“American Salute”
Village Green Commons – Lewis Hall
Cashiers, North Carolina – USA
The American String Quartet (Peter Winograd & Laurie Carney, violins; Matthias Buchholz, viola; Wolfram Koessel, cello); Vijay Venkatesh, piano; Jasmin Arakawa, piano; Yinzi Kong, viola; William Ransom, piano.
George GERSHWIN: An American in Paris (arr. for piano four hands)
Henri VIEUXTEMPS: Souvenir d’Amérique
Amy BEACH: Romance for Violin and Piano
John Philip SOUSA: The Stars and Stripes Forever (arr. for piano four hands)
Antonín DVOŘÁK: String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97, “American”
“Founder’s Celebration”
Highlands Performing Arts Center – Martin Lipscomb Theatre
Highlands, North Carolina – USA
The American String Quartet; Nina Bernat, double bass; William Ransom, piano.
Frédéric CHOPIN: Introduction and Polonaise brillante
Claude DEBUSSY: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
Antonín DVOŘÁK: String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77
Mark Gresham | 8 JUL 2026
The Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival opened its 2026 season this week with two programs that looked both outward and inward, celebrating American identity on one evening before returning the next to the Austro-German and French chamber music traditions that have long formed the festival’s artistic backbone. Together, the concerts demonstrated that the series continues to prize substance over spectacle, relying on distinguished musicianship and thoughtfully constructed programming rather than thematic gimmickry.
Sunday’s “American Salute” in Lewis Hall at Village Green Commons embraced the approaching U.S. Semiquincentennial without reducing patriotism to familiar flag-waving. Instead, the program traced the many ways European traditions evolved into something distinctly American, culminating in Antonín Dvořák’s String Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97, “American”, the composer’s affectionate musical portrait of the United States during his American years.
The American String Quartet, joined by violist Yinzi Kong, delivered a performance that balanced warmth with precision. Their reading emphasized the work’s generous lyricism and buoyant dance rhythms without sacrificing the structural clarity that has long distinguished the ensemble’s playing. Individual lines emerged naturally from the texture, creating an easy conversational flow while maintaining the quintet’s expansive architecture.
Clockwise from upper left: Jasmin Arakawa, Vijay Venkatesh, William Ransom., Yinzi Kong.
Earlier works on the program broadened the evening’s perspectives on America and music. Vijay Venkatesh and Jasmin Arakawa opened with a four-hands piano arrangement of Heorge Gershwin’s An American in Paris, capturing the score’s bustling urban energy with rhythmic vitality and crisp ensemble work. Rather than attempting to imitate orchestral color, the pianists embraced the reduction’s transparency, allowing Gershwin’s melodic invention and harmonic sophistication to speak directly.
Henri Vieuxtemps’ Souvenir d’Amérique, performed by ASQ violinist Peter Winograd and pianist William Ransom, offered an engaging nineteenth-century European perspective on American melody, while violinist Laurie Carney’s performance of Amy Beach’s Romance, with Ransom at the piano, provided one of the evening’s most intimate moments. Its restrained lyricism stood in welcome contrast to the larger patriotic gestures surrounding it, reminding listeners that American musical identity has always included quiet reflection alongside public celebration.
The first half concluded on an exuberant note as Venkatesh and Arakawa returned for John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever in piano four-hands arrangement.
Nina Bernat
If Sunday’s concert explored the emergence of an American musical voice, Monday’s “Founder’s Celebration” shifted attention entirely to European masters. Presented at the Martin Lipscomb Theatre in Highlands Performing Arts Center, the program paired Claude Debussy’s only string quartet with Dvořák’s richly textured String Quintet in G major, Op. 77, framing Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante, Op. 3, as an elegant opening statement. Originally for cello and piano, it was performed in transcription by double bassist Nina Bernat with William Ransom as pianist.
Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 received an especially compelling performance from the American String Quartet. The musicians resisted the temptation to over-romanticize the score, instead emphasizing its remarkable balance between classical structure and harmonic innovation. Transparent textures, finely calibrated dynamics and seamless ensemble playing illuminated the work’s shifting colors without ever obscuring its architectural coherence.
The addition of Bernat for Dvořák’s String Quintet in G major, Op. 77 expanded the ensemble’s sonic palette considerably. Bernat anchored the performance with a resonant yet flexible foundation, allowing the quartet to project the work’s broad melodic lines with uncommon freedom. The resulting interpretation highlighted both the composer’s folkloric vitality and his gift for expansive chamber writing, giving the festival’s opening week a confident, celebratory conclusion.
Taken together, the opening concerts illustrated why the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival continues to attract audiences seeking the highest level of chamber music. Rather than relying on celebrity alone, the festival built its opening around carefully considered repertoire, exceptional ensemble playing, and programming that connected historical traditions with contemporary cultural milestones. The result was an opening week that celebrated both the enduring richness of the chamber music canon and the festival’s continuing role as one of the Southeast’s premier summer musical destinations. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival: h-cmusicfestival.org
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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