Concerts 2025

ALL CONCERTS AT:

SAINT PAUL’S CHURCH, 20 FAIR STREET, NANTUCKET, MA
TUESDAYS AT 7 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 P.M.
VERY LIMITED ON-SITE PARKING FOR HANDICAPPED.

July 8th

Balourdet String Quartet
with pianist Byeol Kim

The Balourdet Quartet, based in Boston, is currently in residence at the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program. Formed in 2018 at Rice University, the group has won major awards including the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Competition, top honors at Italy’s Premio Paolo Borciani, and Gold Medals at the Fischoff and Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions. They work closely with Paul Katz at NEC and have been mentored by members of the Cleveland and Borromeo Quartets.

Recent and upcoming highlights include performances at Wigmore Hall, Chamber Music Detroit, and NEC’s Jordan Hall, along with appearances at festivals like Bravo! Vail, Music Mountain, and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, where they also teach. This season, they are premiering a new work by Karim Al-Zand, supported by a Chamber Music America grant. The group takes its name from Antoine Balourdet, a cherished figure at the Taos School of Music.

July 15th

Curtis on Tour:
Katie Trigg, mezzo-soprano
Elissa Lee Koljonen, violin
Roberto Díaz, viola
Hanchien Lee, piano

Curtis in Nantucket, the island’s highly anticipated annual week of classical music, opens with a performance at the Nantucket Music Arts Society, featuring extraordinary alumni and faculty from the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music. The ensemble of mezzo-soprano, violin, viola, and piano performs a vocal-themed program of audience favorites – from beloved melodies from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Benjamin Britten’s Cabaret Songs to pieces by Brahms, Liszt, and Schumann. Don’t miss these thrilling performances by current and future leading artists – mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg, violinist Elissa Lee Koljonen, pianist Hanchien Lee, and Curtis President and violist Roberto Díaz.

July 22nd

Yevgeny Kutik, violin
with Max Levinson pianist

With a “dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique” (The New York Times), violinist Yevgeny Kutik has captivated audiences worldwide with an old-world sound that communicates a modern intellect. Praised for his technical precision and virtuosity, he is also lauded for his poetic and imaginative interpretations of standard works as well as rarely heard and newly composed repertoire.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Yevgeny Kutik immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of five. He began violin studies with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, and went on to study with Zinaida Gilels, Shirley Givens, Roman Totenberg, and Donald Weilerstein.

July 29th

William and Catherine Hudgins, clarinet duo
with pianist Jung-A Bang

Clarinetist Catherine Hudgins has performed throughout North America, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. She began her career with the Orquesta Filarmónica and Sinfónica Municipal in Caracas, later holding positions with the Charleston Symphony and Boise Philharmonic. Based in Boston, she appears regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and on Grammy-winning recordings. She also serves as principal clarinetist of the Plymouth Philharmonic and Eb clarinetist with the Portland Symphony, and has performed under renowned conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, and Seiji Ozawa at festivals including Saito Kinen, Spoleto, and Arizona Musicfest.

Catherine frequently performs with her husband, Boston Symphony principal clarinetist William Hudgins. Together, they have appeared as duo-soloists with the Knoxville Symphony, premiering Daniel Crozier’s Spirit, and in performances with the Boston Classical Orchestra and Assisi Performing Arts. Catherine is the Artistic Director and clarinetist of the West Stockbridge Chamber Players and an active chamber musician, with performances broadcast on NPR, German Radio, RAI, and CBC. She studied with Robert Marcellus and lives in Boston with William, where they continue their close musical and personal partnership.

August 5th

Anna Shelest
Piano Solo

Praised by The New York Times for her “fiery sensibility and warm touch,” Ukrainian-born pianist Anna Shelest has captivated audiences worldwide. A champion of rare and esoteric repertoire, she has collaborated with conductor Neeme Järvi to record Anton Rubinstein’s complete piano concerti, earning acclaim from Gramophone and American Record Guide. Her ongoing Donna Voce project highlights music by women composers across centuries through recordings, performances, and lectures. Anna has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic, with recital highlights at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus.

Anna also performs with her husband, Dmitri Shelest, as the Shelest Piano Duo, praised for their stirring interpretations and inventive programs. Their work, including the Ukrainian Rhapsody album and their YouTube series Shelest at the Piano, has been described as "realized diplomacy through music" by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Anna began her musical journey in Kharkiv and made her orchestral debut at twelve. She now resides in New York City with Dmitri and their two sons.

August 12th

The Black Oak Ensemble
string trio

Praised for its “insightful, committed and masterful performances” (Classics Today) and “fierce eloquence” (The London Times), the Black Oak Ensemble has emerged as one of the most dynamic chamber groups on the international stage. Their album Avant l’orage, featuring French string trios, reached #1 on the Billboard Classical Charts and was nominated for a 2023 ICMA Award. Their debut recording Silenced Voices (Cedille Records), dedicated to Jewish composers lost during the Holocaust, received acclaim in Gramophone, Strings magazine, and BBC Radio 3.

