The SC Philharmonic presents new chamber music series led by acclaimed pianist Andy Armstrong

Andy & Friends welcomes internationally acclaimed classical musicians to the SC Midlands

The South Carolina Philharmonic is expanding its artistic program offerings by presenting Andy & Friends in the 2024-2025 Season – a new chamber music series curated and led by celebrated pianist Andy Armstrong. Boasting a slate of five intimate concerts that will be performed in Satterlee Hall at historic Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, this series will welcome internationally acclaimed musicians including The Barbican Quartet, Stefan Jackiw (violin), Geneva Lewis (violin) and Indra Thomas (mezzo-sporano) among others. Performance dates will be November 11 in 2024, and January 13, February 10, March 10 and May 12 in 2025. All concerts start at 6:00 PM, and general admission tickets can be purchased for $40 each at scphilharmonic.com. Capital Concert subscribers can get tickets for $35.  Patrons can also subscribe to the series for $160 at the SCP’s website.

The November 11 and February 10 concerts will also make encore appearances at Harbison Theatre on November 12 and February 11. Tickets for these performances will be available on the Harbison Theatre website (https://www.harbisontheatre.org).

Executive Director Rhonda Hunsinger sees great opportunity in the organization producing this new series with Armstrong. “The addition of Andy and Friends to the SC Phil family is a remarkable enhancement to our programming,” said Hunsinger. “It could broaden our audience base while encouraging cross-genre appreciation – it strengthens our role as a central cultural institution in our city and state. The series also enables us to engage with some of the leading musicians in the US and world and encourages creative partnerships with our SCP musicians.”

Series Music Director, Andy Armstrong, shares great enthusiasm for this new project. “It is an honor and a thrill to bring our Chamber Music Series in to join the thriving, bustling, and ever-imaginative musical family that is the South Carolina Philharmonic, And, having just joined hands, to march together down the aisle at Trinity’s exquisite Satterlee Hall, the gem of a chamber music hall that instantly brings the sound of London’s Wigmore Hall to my mind,” said Armstrong. “The only way for me to adequately honor these new unions was to program our most ambitious and audacious season ever, adding an extra (fifth!) concert, with international sensations like violinist Stefan Jackiw and the Barbican Quartet, gripping artwork by Welshman Clive Hicks-Jenkins, stunning virtuosi of the trumpet, guitar, and marimba, another new commission by composer Alison Shearer, and our first-ever chamber-orchestra comprised of all-stars from the brilliant string school of Columbia’s favorite Amy Schwartz Moretti.  Buckle up, because no two concerts will be anything alike this year — and you just won’t believe the sound at Satterlee Hall which is truly an instrument worthy of the Stradivarii and del Gesu violins that frequent our series.”

 

About Andrew Armstrong (Series Music Director)

Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic.

Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have encompassed a vast repertoire of more than 60 concertos with orchestra. He has performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in solo recitals and in chamber music concerts with the Ehnes, Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, and as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Boston Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio, WQXR, New York City’s premier classical music station, and stations across the country.

 

Andy & Friends Dates and Info

Monday, November 11, 2024

@Saterlee Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Andrew Armstrong (piano), Stefan Jackiw (violin), Yoonah Kim (clarinet)

Stefan Jackiw is one of America’s foremost violinists, captivating audiences with playing that combines poetry and purity with impeccable technique. Hailed for playing of “uncommon musical substance” that is “striking for its intelligence and sensitivity” (Boston Globe), Jackiw has appeared as a soloist with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, among others.

Hailed by The New York Times for her “inexhaustible virtuosity”, clarinetist Yoonah Kim is an artist of uncommon musical depth and versatility. She enjoys a diverse career as solo clarinetist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator. Yoonah has given recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, Washington Performing Arts’ Music in the Country series, Chamber Music Society of Little Rock and Union County Performing Arts Center.  She has also appeared as concerto soloist with the Maui Chamber Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, New York Classical Players, DuPage Symphony Orchestra,  Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Chesapeake Youth Symphony.

This inventive concert will feature art by internationally celebrated Welsh artist, Clive Hicks-Jenkins. Born in Newport, south Wales, in 1951, Hicks-Jenkins has been praised by critics in The Independent, Modern Painters and Art Review. Simon Callow has called him ‘one of the most individual and complete artists of our time’ and Nicholas Usherwood in Galleries has described his work as ‘reflective, expressive painting of the highest order.’ He has shown regularly with the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff and has had solo exhibitions at Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford, the Museum of Modern Art Machynlleth, Newport Museum & Art Gallery, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Brecknock Museum, the National Library of Wales and Aberyswyth Arts Centre. His paintings, prints and private press books are in numerous public collections, including the National Museum of Wales, the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, MoMA Machynlleth, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, Llandaff Cathedral, Pallant House Gallery and the Methodist Church Collection of Modern Art, as well as private collections and libraries around the world.

