Local High School Quartet Will Open For Storied Momenta String Quartet

RYE, NY — A performance that will bring musicians with a global reputation to town will also feature a few of the brightest young local stars.

The Westchester Chamber Music Society (WCMS) announced that it will be presenting the Momenta Quartet with violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Shiozaki, the violist Stephanie Griffin, and the cellist Michael Haas. The quartet will be playing Haydn’s String Quartet in F minor, "Sun Quartets," Op. 20, No. 5, and Schubert’s String Quartet No. 13 in A minor ("Rosamunde") D. 804, Op. 29. American composer Elizabeth Brown will attend the concert and introduce her piece, Just Visible in the Distance, to be performed by the Momenta.

As part of the society's focus on intergenerational and educational programming, the WCMS Youth Initiative will provide an opportunity for the SEAL String Quartet from White Plains High School to "open" for the Momenta. Mentored by Zachary May, student musicians Lucas Rhode, violin; Emiliano Juarez, violin; Aria Mukhopadhyay, viola; and Saskia Aikman, cello, will play the first movement from Haydn’s String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2 ("Quinten").

Organizers say that "attendees at the concert will enjoy superb acoustics and the intimate experience of sitting close to the musicians, in a space similar in size to the drawing rooms in which Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven originally performed."

WCMS will also live-stream the concert with a recording remaining available for 48 hours after the performance for listeners who are unable to attend in person.

After the concert, there will be a Q&A session with the professional and student musicians.

The concert will take place on April 21, at 4 p.m., at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester, located at 2125 Westchester Avenue, in Rye. More information on the concert and purchasing tickets can be found on the WCMS website or by calling (914) 320-4168.

The WCMS's educational Youth Initiative partners with chamber music programs at schools across Westchester County in which top student chamber music groups "open" for world-renowned professional ensembles and receive feedback from members of the ensemble in the form of a mini-masterclass. The students also participate in post-concert Q&A sessions with the professional musicians.

The successful kick-off event for the Youth Initiative took place in March 2023, featuring students from the Music Conservatory of Westchester and the Amerigo Trio with the violinist and former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Glenn Dicterow. In April 2023, the celebrated Horszowski Piano Trio was joined by an ensemble from the Purchase College Conservatory of Music.

The Westchester Chamber Music Society

For 73 years, the Westchester Chamber Music Society has brought to Westchester first-rate artists, such as the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma; the Amerigo Trio with the violinist Glenn Dicterow; the Emerson, Brentano, and Kalichstein ensembles; and award-winning young talent, including the Dover and Ulysses String Quartets. Their mission is to provide live, world-class chamber-music concerts, support chamber-music performers, and help to sustain the arts community.

Each year in Rye, world-class ensembles perform five concerts in an intimate setting with exquisite acoustics. Concerts are in-person and livestreamed simultaneously to remote listeners with a recording available for 48 hours after the actual performance.