 1997 until 2013, and the Emerson String Quartet from 2013 until 2023. With the Quartet he travelled extensively, performing at major international festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, Edinburgh, Berlin and Evian and collaborated with distinguished artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Renee Fleming and Evgeny Kissin.

Watkins has conducted all the major British orchestras, and a wide range of international orchestras including the Kristiansand Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Prague Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Tampere Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and the Melbourne Symphony, Queensland and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras. In 2006 he made his opera debut conducting a critically praised new production of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine for Opera North. Watkins plays on a cello made by Domenico Montagnana and Matteo Goffriller in Venice, c.1730.

 

Wu Qian, Piano
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 North America and Europe including the Steinway Halls of Hamburg where her performance was broadcast throughout Asia. 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.

 

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.