Anton Nel
For the final act of its 45th season, the Highlands–Cashiers Chamber Music Festival closes 2026 with characteristic ambition and elegance: a program built around two works that reshaped the concerto form. The Gershon/Cohn Final Gala Concert and Dinner, “Concerto Night,” arrives Sunday, August 9, at 5:00 P.M. at the Martin Lipscomb Theatre. Internationally acclaimed pianist Anton Nel performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G Major, Op. 58, while violinist Abigel Kralik takes the spotlight in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, both accompanied by the Festival’s Chamber Music Orchestra.
The evening opens with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G Major, Op. 58, one of the composer’s most luminous and inward works. Where Beethoven’s other concertos announce themselves with fanfare, the G Major opens with the piano alone – a quiet, almost radical gesture that signals music that prizes depth over spectacle. A Grammy Award winner and longtime collaborative artist of international standing, Nel is the kind of musician who makes technical mastery look like an afterthought, freeing him to get on with the business of expression.
The program turns to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 for its second half – a work so perfectly constructed that it’s easy to overlook how revolutionary it was when it premiered in 1845. The solo part flows without a break from the orchestra’s opening bars, pulling the listener forward on a current that never quite lets up. Violinist Abigel Kralik takes the solo role, bringing a playing style that combines technical precision with emotional directness.
Abigel Kralik
Behind both soloists stands the Chamber Music Orchestra, assembled from the season’s roster of festival artists – Charae Krueger, Jessica Wu, Joseph Skerik, Guang Wang, Emily Daggett Smith, Yinzi Kong, Helen Kim, Kenn Wagner, Jonathan Colbert, Joli Wu, Alice Hong and Juan Ramirez. Together, these musicians embody what has always made the Highlands–Cashiers Chamber Music Festival distinctive: the chance to experience world‑class artists not as distant stars, but as collaborators engaged in a shared artistic conversation.
The evening continues with dinner at Highlands Falls Country Club, where patrons and performers can linger over a season well spent.
Named in honor of longtime supporters Ruth Gershon and Sandy Cohn – whose vision and generosity have helped sustain the Festival across decades – the gala is both celebration and benediction, a fitting close to a 45th season built on extraordinary music and the community that gathers around it.
Festival Finale Gala – Concert and Dinner: $200 per person. Concert only: $100 per person. Reservations required; call (828) 526‑9060 or visit h‑cmusicfestival.org.
Favorites Count: 0