Monday, January 13, 2025

@Saterlee Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Andrew Armstrong (piano), Jeroen Berwaerts (trumpet), Mak Grgic (guitar) and Abigél Králik (violin)

Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts is a paramount musical force with an all-inclusive love for music that knows not how to discriminate. Praised for his outstanding technical capabilities and sensitive musicality, his repertoire encompasses every epoch, from baroque music to contemporary music to jazz. With a flourishing solo career of recitals as well as concerts with the world’s leading symphony orchestras, Jeroen Berwaerts still finds time to devote himself to chamber music. Following many years as a member of the Canadian Brass, Jeroen Berwaerts now plays with the Stockholm Chamber Brass. Over thirty compositions have been written for the ensemble, which performs mostly original compositions or arrangements of both contemporary and more traditional repertoire.

Touted as a “gifted guitarist” by the New York Times, 2-time Grammy®-nominated artist Mak Grgic [GER-gich] is a star on the worldwide stage. An expansive and adventurous repertoire attests to his versatility and wide-ranging interests. From the ethnic music of his native Balkans to extreme avant-garde and microtonal music, his roles as soloist, collaborator, and Grammy-nominated recording artist are fueled by curiosity, imagination, and boundless energy. As a testament to his versatility and wide-ranging appeal, in 2018 Mak was invited by legendary singer-songwriter k.d. lang to perform as the opening act for the North American leg of her Ingénue Redux Tour.

As the only musician listed in 2020’s Forbes Hungary “30 under 30” list, Hungarian-Nicaraguan-American violinist, Abigel Kralik is quickly gaining attention as “a shooting star in the truest sense of the word” (MRK). As a passionate soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared as a featured artist at the Verbier, Clasclas, Budapest, Krzyzowa Mozaic and Moritzburg Festivals, as well as the Perlman Music Program.

Monday, February 10, 2025

@Saterlee Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Andrew Armstrong (piano) and the Barbican Quartet (Amarins Wierdsma, violin, Kate Maloney (violin), Christoph Slenczka (viola), Yoanna Prodanova (cello))

As 1st prize winner of the 2022 ARD Music Competition, the Barbican Quartet is one of the most sought-after young string quartet formations. Europe’s The Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the chamber music scene, delighting audiences with their intimately powerful performances and virtuosic ensemble playing. The Barbican Quartet has appeared in festivals such as Peasmarsh Festival, Vibre! Quatuors à Bordeaux, Zeister Muziekdagen, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove and Aldeburgh. Their performances have been broadcast on BR Klassik Radio, NPO Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3.

Monday, March 10, 2025

@Saterlee Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Andrew Armstrong (piano), Amy Schwartz Moretti (violin) and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings Ensemble

Amy Schwartz Moretti is Director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings, and professor of violin in the Mercer University Townsend School of Music. She developed and curates the Fabian Concert Series on campus featuring internationally distinguished artists in chamber music concerts and master classes. In addition to her performances as an orchestral soloist and concertmaster, she is an award-winning chamber music artist, appearing in concert series and at music festivals across North America, Europe, and Asia, and she is a member of the internationally acclaimed Ehnes Quartet.

Monday, May 12, 2025

@Saterlee Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Andrew Armstrong (piano), Indra Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Alison Shearer (alto sax & composer) and Eriko Daimo (marimba)

Indra Thomas, known for her lush and warm voice, has established herself as an artist of incredible sensitivity, poise, and virtuosity. Ms. Thomas has appeared at many of the world’s great opera houses, such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna State Opera; and prominent venues in France, Germany, Spain and England, including the Royal Albert Hall. Among numerous top orchestras with which she has appeared are the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra – as well as leading ensembles in Paris, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, South Korea, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.

Called “a force on the rise” by JazzTimes magazine, Alison Shearer’s explosive career hits refresh on what it means to be a jazz saxophonist today. With classical technique and legendary jazz mentorship undergirding a raw, natural talent, Alison synthesizes the many disparate influences crowding our listening landscape into a style at once personal and global. She leads a new generation of performers, inhabiting her individuality as a member of an international artistic community, and reconfiguring the identity of “jazz fusion” for our current moment.

Praised for her ‘mesmerizing combination of sound and sight’ (Irish Times), the award-winning marimbist, Eriko Daimo, is one of the leading artists of her field. Her recent performances include concerto performances with some of the world’s leading orchestras such as the RTE Ireland National Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Sophia Philharmonic in Bulgaria, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and Orchestra Nipponika among others; as well as recital tours over 25 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas.  She has given recitals and masterclasses in some of today’s most recognized percussion festivals, including the Taiwan International Percussion Convention, Italy PAS Percussion Festival, International Marimba Festival in Minneapolis, Internacional de Marimbistas in Mexico, Festival des Journees de la Percussion in Paris, Universal Marimba Festival in Belgium, KOSA International Music Festival in the US, International Percussion festival in Korea, International League of Artists Marimba Festival in Tokyo, Bamberg International Marimba Festival in Germany, and PASIC.