Committed to adventurous programming and collaboration, the ensemble has commissioned works from composers like Errollyn Wallen, Shirley Thompson, and Conrad Tao, and performed internationally across Europe and the U.S., including appearances at the Newport and Ravinia Festivals. Black Oak’s members — violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, cellist David Cunliffe (both of the Lincoln Trio), and violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli (founding member of the Spektral Quartet) — are equally devoted to education, holding residencies and partnerships with institutions such as the RAVINIA Festival’s El Sistema program and the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative.

August 19th

Ying Li
piano solo

Twenty-five-year-old Chinese pianist Ying Li is the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and a recipient of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize. She has earned top honors at competitions including the Antonio Mormone International Prize and the Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, and has performed with leading orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, and L’Accademia Orchestra del La Scala under conductors like Xian Zhang and Lina Gonzalez-Granados. This season, she debuts with the Buffalo Philharmonic and tours Italy.

Li made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Sala Verdi in Milan, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. A passionate chamber musician, she has performed at the Verbier Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, and La Jolla Music Society. Originally from China, Li studied at the Central Conservatory in Beijing before moving to the U.S. to attend the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she continues in the Artist Diploma Program under Robert McDonald.

Concerts 2024

 July 9th

Jordan Dodson, Guitar
Gabriel Cabezas, Cello

Jordan Dodson, described by Performance Today as “one of the top young guitarists of his generation,” is a musician and educator. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Dodson has given the premiere of hundreds of new works. In 2013 he was the first guitarist to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music’s new guitar program. In the same year he won Astral Artists’ National Auditions and was selected to be Young Artist in Residence on American Public Media.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dodson is on faculty at EzraGuitar and The Smith School in New York City. He has given many masterclasses and lectures and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Cincinnati, and his teachers have included Clare Callahan, David Starobin, and Jason Vieaux. 

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July 16th

Curtis on Tour
Sophia Hunt, soprano
Sara Han, clarinet
Ying Li, piano

Brazilian-American soprano Sophia Hunt's performances have been praised as "trenchant” and “vocally skilled" (Opera News), "exceptionally strong both vocally and dramatically" (Parterre Box), and "vibrant and musically intelligent" (Broad Street Review). Sophia is a current member of the Dutch National Opera Studio. She is from Brooklyn, NY, and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she most recently held the Rubenstein Fellowship and worked with Carol Vaness. She was the top prize winner in the 2023 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2023 Orpheus Vocal Competition, and a national semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

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July 23nd

Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner
Solo piano

“A gifted virtuoso” (San Francisco Chronicle) with “mesmerizing artistry and extraordinary ability to communicate” (The Post-Standard), “poetic, electrifying” (Michigan Live) with “masterful technique and a veritable deluge of sonorities” (La Presse Montreal), 27-year-old Llewellyn Sánchez-Werner was selected First Prize Winner of the 2022 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Named a Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded to the most promising American pianists of the new generation, his multi-faceted artistry has been featured in the New York Times, CBS, PBS, NPR, CNN International, Mexico News Daily, the Wall Street Journal, and WDR-Arte.

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July 30th

Meridian Prall, mezzo-soprano
Dror Baitel, piano

Mezzo-soprano Meridian Prall is a 2024 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and the recipient of the 2023 Rose Bampton Award from The Sullivan Foundation.
Ms. Prall is a graduate of the University of Toledo and University of Michigan and graduated in 2020. As a result of winning the University of Michigan Concerto Competition, she performed the United States premiere of Verklärtes Jahr, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, with University of Michigan’s University Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Adrian Slywotzky.

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August 6th

Shelest Piano Duo
Anna & Dmitri Shelest

Praised for their “stirring performances of rare repertory” (Fanfare Magazine), the Shelest Piano Duo is a husband-and-wife team of ANNA and DMITRI SHELEST who trace their roots to the music school in Ukraine. At their official Carnegie Hall debut in February 2018, their CD release of Ukrainian Rhapsody brought the renewed attention to the music of their homeland. The Duo, who met as classmates in middle school, began performing together after their marriage in the U.S. Their inventive programs have brought them to a broad array of venues from concert stages to state functions, and, in words of Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, “realized diplomacy through music.”

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August 13th

Lysander Trio

Itamar Zorman, Violin   Michael Katz, Cello
Liza Stepanova Piano

The Lysander Piano Trio, whose name is inspired by the character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was formed at The Juilliard School. The Trio studied with Ronald Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet, the late Joseph Kalichstein and Seymour Lipkin, and had a memorable masterclass with Alfred Brendel. Early in their career, Lysander became a standout at competitions, with top honors at the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the 2011 Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition (Grand Prize), the 2011 J. C. Arriaga Chamber Music Competition (First Prize), and the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition.

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August 20th

August 20th

Greta Feeney, Soprano
Mario Diaz-Moresco, Baritone
Spencer Myer, Piano

Concerts 2022

ALL CONCERTS ARE IN THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 62 CENTRE STREET, NANTUCKET, MA

TUESDAYS AT 7 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 P.M. VERY LIMITED ON-SITE PARKING FOR HANDICAPPED.

