Renaissance Quartet with pianist Zhu Wang and violist Catherine Cho
Saturday, September 27, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:45 p.m.
Duration ~ 2hrs, including intermission
General Admission: $50 (+$5 fee)
First-time patrons of Chesapeake Music: 2-for-1 with promo code new2for1
Students, educators, and Talbot Co. First Responders: Free / pay what you can
The Ebenezer Theater
17 S Washington St
Easton, MD 21601
This concert is generously sponsored by Kae and Don Dakin
The opening concert of the 2025–2026 Chesapeake Music season celebrates the return of violinist Randall Goosby, this time joined by fellow members of the Renaissance Quartet — violinist Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass. Based in New York City and founded through years of friendship at Juilliard and the Perlman Music Program, the quartet is known for blending classical mastery with contemporary flair while showcasing remarkable technical prowess. They are consistently recognized for their commitment to making classical music more inclusive and accessible. The quartet will also be joined by Catherine Cho on viola, known for her extraordinary and distinctive musicality. Also making a return to Chesapeake Music to perform alongside the quartet is multi-prize-winning Zhu Wang — a “superb pianist”, praised as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer.” (The New York Times).
Florence Price
(1887–1953)
- Allegro
- Andante moderato — Allegretto
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)
- Allegro
- Minuetto and Trio. Allegretto
- Adagio ma non troppo
- Adagio — Allegro
Intermission
(~ 10min)
Johannes Brahms
(1833–1897)
Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 (~ 43min)
- Allegro non troppo
- Andante, un poco Adagio
- Scherzo. Allergo
- Finale. Poco sostenuto — Allegro non troppo — Presto non troppo
Renaissance Quartet
The Renaissance String Quartet is driven by a desire to reimagine the role and capacity of the string quartet as a vehicle for change, inspiring audiences, students, and collaborators around the world.
Founded in 2021 by violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass, the New York City based quartet was formed on the basis of over a decade of friendship at The Perlman Music Program and The Juilliard School.
The quartet feels a responsibility to command a diverse repertoire of classic, underrepresented, and new works, so they can contribute to the reclamation, redefinition, and continuation of a musical tradition that belongs to all of us. They represent and articulate an inclusive vision of the future of classical music, which sees a culture of music wherein all lives and histories are welcomed and celebrated.
In their 2023-24 season, the quartet made their UK and European debuts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Muziekhaven in Amsterdam, and on the popular Dutch TV program, Podium Klassiek. They also led masterclasses and educational residencies at London’s Southbank Centre, Greenwood Music Camp, and the Perlman Music Program Suncoast.
Highlights of the 2024-25 season include a lecture-recital at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, recitals at Marlboro Music Festival, Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and an original collaboration with the Perlman Music Program Suncoast and the West Coast Black Theater Troupe in Sarasota, Florida. The quartet will also return to Kingston, Jamaica for the second installment of their “Beyond Boundaries” benefit recitals at the University of the West Indies.
As recipients of a 2024 career grant from Salon de Virtuosi, the quartet is featured on WQXR, New York City’s premier classical music radio station.
The members of the quartet collaborate on more than just chamber music. Daniel and Jameel often work together as a composer/librettist duo. Randall and Jameel presented a cross-disciplinary recital program of poetry and music, entitled “Intersections: Black Music and Words.” Randall and Jeremiah have competed together in various golf tournaments, impressively securing podium finishes.
Zhu Wang
Praised as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer” who “balanced lyrical warmth and crisp clarity” (Tommasini–The New York Times), pianist Zhu Wang was awarded First Prize in the 2020 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Gold Medalist at 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Zhu was one of the finalists in the 2019 Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, and one of the prizewinners of 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition. The world-renowned pianist Fou Ts’ong recognized Zhu as an “excellent pianist with a natural sense of harmony and imagination,” whose sensitive and engaging performances exhibit a remarkable depth of musicianship and poise beyond his age.
Recent performances include appearing as soloist with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Columbus, Kansas City, Spokane, Memphis, and Richmond Symphony Orchestras, and solo recital for Hilton Head International Piano Competition. And highlights of last season include Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, solo recital for Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Series and Animato Foundation in Paris, chamber music concert with members of Orchestra of St Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, and concert tour in Europe and North America with violinist Randall Goosby in the spring of 2025.
Celebrated for his “technical mastery and deep sense of lyricism,” (The Durango Herald), Zhu has appeared in recital at Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Southampton Rising Stars, Music at Dumbarton Oaks, The Morgan Library & Museum, Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Salon de Virtuosi, and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, which made The New York Times’ “Best of Classical Music 2021” list.
An avid chamber musician, Zhu has appeared on series such as Chamber Music Detroit, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver Recital Society, La Jolla Music Society, Stanford Live, Hamilton College, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Howland Chamber Music Series, Chesapeake Music, Clarion Concerts, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Zhu is an alum of Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School, Bravo! Vail, Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars, Music@Menlo International Program, and he regularly appears in chamber music recitals with violinist Randall Goosby.
A native of Hunan Province, China, Zhu started learning piano at the age of five following his grandfather’s love of music. Zhu is a graduate of Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School and received Gina Bachauer Scholarship, Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship, and Mehlin Prize. His teachers include Emanuel Ax, Robert McDonald, and Zhe Tang. He gratefully acknowledges the support of the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts. Zhu currently lives in New York City with his wife Chloe and their beloved two cats, Chaz and Tùzi.
Catherine Cho
Catherine Cho is recognized for her remarkable virtuosity, combining technical mastery of her instrument with an extraordinary and distinctive musicality. Praised by The New York Times for her “sublime tone”, she has appeared worldwide as soloist with many orchestras and chamber ensembles as well as in recital.
