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Sirena Huang

Matthew Lipman

Nathan Chan

Kevin Ahfat

VIOLIN / VIOLA / CELLO / PIANO

DATE

Fri. October 17, 2025 -  7:30 PM

South Delta Baptist Church, Delta

Sun. October 19, 2025 - 2:00 PM

Pacific Spirit United Church, Vancouver

Anvil Centre, New Westminster

Mon. October 20, 2025 -  1:00 PM

PROGRAM

Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Adagio and Allegro for cello and piano, Op. 70

Robert Schumann

I. Adagio
II. Allegro

Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47

Robert Schumann

I. Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo

II. Scherzo: Molto vivace

III. Andante cantabile

IV. Finale: Vivace

Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

Johannes Brahms

I. Allegro

II. Intermezzo: Allegro ma non troppo – Trio: Animato

III. Andante con moto

IV. Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto

VIDEO

SIRENA HUANG

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Praised by The Baltimore Sun for her “impeccable technique…deeply expressive phrasing…and poetic weight," Sirena Huang is one of her generation’s most celebrated violinists. She brings not only technical brilliance and powerful artistry to the stage, but also a profound sense of connection to her audience.

Highlights of the 2024-25 season include a recital tour of Taiwan with performances at the National Concert Hall in Taipei and the Weiwuying Recital Hall in Kaohsiung. Multiple recitals in the United States will culminate in her Carnegie Hall debut recital in Zankel Hall in April 2025 and a debut recording on the Azica label as part of her Gold Medal prize at The Indianapolis. Sirena will appear in concerto engagements with the Hartford, Santa Fe and Southeast Missouri symphonies, the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Passionate about chamber music, Sirena will also perform chamber music concerts in Dallas and Montreal.

Sirena made her solo debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in 2004 at the age of nine, and, since then, has performed in seventeen countries across three continents. She has been featured as a soloist with more than fifty prestigious ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestras of Cleveland, Baltimore, Shanghai, Russia, Evergreen and Singapore, and the Staatskapelle Weimar in Germany. She has appeared as a guest artist at the Verbier Music Festival, Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sarasota Arts Series, Albuquerque Chamber Music Festival, “The Great Music for a Great City” series in New York City, and many others.

Motivated by a deep wish to inspire peace and harmony with her music, Sirena has performed before world leaders, thinkers and humanitarians. At age eleven, she gave a TED talk that garnered more than 2.5 million views. In 2006, she received the honor of playing for thirty Nobel Prize Laureates at the World Peace Conference held in Petra. In 2007, she played in the Opening Ceremony of the “Forum 2000 World Conference” in Prague. In 2008, she was invited to perform during the ceremony in which the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity presented its Humanitarian Award to President Sarkozy of France.

MATTHEW LIPMAN

American violist Matthew Lipman has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and by the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman has become one of the most sought after instrumentalists of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber musician.  

Lipman recently debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival, and the American Symphony Orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center, with additional appearances including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Brevard Sinfonia, and Ensemble Resonanz. He has collaborated with leading conductors including the late Sir Neville Marriner, Edward Gardner, Osmo Vänskä, Nicholas McGegan, Leon Botstein, Josep Caballé-Domenech, and Yue Bao. Additionally, he has performed solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Zürich Tonhalle, among others, and has been a featured soloist at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Wigmore Hall in London, Seoul’s Kumho Art Hall, and at Michael Tilson Thomas’s Viola Visions Festival at the New World Symphony in Miami.

In 2023, Lipman performed chamber music by André Previn with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter at Carnegie Hall, and on tour at the Berlin Philharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper, and the Vienna Musikverein, the latter of which was recorded and released on Deutsche Grammophon and DG STAGE+. With pianist Jeremy Denk, he produced Nightwanderer, an interactive viola and piano recital based on the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff and Alfred de Musset, which was filmed and released by Dreamstage LIVE. He performed Clarice Assad’s Metamorfose (a piece composed for him in 2018) in a live WQXR broadcast celebrating pride hosted by drag queen Thorgy Thor, and, together with violinist Stella Chen, curated a boundary-breaking solo/duo concert experience that was presented on the Violin Channel’s Vanguard Concerts Series II. Additionally, Lipman appeared on Season 48 of PBS Great Performances, where he performed and discussed Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata on the show Now Hear This.

In 2019, Lipman released the world premiere recording of the newly discovered Shostakovich Impromptu for viola and piano, which was a feature of his debut solo album, Ascent, with pianist Henry Kramer. The album was celebrated as “most impressive” by The Strad Magazine and was released by Cedille Records. In 2022, he recorded The Dvořák Album, an album released by Sony Classical and performed by musicians from the Moritzburg Festival, and in 2015, when he was 22 years old, he was featured as soloist on a Billboard Classical chart-topping recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and released by Avie Records.

