Account
Call Us
Location
Concerts & Events
Carriage House Violins presents the 2026–2027 MasterClass and Recital Series.
Violinist Nikki Chooi is our Artist-in-Residence for the season.
All events are free; register on Eventbrite as seating is limited.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Shlomo Mintz is considered by colleagues, audiences, and critics one of the foremost violinists of our time, esteemed for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He has long been acclaimed as a celebrated guest artist with many of the great orchestras and conductors on the international stage and continues to enchant audiences with his playing. Awarded with many prestigious international prizes including the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Diapason D’Or, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Gramophone Award, the Edison Award and the Cremona Music Award, in 2006 he received an Honorary Degree from the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba (Israel) and in 2022 was named Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (Israel).
Along his career, he has collaborated with such a famous artist like Stern, Rostropovich, Zukerman, Perlman, Mehta, Abbado, Giulini, Muti, Temirkanov, Ida Haendel and Ivry Gitlis, among many others, and played with the best orchestras in the world. Regularly invited by the most prestigious international competitions, Mintz has served as a jury member of the most prestigious competitions in the world.
“I think audiences should go to concerts out of musical curiosity, not just curiosity about the artist. One should be able to dare and risk in art and artistry in order to present not only different views of music, but different music as well.”
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Shlomo Mintz is considered by colleagues, audiences, and critics one of the foremost violinists of our time, esteemed for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He has long been acclaimed as a celebrated guest artist with many of the great orchestras and conductors on the international stage and continues to enchant audiences with his playing. Awarded with many prestigious international prizes including the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Diapason D’Or, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Gramophone Award, the Edison Award and the Cremona Music Award, in 2006 he received an Honorary Degree from the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba (Israel) and in 2022 was named Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (Israel).
Along his career, he has collaborated with such a famous artist like Stern, Rostropovich, Zukerman, Perlman, Mehta, Abbado, Giulini, Muti, Temirkanov, Ida Haendel and Ivry Gitlis, among many others, and played with the best orchestras in the world. Regularly invited by the most prestigious international competitions, Mintz has served as a jury member of the most prestigious competitions in the world.
“I think audiences should go to concerts out of musical curiosity, not just curiosity about the artist. One should be able to dare and risk in art and artistry in order to present not only different views of music, but different music as well.”
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Cellist Astrid Schween enjoys an internationally acclaimed career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Since joining the renowned Juilliard String Quartet and the cello faculty of The Juilliard School in 2016, she has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls, recorded for Sony Classical, and collaborated with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Jörg Widmann.
A former member of the award-winning Lark Quartet, Schween earned the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Gold Medal at the Shostakovich International Competition. She made her concerto debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic at age 16 and has since appeared at major festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival.
A highly respected teacher and mentor, Schween has served on the faculties of the Perlman Music Program and Interlochen Center for the Arts and is a passionate advocate for music education and the next generation of young musicians.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Acclaimed for his inspirational performances and eloquent musicianship, cellist Paul Watkins enjoys a distinguished career as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, and conductor. Appointed Principal Cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at age 20, he performs regularly as a concerto soloist with major orchestras throughout the world, including eight concerto appearances at the BBC Proms. A dedicated chamber musician, Watkins was a member of the Nash Ensemble from 1997 to 2013 and joined the Emerson String Quartet in May 2013.
In 2014, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit. Watkins also maintains a busy career as a conductor and, since winning the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition, has conducted all the major British orchestras and many others in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Watkins has made over 70 recordings, including 18 solo albums for Chandos, as well as chamber music discs for Decca Gold, Deutsche Grammophon, and Hyperion.
At the Yale School of Music, Watkins teaches a studio of graduate-level cellists, coaches chamber ensembles, and directs the Yale Cellos with Assistant Professor Adjunct of Cello Ole Akahoshi. He has been featured in performance many times at Yale as a member of the Emerson String Quartet.
Boston, MA 02115
Recital Series
Nikki and Timmy Chooi are acclaimed Canadian-born classical violinists and brothers who frequently perform together as the Chooi Brothers. Born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, to Indonesian parents of Chinese descent, they both trained at prestigious music institutes and maintain active international solo, orchestral, and academic careers.
Nikki Chooi is the 2026–2027 Artist-in-Residence at Carriage House Violins. He is currently the concertmaster of both the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic. He has also served as guest concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, Boston Symphony, Sydney Symphony, and many others. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, he studied under the legendary Joseph Silverstein.
Timmy Chooi, a soloist and professor at the University of Ottawa, has performed with the Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, among others. Inspired by his older brother, Timmy picked up the violin after watching Nikki play—and the rest is history. Although they grew up playing together, their individual careers now take them around the world, making their time together especially rare and meaningful.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Violinist Philip Setzer, a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and began studying violin at age five with his parents, both former Cleveland Orchestra violinists. He later studied with Josef Gingold and Rafael Druian, and at Juilliard with Oscar Shumsky. Setzer won second prize at the 1967 Marjorie Merriweather Post Competition and a Bronze Medal at the 1976 Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Brussels. He has performed with major orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, and Memphis Symphony, and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival.
Setzer’s artistic work extends beyond traditional performance. His original idea inspired The Noise of Time, a groundbreaking theatrical collaboration between the Emerson Quartet and Simon McBurney exploring the life of Shostakovich. In 1989, he premiered Paul Epstein’s Matinee Concerto, written and dedicated to him, which he has since performed in Hartford, New York, Cleveland, Boston, and Aspen. More recently, Setzer has toured and recorded the piano trios of Schubert and Mendelssohn with David Finckel and Wu Han.
