We open the season honoring the music, stories and living traditions of indigenous communities. These are not performances about the past. They are living voices, still teaching us how to listen...
Program
Bright Sheng "Tibetan Dance" for solo cello
Florence Price Fantasy no. 2 in f# minor for violin and piano
Gabriela Lena Frank Four Folk Songs for piano trio
Maurice Ravel Piano Trio in a minor
Performers
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Hailed as a "Sparkplug" and "Dynamo" (Classical Voice America) for her work as the Founder and Artistic Director of Sunkiss'd Mozart, violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu was featured as the cover story of Monterey County Weekly's September 2023 issue and praised as "simply marvelous" (Seattle Times) as a performer.
Cindy has collaborated in concert with artists including Yefim Bronfman, James Ehnes, Lynn Harrell, Leila Josefowicz, Midori, Thomas Quasthoff, Yuja Wang, and members of the Guarneri and Emerson quartets, and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, as well as at festivals such as Bridgehampton Chamber Music, Marlboro Music Festival, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Her performances can regularly be heard on NPR's Performance Today.
Outside the traditional concert hall, Cindy has lent her artistry to film, fashion, and folk music scenes — recording on an album by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, a song by Justin Bieber, performing alongside folk artist Aoife O'Donovan and actor Alan Alda, and appearing in a short film accompanying a Salvatore Ferragamo exhibition.
A devoted mentor to the next generation of performers and composers, Cindy has taught at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, the Curtis Institute of Music's Summer Program, and Yale's Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She performs on two violins made for her by Samuel Zygmuntowicz (2021 and 2025), a 1918 Stefano Scarampella, and a 1734 Domenico Montagnana.
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Aileen Chanco, lauded soloist and chamber musician, has been recognized for her "intense virtuosity" and "commanding presence" (MusicWeb International, Santa Cruz Sentinel) and described by the Mercury News as "steeped in expressiveness and tastefulness to the core!" She made her solo concerto debut with the San Francisco Symphony at age thirteen, followed by appearances with the Boston Pops and solo performances with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, and the Philippines.
Aileen's chamber music performances have been praised as "extraordinary, colorful and deft" (SF Classical Voice) and "polished and superb" (San Antonio News). Her solo recording, Images of Three Centuries, on the Con Brio Recordings label, was highlighted as "beguiling" by the Contra Costa Times and "beautifully delivered and imaginatively worked out" by the American Record Guide.
Aileen received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School under Herbert Stessin. She has attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Banff Centre Resident Artist Program, the Moscow Conservatory in America Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. After returning to her hometown of Fremont, California, she founded the chamber music concert series Music at the Mission, now Music with a Mission, where she serves as both artistic co-director and executive director. -
A native of Atlanta, GA, Robert began studying cello at age 12. Graduate of Rice University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has studied and performed at festivals such as Tanglewood, Spoleto, Verbier, the Accademia Chigiana, and the Sandor Vegh Academy in Prague. Robert won first prize in the Rome Festival Competition and has received grants from the Maggini and Virtu Foundations. Robert has performed in the Festival Internacional de Musica in Costa Rica, the Festival de Guadarama in Spain, and on the Mostly Mozart series in Lincoln Center. He has performed with American Bach Soloists, New Century Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, and the San Francisco Symphony.
A regular guest on many Bay Area chamber music series, Robert has also made concerto appearances with BARS Orchestra and Stanford Symphony. He has worked directly with composers such as Osvaldo Golijov, Gabriela Frank, George Perle, George Benjamin, and Jonathan Berger. Robert runs his own house concert series, concertsbythesquare.org, which combine thematically linked chamber music programs with food and short lecture presentations. A passionate teacher, he has made two trips to Kenya, where he taught and performed. He has coached at San Francisco Conservatory, Stanford University, San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, and the Conservatorio Superior Coruña in Spain.