Benett Tsai, cello and Noreen Polera, piano

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Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 3:00 pm, Sleepy Hollow High School Auditorium, Sleepy Hollow, NY

© Shervin Lainez

Tsai appears as a recipient of the Friends of Music Concerts Performance Award and in 2023 won the Susan Wadsworth International Auditions in New York. Born in Australia, Tsai made his debut at the age of 13 and has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Germany and Australia.

His music-making has been described as “electrifying…flawless freshness” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and “charismatic, heartfelt playing full of fluid intensity” (Sydney Arts Guide).

He came to attention at the prestigious Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann competition in 2022, where he received both the Third Prize and Special Prize for the Best Haydn Concerto as the youngest competitor. He was additionally the recipient of the Michaels Award for a New York recital, which was subsequently listed as one of the best New York debuts in 2024 by New York Classical Review.

Polera ranks among the most highly-regarded chamber artists performing today, and maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and abroad to Europe, Russia, and performing arts centers of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. She has been a guest at the Caramoor, Bard, Grand Teton, Casals and Cape Cod Chamber Music Festivals, as well as having engagements at the Chamber Music Societies of Philadelphia and La Jolla. She has recorded for the Sony, EMI, Centaur and Audiophon labels.

Polera’s mastery of the complete cello-piano repertory is widely known. In addition to being a regular recital partner with cellists Amit Peled and Narek Hakhnazaryan, Polera has appeared with Matt Haimovitz, Carter Brey, Antonio Menesis, Yo-Yo Ma and Leonard Rose. Winner of the Accompanying Prize at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, she frequently collaborates with laureates of the Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky and Naumburg international competitions.

The concert program is:

  • Nadia Boulanger — Trois Pièces for Cello and Piano
  • Krzysztof Penderecki — Cappriccio per Siegfried Palm
  • David Popper — Serenade, Op. 54, No. 2
  • Samuel Barber — Cello Sonata in C Minor, Op. 6

Intermission

  • Ernest Bloch — From Jewish Life, B. 54
  • Gabriel Fauré – Papillon, Op. 77
  • Dmitri Shostakovitch — Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
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