Contemporary Series- “On the Edge” by Greenroom Ensemble
When
Where
,
Season
Performers:
Violin: Nathan Meltzer (Winner of Concert Artist Guild, 2022 Sibelius Violin Competition, Founder and Director of Green Room Ensemble)
Violin: Ariel Horowitz ( 2020 Concert Artist Guild Ambassador Prize)
Viola: James Kang (Juilliard Kovner Fellow, American Viola Society Solo Competition winner, Abeo Quartet)
Cello: Sterling Elliott (2021 Avery Fisher Award, BBC Next Generation Artist)
Piano: Sophia Zhou (V BPA International Piano Award, Artistic Director of Millbrook Music Salon)
Program:
This dynamite program traces a wide arc of chamber music, beginning with the wit, clarity, and conversational elegance of Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in E major, Hob. XV:28, and moving through a series of bold, contemporary works that reimagine how sound, rhythm, and ensemble interaction can unfold. Misato Mochizuki’s Brains explores motion and transformation through quick shifts in texture and rhythm, while Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt plays with contrast—hard and soft, resonant and muted—inviting close listening and intimacy. Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy brings an
urgent, driving intensity built on repetition and momentum, challenging performers and listeners alike to stay fully present. After intermission, Andy Akiho’s The Prospects of a Misplaced Year closes the evening with propulsive rhythms and reflective moments, capturing a sense of uncertainty, resilience, and forward motion. Together, these works reveal chamber music as a living, evolving conversation—one that honors tradition while embracing experimentation and new voices.
– Haydn: Piano Trio in E Major, Hob. XV: 28
– Misato Mochizuki: Brains (2016/17)
– Caroline Shaw: Limestone and Felt (2012)
– Julius Eastman: Joy Boy
–intermission–
– Andy Akiho: The prospects of a misplaced year
*The concert is 2 hours in length, with a 10 minute intermission
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About Greenroom Ensemble:
Greenroom Ensemble was co-founded by violinist Nathan Meltzer and violist Devin Moore, a member of the Isidore Quartet. The ensemble has quickly built a reputation for presenting chamber music at the highest artistic level in distinctive, contemporary venues. Recent engagements include performances at St. John’s in the Village – Revelation Gallery and artXnyc, a leading experimental arts venue in the Meatpacking District, featuring immersive programs that place new and reimagined repertoire in close dialogue with audiences. Drawing from a roster of internationally active performers heard regularly at major halls and festivals, Greenroom Ensemble presents concerts that combine artistic rigor with a fresh, modern sensibility.
Artist Bios:
Nathan Meltzer- Violinist/ Founder of GRE
Winner of the 2023 Concert Artist Guild Competition, major prize winner at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de
Virtuosi Career Grant, and youngest ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, violinist Nathan Meltzer is establishing a holistic and multi-faceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician, with passions for both standard and contemporary repertoire.
Nathan has performed as a soloist with major orchestras around the world. He has performed with the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Finnish RSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Aalborg, Charlotte, Concepción, Indianapolis, Medellín, Montréal, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, among others, performing across Europe and N in orth and South America.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Nathan has performed at celebrated series including the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Dresden Musikfestspiele, Heidelberger Frühling, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Kallos Chamber Music Series, Parlance Chamber Concerts, and Midori’s Partners in Performance, and at festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, IMS Prussia Cove, Krzyzowa Music, La Jolla SummerFest, Montreal and Moritzburg Chamber Music Festivals, Music@Menlo’s International Program, Newport Classical, the Ravinia Festival Institute, the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Academy, and Yellow Barn.
He is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Green Room Ensemble, a non-profit chamber music organization dedicated to new music and historically unexplored works by composers from a variety of backgrounds and heritages.
A Juilliard graduate and student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, Nathan plays on a Storioni violin on generous loan from the Rin Collection.
Ariel Horowitz- Violinist
Hailed by The Washington Post as “Sweetly Lyrical,” violinist, composer/songwriter, and community organizer Ariel Horowitz cannot remember life before loving music.
In 2020, Ariel joined the Concert Artists Guild roster for North American management, and enjoys an active touring schedule as a soloist and as one-half of Vision Duo, an ensemble formed with fellow CAG artist Britton-René Collins in 2021.
As a composer, songwriter, and avid improviser, Ariel’s original music centers themes of healing, community, and liberation. They have performed their compositions and songs around the world, including at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
As a community organizer, Ariel is honored to be the Founder and Artistic Director of the Heartbeat Music Project, a tuition-free program offering music and Navajo (Diné) cultural education as well as direct aid resources to young people in grades K-12 living on the Navajo Nation. Ariel’s organizing for this work is as a long-term co-conspirator for Indigenous-led decolonization and land back efforts, and as a guest on the sovereign Navajo Nation. In 2022, HMP received the Lewis Prize for Music’s Accelerator Award in the amount of $500,000 to support their work with Navajo youth.
In October 2024, Ariel released their solo debut album, Hearth, on the Bright Shiny Things label. Hearth is an immersive collection that weaves together classical pieces, original compositions, spoken word, and nature sounds, creating a dialogue between indie influences and classical traditions.
James Kang- Violist
Violist James Kang is an inviting performer and artist-teacher who creates meaningful connections with audiences across the U.S. and abroad. James is the founding violist of the Abeo Quartet which was formed at Juilliard in 2018 and has been featured at Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Norway’s Vertavo Festival. James is currently pursuing his DMA studies at Northwestern University as the Teaching Assistant of Prof. Helen Callus, and received his bachelor’s degree at the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship.
