Our Initiatives

Partnerships in Education

Through this long-standing program, Friends of Music Concerts makes possible residencies by young professional ensembles in Westchester County high schools. The residencies include both performances and master classes for the students.  These residencies are provided at no cost to the students or the school.

More detailed information about the program can be found here. Applications to be a Friends of Music Concerts Partner in Education can be found here.

Performance Awards

One aspect of Friends of Music Concerts’ mission is to nurture artists newly emerging on the chamber music scene. In 2008 we started seeking such musicians by awarding a place on our six-concert series to a winner of the annual Young Concert Artists International Auditions, held in New York City.  Recitals by these Performance Award winners invariably have won the hearts of our audiences.

Performance Awardees have been:

2010-11 season: Ray Chen, violin: piano collaborator Andrew Tyson

2011-12 season: Charlie Albright, piano

2012-13 season: Benjamin Beilman, violin; piano collaborator Yekwon Sunwoo

2013-14 season: Paul Huang, violin; piano collaborator Jessica Osborne

2014-15 season: Aleksey Semenenko, violin; piano collaborator Inna Firsoza

2015-16 season: Yun-chin Zhou, piano

2016-17 season: Sang-Eun Lee, cello: piano collaborator Chang-Yong Shin

2017-18 season: The Zora Quartet

2018-19 season: Nathan Lee, piano

2019-20 season: Zlatomir Fung, cello: piano collaborator Richard Fu

2020-21 season: Jonathan Swensen, cello: piano collaborator Adam Golka

2021-22 season: Megan Moore; piano collaborator Francesco Barfoed

2022-23 season: Albert Cano Smit, piano

2023-24 season: piano/soprano Chelsea Guo and bass-baritone Joseph Parrish

2024-25 season: Harmony Zhu, piano

2025-26 season: Benett Tsai, cello; piano collaborator Noreen Polera