Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents Tessa Lark, Joshua Roman & Edgar Meyer on 11/16, Abeo Quartet on 11/8

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646.378.9386

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SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES CONTINUES 60TH ANNIVERSARY 
SEASON WITH CONCERT FEATURING
TESSA LARK, JOSHUA ROMAN, AND EDGAR MEYER

Performance on November 16 at Shriver Hall includes
Bach, two early Edgar Meyer trios, and a new work by Edgar Meyer

Discovery Series kicks off with Baltimore Debut of the Abeo Quartet 
on November 8 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County

Tessa Lark “exudes a graciousness that welcomes you to join her in the exploration of the music. Her sound is rich, yet always maintains an underlying purity." —Violinist.com

Joshua Roman “is a musician of imagination and expressive breadth." —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Edgar Meyer is "the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively 
unchronicled history of his instrument" —The New Yorker

www.ShriverConcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (October 8, 2025) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — continues its 60th anniversary and 2025-26 concert season with a performance featuring violinist Tessa Lark, cellist Joshua Roman, and double bassist Edgar Meyer on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at Shriver Hall. Described as having “a feeling of freedom and connection” by San Francisco Classical Voice, the all-star American trio will present a performance that combines bluegrass roots with classical in a program of Bach, two early Meyer trios, and a new work Meyer composed expressly for this dynamic ensemble.

Edgar Meyer is a seven-time Grammy winner, and he is the only bassist to receive both the Avery Fisher Prize and a MacArthur Genius Award. About the trio and the program he shares, “In 1986-1988, I wrote a series of three string trios that I premiered with Daniel Phillips and Carter Brey at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. These were the first longer pieces that I had conceived as such, and they set the tone for my next four decades. Only one was partially recorded. After meeting Tessa Lark and Joshua Roman a few years ago, I realized that they were perfect for helping me document this personal milestone. I also have set out to write a new trio for us to “complete the thought.” Following the tour, we will record the old trios and the new one as a set. At this concert, we will be performing both the 1986 and 1988 trios, the new trio, and we will open the concert with the Bach Gamba Sonata, BWV 1027.”

“I have so enjoyed this growing collaboration with one of my musical idols, bassist Edgar Meyer, and the incredible violinist Tessa Lark,” shares cellist Joshua Roman. “I can’t wait to share it with audiences in Baltimore, a beautiful city that I have been lucky to visit and explore through various projects over the years. I hope you’ll join us at Shriver Hall in November for this special performance!”

SHCS is pleased to launch its acclaimed Discovery Series in November with the Baltimore debut of the Abeo Quartet on Saturday, November 8, 2025 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Linehan Concert Hall. Members of the quartet are violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin, violist James Kang, and newest member, cellist Macintyre Taback. Formed at Juilliard, the Abeo Quartet was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware (2021-23). Its accolades already include prizes at the Fischoff, Melbourne, and Yellow Springs competitions and performances at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. The quartet channels its energies into the dramatic first quartets of Mendelssohn and Brahms and the distinctive voice of American composer Adolphus Hailstork. The program will feature works by American composers Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941), as well as Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms.

“We’re really looking forward to sharing a program of Mendelssohn, Hailstork, and Brahms for our Baltimore and Shriver Hall Concert Series debut!” remarks the Abeo Quartet. “We begin with Mendelssohn’s string quartet Op. 12 in E-flat major written in 1828 when Mendelssohn was just 20 years old. Mendelssohn was heavily influenced by Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet in writing this and, among other things, almost directly quotes the first couple of bars of the piece in the opening of Op. 12. Award-winning American composer Adolphus Hailstork’s first string quartet weaves hopes for freedom from the spiritual “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” into his unique sound world. Finally, we end with the deeply Romantic first string quartet of Johannes Brahms, Op. 51, No. 1. Having a huge range of expression from bubbling anticipation, to prayerful reflection, to fiery excitement, Brahms takes us on a thrilling journey. This is an exciting and rich program, and we can’t wait to share it!”

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ Subscription Series continues on Sunday, October 19, 2025 with the Sphinx Virtuosi in their Baltimore debut and cellist Sterling Elliott. Following the Lark, Roman, and Meyer trio’s concert on November 16, 2025, the series continues in January with pianist Emanuel Ax on Sunday, January 26, 2026. SHCS will also continue its Discovery Series in January with the winner of the 2025 Yale Gordon Competition, guitarist David Manzanares-Salguero, on Saturday, January 31, 2026 at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

For six decades, SHCS has created unforgettable musical experiences in the intimacy of Shriver Hall. The upcoming season builds on this legacy with a vibrant lineup of programs featuring enduring masterworks and fresh perspectives, from Bach to Beethoven to Billy Childs. Woven through the season are themes of another milestone: the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026. Featuring American composers past and present, texts from the nation’s greatest poets, classical works infused with bluegrass and jazz, and some of today’s most thrilling young performers, these concerts will celebrate a nation brimming with musical treasures and talent.

