SEASON OPENING:
Golden Jubilee

Benjamin Beilman, violin
Maria Ioudenitch, violin
Lawrence Dutton, viola
Dmitri Atapine, cello
Hyeyeon Park, piano

Viano String Quartet
Lucy Wang, violin
Hao Zhou, violin
Aiden Kane, viola
Tate Zawadiuk, cello

HAYDN: String Quartet Op. 50 no. 6
SCHUMANN: Piano Quintet Op. 44
MENDELSSOHN: Octet for Strings Op. 20

The Friends opens its Fiftieth Anniversary Season in grand style, celebrating the enduring power of chamber music. On stage at the Kauffman Center are soloists Benjamin Beilman and Maria Ioudenitch, former Emerson Quartet violist Lawrence Dutton, the Viano String Quartet — 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients — and Artistic Directors Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park. The program begins with a Haydn Op. 50 string quartet — honoring both the “father” of chamber music and our 50th season — followed by Schumann’s groundbreaking Piano Quintet. It concludes with Mendelssohn’s Octet, premiered 200 years ago and still dazzling as a pinnacle of the repertoire.