Prisma Health Presents Andy & Friends #2

Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Opus 67

Antonín Dvořák
Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Opus 90 (“Dumky”)

Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia Canada, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic.

Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have encompassed a vast repertoire of more than 60 concertos with orchestra as well as solo recitals and in chamber music concerts at festivals around the globe.

This 2025-26 season, Andrew will perform Grazyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto both with the South Carolina Philharmonic.  This October 2025, Andrew launches the first presentation of his Tuscan Music Festival, October 11-19.  Throughout calendar year 2026, Andrew joins longtime friend and duo partner, Two-Time Grammy Winning violinist James Ehnes in a cross-country tour across Canada, playing in each capital, province, and territory. Back in the States, year-round, Andrew directs and hosts six thriving chamber music series. Three of them are in South Carolina – in Beaufort (USCB Chamber Music), in Columbia (SC Philharmonic’s Andy & Friends), and in Greenville (Sigal Music Museum presents Andy & Friends, a combination of evening chamber music concerts and daytime workshops with students at the remarkable public arts high school, the Fine Arts Center).  He also directs New Canaan Chamber Music in Connecticut, Fabbri Chamber Concerts in NYC at Fabbri Mansion’s 1609 Italian Renaissance Library, a rare, intimate jewel with only 80 seats, and A Little Night Music at Tuckerman Hall in Worcester, MA, the vibrant city where Andrew lives happily with his wife Esty, their three children Jack (19), Elise (14), and Gabriel (8), and their dog Dooker.

Stefan Jackiw is one of America’s foremost violinists, captivating audiences with playing that combines poetry and purity with impeccable technique. Hailed for playing of “uncommon musical substance” that is “striking for its intelligence and sensitivity” (Boston Globe), Jackiw has appeared as a soloist with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, among others.

A devoted chamber musician, Jackiw is the Artistic Director of the Hawaii Chamber Music Festival. In addition, Jackiw tours frequently with his musical partners, pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell, as part of the Junction Trio. Last season, Jackiw also collaborated in a special piano trio project at 92NY with Daniil Trifonov and Alisa Weilerstein. In 2019, he recorded Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Inon Barnatan, Alisa Weilerstein, Alan Gilbert and Academy St. Martin in the Fields.

Jackiw has performed in numerous major festivals and concert halls around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Philharmonie de Paris, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Washington Performing Arts Society.

Born to physicist parents of Korean and Ukrainian descent, Stefan Jackiw began playing the violin at the age of four. His teachers have included Zinaida Gilels, Michèle Auclair, and Donald Weilerstein. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, as well as an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and is the recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Jackiw plays a violin made by Domenico Montagnana “ex. Rossi” c. 1730, generously loaned by a private foundation. He lives in New York City.

Raphael Bell enjoys a career as a principal cellist, chamber musician, teacher, and festival director. He is currently principal cello of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra in Belgium, guest professor at the Antwerp Conservatory, co-founder and co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival in the USA, and co-Artistic Director of La Loingtaine in Montigny-sur-Loing, France.

As a chamber musician he has performed at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Salle Gaveau, Berlin Philharmonie, Köln Philharmonie, Luzerner Theater, the American Academy in Rome, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and Kyoto Concert Hall, and at festivals including Seattle Chamber Music, Ferrara Musica, Wiener Festwochen, Elba Festival, Sonoro Musikland, Ravinia, Verbier and Resonance Festival Belgium. He was part of the IMS Prussia Cove tour that won the Chamber Music Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, and has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, James Ehnes, Martha Argerich, Pekka Kuusisto, Maxim Vengerov, Ivry Gitlis, Giovanni Sollima and with quartets including Brooklyn Rider, Dante and Orpheus, as well as Oxalys and Japan's Nagaokakyo Ensemble. He has given many world premieres including Olli Mustonen's Triptych for three cellos with Steven Isserlis, and chamber music by Sebastian Currier, Thomas Adès, Paola Prestini, Jeremy Turner, Soren Nils Eichberg, Mansour Hosseini, John D’Earth, Wim Hendrickx and many others. Recent solo concertos include Beethoven Triple concerto with the Virginia Symphony and Eric Jacobsen, Lalo concerto with Antwerp Symphony and Lionel Bringuier, Saint-Saens concerto with the Brasov Philharmonic, as well as Boccherini and Vivaldi concertos with Bruges Chamber Players. Other highlights have been performances with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Luft Ensemble, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under Edo de Waart, Philippe Herreweghe and Fabien Gabel. He has performed Giovanni Sollima’s Violoncelles Vibrez! with both Mario Brunello and Camille Thomas. Raphael enjoys working with young musicians and has given masterclasses at the University of Texas, McDuffie Center at Mercer University, Lemmens Institute, Belgium Cello Society, COSCyL in Salamanca, La Loingtaine, and travels each year to teach in Japan. He has led student orchestral projects at the Antwerp Symphony Academy, Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, the Royal Bruxelles Conservatory and at La Loingtaine. As a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, he played in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s celebrated Mahler Symphony Cycle with Claudio Abbado. He has also worked with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Munich Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Les Dissonances, among others.

Raphael studied at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro, and later with Mario Brunello, Steven Isserlis and Ferenc Rados.