Belfast Chamber Music

2026–2027 Fall/Winter Season:

Saturday October 31st: Trillium String Quartet w/ Philipp Elssner

2 PM, Unitarian Universalist Church of Belfast, 37 Miller Street

Program:

Caroline Shaw: Valencia; Florence Price: Five Folksongs in Counterpoint; Johannes Brahms: String Quintet no. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 (with Philipp Elssner, violin).

About the performers:

We are so excited to welcome back the Trillium String Quartet as our season openers, following last year’s sell-out performance!

Since their last appearance in Belfast, Trillium has been made the graduate string quartet in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where they teach and perform at the conservatory and throughout the community. In 2025, the quartet completed a year-long residency as the Graduate String Quartet at Montclair State University. The quartet also served as faculty for the inaugural Kinhaven Semester School Program in Vermont, a holistic educational opportunity for young musicians with a special interest in chamber music.

Trillium has appeared in concert alongside the Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet and Béla Fleck, and performed at New York’s Merkin Hall, National Sawdust, and Symphony Space. The group has worked closely with composers Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and Jake Runestead, and has attended and performed at festivals including the Calidore String Quartet Seminar, Texas Chamber Music Institute, Daponte String Quartet Institute, and the Stretto Festival.

In Spring 2026 the quartet embarked on a coast-to-coast tour through concert halls, university stages, libraries, museums, living rooms, and bars. They performed in residence at the University of Georgia ABAC and DePauw University and at stops across Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, New York, and Washington.

Read more about the Trillium String Quartet here: https://trilliumstringquartet.com/

Saturday, November 21st, 2026: Trio Lasell

3 PM, First Church in Belfast UCC, 8 Court Street

Trio Lasell is an exciting new collaboration between three of Midcoast Maine’s most exciting young performers: BCM’s Artistic Director, Philipp Elssner, violin, Nora Willauer, Cello, and Marlene McCarthy, Piano. Together they will present an all-French program featuring the classic piano trio of Maurice Ravel, the effervescent early piano trio of Claude Debussy, and the impressionistic Deux piéces en trio by Lili Boulanger. Trio Lasell will illuminate how these pieces, while similar in style, represent each composer’s unique musical upbringing and how they illuminate aspects of their personal lives. Through music and spoken narrative, this program will bring to life stories of love, war, sickness, and hope.

About the performers:

Originally from Hope, Maine, Nora is a performer and educator with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Marlene, from Farmingdale, Maine, is on the faculty at Bay Chamber Music School and formerly taught at NYU’s Steinhardt School. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from Stonybrook University.

Saturday January 9th: An Afternoon of Piano Quartets

3 PM, First Church in Belfast UCC, 8 Court Street

Join Artistic Director Philipp Elssner, violin, and visiting artists Jacob Wang, piano, Ben Maxwell, cello, and Linda Numagami, viola for an exciting afternoon of masterpieces written for piano quartet.

Program: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Quartet in E flat Major, K. 493; Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet no. 1 in C minor, op. 15.

About the performers:

Pianist Jacob Wang has appeared in solo and chamber recitals throughout Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Maine, New York, Perugia (Italy), and Germany. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, UNCSA Symphony Orchestra, Central Iowa Symphony, and the Fort Dodge Area Symphony. He is a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the RSO, Haeberle, Huntoon, Ronald Sachs, and International Paderewski Competitions. Wang currently serves as a faculty member and Resident Musician at the Music Haven school in New Haven, Connecticut.

Violist Linda Numagami received her Bachelor’s of Music from the New England Conservatory and Master’s of Music from the Juilliard School with Roger Tapping. She also received a postgraduate diploma at the San Francisco Conservatory with Jonathan Vinocour. She has worked as Acting Associate Principal Viola of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Guest Associate Principal Viola of the Colorado Music Festival, and Acting Section Violist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Since 2024 she has been a member of the Haven String Quartet and also serves as faculty at the Music Haven school in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ben Maxwell, based in Michigan, is the Principal Cellist of the Ann Arbor Symphony and performs regularly with the Detroit Opera, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and other regional ensembles. He holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Michigan, and was a two-time fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Admission to all concerts is free, with donations encouraged to support the performers!

Belfast Chamber Music, Inc., is a Maine nonprofit corporation. We are in the process of acquiring 501(c)(3) status. If you are interested in donating to support our work, and/or sponsor a concert, please contact us at: belfastchambermusic@gmail.com