Join us for a magical evening of classical music with AMiE String Trio, featuring Ara Sarkissian, Michael Ouzounian, and Evelyn Elsing.

Meet the Musicians

Ara Sarkissian began studying violin at the age of four and continues to teach and perform domestically and abroad. As a performer and advocate of contemporary music, he has collaborated with esteemed composers including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, George Benjamin, and Kaija Saariaho. Ara received his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees in Violin Performance with academic honors from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, his principal teachers were Marylou Speaker Churchill and James Buswell IV. Other important teachers include Paul Biss, Phil Setzer, and Soovin Kim.

Michael Ouzounian was born in Detroit, where he studied viola with Ara Zerounian and Nathan Gordon of the Detroit Symphony. After studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Abraham Skernick and James Levine, Mr Ouzounian joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as principal viola at age 21. 45 years and over 6000 opera performances later, Mr Ouzounian retired with his wife Patricia Rogers, principal bassoon of the Met for 40 years, to Leelanau County.

Evelyn Elsing is a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been an active participant in the chamber music scene in the Washington, DC area, and a founding member of Ecco Trio and The Left Bank Quartet. She won prizes in several international competitions including the Munich and Tchaikovsky Competitions, and she has enjoyed concert tours and summer festivals in Europe, the former Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States. The American String Teachers Association awarded her both Outstanding Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Service to Strings awards from the DC/MD Chapter, and a national Citation of Exceptional Leadership and Merit.