Setzer has given master classes internationally at institutions including the Curtis Institute, Royal Academy of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, UCLA, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Mannes School. His writing about the Isaac Stern workshops was published in The New York Times as part of Stern’s 80th birthday celebration.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
American violist Matthew Lipman has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and by the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman has become one of the most sought after instrumentalists of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber musician.
Lipman recently debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival, and the American Symphony Orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center, with additional appearances including the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Brevard Sinfonia, and Ensemble Resonanz. He has collaborated with leading conductors including the late Sir Neville Marriner, Edward Gardner, Osmo Vänskä, Nicholas McGegan, Leon Botstein, Josep Caballé-Domenech, and Yue Bao. Additionally, he has performed solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Zürich Tonhalle, among others, and has been a featured soloist at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Wigmore Hall in London, Seoul’s Kumho Art Hall, and at Michael Tilson Thomas’s Viola Visions Festival at the New World Symphony in Miami.
In 2019, Lipman released the world premiere recording of the newly discovered Shostakovich Impromptu for viola and piano, which was a feature of his debut solo album, Ascent, with pianist Henry Kramer. The album was celebrated as “most impressive” by The Strad Magazine and was released by Cedille Records. In 2022, he recorded The Dvořák Album, an album released by Sony Classical.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Nikki Chooi is the Carriage House Violins Artist-in-Residence for the 2026–2027 season.
Praised for his powerful, poetic performances, internationally acclaimed violinist Nikki Chooi is recognized as one of the most compelling artists of his generation. A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth and Tchaikovsky Competitions and First Prize winner of several prestigious international competitions, Nikki has built a distinguished career as both a soloist and orchestral leader.
He currently serves as Concertmaster of the Grammy Award–winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and previously held the position of Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center, and with leading orchestras across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is also a sought-after chamber musician, performing at renowned festivals around the world.
Equally dedicated to education, Nikki has taught at world-renowned institutions including the Curtis Institute of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Morningside Music Bridge Program, while leading teaching residencies throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. A graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Nikki brings extraordinary artistry, insight, and a passion for inspiring the next generation of musicians.
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Internationally acclaimed violinist Kyung Sun Lee is the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies and Professor of Violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. An award-winning performer, she is a prizewinner of the Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky, Montreal, Washington, and D’Angelo International Competitions and has earned widespread critical acclaim for her artistry, technical brilliance, and expressive musicianship.
An active soloist, chamber musician, and educator, Lee has held faculty positions at Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Houston, Seoul National University, and has taught at the Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, and Heifetz International Music Institute. She is also a sought-after competition juror, serving at prestigious international violin competitions around the world.
Lee studied at Seoul National University, the Peabody Conservatory, and The Juilliard School. She performs on a 1723 Joseph Guarnerius violin and serves as Music Director of the Changwon International Chamber Music Festival and the Seoul Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.
“Exceptional tonal suavity and expressive intensity in equal measure.”
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
The world-renowned cellist and conductor David Cohen embodies a unique combination of qualities making him one of the most versatile and exciting musicians of this day. He has been internationally acclaimed for his remarkable instrumental mastery, generous musicianship, vast experience in varied repertoires combined with a flamboyant charisma.
Highlights of the 2024–2025 season include David’s appearance as a conductor with the PHION Orchestra in The Netherlands and his performance as a cellist of the Edward Elgar Cello Concerto at the Barbican Centre together with the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano.
Born in the town of Tournai in Belgium, David made his solo debut with the Belgium National Orchestra at the age of nine. His international career as a soloist soon flourished leading him to perform with top-class orchestras.
Furthermore, David has worked as a soloist with some of the most distinguished conductors in the industry such as Lord Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Walter Weller, Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph von Dohnányi, Pedro Halffter, and Martyn Brabbins.
“Cohen plays as though his life depended on every note, and the whole evening from start to finish was an absolute masterpiece of eloquence.”
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Stefan Jackiw is one of America’s leading violinists, celebrated for performances that combine poetic expression, technical brilliance, and thoughtful musicianship. He has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphonies, and continues to perform internationally as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician.
An avid champion of contemporary music, Jackiw has premiered numerous works written for him and is a founding member of the acclaimed Junction Trio alongside pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell. His recordings include the complete Ives Violin Sonatas with Jeremy Denk on Nonesuch Records, praised by critics as a landmark interpretation.
A frequent performer at major festivals and concert halls worldwide, Jackiw also serves as Artistic Director of the Hawai’i Chamber Music Festival. A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, he studied with Zinaida Gilels, Michèle Auclair, and Donald Weilerstein, and is a distinguished artist faculty member at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings. He performs on a c. 1730 Domenico Montagnana violin generously loaned by a private foundation.
“One of the most insightful violinists of his generation.”
Boston, MA 02115
MasterClass Series
Nikki Chooi is the Carriage House Violins Artist-in-Residence for the 2026–2027 season.
Praised for his powerful, poetic performances, internationally acclaimed violinist Nikki Chooi is recognized as one of the most compelling artists of his generation. A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth and Tchaikovsky Competitions and First Prize winner of several prestigious international competitions, Nikki has built a distinguished career as both a soloist and orchestral leader.
He currently serves as Concertmaster of the Grammy Award–winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and previously held the position of Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center, and with leading orchestras across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is also a sought-after chamber musician, performing at renowned festivals around the world.
Equally dedicated to education, Nikki has taught at world-renowned institutions including the Curtis Institute of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Morningside Music Bridge Program, while leading teaching residencies throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. A graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Nikki brings extraordinary artistry, insight, and a passion for inspiring the next generation of musicians.
