Sara is a pianist of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times) and is no stranger to Charleston, having performed with the WV Symphony in 2020 & 2024. She has won a bouquet of prizes from the world’s top piano competitions and frequently solos with the world’s greatest orchestras. We are thrilled to have her join our series with a dazzling solo recital of Mozart, Chopin, and Poulenc.

Biography

Pianist Sara Davis Buechner is a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times), a performer of “fascinating and astounding virtuosity” (Philippine Star), renowned for her “thoughtful artistry in the full service of music” (Washington Post).

Japan’s InTune magazine puts it simply. “When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior.” In her twenties, Ms. Buechner was the winner of a bouquet of prizes at the world’s première piano competitions — Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, Leeds, Salzburg, Sydney and Vienna. She won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

Her breathtaking range of repertoire includes 125 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist), which she has performed internationally with the world’s great orchestras. Her numerous recordings have received prominent critical appraisal, and she is one of the only prominent concert pianists to perform and record original scores for silent motion pictures.

The broad sweep of Ms. Buechner’s artistry is presented in her autobiographical stage show “Of Pigs and Pianos,” which she wrote, produced and starred in to acclaim from the New York Times and other media in 2022. She continues to appear in the show yearly, with its première at the International Gilmore Festival in 2026.

Ms. Buechner is Piano Chair of the Greenwich House Music School in New York City, Professor of Piano at Temple University in Philadelphia, and an Adjunct Professor at New York University. As the most prominent transgender musician of her generation, Sara Davis Buechner appears often as a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ community. She has been a dedicated Yamaha Artist for nearly 40 years.

The Reverón Piano Trio returns to our series with a delicious mélange of new and old, European and Latin American. Highlights include Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor and Barroqueada by living American composer Miguel del Aguila.

Program

Mel Bonis: Soir et Matin (1858 - 1937)
I. Soir
II. Matin

Piano Trío in D minor Op. 11: Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
I. Allegro molto vivace
II. Andante espressivo
III. Lied. Allegretto
IV. Finale. Allegretto moderato

Half Light: Gilda Lyons (b. 1975)

Barroqueada (2020): Miguel del Águila (b. 1957) 
I. Preludio en Candombe
II. Pavana
III. Milonga
IV. Samba Corrente
V. Pasapié
VI. Sarabanda Rota
VII. Tango Intermezzo
VIII. Jiga Frenética

Biography

The Reverón Piano Trio performs with a "truthful, organic sound of excellent quality" (Melómano Magazine, Spain) and "exudes virtuosity" (El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico) in their efforts to bring to audiences the vivid sounds of underrepresented music from Latin America. As internationally acclaimed performers, dedicated pedagogues, and passionate entrepreneurs, the trio is helping reshape the landscape of chamber music. Their dedication goes beyond the stage—they dive deep into discovery, cataloging, performing, editing, and recording the vibrant Latin American repertoire. The Reverón Piano Trio also commissions and premieres new works, ensuring that fresh voices and bold ideas continue to enrich the world of music. Recent collaborations include La Hamaca (2021) and El Ventilador (2022), written for the trio by renowned Venezuelan-American composer Ricardo Lorenz, and the world premiere of Barroqueada (2020) by Grammy-nominated composer Miguel del Águila.

The Reveron Trio has performed at countless venues in Europe, North, and South America such as Music at Kohl Mansion in San Francisco, the National Gallery of DC, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. Additionally, the trio has been in residence at numerous universities in the U.S. and abroad. Their first audio recording, produced and distributed globally by the prestigious European label IBS Classical, garnered ravishing reviews and won a Melómano de Oro award in Spain.

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Their 2025-2026 season includes concerts in Oregon, Georgia, Aruba, Texas, and Mexico, including a performance of Beethoven’s triple piano concerto, and the release of their second audio recording, Imaginario Latinoamericano, produced and distributed globally by Urtext Records, and the recording of their third album with IBS Classical in Granada, Spain.

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The Reverón Trio is named after Venezuelan painter and sculptor Armando Reverón (1889- 1954), one of the earliest American modernists and considered one of the most important visual artists in Latin America. Even though Reverón is now regarded as a highly influential figure in Latin America, his work is not celebrated outside the borders of Venezuela. Ana María, Simón, and Horacio are all Venezuelan artists that have made their home in the United States, teaching at the University of Michigan and the University of North Texas, respectively. The trio is managed in partnership by Halac Artists and Meluk Kulturmanagement.

