New Canaan Chamber Music
Andrew Armstrong is celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of founding New Canaan Chamber Music.
Andrew is a concert pianist who is devoted to chamber music - which is defined as instrumental music, played by a small ensemble, with one player to a part, and usually in the context of classical music.
He’s the Artistic Director of both the South Carolina Philharmonic’s ‘Andy & Friends’ concert series in Columbia, South Carolina, and the 45-year-old University of South Carolina at Beaufort’s Chamber Music series in Beaufort, South Carolina…and has established New Canaan Chamber Music as a treasured institution.
He brought a trio together to perform ‘A Concert for New Canaan’ in October 2020, and has steadily expanded the offering to now be producing 8 different concerts on 15 dates in the 2025 Season. The concerts are performed at the First Presbyterian Church at 178 Oenoke Ridge in New Canaan and, in addition to playing the piano, Andrew organizes and produces everything from selecting the music and organizing the artists, to the nitty gritty of trying to make the organization’s ends meet.
The last dates of New Canaan Chamber Music’s 2025 Season will be October 28 and 29, 2025, when Andrew and the violinist James Ehnes will perform a program titled Carnegie Hall To New Canaan with selections of Mozart, Ravel, Gershwin, and Amy Beach, and December 11 and 12, 2025, when 8 world-class string players will perform an EXTRAVAGANZA of Ravel and Mendelssohn.
Andrew grew up in New Canaan. He went to East Elementary, Saxe Middle, and New Canaan High School, and thanks his high school orchestra teacher, Mr. Richard Serbagi, for having given him the push to pursue his passion for the piano.
“It’s a dream-come-true to establish my own chamber music series, and a special treat to be able to do it here in New Canaan,” Andrew remarks. “Although I live in Worcester, Massachusetts now, I’m a native New Canaanite! My roots are here. My parents still live in Connecticut. We went to the Congregational Church on God’s Acre. My bona fides go back to being a caddie at the New Canaan Country Club! ...And, quite frankly, I couldn’t have done it without a roster of local friends.”
After graduating from New Canaan High School - and already playing in important classical music piano competitions all around the world! - Andrew went to Columbia University. “I dropped-out after three years. I just couldn’t complete in-school work once my touring schedule had become a full-time job,” he says.
“I’d been playing in front of audiences in a lot of competitions during college, and I knew I wanted to make piano performance my life,” Andrew recalls. “From the first time I heard Arthur Rubinstein play the piano, and felt the way he could tell the story of the music, I knew I had to make playing with that kind of passion my life’s work, and commit to making others feel the way Rubinstein made me feel, my life’s goal.”
“But, no matter how good you are as a nascent concert performer, it’s quite difficult to forge a career as a classical concert pianist. For fifteen years, I was devoted to getting bookings as a guest soloist with better and better orchestras and playing in some pretty impressive venues. But it was a lonely existence. You get to be best friends with everyone in an orchestra for all of two days, and then you’re alone practicing and looking for the next gig. I thought I’d failed. All my friends were already buying houses and having kids. It wasn’t about not having fame or fortune - I believe fame imprisons people. But I was just miserable.”
“And then, about ten years ago, I was invited to play in a quartet at the Columbia Chamber Music Festival…I enjoyed everything about it…and then they called me and said the Musical Director was retiring and did I want the job,” Andrew recounts. “I fell in love with chamber music. For the first time, performing was about cooperation instead of competition! You get to bond, personally and musically, with a ‘band’ of musicians you choose to work with in various configurations from time to time. And the musical possibilities are endless!”
“The term ‘chamber music’ is derived from the French ‘chambre’, to connote that this was the kind of music performed inside the private rooms, or chambres, of the day’s royalty and elite. So a certain intimacy is inherent in the term and in the form,” Andrew instructs. “Chamber music is best when performed in an environment where every spectator can actually see and feel the musical interchange that everyone is hearing. For me, that means a theater with great acoustics that can accommodate an audience of forty to about four or five hundred max. I find the interaction of the musicians and with the audience to be the most beautiful form of art.”
“Ironically, the problem with chamber music - at least from the standpoint of making a production work economically - is that it is practically impossible to pay what it takes to attract world class talent - like James Ehnes, who will be performing - on his 1715 Stradavarius - with me in New Canaan on October 28 and 29 - and then cover the cost with ticket sales to a smallish audience. We only have about 200 seats to sell at the First Presbyterian Church, and don’t want to make ticket prices a barrier to coming to our performances,” Andrew details. “It just doesn’t work without significant donors. …And, thankfully, in New Canaan, people have really stepped-up to support us. And although I can’t begin to name each of the folks who’ve been critical, I’d be remiss not to mention the extremely generous support of Jim and Dede Bartlett, and Carole Clarkson and the Jeniam Foundation. Even though we’re usually sold out, ticket sales account for only about one-quarter of our total budget.”
“At New Canaan Chamber Music we’re committed to modernizing the overall approach to presenting chamber music, and bringing more and more newcomers to discover and fall in love with it. We want to take chamber music off of the pedestal and share it in a warm, relaxed way, between friends, with humor, a bit of background information, and the sense that we are all in it together, sharing the experience. That’s a big contrast to the concerts of the late 20th century where there was no sense of crossing the footlights and no glimpse into the common humanity and humility of the performers. …And we’re seeing a big pay-off in this new approach at New Canaan Chamber Music – with growing audiences, first-timers becoming long-timers, and an ever-increasing sense of ownership amongst the attendees.”
“I like to create musical programs that balance traditional and more popular selections within the broader category of classical music,” Andrew explains. “By popular, I mean Rhapsody in Blue, or adding a Scottish Accordianist to an ensemble to show off the breadth of that instrument. It gives me deep pleasure to introduce the audience to different composers. It’s my joy to illustrate Bach’s architecture, Beethoven’s drama, Debussy’s artistry, Schubert’s poetry, and Bernstein’s powerful use of the musical language.”
UPCOMING NEW CANAAN CHAMBER MUSIC
at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan
Tuesday October 28, 2025 3:00 p.m. & Wednesday October 29, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
Two-time Grammy Winner James Ehnes - with his 1715 Stradivarius violin - in recital with Andrew Armstrong on piano
Thursday December 11, 2025 3:00 p.m. & Friday December 12, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
EXTRAVAGANZA -- 8 world-class string players, Ravel and Mendelssohn, will blow the roof off the church with a program including Mendelssohn’s legendary Octet, written when the genius was only 16 years old
Thursday February 5, 2026 3:00 p.m. & Friday February 6, 2026 7:00 p.m.
The most popular chamber piece of all time: Schubert’s Trout Quintet with double-bass
Thursday April 16, 2026 3:00 p.m. & Friday April 17, 2026 7:00 p.m.
International Accordion Phenom, Scotsman Ryan Corbett, plus Yoonah Kim on clarinet and Andrew Armstrong on piano