"Vermont's most charming little festival.." *
Sakiko Ohashi, Artistic Director
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ANNOUCING NICK SANDERS
SPECIAL GUEST
FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2025 - 7:00 PM
In concert with Sakiko
“Entertaining enough to catch your ear, and intelligent enough to tickle your mind, Sanders’ sound is that of a stellar young musician carving out a unique place for himself in today’s music scene. Lean, acrobatic and endlessly inventive, Sanders’ style abounds with unexpected phrases and surprising flourishes—the kind of playing that never sits still.
— Brian Zimmerman, Downbeat Magazine
Listen to Nick https://www.nicksandersmusic.com/media-aria
Sakiko and Nick will share works from the classical and jazz worlds and even moments when these forms mix and inspire. This will be a one-of-a-kind event not to be missed.
And, for a tasty treat, we'll be featuring the fabulous cookies of Lo's Bakehouse!
Friday, June 27, 2025 - 7:00 pm - Nick & Sakiko
Nick Sanders, a dynamic and amazing pianist brings fire and imagination to our festival. The duets and musical interactions with Sakiko at the keyboard will be unforgettable.
Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 11:00am - A Little Jazz, a Little Fun!
Join Sakiko and Nick for a fun children's concert great for children K - 12. Listen, learn, hands-on activities. Watch for updates for the concert experience. Free admission - donations welcome.
Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 7:00 pm - Amadi and Sakiko
Featuring Amadi Azikiwe, viola and Sakiko Ohashi, piano. The Shostakovich Sonata for viola and piano is one of the amazing pieces on the program.
Sunday, June 29, 2025 - 3:00 pm - Joanna and Sakiko
Joanna Maurer, violin and Sakiko Ohashi, piano. On the program is the wonderful Debussy Sonata and more.
The Weekend of Music is a collaboration with our friends in the West Windsor/Brownsville area and music lovers everywhere.
EVENTBRITE
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General Admission - $15.00
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Seniors and Children 12 and under - $12.00
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Donations* Welcome! - VENMO - @Gary-Wood-22
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Tickets can be purchased at the door using cash, check, or VENMO.
LINK
the festival
The West Windsor Music Festival is the creative endeavor of Artistic Director, Sakiko Ohashi. There's no better place to share the wonders and beauty of chamber music with friends and neighbors.
The West Windsor Music Festival enriches the community through music, friends, and unforgettable gatherings. We thank our many friends in the Brownsville area and the leaders of the community for your support and encouragement of the festival each year.
The West Windsor Music Festival is primarily self-funded. As a not-for-profit, we gladly accept donations. Receipt for tax purposes available.
VENMO - @Gary-Wood-22
The West Windsor Music Festival is the creative endeavor of Artistic Director, Sakiko Ohashi. There's no better place to share the wonders and beauty of chamber music with friends and neighbors.
The West Windsor Music Festival is the creative endeavor of Artistic Director, Sakiko Ohashi. There's no better place to share the wonders and beauty of chamber music with friends and neighbors.
SAKIKO OHASHI
Sakiko Ohashi, Festival Artistic Director, is a native of Japan and began her piano studies at the age of four. By the time she was 10 years old, she was accepted to the Juilliard Pre-College Division as a student of Herbert Stessin. Since then, performances have taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.
In 1996, Ms. Ohashi made her concerto debut at Lincoln Center in New York City, performing Bartok’s 3rd Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Symphony conducted by Otto-Werner Mueller. She is also the winner of the 1993 E. Nakamichi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival where she appeared with the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the South Carolina Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and the South Dakota Symphony. In New York, her appearances have included venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Juilliard Theatre, and The Harvard Club.
At the Juilliard School, her awards and scholarships included Van Cliburn, Lilian Halpern, Bertha Levin, Alexander Siloti, and the Maxwell Muriel Gluck Fellowship. She studied chamber music under Felix Galimir, Stephen Clapp, and Jonathan Feldman.
Ms. Ohashi has appeared in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Killington Music Festival, Orford Centre for the Arts, Banff Center for the Arts, Fontainebleau Music Festival in France, Glassboro Summer Session, and Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria.
