Prisma Health Presents Andy & Friends #4

Maurice Ravel
String Quartet in F Major, M. 35

Felix Mendelssohn
String Octet in E-flat Major, Opus 20

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.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician, throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The 2025-26 season marks Mr. Arron’s 13th season as the co-artistic director with his wife, Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes String Quartet and he is a regular performer at the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, Caramoor, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival in Korea, Music in the Vineyards Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Other festival appearances include Salzburg, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, PyeongChang, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Evian, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival. Mr. Arron’s performances are frequently broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today. In 2021, Mr. Arron’s recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with pianist Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Arron currently serves on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Luna Hayoung Choi is an award-winning violinist from Daejeon, South Korea. Most recently, Choi received 1st Prize at the Bales Violin Competition and won the NEC Honors Chamber Music Competition. Other recent accolades include performing as the feature soloist in a concert with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and David Robertson after winning the coveted 2023 Dorothy DeLay Competition, and winning top prizes at numerous competitions including the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, Hong Kong Generation Next Arts International Music Competition, MTNA Young Artist National Competition. Solo appearances include performances with Neo-Strings, Sangrok Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra.

Choi is currently pursuing a Master of Musical Arts at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Augustin Hadelich. Previous education includes a Master of Music at the New England Conservatory with Donald Weilerstein through the full-tuition Dean’s Scholarship and a stipend through the Presidential Scholarship, and a Bachelor of Music at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings of Mercer University. Her teachers include Amy Moretti, Robert McDuffie, and David Kim.

With a distinguished career of broad versatility, violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti is equally accomplished as chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist, and educator. Recognized as a deeply expressive artist, she appears as soloist and chamber music artist at music festivals and concert series internationally. She is a member of the Ehnes Quartet, touring and recording with violinist James Ehnes, violist Che-Yen Chen, and cellist Edward Arron. In 2007, she became the inaugural Director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Georgia, leading their new string program for gifted young artists within the School of Music supported by full-tuition scholarships.  Since then, together with founder Robert McDuffie, she has developed and guided this unique program.  She has established and expanded the Fabian Concert Series bringing esteemed artists to campus for performances and classes.  

As professor and Director of the McDuffie Center at Mercer University, she is honored to hold the Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings and teach the violinists of the Center. Before joining Mercer University, Amy was concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony in Portland. Her professional career began as concertmaster of The Florida Orchestra in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. She has served as guest concertmaster for the Atlanta, Houston, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, The New York Pops and Hawaii Pops, and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado, Grant Park and Grand Teton. 

She has received multiple Juno awards for her recordings with James Ehnes and has also recorded for Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, Onyx Classics, CBC Records, BCMF/Naxos and Sono Luminus. Recent projects include the 2024 recording of a concerto written for her by composer Christopher Schmitz, and the filming of the documentary, “Chaos Becomes Order,” illuminating the process of the concerto's collaboration with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Stefan Sanderling. 

The Cleveland Institute of Music has recognized her with an Alumni Achievement Award and she is the 2014 San Francisco Conservatory of Music Fanfare Honoree. In 2018, Moretti was selected as one of Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals of the Year, and in 2022, she received the Macon Arts Alliance Cultural Award, given to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the cultural life of Central Georgia. Amy lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons. She performs on her treasured Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin made in Paris in 1874.

Twenty-six year old American violist Natalie Loughran is quickly establishing herself as one of the most versatile young artists of our time. Natalie was awarded First Prize at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition, along with the Audience Award, as well as the BIPOC Composer Prize for her arrangement and performance of William Grant Still’s ‘Mother and Child’.  She has also appeared as a finalist for the 2020 Young Concert Artist Auditions, and was awarded a special prize for her performance of the Bowen Viola Sonata in C Minor at the Tertis International Viola Competition. Natalie has also been awarded with the William Schuman prize for her outstanding leadership and achievement in music, from the Juilliard School. 

As the newest violist of the Castalian String Quartet, Natalie has appeared in many internationally renowned chamber music series, including The Heidelberg Frühling Musikfestival, 92NY, San Francisco Performances, and Dallas Chamber Music Society.  Additionally, she has performed extensively at Marlboro, Yellow Barn, The Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, and Kronberg’s Chamber Music Connects the World. Natalie has collaborated with renowned chamber musicians such as Mitsuko Uchida, Stephen Hough, Itzhak Perlman, Dénes Várjon, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, and Nobuko Imai. 

In addition to solo performance and chamber music, Natalie holds a deep love of the orchestral repertoire, and has worked as principal violist under the batons of Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. She has performed with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, under Gábor Takács-Nagy; toured internationally with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, directed by Ivan Fischer; and performed regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Philharmonic.

Natalie earned her B.M. and M.M. in Viola Performance at The Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Roger Tapping, Misha Amory, where she was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Natalie is continuing her professional studies at the Kronberg Academy with Tabea Zimmermann. 

