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There comes a moment in a young musician’s life when making music with others – mentors and peers alike – becomes just as valuable and formative as playing for them.
Chamber music is uniquely suited to this stage of development. It asks us to cultivate immediate, intuitive communication (verbal and non-verbal), to welcome another musician’s idea and make it fully our own, to become the kind of colleague others rely on – and it teaches countless other lessons that can only be learned side by side.
Perhaps the greatest beauty of chamber music lies in how musical traditions, insights, and values are handed down directly, musician to musician, generation to generation.
I was fortunate to be a part of two life-changing programmes in my early twenties. First came the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers programme (then CMS Two), led by the beloved David Finckel and Wu Han, visionaries who have raised the profile of chamber music across America, mentored generations of young players, and, through their own extraordinary example, taught many of us how to lead.
To this day, it still feels like a dream that I was sharing the stage with legends – Menahem Pressler, Joseph Silverstein, Gary Hoffman, Paul Neubauer, and many others. I remember my first tour with the Society: the sheer thrill, as a young musician, of traveling the country and performing night after night beside these extraordinary artists who had become new mentors and colleagues.
Then came Caramoor’s Rising Stars, directed by one of the most profound influences in my life, violinist Pamela Frank. Set on an enchanted estate in Katonah, New York, surrounded by quiet forests, I discovered there what it truly means to open your heart completely and to give your entire soul to the music. To fall in love, again and again, with the masterpieces we are so fortunate to spend our lives uncovering and sharing.
Through those two formative experiences I discovered where my heart truly lay: devoting my life to chamber music.
Now it’s my turn to give back. As artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach (CMSPB), I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to carry this art form forward into the hands of the next generation.
In 2024 we launched the Rising Artists Program of CMSPB with a pilot season, followed by the official inaugural year in early 2025. We are so excited to welcome our new crop of Rising Artists in early January 2026. Four extraordinary young artists were selected through a competitive application process.
When we chose this year’s Rising Artists, we wrote to them:
’This week is designed as an immersive celebration of collaboration and camaraderie. You’ll exchange ideas with an extraordinary group of peers and with a few of us from the slightly older generation. Above all, we hope you leave inspired, carrying wonderful memories that last a lifetime and musical friendships that only grow deeper with time.’
That spirit – joyful, generous, and intensely musical – is exactly what the Rising Artists Program is about.
One element of the programme that means a great deal to me is the series of informal lunchtime conversations that cellist Edward Arron, my brilliant colleague and guest co-director, and I share with the artists.
Over the years Eddie and I have collected a handful of lessons we learnt along the way that we wish someone had pulled us aside and told us at their age, so we now pass them on: practical, human, sometimes funny lessons about everything from starting your own series to programming a season and cultivating donors, to managing finances, staying healthy on the road, and turning a passion into a joyful, sustainable life in music.
Something else I cherish about chamber music is that everyone, at any age or stage, is both teacher and student. The young artists come eager to learn from those of us who have been at it longer, yet they teach us just as much with their fresh perspective and energy.
The week itself is packed with intensive rehearsals that culminate in two very different but equally meaningful performances: an intimate house concert and a mainstage appearance, plus community outreach that takes the music beyond the concert hall.
Last year we brought chamber music to students at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and to veterans at the local VA Hospital. In the middle of our VA performance, something unforgettable happened: a gentleman was wheeled into the back of the room, took one look at us, and called out with pure delight, ’Ahhh, chamber music… I LOVE IT!’ That single, spontaneous outburst reminded all of us why we do this.
You can learn more about our programme at cmspb.org/rising-artists
This year’s performance will be held on 10 January 2026 at 7pm at the Norton Museum.