2025-2026 Season of Free Concerts
Welcome to Young Musicians of Westchester’s third season of free public concerts performed by outstanding music conservatory students and recent graduates. We look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new friends at our concerts. Please join us and share these wonderful experiences!
José André, Jazz Pianist
Sunday, September 21, 2025 I 2:00 pm
New Rochelle Library, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY
José André Montaño is a self-taught musician from Bolivia who has performed with the NYO Jazz Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, at BBC Proms, the Kennedy Center, and at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was even invited by President Biden to perform at the White House to commemorate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Currently a student at Juilliard, José will bring a jazz quintet to New Rochelle Library for a performance of Jazz, Blues, Bossa Nova, Latin American Folklore and World music.
William Pilgrim, cello I Nomin Samdan, piano
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 I 12:10 pm
Grace Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, NY
William Pilgrim is a cellist from Minnesota and a recent graduate at the Bard Conservatory of Music where he is continuing studies with Peter Wiley. Pianist Nomin Samdan made her first public appearance at the age of seven in her native Mongolia. Ms. Samdan received her B.Mus. and Graduate Performance Diploma in Piano Performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee and holds an M.M. in Collaborative Piano from Boston University. Nomin is currently a Collaborative Piano Fellow at Bard Conservatory. Together they’ll present a program including Brahms, Schumann and Nadia Boulanger in a partnership concert with Downtown Music at Grace.
Monika Dziubelski, flute I Yuchen Zhao, violin I Andrew Altrock, piano
Sunday, October 19, 2025 I 2:00 pm
New Rochelle Library, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY
Friends from Bard Conservatory of Music, Monika Dziubelski , Yuchen Zhao and Andrew Altrock will perform a program including music by less-frequently heard composers including Mel Bonis, Eugene Goossens and Darius Milhaud. Monika has performed with the New York and Connecticut Youth Symphonies and the Hudson Valley Chamber Players. Yuchen has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and has won awards at international competitions like the Alba Music Competition and the Hong Kong International Music Festival. He recently completed his master’s degree from Bard. Andrew Altrock is a pianist from Fort Worth, TX, studying piano performance, pursuing a concurrent degree in Germanic Studies. In 2023 he won first prize in competition at the University of Florida International Piano Festival.
Nabeel Hayek I Amir Ron, Two Pianos
Wednesday, November 15, 2025 I 12:10 pm
Grace Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, NY
Nabeel Hayek returns for a second partnership concert with Downtown Music at Grace, this time with his fellow Juilliard graduate student, Amir Ron. Together they’ll perform rarely heard compositions for two pianos. Nabeel also returns as the winner of the 2025 Valencia International Piano Competition. Both Nabeel and Amir are from Israel. As a soloist, Nabeel has appeared with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, and the Galilee Chamber Orchestra. Amir has performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Israeli Chamber orchestra, and more, as well as playing recitals at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. Both participated in masterclasses by Murray Perahia. This summer saw Amir invited to Vermont’s Marlboro Festival and Nabeel to the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine.
Alegria Ensemble
Sunday, November 16, 2025 I 2:00 pm
Greenburgh Public Library, 300 Tarrytown Road, Elmsford, NY
Alegria Ensemble is a classical piano trio based in Queens, NY. Violinist Chloë Dickens, cellist Sara Juneau, and pianist Ricky Moreira met as students at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College where they earned their degrees in Classical Performance. Bonding as friends and as a prize-winning chamber music ensemble at the Copland School, where each studied with world-renowned musicians, Chloë, Sara and Ricky are forging ahead as a professional ensemble. The trio performed previously for Young Musicians of Westchester, when their program included music by Schubert, Haydn and Bloch. The Ensemble has also performed in family concerts sponsored by WQXR and in an interactive version of Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” for enraptured children in New Rochelle elementary schools. Together and individually, they have performed in England, Italy and in a growing number of locations around the US.
The trio will bring a program of classical chamber music to New Rochelle Library on Sunday, November 16, 2025, at 2:00 pm in a concert at Greenburgh Public Library.