July 12

Anne Marie Stanley

mezzo-soprano

Anne Marie was recently named a Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition where she received the Faith P. Geier Award. She performed 'Air des lettres' from Massenet's Werther and 'Se Romeo, t'uccise un figlio...La tremenda ultrice spada' from Bellini's i Capuleti e i Montecchi with the Met Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Marco Armiliato. Previously, she was honored to receive First Prize in the 2021 Giulio Giargiari Bel Canto Competition at the Academy of Vocal Arts and was selected as 1 of the 12 Grand Finalists in the Vincerò World Singing Competition in Naples, Italy. She recently finished performing the role of Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at The Academy of Vocal Arts. She is currently covering the role of Thurza in Dame Ethyl Smyth's The Wreckers at The Glyndebourne Festival Opera in East Sussex, England. 

July 19

Jordan Dodson

guitar

Jordan Dodson, described by Performance Today as “one of the top young guitarists of his generation,” is a musician and educator. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Dodson has given the premiere of hundreds of new works. In 2013 he was the first guitarist to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music’s new guitar program. In the same year he won Astral Artists’ National Auditions and was selected to be Young Artist in Residence on American Public Media.

July 26

Adrian Daurov, Cello

Spencer Myer, Piano

Two sensationally gifted virtuosi - cellist Adrian Daurov and pianist Spencer Myer - established the DAUROV/MYER DUO to explore and perform three centuries of masterworks from the beloved repertoire for their respective instruments, both solo and in combination.

August 2

Shelest Duo

Anna and Dmitri Shelest, pianists

Praised for their “stirring performances of rare repertory” (Fanfare Magazine), SHELEST PIANO DUO is a husband and wife team of Anna and Dmitri Shelest that takes their roots to the music school in Ukraine. At their official Carnegie Hall debut in February 2018, their CD Release of Ukrainian Rhapsody brought the renewed attention to the music of their homeland. Since then, the CD has been featured as the Album of the Week on a number of radio stations nationwide (KUSC Los Angeles, WCRB Boston, etc.) Having been classmates since middle school, the Duo began performing together after their marriage in the US. Their inventive programs brought them to a broad array of venues from concert stages to state functions, and, in words of Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon “realized diplomacy through music".

August 9

Balourdet String Quartet

The Balourdet Quartet, based in Boston, Massachusetts, is currently in residence at the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program. The quartet received the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition as well as the top prize awarded in the 2021 Premio Paolo Borciani in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The group also received the Gold Medal in the 2020 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and the Second Prize in the 2019 Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition.

August 16

Itamar Zorman, violin

with

Adam Golka, piano

Itamar Zorman is one of the most soulful, evocative artists of his generation, distinguished by his emotionally gripping performances and gift for musical storytelling. Since his emergence with the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he has wowed audiences all over the world with breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.” His “youthful intensity” and “achingly beautiful” sound shine through in every performance, earning him the title of the “virtuoso of emotions.

Pianist Adam Golka first performed all of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas when he was 18 years-old, and in 2020-2021 Adam Golka performed the cycle of Beethoven's 32 Sonatas at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (Florida) and at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (NYC), in socially-distanced and live-stream formats. Adam's performances of each Sonata were complemented by 32 short films he created, known as 32@32 (available on YouTube), documenting his preparation for climbing the Everest of piano literature and featuring an amalgam of distinguished guests, from an astrophysicist to Alfred Brendel.

Concerts 2021

ALL CONCERTS ARE IN THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 62 CENTRE STREET, NANTUCKET, MA

TUESDAYS AT 7 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 P.M. VERY LIMITED ON-SITE PARKING FOR HANDICAPPED.

July 27

Dominic Cheli

Piano

Dominic Cheli’s playing has been described as “spontaneous yet perfect, the best of how a young person can play.” (Symphony Magazine). His rapidly advancing career included his Walt Disney Concert Hall Debut with legendary conductor Valery Gergiev where Dominic was described as “mesmerizing, (he) transfixed the audience…his fingers were one with each key.” (LA Times).

August 3

Yevgeny Kutik, Violin

Max Levinson, piano

Yevgeny Kutik is hailed for his dazzling command of the violin and its repertoire, as well as a communicative immediacy that harkens back to the legendary Romantic masters, Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik has become a highly sought-after artist on the concert stage worldwide.

“An old-fashioned rhapsodic style, which was magnified by his rich, sweet tone” – The New York Times

Max Levinson is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory and the Chair of the Piano Department at Boston Conservatory. https://maxlevinson.instantencore.com/

August 10

Adrian Daurov, Cello

Spencer Myer, Piano

Two sensationally gifted virtuosi - cellist Adrian Daurov and pianist Spencer Myer - established the DAUROV/MYER DUO to explore and perform three centuries of masterworks from the beloved repertoire for their respective instruments, both solo and in combination.

August 17

Raven McMillon

Soprano

Baltimore native Raven McMillon received her bachelor of fine arts in vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon University and completed her graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati – College of Conservatory Music (CCM). Her opera credits include Adele in Die Fledermaus; the title role in Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears; Linfea in La Calisto; and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro.