Chamber Music Meets Social Change in Newton Concert

Cherry Street Music’s chamber music series Classical with a Twist continues with Musical Kaleidoscope, on Saturday, March 8th at 7:30PM at The Allen Center in West Newton (MA). Tickets and information are available at newtonculture.org.

This time, the twist is a collaboration with the award-winning Boston String Academy String Ensemble following their 2024 debut at Carnegie Hall with ground-breaking Co-Directors and violinists Mariesther Alvarez and Marielisa Alvarez. The Boston String Academy is a non-profit organization providing rigorous string instrument instruction to children in Boston’s under-served communities. The program is based on the Venezuelan El Sistema philosophy that utilizes music as a vehicle for social change. The String Ensemble is composed of their most accomplished students.

Visiting guest conductor and violinist Markus Däunert will lead The Boston String Academy String Ensemble in performances of Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 8, Piazzolla Fuga y Misterio, and Mahler’s famously heartbreaking Adagietto.

Dvorak’s beloved “Dumky” Piano Trio will be performed by pianist Yutong Sun, a current Concert Artist in New England Conservatory’s Institute of Concert Artists, with violinist Markus Däunert, and Cherry Street Music’s Artistic Director Allison Eldredge on cello.

Since winning the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant at 19, Allison Eldredge has been performing from Berlin to Moscow to Tokyo to Beijing to Amsterdam to Carnegie Hall as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Moscow Virtuosi, Academy of St. Martin in the Field and the Royal Philharmonic and performed with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk and Jaap van Zweden. Chamber Music collaborations have included performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Andre Previn, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. In addition to serving as Cherry Street Music Artistic Director, Allison, a Newton resident, is the Allen Center’s Artist in Residence.

The Boston String Academy was founded in 2012 by Boston Conservatory graduates Marielisa and Mariesther Alvarez, and Taide Prieto, accomplished violinists and cellist who are graduates of Venezuela’s “El Sistema,” and Peru’s homologue program. The three of them lived both the social and musical mission of El Sistema — they felt the need to create a program in Boston that models their El Sistema experience, a program that nurtures both the individual person and the musician at the same time. They have recently received honorary awards from Harvard University for their contributions to underserved communities in Boston.

Markus Däunert is highly regarded as a director, guest leader, soloist, and chamber musician. From 1997–2005 he co-led the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with which he also appeared as soloist, under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Iván Fischer, Kurt Masur, Bernhard Haitink, Trevor Pinnock and Philippe Herreweghe. He has been guest leader with orchestras such as Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Ensemble Modern.

Yutong Sun has gained international recognition through his success in prestigious competitions worldwide. Notably, he garnered the second prize at the 19th Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain. Additionally, he won third prize at the 62nd Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona (2016) and first prize at the 54th Jaén International Piano Competition (2012). He has also been honored in competitions such as the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Horowitz Competition, and the Bösendorfer Competition.

About The Allen Center

The Allen Center (TAC) is an Arts & Cultural Center in West Newton, MA, owned and operated by the Newton Cultural Alliance (NCA). The Allen Center’s historic facility is the beacon of arts and culture in the City of Newton, a unique space dedicated to the creative community. The renovation of the facility was completed spring of 2021, and, as with the case of many performance venues, has slowly been expanding its programming over two years. Since that time, the offerings of TAC have broadened. In the Fall of 2022, the NCA established an Artist in Residence and invited Allison Eldredge, international concert cellist, to fill the position. Cherry Street Music is the chamber music series of The Allen Center.

Cherry Street Music presents Classical with a Twist: Musical Kaleidoscope on Saturday, March 8th at 7:30 PM at The Allen Center, 35 Webster Street, Newton MA. Tickets and information are available at newtonculture.org.