Hawai'i Concert Society
Current Season
all concerts are held at the Performing Arts Center at UH Hilo, and begin at 7PM
FRIDAY OCTOBER 18, 2024
JON NAKAMATSU, piano
and the GALLIARD STRING QUARTET
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“Beautiful and varied tonal color .”
– Boston Musical Intelligencer
“Jon Nakamatsu captivated the audience with his sensitive, nuanced playing.”
– Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Now in his third decade of touring worldwide, Jon Nakamatsu, who has Hawaiian roots, continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity, elegance and electrifying solo, concerto and chamber music performances. Catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981, he performs worldwide with major orchestras and chamber ensembles and has concertized several times in Hilo. To open our 2024-25 season he joins forces with Honolulu’s Galliard String Quartet whose musicians are members of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Their concert will feature Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet; also on the program is a piano solo and Schubert’s eloquent and poignant string quartet “Death and the Maiden.”​
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2024
ESCHER STRING QUARTET
“Their sublime DvoÅ™ák riveted the audience.”
– New York Classical Review
“The much lauded Escher Quartet lived up to its laurels.” – Daily Gazette
“Concerts don’t get better than this one .”
– The Arts Fuse
The Escher Quartet has received international acclaim for its “profound musical insight” and “rare tonal beauty.” Recipients of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, they are a regular guest at London’s Wigmore Hall. In New York, they serve as Season Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The Hilo concert will include quartets by Samuel Barber, Antonin DvoÅ™ák, and Florence Price. The second movement of the Barber Quartet is his famous “Adagio for Strings.”
TUESDAY JANUARY 28, 2025
GUT, WIND, AND WIRE
“Music that is an inspiration and a joy, just as it was for listeners in 1600.” – Sono Luminus
”Artful arrangements, and expert, entertaining playing style that has pleased audiences for more than a quarter-century.” – Classics Today
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This trio, formed by founding members of the esteemed early music ensemble, Baltimore Consort, features Ronn McFarlane on lute (Gut), Mindy Rosenfeld on wooden flutes, fifes, and pipes (Wind), and Mark Cudek on cittern (Wire). They will perform popular music of the Renaissance from England, Scotland, Italy, and France, as well as traditional Celtic music and Grammy-nominated original music by McFarlane.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2025
AOI PIANO TRIO
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“This young Japanese trio produced something spectacular at every stage. The jury unanimously voted them far ahead of the other trios throughout the contest, reflected in their decision to award a first prize and two third prizes.“ - The Strad, January 2019
Only five times in history has Munich’s prestigious ARD International Music Competition awarded first prize to a piano trio. The Aoi Trio won the prize in 2018, a breathtaking start to their international career. The youthful ensemble, founded in 2016, is highly regarded for its performance of the classic piano trio repertoire, while also championing music of Japanese composers. The Hawaii tour marks their first visit to the USA. In Hilo they will perform Haydn’s delightful Trio in G major, an early Shostakovich trio (written when he was 17!), and Mendelssohn’s impassioned and rhapsodic Trio No. 2 in C minor. They will also premiere two recent works by the London-based Japanese composer Dai Fujikura.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2025
NATHAN MELTZER, violin
“Gorgeous dreamlike playing . . . relishing the thrill of music making .” – Seen and Heard International
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“Stunning!” – Gramophone (UK)
Winner of the 2023 Concert Artist Guild Competition, major prize winner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and youngest ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a multi-faceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician, with passions for both standard and contemporary repertoire. A Juilliard graduate and student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, Nathan plays on an 1793 Storioni violin. His accompanist will be Wynona Wang, First Prize winner of the 2018 Concert Artists Guild International Competition in New York City. Their concert will include Johannes Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 1 and Gabriel Faure’s Violin Sonata No. 2, as well as a violin sonata by the young and already renowned American composer, Hannah Ishizaki, who will be present and will introduce her music to the audience.
FRIDAY MARCH 14, 2025
FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA
“FIERY FABULOUS FLAMENCO! an evening of passionate dancing deeply connected to music.”
– LA Dance Chronicle
“One of the top five dance performances of the year.”
– Washington Post
(co-presented by the U. H. Hilo Performing Arts Center)
Hailed as “The Keeper of Flamenco” by Dance Magazine and honored by the King and Government of Spain with La Cruz de la Orden al Mérito Civil for “the years of passion, excellence and dedication to the flamenco art,” Carlota Santana is a renowned Spanish dance artist and educator. Her Flamenco Vivo is one of America’s premier flamenco companies. Its universal spirit – with diverse influences from Arab, Jewish, Roma, Spanish, African and Latin American cultures – gives flamenco the power to build bridges between people.
TUESDAY MAY 13, 2025
ILYA YAKUSHEV, piano
“At the end … the audience immediately
leapt to their feet for the Russian dynamo."
— Winnipeg Free Press
"Mr. Yakushev can do
just about about anything he wants."
— The New York Times
The Russian pianist has enraptured audiences on three continents with his blend of rapturous lyricism and dramatic flair. A former student of Vladimir Feltsman in New York, Mr. Yakushev is the winner of seven international awards and three first prizes. His Hilo concert will include three of Rachmaninoff’s most famous preludes, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
The Hawai`i Concert Society's 2024-2025 season is supported by:
Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA)
Creative West
The Legislature of the State of Hawai`i
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
And by our loyal Hawai'i Concert Society Members
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Mahalo to all of our sponsors.