As a proponent of performing the music of living composers, Lipman has premiered works by Clarice Assad, Helen Grime, Malika Kishino, and David Ludwig, and has worked closely with Andreia Pinto Correia, Brett Dean, Gabriela Lena Frank, the late Kaija Saariaho, and Richard Wernick. Next season, he will premiere a piece by Joel Thompson for mezzo soprano, viola, and piano with singer Jamie Barton and pianist Tamara Sanikidze at Boston’s Celebrity Series, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and others, as commissioned by the Music Accord consortium.

The maiden recipient of the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Artists Chair, Lipman performs regularly in New York and on tour with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and regularly collaborates with violinists Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, and Benjamin Beilman; violists Tabea Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, and Timothy Ridout; cellists David Finckel and Jan Vogler; pianists Jeremy Denk, Igor Levit, Sir András Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, and Wu Han; and the Calidore and Dover String Quartets. Additionally, Lipman is a frequent guest artist at the Bridgehampton, Bad Kissingen, Kronberg, La Jolla, Marlboro, Menlo, Ravinia, Reno, Rheingau, Saratoga, Seattle, and Wolf Trap music festivals.

In 2023, together with the acclaimed violinist Stella Chen and cellist Brannon Cho, Lipman formed a string trio that performed for the first time at the Casals Forum in Kronberg, Germany, and has since debuted in New York, Boston, Toronto, and Chicago (Ravinia).

Lipman has been featured as Artist-in-Residence for the American Viola Society, on the Violin Channel as a “VC Artist”, and on WFMT Chicago’s list, “30 Under 30”, of the world’s top classical musicians. He has been a published contributor to The Strad, Strings and BBC Music magazines, and has been a guest on the MusicianCentric, Together with Classical, and Mind Over Finger podcasts. Lipman is the recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has won top prizes in the Primrose, Tertis, Washington, Johansen, and Stulberg International competitions, and is an alumni of the Bowers Program. He attended the Juilliard School as the recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship, where he studied with viola pedagogue Heidi Castleman, and was further mentored by renowned violist Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

A native of Chicago, Matthew Lipman is on faculty at Stony Brook University in New York, where he teaches viola to graduate students. When he’s not practicing or performing on the viola made for him in 2021 in Brooklyn by Samuel Zygmuntowicz, he’s probably eating donuts, drawing floor plans, or watching tennis matches.

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NATHAN CHAN

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Nathan Chan's multifaceted career exemplifies his dedication to exploring the diverse dimensions of the cello, sharing his musical vision across solo, chamber music, and orchestral realms. His unwavering belief in music's power to bridge gaps and create connections drives him to engage audiences and foster a sense of community through his artistry. Embracing technology and social media, Nathan has managed to invite others into the world of classical music, encouraging camaraderie among musicians and patrons alike.

Named a local Forbes 30 Under 30 for Seattle, Nathan has harnessed the power of technology and social media to draw new audiences to classical music. With over 35 million views across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, he has made a significant impact on the online classical community. His efforts, such as the "Nathan Chan Chats for Change" campaign during the COVID pandemic, demonstrate his commitment to using music as an instrument for positive change. Additionally, Nathan released his first NFT, collaborating with AI Artist Lia Coleman, combining classical music with machine learning art.

Throughout his career, Nathan has collaborated with esteemed musicians and institutions, constantly pushing the boundaries of cello repertoire and performance. He has performed as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, working with distinguished conductors like Leonard Slatkin, James Gaffigan, Donato Cabrera, Alexander Prior, Alasdair Neale, and Laura Jackson, among others. Chan was a chosen artist for Fondation Louis Vuitton's Classe d'Excellence du Violoncelle with renowned cellist Gautier Capuçon. Nathan's 2024-2025 season includes a performance of DANCE by Anna Clyne with the Auburn Symphony as well as Gulda’s Cello Concerto with the Cascade and Olympia Symphony, and a world premiere of Karen P. Thomas’s The world is charged with Seattle ProMusica.

Nathan's musical journey began at a tender age with conducting imitations using a chopstick as a baton, emulating the styles of legendary conductors like Seiji Ozawa, Herbert von Karajan, and Leonard Bernstein. He caught the attention of San Francisco Opera Assistant Conductor Sara Jobin and made his debut as a conductor at age three. Under the guidance of renowned cellists Irene Sharp, Sieun Lin, and Richard Aaron at The Juilliard School, Nathan honed his craft, leading him to perform on prestigious stages around the world.

