The second concert in the new Rising Star Concert Series, presented by the Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville Chamber Music Series, will take place Tuesday, January 3, 2023, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm in the Museum atrium.
The featured ensemble will be The Charlotte Piano Trio, a group of young artists who represent chamber music excellence in the Charlotte area and are committed to performing annual community concerts.
“The response to this new series has been very gratifying,” says Marilynne Herbert, Asheville Chamber Music Series board president. “Intended as a performance opportunity for gifted young North Carolina musicians, these concerts provide us the benefit of catching rising stars early in their careers. Our first concert in September featured Hendersonville native Pianist Christopher Tavernier, who performed to a standing-room only audience.”
“Our partnership with the Asheville Chamber Music Series is a favorite of mine,” says Pamela Myers, Asheville Art Museum executive director. “It brings talented performers and amazing sound into our beautiful atrium—filled with American Art—creating an experience that’s a delight for all the senses.”
Tickets for the event are $13 for museum members and $15 for non-members. Reserve your tickets on the official ticketing website.
Evening Program
Amy Beach: Piano Trio, Op. 150
Ernest Chausson: Piano Trio, Op. 3
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8
Introducing The Charlotte Piano Trio
Andrew DeWeese, Violin
DeWeese, a senior at Yale University, is a first violinist in the Yale Symphony Orchestra. He began studying violin at the age of four and has played in numerous top-tier orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) of the USA; the Honor Orchestra of Americas, of which he was concertmaster in 2018; and the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute Orchestra.
Especially passionate about chamber music, DeWeese co-founded the Charlotte Youth String Quartet in 2017 and the Charlotte Piano Trio in 2019 to address the lack of professional chamber music in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. In addition, he co-founded and served as president of a nonprofit music service organization called Melodic Minors, which strives to democratize music through a series of initiatives connecting members of the community, including interactive concerts. It has produced more than 150 community concerts in over 30 venues.
Drew Dansby, Cello
Dansby joined the Charlotte Symphony as Acting Section Cellist. Recent honors include receiving the Tuesday Musical Scholarship for Strings in the Tuesday Musical Association’s 2021 scholarship competition and winning both the Gold Medal and the Agnew Price for Bach in the Cleveland Cello Society’s 2021 competition.
In his hometown of Charlotte, Dansby is a founding member and cellist of the Charlotte Piano Trio. He has held the positions of principal cellist and concertmaster in the Youth Orchestra of Charlotte. For three summers, he was a member of the NYO, including as a violinist in 2018 and principal cellist in 2019. Dansby is the first member in NYO history to be accepted on two instruments.
Dansby was a founding member, violinist, and cellist of the Charlotte Youth String Quartet. He’s an active cello teacher with a national volunteer organization offering free music lessons for students who don’t have access to private instruction. At Oberlin, Dansby was a violinist in the Phlox Ensemble, a group committed to performing works by women and nonbinary composers. He co-founded Ambrosia, a collaboration between Oberlin students of classical, jazz, and non-Western music to learn from each other and bridge genres.
Christian Makhuli, Piano
Makhuli is a high school senior at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Born in Charlotte, he began his piano studies at the age of 9. He made his orchestral debut at age 13 with the Winston Salem Symphony as first place winner of the Peter Perret Youth Talent Search. Other orchestral performances include the Bach Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor, Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concert, and Liszt Concerto No 1.
Makhuli was awarded first place in the 2018 and 2019 Steinway and Sons Piano competitions. As a winner of the Symphony Guild of Charlotte Young Artists Competition, he performed with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Christopher James Lees during their 2021–22 season. Throughout his studies, Makhuli has had the honor of performing in masterclasses with teachers and performers including Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, Peter Frankl, Gary Graffman, and Alexander Kobrin. For several years, he has served as an active volunteer member of the Melodic Minors, a youth-led non-profit organization that provides community concerts throughout the Charlotte area. I
It was through Melodic Minors that he met DeWeese and Dansby, and together they formed The Charlotte Piano Trio.
Written by the Asheville Art Museum.