
Who makes a city? We reflect on this question in our upcoming Chamber Series concert, with pieces inspired by the Athenaeum’s latest exhibition, Frank M. Costantino: Visionary Projects (on display February 3 - May 3, 2025). For more than five decades, renowned architectural illustrator Frank M. Costantino has created hand-drawn designs for some of the world's top architects from his studio in Winthrop, Massachusetts. The exhibit presentshis sketches, final drawings, and watercolors, featuring prominent landmarks in Boston and New England. Highlighting this fascinating exhibit is a selection of music designed to bring you to the heart of the hustle and bustle of city life. From composers’ earliest fascinations with musical Industrialism to a special arrangement of Gershwin’s American in Paris, this concert will remind you of home wherever you are.
We invite you to join BFO Artistic Director Alyssa Wang and BFO musicians in an intimate dialogue about what it means to experience art, and how it can help us to relate to the world around us.
This concert is free, but tickets are required!
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Enhance your concert experience by arriving early! Audience members will have access to the exhibit starting at 6 PM, before the performance begins. Please note that the exhibit will not be open for viewing after the concert.
PROGRAM
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Vladimir Deshevov (1889-1955), Rails
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Lukas Foss (1922-2009), Three American Pieces
i. Early Song
ii. Dedication
iii. Composer's Holiday
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Tony Solitro (b. 1984), sharp horizons — gentle plains
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George Gershwin (1898-1937), American in Paris
(arr. Matthew Boyles)​
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Alyssa Wang, violin
Nicholas Brown, clarinet
Ruoting Li, piano

Alyssa Wang is a passionate and versatile conductor, violinist, and composer. A recipient of the 2023 Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award and the 2022 St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award, Alyssa has enjoyed exploring diverse creative paths with a focus on audience inclusivity and engagement. She is the Co-Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Conductor of the Boston Festival Orchestra. In 2021, she joined the Boston Ballet as Assistant Conductor, conducting full ballet productions throughout the year and serving as Music Director for the annual Next Generation project with Boston Ballet School. As a violinist, Alyssa has soloed with ensembles across the country and is the newest member musician of the Boston Chamber Music Society. She has been featured in numerous contemporary recording projects, such as Carlos Simon’s Grammy-nominated album, Requiem for the Enslaved (Decca), Nancy Galbraith’s Violin Concerto with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and David Post’s Violin Sonata (Centaur). As a composer, she premiered her own violin concerto, Swept Away, with the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, who commissioned the work, in February 2023. In addition to her life in music, Alyssa is an avid photographer, writer, and social dancer. Learn more about Alyssa at alyssa-wang.com.

Nicholas Brown is a Boston-based clarinetist, educator, and arts leader. As a performer, he is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, Portland Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, and Boston Festival Orchestra, and a guest musician with A Far Cry, Albany Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Pops, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Chicago Symphony, Landmarks Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and many other groups throughout the United States.
Nicholas has appeared as soloist with the Boston Festival Orchestra, Boston Pops, Concord Orchestra, and Symphony Nova. He has performed on programs presented by the Library of Congress, Celebrity Series of Boston, Newport Music Festival, Morgan Library, and Williams Center for the Arts, and can be heard on Carlos Simon’s GRAMMY-nominated album Requiem for the Enslaved (Decca Records), and forthcoming albums with the Albany Symphony (Albany Records) and Lawrence Moss (PARMA Records). He has won awards from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, Boston Woodwind Society, Bay Chamber Concerts of Maine, Rossini Club of Portland, and Boston University.
As Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Boston Festival Orchestra Nicholas is committed to expanding access and equity in classical music. Through its multiple performance programs and network of community partners, the BFO provides free concert experiences to thousands of local community members each year to invigorate the city’s love for live performance and inspire the next generation of classical musicians. Originally from Portland, Maine, Nicholas is a graduate of Boston University and New England Conservatory of Music.

Chinese pianist Ruoting Li is an artist of wide-ranging vision, known for her “eloquent, musical” (Fanfare Magazine) interpretations of contemporary music and for championing the works of women composers, both past and present. With a burgeoning international career as both a solo pianist and chamber musician, as well as several albums to her name, Ruoting serves as the Resident Pianist with the Boston Festival Orchestra. She also tours with the genre-defying trio, TAKE3, participating in their “bold, aggressive” (LA Times) performances as well as their outreach events to local schools around the US.
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Ruoting has performed with presenters throughout the US, UK, Europe, and China, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Washington, D.C.’s Library of Congress, Boston’s Jordan Hall and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. During the 2023-2024 season, Ruoting performs as a soloist with the Boston Festival Orchestra at Jordan Hall, BFO’s chamber series at the Boston Athaneum, and more.
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An accomplished recording artist and producer, Ruoting will follow her appearance on David L. Post’s Sonatas & Other Works (Centaur) with the release of an album with acclaimed cellist Juliana Soltis, featuring repertoire by American women composers. She has also worked as a producer on albums for the Steinway & Sons and Naxos labels, and has co-produced the upcoming album by the celebrated ensemble The Harlem Chamber Players.
Born in China, Ruoting began playing piano at the age of 6, and was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School in Beijing when she was 11 years old. In 2014, Ms. Li came to the U.S. and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Her other mentors include Anthony de Mare and Kenneth Cooper. Residing in the vibrant Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, Ms. Li currently divides her time between New York and Boston.
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Boston Athenæum (Henry Long Room)
10 1/2 Beacon St.
Boston, MA 02108
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For Parking and Directions, click here.