She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, and has taught at the Greenwich House of Music in New York, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee, Augustana College in South Dakota, and Bard College in New York. She studied with Zitta Zohar and participated in master classes with Anton Kuerti, Philippe Entremont, Gaby Casadesus, Philippe Bianconi, Bernd Glemser, and Catherine Vickers. In addition, she is featured in 3 CDs of Creole composers Gottschalk, Dede, and Lambert on the Naxos label.
Ms. Ohashi served as Assistant Chair of Music at The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA|Riverfront), where she directed the Classical Instrumental Division for five years. Most recently, she has served as the Director of the Preparatory Division at The Bard Conservatory. A dedicated teacher, her students have won numerous competitions both locally and nationally. She currently resides in Miami.
FESTIVAL ARTISTS 2025
JOANNA MAURER
Born and raised in Colorado, violinist Joanna Maurer has performed as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. After initial studies with her parents, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann. She has won first prizes in a number of competitions, including the Aspen Music Festival’s E. Nakamichi Violin Competition, and the National MTNA Selmer Competition.
Ms. Maurer is the violinist of the American Chamber Players (www.acplayers.com), a highly acclaimed group of six, performing extensively around the country. She has been hailed by the Washington Post as an “incisive, sweet-toned” violinist with “flawless phrasing,” leading “extraordinary… stunning…(and) …utterly committed” performances with the American Chamber Players. Ms. Maurer has been featured with the American Chamber Players countless times on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on local radio stations throughout the United States.
Ms. Maurer has performed with the first violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2003. She also performs as concertmaster on numerous film scores, television scores, and pop albums. She has collaborated with various artists such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Natalie Merchant, Carrie Underwood, David Byrne, Laurie Berkner, and fiddler/violinist Mark O’Connor in, among other projects, performances of his Double Violin Concerto.
In addition to her performing career, Ms. Maurer serves as the co-chair of the Associate Musicians of the Metropolitan Opera, and serves on the trial board of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. Ms. Maurer lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband, Demian Austin (principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and her two children.
AMADI AZIKIWE
Amadi Azikiwe, violist, violinist and conductor, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Azikiwe has also been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall and the Kennedy Center. Abroad, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, Nigeria, India, Japan, and Hong Kong.
As a soloist, Mr. Azikiwe has appeared with the Prince George’s Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Virginia Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Virginia Beach Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, the City Island Baroque Ensemble of New York, the National Symphony of Ecuador, and at the Costa Rica International Music Festival.
Currently, Mr. Azikiwe is Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra. He is also Community Engagement Director of the Harlem Chamber Players, and a member of the Pressenda Chamber Players.
As an orchestral musician, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and guest principal violist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra.
A native of New York City, Amadi Azikiwe was born in 1969. After early studies with his mother, he began training at the North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Sally Peck. His studies continued at the New England Conservatory with Marcus Thompson and at Indiana University as a student of Atar Arad.
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NICK SANDERS
Nick Sanders was raised in New Orleans, LA and began playing piano at age 7 with a focus on classical repertoire. In high school he shifted his focus to improvisation and jazz and went onto study at the New England Conservatory under Fred Hersch, Danilo Perez, and Jason Moran before moving to New York in 2012.
During his time in New York, he released 4 critically acclaimed albums on Sunnyside Records (his first two produced by Fred Hersch). He also played numerous gigs with his trio and as a side musician and built his own private piano teaching studio. He recently relocated to San Diego, CA during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently resides there.
Music impacts life. Life impacts music. For jazz pianist Nick Sanders, his life experiences and his musical influences have converged in a perfect storm, creating a truly fresh musical voice – wholly original yet clearly shaped by the masters he has studied and embraced. His unique sound is profound, soulful and rich, resonating with the moody isolation that characterizes so much of modern life, yet also with our deep yearning for human connection. Fred Hersch states, "In these days of cookie-cutter pianists, Nick Sanders is a true original.
He is already a world-class pianist-- and an intriguing and quirky composer as well."Sanders is the product of a musically and culturally rich childhood. His Cuban mother, drummer father and New Orleans upbringing insured an eclectic ear and musical sensibility. Sanders began playing music before the age of four as a quick study on the drums, able to almost instantly learn the second-line beat. He tackled the piano in second grade and began to show remarkable promise as a classical performer, winning numerous regional and national competitions.
