Saratoga Springs, NY
From Haydn to CoplandWed, Jul 15, 2025, 7:30 pm
Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College
2 hours, including intermission
The program begins with a bright and lively Trio in C major by Joseph Haydn, often called the father of the string quartet and one of the most inventive voices of the Classical era. It continues with the youthful Piano Quartet in C minor by Felix Mendelssohn, written when the German composer was just a teenager and already displaying remarkable maturity and imagination. Johannes Brahms brings a burst of folk spirit with a selection of his Hungarian Dances, written for piano four hands and inspired by lively melodies. American composer Leonard Bernstein is represented by his deeply expressive Three Meditations from Mass for cello and piano, and the concert concludes with Aaron Copland’s El Salón México, a colorful evocation of a vibrant dance hall, arranged for piano and percussion by Bernstein himself.
Program
Joseph Haydn
(1732–1809)Trio in C major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:27
(1795-96)Felix Mendelssohn
(1809–1847)Quartet in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1
(1822)Johannes Brahms
(1833–1897)Selected Hungarian Dances for Piano, Four Hands
(1868, 1880)Leonard Bernstein
(1918-1990)Three Meditations from Mass for Cello and Piano
(1971, arr. 1977)Aaron Copland
(1900–1990)El Salón México for Piano and Percussion
(arr. Bernstein) (1932-36, arr. 1941)
Michael Stephen Brown
Sahun Sam Hong
Lun Li
James Thompson
Nicholas Canellakis
Ian David Rosenbaum
Michael Stephen Brown is a composer and pianist hailed by the New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” The 2026 Andrew Wolf Award Winner and a recent fellow at both MacDowell and Yaddo, he is also a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Brown performs internationally and receives commissions from orchestras, soloists, and festivals around the world. Recent highlights include a recital at Alice Tully Hall for CMS, and collaborations with cellist Nicholas Canellakis and violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Kristin Lee, and Arnaud Sussmann. He is currently composing The Carnival of Endangered Wonders, a CMS-led project co-presented by a consortium of US presenters. His first album devoted entirely to his music, Twelve Blocks, will be released in February 2026. Brown is also composing the score for Angeline Gragasin’s upcoming film Look But Don’t Touch and lives in New York City with his two 19th-century Steinways, Octavia and Daria.
Pianist Sahun Sam Hong is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the Vendome Prize at Verbier, International Beethoven Competition Vienna, and Naumburg International Piano Competition. He has been invited to perform at major chamber music festivals, and is a prolific arranger of chamber music and orchestral works. He is the Co-Artistic Director of ensemble132, a chamber music collective that presents his transcriptions on annual tours all around the world. Hong’s primary mentors have included John Owings, Leon Fleisher, and Yong Hi Moon. A member of CMS’s Bowers Program, Hong is currently based in New York City and serves on the faculty of CUNY Queens College. Hong is a Steinway Artist.
A native of Shanghai currently based in New York, violinist Lun Li won first prize in the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. He has appeared on major stages around the world, including Helsinki Music Centre, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kulturpalast Dresden, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center. He recently made his solo recital debuts in Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, as well as his concerto debut at Lincoln Center. An avid chamber musician, he has participated in the Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Verbier, and Angel Fire music festivals. He is a member of CMS’s Bowers Program and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School; his mentors include Ida Kavafian, Catherine Cho, and Joseph Lin. Li plays the Stradivarius “Samazeuilh” 1735 violin, on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Violinist/violist James Thompson enjoys a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, concertmaster, educator, and lecturer. He is a recent graduate of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program. Thompson performs regularly for chamber music organizations across the country, and he serves as the director of Music@Menlo’s annual winter residency in California. Solo engagements include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Asheville Symphony, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Cleveland Pops orchestra. He currently serves as concertmaster of the Erie Philharmonic, the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, and the Caroga Arts Ensemble. As a guest artist, he has recently led classes for the Eastman School of Music and the Music Institute of Chicago, among others. Thompson holds bachelor’s, master’s, and artist diploma degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music; his primary teachers include Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, and Paul Kantor.
Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised in the New Yorker as a “superb young soloist.” Recent highlights include solo debuts with the Virginia, Albany, Bangor, and Delaware symphony orchestras; concerto appearances with the Erie Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra; Europe and Asia tours with CMS; and recitals throughout the US with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he is a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals. Canellakis is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (where he was recently appointed to the cello faculty) and New England Conservatory.
Praised for his “spectacular performances” (Wall Street Journal), and his “unfailing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), Grammy-nominated percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years. As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered over 100 new chamber and solo works. He has collaborated with and championed the music of established and emerging composers alike. He was nominated for three Grammy awards in 2021 for his performances on albums of music by Andy Akiho and Christopher Cerrone, including two nominations for Seven Pillars, an album by Sandbox Percussion released on Aki Rhythm Productions, a record label he co-founded with Akiho in 2021. In 2012 he joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) as only the second percussionist selected in its history, and has performed regularly with CMS since then. He is a founding member of Sandbox Percussion, the Percussion Collective, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Bridge, Innova, Naxos, and Starkland labels and is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Rosenbaum performs with Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth mallets, and Remo drumheads.