Our Podcast
Our mission for this podcast is to learn how culture and diversity impact chamber groups and about the role of resilience in their lives. It is essential to our program to feature musicians from an array of cultures, upbringings, and communities.
Our podcast wishes to explore more about chamber groups’ stories, unique experiences, heritages, struggles, and their accomplishments, all of which connect to the importance of education and community. By reaching out to diverse groups of chamber musicians, we wish to not only engage in learning how culture impacts the arts, but also provide enrichment to a broad audience with meaningful discussions. In addition to featuring musicians, this project will include short segments of chamber music in a variety of genres.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center launched the program Young Musicians Innovation Challenge. As awardees of this challenge, we are excited for this tremendous opportunity to ignite our ideas and implement our project.
Our Performance
Heather Wang and Amy Baskurt, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. American Protégé International Music Competition Winners Recital Program.
Photo Courtesy of American Protégé Organizational Committee
“Pavane (Op. 50)” by Gabriel Fauré
“Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla
Amy Baskurt
Violinist Amy Baskurt’s musical endeavors span solo, chamber, and orchestral playing. Amy has been a student of Ann Setzer at the Juilliard Pre-college Division in New York City. Amy also plays with the Camerata Strings ensemble at the United Nations International School and plays with the United Nations Chamber Music Society.
One of Amy’s most cherished moments includes when she played with the DC Youth Orchestra which was invited to be the Orchestra-in-Residence at Musica Riva Festival in Riva Del Garda, Italy. She recognized that music connects nations with a common language. Also, Amy finds that playing in chamber groups brings her the most inspiration with her music. Amy believes that music brings people together and creates happiness amongst communities.
Amy has won numerous awards for her work and has performed in famed venues including: Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The United Nations General Assembly Hall, The World Bank, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall and Family Theatre, Washington National Cathedral, and the Lincoln Memorial.
Amy has been playing violin for 14 years. When Amy is not playing, she enjoys Model United Nations and speaks French fluently.
Heather Wang
Heather Wang is a high-school student residing and studying in New York City. She has been playing classical guitar for 4 years, and is currently a student in the Juilliard Pre-College Program, studying with classical guitarist Tali Roth.
Heather has engaged with solo, chamber, and orchestral music in the genres of classical and jazz. In the summer of 2019, she participated and performed in the 4Strings Music Festival as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. She is currently a Youth Ambassador and young musician of the Youth Program at Concerts in Motion, a nonprofit organization with the mission to bring live music concerts to socially isolated individuals throughout New York City. Heather has received recognition for solo performance in competitions including the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition, Grand Metropolitan International Music Competition, and Young Maestro International Music Competition.
Heather also plays the piano, drum set, and electric bass. She likes to spend her free time on photography and drawing, and enjoys swimming on her school’s swim team.
The AH HA (Amy and Heather) Duo is delighted to have been featured on NPR’s From the Top Show, episode 414! If you have not already, please check out this podcast, and listen to our episode linked here: https://fromthetop.org
For Apple listeners: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-top/id121493653?i=1000560129955