Elena Ariza, cello I Baron Fenwick, piano
Sunday, December 7, 2025 I 2:00 pm
New Rochelle Library, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY
Cellist Elena Ariza is a doctoral candidate at Juilliard where she is the recipient of the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship and the principal cellist for the Juilliard Orchestra. She’s attended programs including Music@Menlo, Perlman, Tanglewood and, this summer, at Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. Elena won first place at the Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition and has appeared on stages in the US and in Europe. Baron Fenwick, pianist, is the winner of a Silver Medal in the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan. A graduate with master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Mannes College of Music, Baron is currently working on a Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Juilliard School. Last year Baron was a featured soloist with the Canton Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Southern Maryland playing works by Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich.
Brandon Hornsby-Selvin, tenor I Kiena Williams, soprano I Adam Podd, piano
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 I 12:10 pm
Grace Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, NY
Brandon, Kiena and Adam will present a program of art songs and spirituals. Tenor Brandon Hornsby-Selvin has previously appeared at Downtown Music with choral groups. A graduate of Purchase Conservatory of Music, he has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall. These experiences taught him the power of arts engagement – especially for young people -- leading to his work curating with the Brooklyn-based community-building arts initiative, HigherSelf. Kiena Williams is an alumna of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and The Pennsylvania State University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Music. She has been a featured soloist and chorister, navigating opera, concert works and contemporary collaborations from the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall to Argentina. Adam Podd is a Brooklyn-based music director, pianist, organist, bassist, composer and arranger. He has worked with the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops and the Young People's Chorus of New York City in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Apollo Theater and others. As a choral composer, Adam writes music for choirs of all shapes and sizes. He studied at The Hartt School of Music and serves as Music Director for the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn.
Queens Baroque Ensemble
Wednesday, March 18, 2026 I 12:10 pm
Grace Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, NY
Since its 2009 inception with a production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College’s Baroque Ensemble has been performing works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Under the direction of pianoforte specialist Masayuki Maki, the group focuses on this music of the Baroque period using baroque bows and historically informed performance practice. In addition to the group’s regular performances at Lefrak Hall (Queens College), the group has also performed at The Church of the Holy Trinity (New York), The Church in the Gardens (Forest Hills), King Manor Museum (Jamaica, Queens), and on the acclaimed Chamber Music Live series. Prof. Maki received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. In addition to performing and teaching internationally, he is responsible for the Juilliard School’s collection of historic keyboard collection and works at the Metropolitan Opera, Trinity Wall Street, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as their harpsichord and organ technician.
Robert Brooks Carlson, piano
Sunday, March 22, 2026 I 2:00 pm
New Rochelle Library, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY
American pianist Robert Brooks Carlson began playing piano at the age of eight. Currently, Robert resides in New York City where he is a Doctor of Musical Arts student at the CUNY Graduate Center and serves as adjunct faculty of music at Hunter College. Robert performs extensively throughout the United States and Europe as both a recital soloist and chamber musician. Recent performance highlights include the Seattle International Piano Festival, Music Academy of the West, Randolph College, as well as multiple appearances for Music in Midtown in Manhattan. Prior to his studies in New York City, Robert received degrees from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and James Madison University.
Robert’s program will include Brahms’ Sonata No. 1, along with pieces by Debussy, Scriabin and Liszt.
Ryan Michki, tenor I Ricky Moreira, piano
Sunday, April 12, 2026 I 2:00 pm
New Rochelle Library, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle, NY
Ryan Michki is an operatic tenor working in all avenues of music, opera, and theater. He is in his fifth year at Bard Conservatory and plans to graduate in the spring of 2026 with a B.A. in Voice Performance and a B.A. in Historical Studies. Some of Ryan’s recent endeavors include being a chorus fellow in the 2024 Spoleto Festival, placing as a finalist in the 2023-24 Schmidt Vocal Arts Competition, and most recently participating in Opera Saratoga's 2025 summer festival. Ricky Moreira completed a piano performance degree through the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Utilizing his collaborative keyboard skills and vocal coaching experiences, Ricky works with a variety of vocal and instrumental groups performing literature from Bach to Bernstein. A gifted chamber musician, Ricky is part of Alegria Ensemble -- a prize-winning chamber music group of friends who met at the Copland School and who are building an audience in the metropolitan area and beyond.