Geneva Lewis, violin Joshua Mhoon, piano Union College

Sunday, December 6, 2026 — 3:00 PM

The Christine Kirwin Krackeler Concert
Union College, Memorial Chapel, Schenectady, NY
Runtime: 2 hours

Program:
- Mozart: G-major Sonata, K. 379
- Silvestrov: Two Pieces
- Weinberg: Fifth Sonata, Op. 53
- Webern: Four Pieces
- Strauss: Sonata, Op. 18

Fast becoming a favorite, Lewis was featured at last year’s benefit after an incredible debut in 2024. Having appeared last season with Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, and many other international orchestras, she plays a program culminating with Strauss’s impassioned sonata.

Admission:
- General admission seating — doors open 45 minutes before the concert.
- All kids and college students admitted free at the door.
- Ticket information and policies available.

Geneva Lewis (violin)
American/New Zealand violinist Geneva Lewis has been praised for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and called “clearly one to watch” (Musical America). She was named a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–24) and is the recipient of a 2022 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition and winner of the Kronberg Academy’s Prince of Hesse Prize (2021). Other honors include Musical America’s New Artist of the Month (June 2021), Performance Today Young Artist in Residence, and YCAT Concordia Artist.

In 2023 Lewis made her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Jaime Martin. Additional collaborations have included the BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmonica de Minas Gerais, Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The 2025–26 season includes performances with Kremerata Baltica, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Filharmonia Czestochowska, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Utah Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco.

A passionate chamber musician, Lewis has collaborated with Jonathan Biss, Glenn Dicterow, Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, Gidon Kremer, András Schiff, and Mitsuko Uchida, and has appeared at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Marlboro, Kronberg, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Ravinia, and Chamberfest Cleveland. She received her Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory (Charlotte F. Rabb Presidential Scholarship), studying with Miriam Fried, and studied with Mihaela Martin at the Kronberg Academy and with Aimée Kreston at the Colburn School. Lewis currently performs on a composite violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, c.1776, on loan from a Charitable Trust.

Joshua Mhoon (piano)
American pianist Joshua Mhoon’s talent was discovered at age 7. He won first place prizes in the DePaul National Concerto Competition, the Walgreens National Concerto Competition (Senior and Junior divisions), and the Emilio del Rosario Concerto Competition. His media appearances include The Tamron Hall Show, NBC Chicago, CBS Chicago, Red Bull TV, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and Japan’s Mozart on TV Asahi, along with a feature in the Emmy-award-winning episode of Built to Last on PBS.

Mhoon has performed in Japan, England, France, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Italy, and on several tours in Germany. After winning the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition in 2023, he became a Young Steinway Artist and received engagements domestically and abroad for the 2024–25 season.

Raised in Chicago, Mhoon’s musical vision was shaped by Black American music—R&B, jazz, blues, hip hop, and gospel. He has performed locally at events including Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inauguration, a halftime show for the Chicago Bulls, and for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and China’s Vice Premier at the Harris Theater, as well as at Navy Pier, Ganz Hall, the Studebaker Theater, Pritzker Pavilion, Pianoforte, Bennett Gordon Hall at Ravinia, and others. His radio appearances include the Cliff Kelly Show on WVON, WFMT, and Richard Steele’s program on WBEZ.

At 15 Mhoon began studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with Dr. James Giles. He has also studied jazz and spontaneous creation with Willie Pickens and Steve Million and previously studied jazz with Bobby Irving III. He is mentored by Lang Lang and Anthony McGill. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances with Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Anthony McGill, and Gil Shaham at venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, Stern Hall of Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, New World Symphony Center, Chicago Symphony Center, and the Musikverein.

Mhoon is currently studying at the Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax and Julian Martin. Outside music he enjoys photography, yoga, and investing, and as he said in a 2016 interview with WTTW, “I definitely want to make music my life.” Joshua Mhoon is a Young Steinway Artist.