Born into a family with a deep appreciation for music, Nathan received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia University before pursuing his Masters of Music at The Juilliard School, where he studied with esteemed cellist Richard Aaron. He has participated in several renowned music festivals, such as Marlboro Music Festival, Taos Music Festival, and Caramoor's Evnin Rising Stars, performing with musicians Mitsuko Uchida, Anthony McGill, Joseph Lin, and Nobuko Imai. He currently serves as the Assistant Principal Cello of the Seattle Symphony, captivating audiences with his artistry.

To follow Nathan Chan's ongoing musical journey and his endeavors to connect people through music, visit him online at nathanchan.com.

KEVIN AHFAT

An artist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Canadian pianist KEVIN AHFAT is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of the classical piano realm, with a bold, boundary-pushing, millennial style matched by refined execution” (Vanguard Seattle). Possessing “a balanced mix of expressiveness and virtuosity” (Musical America), he “summons plenty of thunderpower in the big moments, but clearly values musicianship over mere showmanship” (American Record Guide).

Ahfat continues performances and recordings as the newest core member of the three-time Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble, one of Canada’s preeminent chamber ensembles and foremost cultural forces.  Their latest releases on Chandos Records have been nominated for a 2022 Juno Award, 2022 OPUS Klassik Award, as well as being named one of the “Top 10 classical musical albums of 2020” by The Boston Globe and one of WQXR’s “Best Classical Albums of 2020”.

Kevin was named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2018 and subsequently released a live recording of Brahms from CBC’s Studio 211.  Highlights of recent seasons include engagements as soloist throughout North America and abroad, including at Koerner Hall in Toronto, Maison symphonique in Montreal, Meridian Arts Centre and Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Merkin Hall in New York, and with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles.  Further highlights include a performance of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Postludium with the Esprit Orchestra, a return to the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall for its first-ever Shostakovich Concerto Festival, as well as a partnership with Richard Alston & Juilliard Dance in their recreation of Alston’s Sheer Bravado (2006) in New York.

Kevin has had the privilege of sharing the stage with renowned artists across many genres, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Stefan Jackiw, SO Percussion, David Finckel, Sonia Rodriguez, and Jera Wolfe. Festival appearances include the, Music@Menlo, Rockport, & Montreal Chamber Music, and Fall for Dance North, Zhuhai, & Kyoto International Festivals.  He has been broadcast locally and abroad several times on CBC Music’s In Concert program and WFMT’s Dame Myra Hess Series, and contributed his playing to Yamaha Canada’s recent Dear Glenn AI Project.

In early 2018, he was thrilled to give the North American Premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Third Sonata for Cello and Piano (1919), recently published by Bärenreiter-Verlag, with a longtime artistic collaborator, cellist Juliette Herlin.  Last season, they gave the Sonata its Midwest Premiere on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago; the Canadian Premiere in Toronto later that year.  In anticipation of this premiere, Kevin filmed & produced a mini-documentary titled Soirée pour Camille, a short film documenting the historical context of the work, the artistic partnership of Kevin & Juliette, and their joint exploration of French music.

Continuing his dynamic exploration of music in-tandem with film, he recently partnered with Riddle Films to release a cinematic performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition filmed live at Toronto’s Koerner Hall.  A cinematic dance film by Toronto-based film director Vikram Dasgupta is slated for release in 2024 in partnership with Fall For Dance North.

Kevin recently worked with Juilliard Global Ventures as part of the Juilliard Open Classroom team where he helped to develop new digital learning environments to reach musicians across the globe.  In this capacity, he offered his skills as a teacher, curriculum writer, and course builder to a number of online courses, including Juilliard Open Classroom’s first release: Sharpen Your Piano Artistry.  He was a curriculum writer for Piano Preludes: Bach, Chopin, and Debussy, offered through the online education platform edX.  Keen on developing the artistry of young musicians, he has presented masterclasses at Moravian College, Olympic College, the College of Southern Idaho, and the University of Las Vegas.

A two-time winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Kevin completed principal studies at the Juilliard School in New York under the tutelage of Joseph Kalichstein and Stephen Hough, and was in-residence as a Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.  He is a grateful recipient of a Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award and was a NFMC Artist Award recipient.

Kevin is Artistic Director of OPUS Chamber Music, Toronto’s newest premier hub for chamber music connecting audiences with dynamic and compelling artists who aim to excite, connect, and inspire.

*updated 2024.  Use most recent version – please contact for amendments / shorter versions.

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