Praised for their "Emotionally Raw" (Chicago Tribune) performances, F-PLUS is a trio committed to collaborating with today's most exciting composers. This concert will be like no other featuring among others a work by Grammy winner Donnacha Dennehy and a world premiere of a work by Canadian/Icelandic composer Fjola Evans.

Biography

Praised for their "Emotionally Raw" (Chicago Tribune) performances, F-PLUS is a violin, clarinet, and percussion trio committed to collaborating with today's most exciting composers to establish a diverse repertoire for their unique instrumentation. Formed in 2016 at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the ensemble has performed all over the country, including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Ear Taxi Festival, the International Clarinet Association "ClarinetFest," and the New Music Gathering. F-PLUS has premiered over 35 new works since its inception, including commissioned works by Chen Yi, Donnacha Dennehy, GRAMMY-winner Jessie Montgomery, Grawemeyer-winner George Tsontakis, Emma O'Halloran, Gemma Peacocke, Perry Goldstein, Matthew Ricketts, and Charles Peck, among many others. The ensembled has been the recipient of commissioning grants and additional funding from the Koussevitzky Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Chamber Music America, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, New Music USA, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Irish Arts Council and the New Zealand Arts Council. F-PLUS is committed to working with the next generation of composers and performers, and has held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Delaware, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Washington University (St. Louis), University of Texas-Austin, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, UNC-Pembroke, UNC-Wilmington, and Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Stony Brook, Duke, and Illinois State Universities. 

Ulysses is praised for "the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve" (The Strad). They return to our series with Felix Mendelssohn's evocation of first love, his String Quartet No. 2. Also on the program are Mozart's String Quartet No. 11 in E-flat Major and works by Erwin Schulhoff and Jessie Montgomery.

Program

ERWIN SCHULHOFF: Five Pieces for String Quartet
I. Alla Valse Viennese (Allegro
II. Alla Serenata (Allegretto con moto)
III. Alla Czeca (Molto Allegro)
IV. Alla Tango (Andante)
V. Alla Tarantelle (Prestissimo con fuoco)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: String Quartet in E flat major, K. 171 (15’)
I. Adagio—Allegro assai—Adagio
II. Menuetto
III. Andante
IV. Allegro assai

TRADITIONAL arr. Ulysses Quartet: Songs of Ulysses Heritage (10’)

JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Voodoo Dolls (5’)

FELIX MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet Op. 44 No. 2 (28’)
I. Allegro assai appassionato
II. Scherzo: Allegro di molto
III. Andante
IV. Presto agitato

Biography

The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad), as well as their “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (The Buffalo News). The quartet “promise to bring as much sophistication, imagination and vitality to Beethoven’s other quartets as they will to music by a panoply of composers from long ago and today” (Gramophone).

Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. They were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. Ulysses garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition. 

The quartet’s members hail from Canada, the United States and Taiwan. They have performed in such prestigious halls as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Performance highlights have included their debut at Alice Tully Hall along with appearances at the Chautauqua Institution (NY), Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao (Spain), Ciclo de Cámara y Solistas in Salamanca, the Picasso Museum in Málaga, Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Highlands Cashiers Festival (NC), Music Mountain (CT) with pianist Tanya Bannister, Chelsea Music Festival and PS21 (NY), National Gallery of Art (DC), Jasper Arts Center (IN), and San Juan Chamber Music Festival (CO). Past seasons featured their Mexico City debut at UNAM, along with performances for Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima, Gretna Music, Yale School of Music with guitarist Ben Verdery, Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, Fundación Juan March (Madrid), Sociedad Filarmonica de Vigo, Basel Kammermusik, and Chamber Music Society of Utica (NY). Other notable engagements have included the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (Istanbul).

From 2023 to 2025, the Ulysses Quartet was GBH Music’s first-ever quartet in residence, a partnership made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation. Visiting residencies in recent seasons have included Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and Bucknell University. At Juilliard from 2019 to 2022, they were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, serving as the school’s Graduate Resident String Quartet for three years, and recipients of a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. From 2016 to 2019, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, working with composer Morris Rosenzweig.

Ulysses recently released their debut album, “Shades of Romani Folklore,” on the Navona label. The quartet also has two new collaborative albums out: “Sea Change Quartets” by Grammy-nominated composer Joseph Summer, and “A Giant Beside You” with guitarist Benjamin Verdery. They also appear on Clovis Nicolas’s album “The Contrapuntist.”

