Concert Season

The Grand Prize winners of the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, Trio Sponte, return to dazzle Austin audiences. Together, they prove how well a piano trio serves as a vessel for personal expression and national identity: Beethoven's Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 1 marks the turn of the century and a new era of music, and Ives's Piano Trio shatters tradition 100 years later. Robert Schumann's Piano Trio No. 1 connects the two with passionate Romanticism and introspection.

Two favorite duos originating at The Juilliard School join forces for Heartstrings, a program that takes the audience on a vibrant, multi-cultural, and cross-era musical adventure. This whirlwind of an evening traces each musician’s cultural and musical journey, fusing their Juilliard classical training with globe-spanning roots and influences. From fresh arrangements of Bach, Scarlatti, and Debussy to traditional Chinese tunes, Japanese melodies, and Scottish fiddling, you’ve never heard a quartet like this before.

Yamazalde Trio wowed listeners at their ACMC debut during the Austin Chamber Music Festival. Now the three acclaimed chamber musicians—violinist Sandy Yamamoto, cellist Matthew Zalkind, and pianist Julio Elizande—return to the ACMC stage to perform a program that balances grandeur with intimacy. Prepare to be moved by Beethoven's noble, expansive Archduke Trio paired with the raw emotion of Anton Arensky's Piano Trio.

The Balourdet Quartet is a dynamic young ensemble known for their vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision with emotional depth. They bring a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions, earning them the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. For their Austin appearance, they will perform music by Béla Bartók, Maurice Ravel, and Johannes Brahms, promising an evening of music both profound and transcendent. Presented in partnership with Texas Performing Arts.

Enjoy a whirlwind ride through the works of Debussy, Beethoven and Dvorak! Violinist Sandy Yamamoto and cellist Matthew Zalkind of the Yamazalde Trio are joined by beloved pianists Michelle Schumann and Anton Nel to close out ACMC’s concert season. The program runs the chamber music gamut, from Claude Debussy’s light, picturesque Petite Suite, to the dramatic edge and psychological depth of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ghost Trio. Antonín Dvořák’s struggle with loss and identity gives us a passionate finale in his Piano Trio No. 3.