William Ransom
What happens when chamber music escapes the formal concert hall, finding sanctuary in a private home – where every note vibrates with intimacy, artists breathe alongside their audience, and music transcends performance to become pure conversation?
For over 40 years, the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival has been answering this question. Through its innovative Salon series, this summer the festival will transform eight selected private homes across the Plateau into extraordinary listening spaces, where music is not just performed, but experienced. These gatherings reimagine the traditional concert format, creating the conditions for chamber music to do what it does best: dissolve barriers and spark connection, and invite listeners into something immediate and personal.
The Salon series opens on June 16 with a ‘Dynamic Duo’ that promises to set the intimate tone for the entire festival. Pianist and artistic director William Ransom joins forces with violist Yinzi Kong, formerly with the internationally acclaimed Vega Quartet—a pairing that embodies the festival’s most essential promise: music not as distant performance, but as living, breathing dialogue.
From this opening conversation, the festival unfolds like a musical story.
By June 28, ‘Winds in the Mountains’ will transport listeners with the rare and luminous collaboration between flutist James Zellers and clarinetist Alexandra Prior.
On July 11, 24-year-old pianist Zitong Wang takes the stage – a Carnegie Hall alumnus whose performances reveal an emotional depth beyond her years.
The musical journey continues July 16 with Sharon Isbin, a Grammy-winning classical guitarist whose four-decade career includes multiple Grammy awards and performances at the White House while redefining the instrument’s possibilities.
The Salons continue July 18 with “Chee-Yun Dazzles @ The Enchantment,” highlighting the violinist’s celebrated blend of charm and virtuosity.
Then July 30, Vijay Venkatesh performs with a magnetic stage presence that has drawn comparisons to the great Romantic pianists. August 1 features violinist Njioma Grevious, a Sphinx Competition laureate whose sound is rich, radiant, and unmistakably her own.
The season culminates on September 20 with ‘Festival Favorites!’ – a powerful pairing of violinist Helen Kim and cellist Charae Krueger.
With tickets intentionally limited, every performance creates an intimate musical experience that directly supports the festival’s mission of bringing world-class chamber music to mountain landscapes.
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