Santiago Cañón-Valencia
Victor Santiago Asuncion
Monday, October 20, 2025—Santiago Cañón-Valencia (cello) with Victor Santiago Asuncion (piano)
Monday, November 17, 2025—Maxwell String Quartet
Monday, February 23, 2026—Andrés Cárdenes (violin), Steven Doane (cello), Ines Irawati (piano)
Monday, March 16, 2026—Conor Hanick (piano)
Tuesday, April 14, 2026—Diderot String Quartet
Monday, May 4, 2026—Artifex Consort
7:30 PM
Monday, October 20, 2025—Santiago Cañón-Valencia (cello) with Victor Santiago Asuncion (piano)
Superstar cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia returns to open our season with a dreamy duo program of French sonatas, unique transcriptions, and Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (adapted from his ballet Pulcinella). Cañón-Valencia is a BBC Next Generation Artist and Tchaikovsky Competition silver medalist; his skill is hailed by The Strad as “technically flawless … totally under the skin of the composers’ idioms.”
Monday, November 17, 2025—Maxwell String Quartet
A longtime favorite on the Athenaeum chamber music series, the Maxwell String Quartet returns with a colorful program that opens with their signature dose of Scottish folk tunes, followed by Edmund Finnis’s first quartet, a poetic work that draws inspiration from the choral music of William Byrd, which closes the first half in an arrangement by the Maxwell String Quartet. Brahms’s epic second quartet rounds out this exciting evening.
Monday, February 23, 2026—Andrés Cárdenes (violin), Steven Doane (cello), Ines Irawati (piano)
This special “lineage” program combines world-class performers and pedagogues in their debut performance as a trio, featuring romantic lyricism alongside playful folk melodies, culminating in Dvorak’s always riveting “Dumky” piano trio.
Monday, March 16, 2026—Conor Hanick (piano)
We eagerly welcome pianist Conor Hanick to the Athenaeum for the first time for an adventurous solo recital featuring Charles Ives’s monumental first sonata and two Schubert Impromptus paired with a new revision of Samuel Carl Adams’s Three Impromptus (a West Coast premiere) inspired by Schubert.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026—Diderot String Quartet
The Diderot String Quartet will make their Athenaeum debut with a journey to 18th century Vienna, featuring masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. One of the premiere ensembles performing on gut strings and historical instruments, this dynamic group (Adriane Post, violin; Johanna Novom, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Paul Dwyer, cello) breathes new life into old works.
Monday, May 4, 2026—Artifex Consort
Specializing in the rich and varied “sound-world” of the late 17th century, the Artifex Consort (Malachai Komanoff Bandy, Rebecca Landell, and Eva Lymenstull, bass viols; John Lenti, theorbo; Ian Pritchard, keyboards) closes our season with works showcasing the viola da gamba as an ensemble instrument outside of the English consort tradition, during the height of its later flourishing in parts of England and Germany. The program features virtuosic music for two bass viols by Christopher Simpson and Johannes Schenck, alongside lush and ingenious—though little-known—works for three bass viols by Benjamin Hely and Johann Michael Nicolai.
All concerts are preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m. and are followed by a reception with the artists in the Sharon & Joel Labovitz Entry Hall.
The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these concerts. Your name will be on the attendee list at the front door. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. Priority seating will be given to Donor level members and above.
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