Natalie plays on a 1976 viola by Sergio Peresson. 

Virgil Moore began violin studies at the age of 9, and studied with Joseph Nigro and Dr. Yevgeniy Dovgalyuk. He served as Concertmaster of the Lynchburg Symphony Youth Orchestra, and was a member of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and the James Chamber Players. He is currently a substitute violinist with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and has sat Principal of The Juilliard Orchestra, having worked with conductors including Stéphane Denève, Peter Oundjian, Scott Yoo, and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Virgil was a semi-finalist in the 2024 Sphinx Competition in Detroit, and was winner of the 2017 LSYO Concerto Competition and the 2023 Townsend School of Music Concerto Competition. He has been awarded scholarships from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Gods Morning Foundation. Virgil has attended numerous summer music festivals, including the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, the Curtis Summerfest, and the Meadowmount School of Music.

He has been awarded fellowship positions at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Aspen Summer Music Festival, and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. He has performed in masterclasses for Rachel Barton Pine, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Cho-Liang Lin, and Donald Weilerstein.

Virgil graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University studying with Amy Schwartz Moretti, Robert McDuffie, and David Kim. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition scholarship, in the studios of Laurie Smukler and Joseph Lin.

Known for captivating audiences with her passionate performances and musical artistry, cellist Sara Scanlon is quickly becoming a sought-after talent in the world of classical music. Sara made her solo debut, performing the Elgar Concerto with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. She has been featured as a soloist on NPR’s nationally broadcast program From the Top, served as principal cellist for the Emmy Award–winning Night of Georgia Music on PBS, and performed alongside Joshua Bell at a TED Talk with the Chamber Orchestra of America.

A Native of Milford, Connecticut, Sara won the Chappaqua Orchestra, Adelphi Orchestra, Greater New Haven Orchestra, Hamden Symphony Orchestra, and the Townsend Orchestra’s Concerto Competitions. She has been a featured performer in the Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Program at the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Orford Musique’s Gala du Prix, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, the Fabian Concert Series, the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach Concert Series, and the Rome Chamber Music Festival. Sara regularly performs in the New York City-based Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players Music Series and as a member of the Blue Hill Trio, showcasing her unique musical voice and resonant sound, gaining attention and acclaim from audiences and industry professionals alike.

Sara attended the Juilliard Pre-College Program, where she studied with Clara Kim and Richard Aaron. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree, graduating summa cum laude from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings on a full merit scholarship, where she studied with Julie Albers, Richard Aaron, and Leo Singer. She continued her graduate studies at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron and Joel Krosnick and received a Master of Music degree in May of 2024. Sara has also had the opportunity to perform in masterclasses with esteemed artists such as Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Paul Katz, Colin Carr, David Finkel, Philip Glass, Edward Arron, Peter Stumpf, Michel Strauss, Laurence Lesser, Yegor Dyachkov, Amir Elden, Brian Manker, and The Brentano and Miro Quartets.

Sara performs on a beautiful 18th-century cello previously owned by Eleanor Aller-Slatkin, the first woman to hold a principal cellist position in an American orchestra and cellist for the Grammy Award-winning Hollywood String Quartet. The cello and Eleanor’s performance soundtrack, which includes the premiere of the Korngold Cello Concerto, are featured in the 1947 movie, “Deception” starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains.

Carlos Walker, a violist from St. Petersburg, Florida, is currently pursuing a masters degree in viola performance from The Juilliard School. With chamber music being one of their most treasured passions, they found a love for the viola while playing Samuel Barber’s String Quartet. Since finding their voice, Carlos has completed a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance at the McDuffie Center for Strings, and had the pleasure of participating in NYO-USA, Aspen Music Festival and School, Heifetz International Music Institute and more.

In 2022, Carlos made their international debut at the Rome Chamber Music Festival performing in the Teatro Argentina in Rome, Italy. In this same year, Carlos won 1st Prize in the American Viola Society Collegiate Solo Competition. Carlos’ current teachers are Heidi Castleman and Samuel Rhodes at the McDuffie Center, they studied with Rebecca Albers and Victoria Chiang, and performed in masterclasses for violists such as Dimitri Murrath, Ettore Causa and Hsin-Yun Huang.

As part of the Fabian Concert Series at the McDuffie Center, Carlos has collaborated with artists such as Edward Aaron, Fabiola Kim, Sihoa He, Jeewon Park, Amy Shwartz-Moretti and the Cavani Quartet. Beyond this, since being at Juilliard, Carlos has collaborated with Juilliard faculty, Natasha Brofsky during chamberfest which culminated in a performance in Alice Tully Hall. As a chamber musician, in 2023 Carlos won 2nd prize in St. Paul String Quartet Competition and participated in the 2023 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Outside of performing, Carlos has a strong interest in teaching and increasing accessibility to music and firmly believes that everyone’s unique experience brings value to music making worldwide.