Friends of Music Concerts announces 2024-25 season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan R. Harris, president
(914) 329-7318
Email: susanrharris1@icloud.com

August 20, 2024

Friends of Music Concerts announces 2024-25 season Concerts will range from chamber music virtuosi  to brilliant young artists and soloists

SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY – Friends of Music Concerts, which presents the finest in professional chamber music, will highlight a variety of music ensembles, instrumentation and soloists in its 2024-2025 season.

“After our 70^th season celebrations, we’re moving ahead with renewed energy and a commitment to the future of chamber music while also presenting masters of the traditional repertoire. In addition to our concert series, we are passionately committed to our programs that encourage and mentor young musicians and audience members,” said FOMC President Susan Harris.

The location of the first concert on Sept. 14 will be Ossining High School, 29 S. Highland Ave., Ossining, N.Y. The rest of the season’s performances are scheduled to take place at Sleepy Hollow High School auditorium, 210 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., with ample free parking and handicapped access.

The season begins on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, 7:30 p.m. with well-known virtuosi in the chamber music world: the Han, Setzer, Finckel piano trio. Pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel are co-artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Violinist Philip Setzer, formerly (along with Finckel) of the esteemed and recently retired Emerson String Quartet, is artistic director of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s String Chamber Music Program. This concert is sponsored, in part, by White and Williams LLP.

The rest of the 2024-25 season will take place on Sunday afternoons.

On Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 at 3 p.m., the Dover String Quartet with Roberto Díaz, viola, arrives. The Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet is in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, where Díaz, an internationally renowned violist, is president and CEO.

Friends of Music Concerts welcomes the WindSync wind quintet on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, 3 p.m. The quintet has won the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, among other awards. They “play many idioms authoritatively, elegantly, with adroit technique and with great fun.” All About the Arts

Last spring, high school students received coaching under FOMC’s Partnerships in Education program from the Balourdet String Quartet, who will perform on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024 3 p.m. with flutist Adam W. Sadberry. The members of the Balourdet are artists in residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and received a 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant. As a musician and educator, Sadberry is known for his virtuosity, creativity and vibrancy.

Megan Moore, mezzo-soprano, and Francesco Barfoed, piano, will join forces on Sunday, March 30, 2025, 3 p.m. Moore, a previous winner of our YCA Performance Award, has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, among prominent companies. Barfoed, with Moore, won first prize in the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition. This concert is sponsored, in part, by the Raymond Han and Paul Kellogg Foundation.

On Sunday, April 6, 2025, 3 p.m., FOMC welcomes the winner of the Young Concert Arts 2021 Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and our YCA Performance Award — Harmony Zhu. This Canadian pianist, still in her teens, has already appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic.

A regular and beloved presence on the world’s great concert stages for three decades, the Jerusalem String Quartet wraps up the season on Sunday, May 4, 2025, 3 p.m. This is their third appearance with us. BBC Music Magazine described one of their performances as “an absolute triumph. Their playing has everything you could possibly wish for.”

Friends of Music history

Founded in 1954, Friends of Music Concerts’ first concert featured the young Juilliard String Quartet. Since then, FOMC has brought to Westchester chamber music groups of world renown, accomplished soloists and developing artists. FOMC’s mission has always maintained a special focus on keeping musical experiences affordable and building audiences of the future.

Its Partnerships In Education Program sponsors one-day residencies of young professional musicians providing master classes at several Westchester County schools during the season.

Its Susan R. Harris Scholarship Fund works with two of Westchester County’s top music schools – Hoff-Barthelson and Music Conservatory of Westchester — to provide scholarships to students from underserved communities.

Subscriptions and tickets

Subscribers enjoy a significant discount from the single ticket price. A subscription to all seven concerts is $210 ($30/ticket). A FlexSub subscription of four or more admissions is $35 per admission, each usable once as a ticket to any concert. Single tickets are $40 each. Those 18 years of age and under are admitted free of charge. Go to www.friendsofmusicconcerts.org.

Friends of Music Concerts, Inc. | P.O. Box 675 | Millwood, NY 10546

Tel (914) 861-5080 | www.friendsofmusicconcerts.org