The Beijing Guitar Duo (Meng Su and Yameng Wang)
Friday, September 26, 2025 | 7:30 PM
First United Methodist Church, Ames
The Beijing Duo has “the star potential to serve as inspiration for new generations of guitarists to come" (Classical Guitar Magazine).
While students, Meng Su and Yameng Wang met at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. They later formed their duo in 2009 while pursuing advanced studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.
Acclaimed both as soloists and duo, they have earned numerous awards and performed at leading venues worldwide, including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and Carnegie Hall.
Sean Chen, solo piano
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Martha Ellen-Tye Recital Hall, Iowa State University
Winner in 2013 of both the Van Cliburn Competition Bronze Medal, and the American Piano Award, Sean Chen excels not only as a pianist, but also as composer, arranger, and transcriber.
A Juilliard and Yale graduate, his virtuosic playing has been described as “alluring, colorfully shaded” (New York Times) and “genuinely sensitive” (L.A. Times).
He is currently an endowed associate professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and was recently the featured guest artist at the Iowa Music Teachers Association State Conference.
Laura Strickling, soprano & Daniel Schlosberg, piano
Saturday, November 15, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Martha Ellen-Tye Recital Hall, Iowa State University
Grammy-nominated duo Laura Strickling (soprano) and Daniel Schlosberg (piano) bring to our audience a celebration of art song, the traditional collaboration of singer and pianist.
Their program begins with Schubert, the father of art song, and moves forward with German and French masters (Brahms, Mahler, Strauss, Poulenc, and others), while also championing the establishment of an inherently American song repertoire that continues to grow and flourish today.
The program includes the world premiere of American composer Nyandeng Juag’s “The Crystal Gazer” (poetry of Sara Teasdale) from Laura’s landmark”40@40” song commissioning project.
37th Annual Ames Town & Gown Musicale
Saturday, February 28, 2026 | 7:00 PM
St. John's by the Campus Church, Ames
To support Ames Town & Gown, outstanding performers from Iowa State University and the central Iowa community at large create a memorable collage of musical delights, followed by our equally memorable buffet.
Enjoy musical offerings ranging from traditional chamber music to lighter fare. The event supports Town & Gown and chamber music directly while enhancing our sense of musical community. “My favorite night of the year!” exclaims one audience member.
A sumptuous buffet of gourmet delicacies and warm camaraderie follow the concert.
The Ulysses String Quartet
Thursday, March 12, 2026 | 7:30 PM
First United Methodist Church, Ames
Formed in 2015, the Ulysses Quartet, (violinists Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violist Colin Brookes, and cellist Grace Ho) has earned top prizes at Fischoff, Schoenfeld and Osaka competitions, praised for "the kind of chemistry many quartets long for but never achieve” (The Strad).
Known for championing diverse composers and community engagement, the quartet has performed at a wide array of venues, including Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall.
They are also part of an innovative residency at Boston's public radio station GBH.
Twelfth Night, early music ensemble
Sunday, May 10, 2026 | 7:30 PM
Martha Ellen-Tye Recital Hall, Iowa State University
Twelfth Night was founded in New York City in 2021 by acclaimed early music performers Baroque violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and harpsichordist David Belkovski.
For this performance, they will be joined by Dani Zanuttini-Frank on theorbo.
Specializing in historically informed performance on authentic instruments, their "Grand Tour" program showcases the expressive power and technical brilliance of groundbreaking composers of the Baroque era with ”zesty, impeccable playing…[that] doesn’t come along every day’” (New York Classical Review).
75th Season Opening Concert: A Celebration in Song
Saturday, September 28, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Martha Ellen-Tye Recital Hall, Iowa State University
To open Ames Town & Gown’s 75th season, three remarkable singers, a pianist, and a singer/pianist will offer us a fascinating program of art song and opera.
Chelsea Guo, soprano and piano; Erin Wagner, mezzo-soprano; and Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone will perform with pianist Ye In Kwak.
The vocalists are winners of the Young Concert Artists International Competitions, which are dedicated to discovering and promoting the careers of talented young classical musicians from all over the world.
The Isidore String Quartet
Friday, October 18, 2024 | 7:30 PM
First United Methodist Church, Ames
The Isidore String Quartet cultivates joyful, accessible, and intimate experiences that create community through in-depth relationships and explore the power of the collective to uplift the individual.
Initially formed in 2019 while students at Juilliard, they quickly shot to prominence, winning the Banff International Competition in 2022 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2023. The Quartet’s philosophy is to “approach the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.”
A Musical Homecoming: Town & Gown Alumni Concert
Saturday, November 9, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Ames City Auditorum
A remarkable musical community, Ames has produced numerous outstanding professional musicians. For our special 75th season, Ames Town & Gown has invited five such instrumentalists – all with strong ties to Ames schools, Iowa State University, and Ames Town & Gown – to reconnect and perform for us, as individuals and together.
We welcome back Sarah Shin, flute; Maureen Hurd Hause, clarinet; Caleb Hans Polashek, violin; Yeil Park, cello; and Aaron Lott, piano.
Zhenni Li-Cohen, solo piano
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, ISU
Zhenni Li-Cohen has been hailed as “a magnetic pianist -- with fire and poetry” (author/music critic David Dubal), “an artist… who fascinates even as she provokes” (Gramophone Magazine), and “a thrillingly good pianist” (The New Yorker).
Ms. Li-Cohen dazzled a Town & Gown audience when she appeared with the Merz Trio several years ago. Her solo recital will bring riches from different cultures, reflecting her amazing life story, broad interests, and talents.
Kevin Zhu, violin
Saturday, May 10, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, ISU
Kevin Zhu’s astonishing technical mastery and artistic sensibility have earned him major honors and accolades worldwide. The youngest recipient of the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 2012, he went on to win the Paganini International Competition six years later, at 17. Recent concert tours have taken him to major stages of Berlin and Beijing, New York and Washington, DC. His mentors at the Juilliard School were Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin.
Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Kevin has performed on the world’s largest stages.