An extraordinary showcase of Florida’s finest classical talent, featuring the Amernet Quartet, the Lawson Ensemble, and acclaimed pianists Jasmin Arakawa and Kevin Kenner in a celebration of homegrown excellence.
Program
TBA
The Amernet String Quartet has earned recognition as one of today’s exceptional chamber ensembles, performing across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Known for their “extraordinary beauty of sound, virtuosic brilliance, and flawless intonation” (Nürnberger Nachrichten), the quartet has collaborated with distinguished artists such as the Tokyo and Ying quartets, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Roberto Díaz, Gary Hoffman, Ida Kavafian, Anthony McGill, Joseph Kalichstein, Sherrill Milnes, and Michael Tree.
Festival appearances include Cervantino, San Miguel de Allende, and Aviv (Israel), among others. U.S. engagements range from the Kennedy Center and Caramoor to Chamber Music Society of Louisville and Music on the Edge in Pittsburgh. As quartet soloists, they’ve performed with the Cincinnati Symphony under Alan Gilbert. The ensemble gained early acclaim by winning the gold medal at the Tokyo International Music Competition and first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Currently Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University, the Amernet previously held residencies at Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Caramoor Center for the Arts. The group is also active in education, offering master classes across the U.S. and abroad at institutions including Columbia, Princeton, and Penn State, and in countries such as Colombia, Israel, and Serbia.
Deeply committed to contemporary music, the Amernet has commissioned and performed works by composers such as John Corigliano, Augusta Read Thomas, Pierre Jalbert, Bernard Rands, and Chinary Ung. Their acclaimed discography features works by Morton Subotnick, Stephen Dankner, Judith Lang Zaimont, Dmitri Tymoczko, and others. The quartet also embraces innovative collaborations with artists from jazz, dance, and liturgical music.
The Amernet champions underrepresented composers, especially of the Jewish diaspora, and explores unique programming like Jeffrey Briggs’s reimaginings of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Their current season includes tours in Europe, Latin America, and Israel, alongside new work premieres.
The Lawson Ensemble was formed in 2015 as a result of group members’ desire to consistently perform chamber music with a level of excellence and commitment and to share this with the Jacksonville and regional community. Founding members are violinist Aurica Duca, violinist/violist Clinton Dewing and cellist Nick Curry. The group is in residence at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, Florida and performs regularly in Jacksonville and around the region. In the summer of 2016, the group joined the San Marco Chamber Music Society (SMCMS) and in the summer of 2018 toured and played concerts in England and Germany. The group also recorded for Albany Records.
Aurica and Clinton are husband and wife and are both full-time members of the Jacksonville Symphony. Nick is the Associate Professor of Cello at UNF, where he teaches. His wife, Cara Tasher, is the Director of Choral Activities at UNF. The trio played together for several years before forming The Lawson Ensemble, but a generous donation to the UNF music department allowed them to form and invite other gifted musicians to play with them for select programs. Nick, Clinton and Aurica believe in the enduring power of chamber music, the necessity for all music students to have a chamber experience, and the need for audiences to feel the immediacy, intimacy and beauty of the best chamber works.
Praised by Gramophone for her “characterful sparkle,” pianist Jasmin Arakawa has performed extensively across North and South America, Europe, China, and Japan. A prizewinner of the Jean Françaix International Music Competition, she has appeared at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Salle Gaveau (Paris), and Victoria Hall (Geneva), with broadcasts on ABC Australia, BBC, PBS, and Radio France. She has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Philips Symfonie Orkest (Amsterdam), Orquestra Sinfônica de Piracicaba (Brazil), and numerous orchestras in the U.S. and Japan.
Festival highlights include the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Dame Myra Hess Series, Ribadeo Festival (Spain), and international festivals in Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. Her debut solo album Klavierabend (MSR Classics) was praised by American Record Guide for its “rich lyricism” and “supreme clarity.”
Arakawa has a strong affinity for Spanish repertoire, inspired by lessons with Alicia de Larrocha. Sponsored by the Spanish Embassy, she recorded solo and chamber works by Spanish and Latin American composers. She has also collaborated with leading artists such as Zuill Bailey, Colin Carr, Marina Piccinini, James Campbell, and the Penderecki String Quartet, and served three seasons as Collaborative Pianist in Residence at the Banff Centre.
A champion of contemporary music, Arakawa has premiered many new works and recently released the complete violin and piano works of Witold Lutosławski on PARMA Recordings with violinist Véronique Mathieu.
A graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts, she earned MM and DM degrees from Indiana University under Emile Naoumoff. A recipient of the Steinway Top Teacher Award, she has given masterclasses across Asia, Europe, and the Americas and serves on international juries. Jasmin Arakawa is Associate Professor and Piano Area Coordinator at the University of Florida and Director of the UF International Piano Festival.
Pianist Kevin Kenner gained international recognition in 1990, winning top honors at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw—including the People’s Prize and Best Polonaise—alongside the International Terrence Judd Award in London and a bronze medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Earlier accolades include prizes at the Van Cliburn and Gina Bachauer International Competitions.
Born in Southern California, Kenner began studies with Polish pianist Krzysztof Brzuza and later trained in Poland under Ludwik Stefański, preparing for the Chopin Competition at age 17, where he earned a special prize. His musical journey continued at the Peabody Conservatory with Leon Fleisher and in Germany with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling.
Kenner lived in England for nearly two decades, performing regularly at Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, recording with the BBC Symphony, and receiving acclaim from the UK press for his expressive and mature artistry. Following a tour with conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, the maestro praised Kenner’s Chopin interpretations as “the most sensitive and beautiful” he had heard.
He has performed with major orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and numerous U.S. ensembles. Conductors he has worked with include Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Frans Brüggen, and Antoni Wit.
A dedicated chamber musician, Kenner has collaborated with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and quartets such as the Belcea, Tokyo, and Apollon Musagète. His recordings have received multiple “Fryderyk” Awards in Poland for chamber and concerto performances.
Kenner is Associate Professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Founder of the Frost Chopin Academy. He has also served on juries of major competitions including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Busoni, and Prague Spring, and holds an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Łódź.