To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra (SCCO) will perform two piano trios and a solo cello work by monumental maestras of composition.
Cécile Chaminade was an internationally renowned pianist and composer who received numerous awards and was popular in the UK and US. Her piano trio is a vibrant work of romantic charm with lyrical brilliance. The four-movement work shows wonderful dialogue between all three instruments with lush melodies, playful rhythms and rich harmonies which showcases the immense talent of the first female composer awarded the Légion d’Honneur.
In the not-too-distant future, Rebecca Clarke composed a masterpiece of the 20th century Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio is a compelling example of early 20th-century chamber music, blending Impressionistic textures with modernist clarity and emotional depth. Composed in 1921, the trio explores bold harmonies, dynamic contrasts, and a dramatic interplay of voices, reflecting Clarke’s innovative approach to form and color. By balancing moments of lyrical introspection with vibrant intensity, the work captures a unique and forward-looking musical vision, solidifying Clarke’s place as a trailblazer in the chamber music repertoire.
Sandwiched in between these two extroverted masterpieces will be Caroline Shaw’s In manus tuas. This is a meditative solo cello work inspired by Thomas Tallis’s motet. Blending fragments of the original melody with Shaw’s modern harmonic language, the piece explores the cello’s expressive depth, creating a timeless and introspective soundscape.
Musicians
Akiko Hosoi, Violin
A resident of NYC, Japanese violinist Akiko Hosoi is an active solo and chamber music performer across the United States, while being a member of the New Haven Symphony and Stamford Symphony Orchestras. Akiko enjoys collaborating with other artists and organizations dedicated to promote community enhancement and social justice, with projects such as organizing outreach performances at veteran hospitals, hospices, schools, and state prisons across the US, as well as benefit concerts to raise money for the 3/11 Fukushima disaster. Akiko also maintains a performing presence in Japan with regular recitals as well as outreach collaborations with Alexander Technique Studio Tokyo.
In 2016, Akiko partnered with Sullivan County (NY) non-profit arts organization Nesin Cultural Arts (NCA) to co-establish and lead the Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra, a conductor-less string orchestra, whose mission is to serve the community and elevate the quality of life for all generations through artistic expression and cultural experiences. Always trying to inspire the younger generation, Akiko is in high demand as a violin instructor. Through NCA she has co-founded the Aspiring Young Musicians Program and the Summer Music (Arts) Academy, designed to provide students aspiring to develop their musicianship with regular and frequent contact with high caliber performing artists who have a commitment to music education.
Kirsten Jermé, Cello
A devoted chamber musician, cellist Kirsten Jermé has performed internationally from Harlaxton College in England to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to the Pieve di Gropina in Arezzo.
Based in NYC, Kirsten served as guest cellist of the Cassatt String Quartet for the 2022 Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music and has recently appeared with the Harlem Chamber Players, North Country Chamber Players, Atrikk Ensemble, and as a soloist with the Bar Harbor Music Festival.
Formerly cellist of the Larchmere String Quartet, she performed across the U.S., in Canada and Italy and recorded for Naxos while serving for several seasons as Eykamp String Quartet Faculty Artist-in-Residence at the University of Evansville and Principal Cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared as a chamber musician with the Carolina Ballet, Battleworks Dance Company at the Joyce Theater, and with members of the Louisville Ballet at the Speed Art Museum, and on series such as Electric Earth Concerts, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Raleigh Sights and Sounds Series, and the Strad for Lunch Recital Series. Her eclectic freelance life in NY has brought her to stages ranging from Carnegie, Weill and Zankel Halls to Madison Square Garden, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and the United Nations, and she has taken part in several recent film score recordings.
Kirsten served as cello faculty at North Carolina State University and has given masterclasses at UNC-Chapel Hill, Otterbein and Western Kentucky University. A passionate proponent of chamber music pedagogy, she helped launch a chamber music course at the University of Evansville and ran a string quartet mentorship program for the youth orchestra. She has taught chamber music and cello for numerous institutions, including two El Sistema programs. Kirsten received her M.M. at Eastman School of Music and her B.A. from Stony Brook University and is currently a D.M.A. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Her primary teachers include Colin Carr, Steven Doane, and Marcy Rosen.
Gabrielle Chou, Piano
Gabrielle Chou is a New York-based pianist and violinist seeking to defy genres and break barriers in music education and performance tradition. On both instruments she performs solo, chamber music, and in large ensembles; teaches, lectures, coaches, and gives masterclasses; improvises and collaborates with composers, dancers, and other artists; and is active in community engagement and advancing an equitable and accessible future for the arts. She studied at the Colburn Music Academy and received her B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, as well as her D.M.A. from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, writing her dissertation on play and game elements in music. Her teachers include Jerome Lowenthal and Richard Goode on piano, Lewis Kaplan on violin, and Emanuel Ax, Timothy Eddy, Joseph Kalichstein, Matti Raekallio, and Sylvia Rosenberg for chamber music.
Gabrielle performs and teaches around the country and internationally, including appearances as both piano and violin soloist with orchestras in the US, Europe, and Asia. Recent highlights include music directing and performing in the 2025 YoungArts Miami gala, performing with ensemble PinkNoise at the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, performing with trio Longleash at The Kennedy Center for the opening ceremony of Dvořák Dreams, an installation by Refik Anadol, and serving as artist faculty at Sarasota Music Festival, pianoSonoma, and Mostly Modern in Middelburg, the Netherlands. While Gabrielle plays the breadth of repertoire for either instrument, she is particularly passionate about chamber and contemporary music and enjoys all forms of collaboration with musicians of any genre and artists of any medium. She has premiered piano, violin, chamber, and orchestral works at Juilliard, the Yale School of Music, National Sawdust, the Avaloch Music Institute, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Currently Gabrielle serves as an orchestra and chamber music coach at Riverdale Country School, chamber music coach at the New York Youth Symphony, staff pianist and coach at The Juilliard School, Teaching Artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and music history professor at Baruch College. She is a founding member of the contemporary chamber collective Away From Keyboard and plays with numerous ensembles and initiatives, including Wordless Music, PinkNoise, Soundbox Ventures, Metropolis Ensemble, Nu Deco Ensemble, Protestra, Sound Off: Music for Bail, After Arts Featured Artists, the Center for Musical Excellence, and Concerts for Compassion. In her free time she enjoys frequenting art museums and aquariums, playing board and video games, birding, and reading science fiction. Keep up with her adventures at gabriellechou.com!
About SCCO
The Sullivan County Chamber Orchestra (SCCO) brings professional musicians together to perform in Sullivan County. These members are dedicated to the SCCO mission to serve the community and elevate the quality of life for all generations through artistic expression, cultural experiences, and education. To learn more visit sccoplayers.org