The Ulysses Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. This is the guiding principle of the Ulysses Quartet Foundation, dedicated to the performance and promotion of classical music of the past and present day to benefit the broadest possible audience of music lovers and potential music lovers by expanding their understanding and appreciation of the musical arts. Ulysses aims to use this platform to raise the voices of underrepresented BIPOC and female composers. The quartet also offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that serve to demystify the traditional repertoire while introducing audiences to diverse programming. Their programs enable participants to learn about the inner workings of a string quartet and to explore the connections between classical music and our world today. The group’s name pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his arduous homeward voyage, signifying the constant pursuit of artistic and personal ideals.

The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and University of North Texas. The musicians perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from private donors. Ulysses is grateful for the support of Shar Music and Connolly Music as YSOA ambassadors.

Keep up with Ulysses Quartet on their website www.ulyssesquartet.com, as well as their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

This concert is presented in memory of Richard Brown "Dick" Walker.

Tommy and Greg met as students at Juilliard and now perform both independently and in this unique instrument pairing together! We're excited to show off Christ Church's new organ antiphonal pipe expansion with this concert in memory of Dick Walker.

Biography

Tommy Mesa, cello

Cuban-American cellist Dr. Tommy Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. The recipient of Lincoln Center’s 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Organization’s 2023 Medal of Excellence, its highest honor, Mesa has appeared as soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States on four occasions and with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Madison, New Jersey, San Antonio, and Santa Barbara, among others. Mesa gave the world premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto Divided in 2022 and has been the exclusive soloist since, performing at major halls across the United States and Brazil including Miami’s New World Center, Nashville’s Schermerhorn Center, and Carnegie Hall. His orchestral recording debut of the work was released in July 2023 on Deutsche Grammophon.

In addition to serving as Artist in Residence with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the 2024-25 season, orchestral highlights this season include debuts with the Delaware, Glacier, and Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestras as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, a return to the Madison Symphony, and a performance of the rarely heard Lucid Dreams by Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock with the Windsor Symphony. Last season Mesa celebrated enthusiastic performances with the Calgary and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestras and the Ann Arbor, Columbus, Greenwich, Knoxville, Quad City, and Reading  Symphony Orchestras, among others.

Greg Zelek, organ

Praised as “extraordinary in the classical music world” (Jon Hornbacher, PBS Wisconsin Life) and a “musical star” (Bill Wineke, Channel 3000), Greg Zelek is the Principal Organist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ. In this role, Greg performs and oversees all of the MSO’s organ programming. The MSO Organ Series regularly attracts over one thousand ticketed audience members for each of Zelek’s creatively curated and performed concerts. Since September 2017, Greg has proudly held the Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curatorship.

In addition to his unique position in Madison, Zelek is the Curator of the Organ Series for the Jacksonville Symphony. Beginning in August 2024, Zelek will also serve as the Northrop Organist at the University of Minnesota.

Zelek also performs frequently as a soloist throughout the United States. Always playing his solo programs from memory, Zelek has played and premiered many of the large works of the organ canon, as well as new works that showcase the versatility of the instrument. Select performances for the 2024-25 season include concerts at Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego, CA and Jacoby Symphony Hall in Jacksonville, FL, and performances and masterclasses at the Oregon Bach Festival.

Alongside various orchestras, Greg has performed the organ concertos of Barber, Poulenc, and Rheinberger. In September 2024, he will perform Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Greg has also been the organist for works such as Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony, Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Foss’s Phorion, and Gounod’s Faust.

Zelek is known for his inventive programming and collaborations. He has performed a classical and gospel concert with counter-tenor Reginald Mobley, arranged and commissioned works for cello and organ with cellist Thomas Mesa, performed in a Latin-American concert with a Cuban band from Miami, FL, and collaborated with electronic trombonist Mark Hetzler, in a concert featuring new music for organ, trombone, and percussion. He has also performed with the Canadian Brass in his role as Visiting Guest Artist at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN. Upcoming MSO Organ programming includes a concert of arias and gospel songs with tenor Limmie Pulliam, and an Empire Brass Celebration concert featuring former Empire Brass players that will include a newly commissioned work for the Overture Concert Organ and the ensemble.

In 2016, Greg was chosen by The Diapason magazine as one of the top “20 Under 30” organists and has won prizes in numerous organ competitions. Zelek released a recording on the Overture Concert Organ in the Fall of 2022. A recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship, he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, as well as an Artist Diploma, from the Juilliard School as a student of Paul Jacobs. Greg, who is Cuban-American and a native Spanish speaker, grew up in Miami, FL.