As a soloist, James won the American Opera Society of Chicago Centennial Award and top prizes at the American Viola Society Solo Competition and the ASTA National Solo Competition. In 2023, he performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher Viola Concerto with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra. James performs with orchestras such as ProMusic Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic, and has served as Principal Violist for the Juilliard and Symphony in C orchestras.
As an avid chamber musician, James has collaborated with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, Donald Weilerstein, Calidore String Quartet and Dover Quartet. Recent highlights for Abeo Quartet include returning to perform at the Kennedy Center and being the 2023-24 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor which entailed a yearlong residency that included outreach to young listeners. In June
2025, Abeo will be returning to Bad Tölz, Germany to give recitals after winning a prize at the Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition in 2023.
James is devoted to teaching and is currently on the Chamber Music Faculty of Music Institute of Chicago. In 2019, he taught young violists in Brazil as a guest faculty artist in partnership with Guri Santa Marcelina. Dedicated to cultivating joy in his audiences, James is also active in community outreach and has participated in engagement concerts with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music!, “If Music Be the Food…,” and United Nations Chamber Music Society. His festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, NYO-USA, Yellow Barn YAP, and La Jolla SummerFest.
Sterling Elliott- cellist
Acclaimed for his stellar stage presence and joyous musicianship, cellist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Still in his mid-twenties, Elliott has appeared with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony and the Dallas Symphony, working with noted conductors including Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Thomas Wilkins, Jeffrey Kahane, and Mei Ann Chen, among others.
In 2025/2026 Sterling Elliott debuts with the Phoenix Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, and at the BBC Proms with Edwin Outwater. As featured soloist with the Sphinx Virtuosi, he takes part in a mutli-city tour with performances at Carnegie Hall, Shriver Concert Series, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Gardner Museum, and Schubert Club and more. As a chamber musician, he continues his residency in the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appearing with CMLSC at Alice Tully Hall and on tour throughout the United States, as well as in trio performances with Anthony McGill and Gloria Chien.
Recent highlights include debut performances with the Atlanta, San Francisco, New Jersey, Columbus, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids Symphonies, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Reno Philharmonic. Elliott has also made returns to Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Louis Langrée, and performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Madison Symphony alongside Gil Shaham and Orli Shaham. He premiered a new orchestral version of John Corigliano’s Phantasmagoria, commissioned for him by a consortium of orchestras, led by the Orlando Philharmonic and music director Eric Jacobsen.
As the Robey Artist with the London-based Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in partnership with Music Masters, Elliott regularly performs throughout the UK and Europe including at Wigmore Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as on tour in New Zealand. In 2024, Elliott was named a BBC New Generation Artist.
Sterling’s long association with the Sphinx Organization began when he won the 2014 Junior Division Competition. The following year he went on to tour with the Sphinx Virtuosi before being awarded the Organization’s Isaac Stern Award in 2016. He became the first alumnus from the Sphinx Performance Academy to win the Sphinx Competition (in 2019). Sterling received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2024, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization.
Born into a musical household, Sterling initially wanted to play the violin like his older brother and sister. After a bit of encouragement, he completed The Elliott Family String Quartet, an ensemble that enjoyed personalized arrangements of genres such as bluegrass, gospel, and funk music.
He is an ambassador of the Young Strings of America, a string sponsorship operated by Shar Music. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.
Sophia Zhou- Pianist/ Founder of Millbrook Music Salon
New York- based pianist Shuhui (Sophia) Zhou has been performing as a soloist and chamber musician internationally in the USA, Europe and China. She was the winner of the V BPA International Piano Award of Barcelona, engaged for 5 solo recitals across Spain. Her recent concert appearances include the Royal Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Shanghai Concert Hall, etc. As a chamber musician, she frequently collaborated with members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera House, HK Philharmonic, etc.
Ms. Zhou holds a Master of Music degree from Mannes College of Music in New York, studying with Thomas Sauer. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Bachelor of Arts in German Literature from Oberlin College. Ms. Zhou was invited as a post-graduate piano fellow by the Bard College Conservatory, working with the Graduate Vocal Arts Program under the guidance of Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe and offering Secondary Piano lessons to college undergraduate students.
As one of the most dynamic and versatile young musicians of her generation, Sophia recorded and premiered music by renowned composers such as Andrew Norman (Pulitzer- Prize and Grammy-Award nominee) , Benjamin Broening (recipient of Guggenheim Award), Alexander Goehr, John Harbison, Nina Shenkhar, etc.
Her recent projects include multimedia concert project “Bach VS The Climate Crisis” in collaboration with renowned environmental photographer J Henry Fair, an interdisciplinary performance in the Nam June Paik retrospectives show in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, chamber music concerts with members of Carnegie Ensemble Connect, song recitals with American tenor Daniel McGrew (2021 YCA Winner) in Merkin Hall and Morgan Library, New York City, Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington D.C, Harvard Music Associations in Boston and concert tours with ATL Piano Trio in Florence, Livorno, as well as appearances at the Mexican Republican Senate Hall to be broadcasted on national television for 2 consecutive weeks.
Ms. Zhou is the founder and director of two concert series in upstate New York, Chamber Music at The Stissing Center and Millbrook Music Salon. She has created and produced critically-acclaimed concerts for six consecutive seasons, bringing world-class music making into the community.