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.
Austin Chamber Music Center’s Friday Night Season Concerts are an up-close-and-personal setting for chamber music at the beautiful Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA. Friday night tickets include complimentary drinks and light bites served at a post-concert reception with the artists.
Saturday Night Season Concerts run in tandem with Fridays and take place at the First Unitarian Church; tickets include a post-concert reception that includes appetizers and drinks, as well as a Q&A session with the artists. Subject to availability, $12 Student Rush (with student ID), $33 General Admission, and $48 Premium tickets may be purchased at the box office starting at 6:30 PM on the evening of the Saturday night concert.
Program
Petite Suite | Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
- En bateau (Sailing): Andantino
- Cortège (Retinue): Moderato
- Menuet: Moderato
- Ballet: Allegro giusto
Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 “Ghost” | Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Allegro vivace e con brio
- Largo assai ed espressivo
- Presto
INTERMISSION
Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65 | Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
- Allegro ma non troppo
- Allegretto grazioso – Meno mosso
- Poco adagio
- Finale. Allegro con brio
Sandy Yamamoto, violin | Matthew Zalkind, cello | Anton Nel & Michelle Schumann, piano
Run time: This concert is approximately 71 minutes, plus one short intermission.
Sandy Yamamoto
Violinist Sandy Yamamoto has dazzled audiences in concert performances around the globe for the past three decades as a soloist and as a member of the Miró Quartet. As a member of the Quartet, she was a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music and Cleveland Quartet Awards, won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She is the Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at UT-Austin and was the recipient of the 2016 Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award. In the summers, she teaches at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont. This season, Ms. Yamamoto is serving as co-concertmaster of the San Antonio Philharmonic at the invitation of their new Musical Director, Jeffrey Kahane.
Matthew Zalkind
Praised for his impressive refinement, eloquent phrasing, and singing tone by The New York Times, American cellist Matthew Zalkind regularly performs throughout the United States and abroad as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. Zalkind was awarded First Prize in the Washington International Competition, as well as top prizes in the Beijing International Cello Competition and Koreas Isang Yun Gyeongnam International Competition.
Zalkind has performed concerti with the Hongzhou Philharmonic, Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Tongyeong International Music Festival Orchestra, and numerous North American orchestras. He has performed concerti with conductors such as Ludovic Morlot, Thierry Fischer, Giancarlo Guerrero, and David Alan Miller. As a former member of the acclaimed Harlem String Quartet, Zalkind toured internationally with jazz legends Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea and Gary Burton.
Anton Nel
Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986.
Michelle Schumann
Hailed for her “sensitive, flexible, and tempestuous dexterity” (Fanfare Magazine), pianist Michelle Schumann has built a reputation for evocative and moving performances. Michelle served as Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center 2006–2024, “fearlessly expanding our definition of chamber music” (Austin-American Statesman). Her brand of performance includes an enthusiastic interplay with audiences, bringing diverse music together under a narrative blanket. She was named “Best Classical Musician” in the Best of Austin 2019 Readers Poll by the Austin Chronicle.
Schumann is Professor of Piano at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and additionally holds a Performance Diploma from the Vienna Conservatory.