Catherine Cho’s orchestral engagements have included appearances with the Detroit, Montreal, and Washington DC’s National Symphony orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Edmonton Symphony, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony, the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Haifa, and New Zealand, the Het Gelders Orkest in Holland, the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony performing with distinguished conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Robert Spano, Sixten Ehrling, Hugh Wolff, and Franz-Paul Decker. A regular guest on tour with “Musicians from Marlboro”, Ms. Cho has also been a frequent participant in their summer Music Festival in Vermont since 1993.
She has performed as special guest soloist with the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center for two ballets by renowned choreographer Peter Martins including the New York premiere of his ballet Viva Verdi. Her concert performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the baton of Jo-Ann Falletta, was taped live and broadcast nationwide on National Public Television in January 2002. In broadcasts heard around the world, Catherine Cho has appeared on such stations as Radio Frankfurt (Germany), CBC (Canada), WQXR (New York City), and National Public Radio. Her performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Korean Chamber Ensemble was recorded live and released on Credia Classics.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Catherine Cho has performed on the prestigious stages of Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society at New York’s Lincoln Center, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Seoul Arts Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, and on Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” series in Chicago. She has performed the complete cycle of Violin Sonatas by Beethoven at HOAM Art Hall in Seoul, Korea with pianist, Mia Chung, and a recital of five Beethoven Sonatas at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Cho has appeared at the Aspen, Marlboro, Bridgehampton, Chesapeake Chamber Music, Santa Fe, and Skaneateles Festivals as well as at Bargemusic and Chamber Music Northwest, Four Seasons, and Vivace Foundation Music Festival. Ms. Cho was a member of the Johannes String Quartet from 2003 to 2006, and is a founding member of the chamber ensemble, La Fenice.
Among her various awards, scholarships, and achievements, Ms. Cho was a recipient of both the 1995 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Korea’s 1995 World Leaders of Tomorrow Award as presented by the Korea Central Daily News in recognition of outstanding achievement and commendable leadership in the Arts. She was named a Presidential Scholar in 1988, and was the recipient of the 1994 Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence; a top prize winner at the 1991 Hannover International Violin Competition, the 1989 Queen Elizabeth Music Competition of Belgium, the 1987 Montreal International Music Competition.
Ms. Cho is a faculty member of The Juilliard School where she teaches violin, chamber music, and the Chamber Music Community Engagement Seminar. She has taught at the Heifetz Institute, Killington Music Festival, Seoul Music Festival, Starling-DeLay Symposium, Perlman Music Program, Great Mountains Music School and Festival, and coached chamber music at the New York String Seminar.
Devoted to the cause of promoting peace through music, Catherine Cho was VP of the Board of Musicians For Harmony for several years, and is an artist member of Music For Food, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in our local communities. She is currently co-Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival.
Catherine lives in Brooklyn, NY with her devoted husband, Todd Phillips, and her sweet son, Brandon. She is the stepmom of three lovely stepchildren, Lia, Eliza, and Jason, and grandma to little Theo. When she is away from her teaching and performances, you may find Catherine making soup in her crock pot, baking, practicing yoga, catching up with the New York Times, or tending to her Zen garden.
Please make note of the following additional information:
- All programs, artists, and events may be subject to change.
- Cell phones and other electronic devices should be switched off prior to (and for the duration of) the performance.
- Photography and/or recording during the performance is strictly prohibited.
- Performances may be recorded and/or photographed by Chesapeake Music, and your attendance is considered consent to be photographed/recorded.
- Patrons who arrive after the start of the concert will be seated between movements or pieces at the discretion of the ushers.
- Outside food and drink is not permitted in the hall.
- Chesapeake Music will endeavor to make ice cold water available to all patrons prior to the concert and at intermission.
- Contact information for any questions and concerns: info@chesapeakemusic.org
What time should I arrive for the concert and how long is it?
Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and the concert is expected to last approximately 2 hours, inclusive of a short intermission.
Do you offer any discounts or promotions?
Yes! There are two main discount/promotion offers:
- Students, educators, and Talbot County First Responders are eligible for Free/Pay-what-you-can tickets.
- New patrons to Chesapeake Music (those who have never attended a Chesapeake Music event) can receive a 2-for-1 offer with promo code new2for1 during the checkout process. This offer is limited — one-time only.
How will I receive my tickets? Will they be mailed to me? What if I lose them?
All purchases are completed digitally, with tickets also being sent digitally to your email. Please double-check your spam/junk folder for your tickets. We do not mail physical tickets. If you misplace your digital tickets by email, please contact info@chesapeakemusic.org and we can resend them to you. If you are unable to present a copy of your digital ticket when arriving at the venue, our ushers will have a full ticket purchase list and can manually admit you.
What is your refund and exchange policy?
Chesapeake Music is typically unable to offer refunds or cancellations, but we invite you to get in touch with us at info@chesapeakemusic.com if an emergency arises and you can no longer use your ticket(s).
How does seating work? Are there reserved seats? Is the venue accessible?
The Ebenezer Theater at Prager Family Center for the Arts seats approximately 160 visitors — 115 on the main floor level and 45 in the balcony. All seats have unobstructed views. General admission is unreserved, though you may find a small handful of seats reserved for concerts sponsors when visiting the theater.
There is elevator access from the street-level lobby up to the main seating area. The balcony is accessible by stairs only. The lobby does not have seating, so guests are encouraged to not arrive prior to the “doors open” time noted on their tickets.
If there are further questions or concerns regarding mobility and accessibility at the venue, please do not hesitate to reach out to info@chesapeakemusic.org.