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Concert Information

Tessa Lark, violin, Joshua Roman, cello, and Edgar Meyer, double bass
Sunday, November 16, 2025, at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $291 Subscription; $48 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: https://www.shriverconcerts.org/meyertrio 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G major, BWV 1027
EDGAR MEYER: Trio 1986
MEYER: Trio 2024 (Baltimore premiere)
MEYER: Trio 1988

A Pre-Concert Talk takes place at 4:30 pm in Shriver Hall.

The Helen Coplan Harrison Concert

Discovery Series: Abeo Quartet (Baltimore Debut)
Saturday, November 8, 2025
UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall | 1000 Hilltop Circle | Baltimore, MD 21250
Tickets: Free, $10 suggested donation
Link: https://www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/abeo

FELIX MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 12
ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK: String Quartet No. 2, “Variations on ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’”
JOHANNES BRAHMS: String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51

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About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Since 1966, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years, SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Han Lash, Caroline Shaw, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

About Tessa Lark
Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. She is also an acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music, and inspiring composers to write for her.

In addition to her performance schedule, Lark is the newly minted artistic director of the Moab Music Festival, and she continues her work as artistic director of Musical Masterworks (CT). Her summer 2025 included performances with the Sarasota Festival, Britt Festival, Princeton Festival, Napa Valley Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and Moab Music Festival.

Lark’s 2025-26 season features a new concerto written for her by Lisa Biewala. The premiere with The Louisville Orchestra takes place in October followed by performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights include returns to the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Pasadena Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and Lexington Philharmonic. In recital, she debuts with the Da Camera Society (TX), and returns to The Cliburn (TX) and Sunriver Music Festival (OR). As a chamber musician, she tours with composer-bassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman to venues including the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Baltimore’s Shriver Hall Concert Series, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West, and Portland’s Chamber Music Northwest.

Lark has performed with orchestras, recital venues, and festivals around the world. She has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis, Knoxville and Seattle symphonies; as well as being presented by Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Concertgebouw, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Cal Performances, San Francisco Performances, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Australia’s Musica Viva Festival, and the Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, and Bridgehampton summer festivals. 

Lark’s most recent album, “The Stradgrass Sessions,” released in spring 2023, features an all-star roster of collaborators and composers including Edgar Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, mandolinist Sierra Hull, and fiddler Michael Cleveland. The album mixes original compositions by Lark and her collaborators with a Ysaÿe sonata, Bartók violin duets arranged for violin and mandolin, and the world premiere recording of Corigliano’s STOMP.

Lark’s debut recording was the Grammy-nominated Sky, a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke and performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Her discography also includes “Fantasy” on First Hand Records and “Invention” with bassist Michael Thurber. A live performance recording of Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was released in 2021 by the Buffalo Philharmonic in honor of Piazzolla’s centenary.

Lark is a recipient of the Hunt Family Award, one of the Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards, as well as a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She is a graduate of New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

About Joshua Roman
Joshua Roman is a cello soloist and composer, hailed for his “effortlessly expressive tone… and playful zest for exploration” (The New York Times), as well as his “extraordinary technical and musical gifts" and “blend of precision and almost improvisatory freedom… that goes straight to the heart” (The San Francisco Chronicle). His genre-bending programs and wide-ranging collaborations have grown out of an “enthusiasm for musical evolution that is as contagious as his love for the classics” (The Seattle Times). 

Committed to bringing classical music to new audiences, Roman opened the acclaimed 2017 TED Conference—and his performance of the complete Bach Cello Suites after the 2016 U.S. presidential election was the most-viewed event in the history of TED’s social channels, with nearly a million live viewers. Roman has collaborated with world-class artists across genres and disciplines, including Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, DJ Spooky, Tony-winner/MacArthur Genius Bill T. Jones, Grammy-winning East African vocalist Somi, and Tony-nominated actor Anna Deavere Smith. 

As a soloist, Roman’s “exceptionally high quality of performances” (The Los Angeles Times) combine “the expressive control of Casals with the creative individuality and virtuoso flair of Hendrix himself” (Gramophone). He has performed with leading orchestras around the United States and the world, including the San Francisco, New World, and Toronto symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and BBC Scottish and Mariinsky symphony orchestras, and he was principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony from age 22 to 24.

Roman released the ambitious and deeply personal “Immunity” in October 2024 on Bright Shiny Things. The album—his first as a solo artist—is a musical exploration of Roman’s life altering experience of ongoing Long COVID, with music ranging from J.S. Bach to George Crumb to Caroline Shaw, as well as Roman’s own compositions. Since the album’s release, he has continued raising awareness of the condition and the importance of finding strength in vulnerability through performances and speaking engagements in the U.S. and abroad. These engagements have included residencies at Stanford University and Yale University; participation in the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum; and well-being concerts at Carnegie Hall.

Roman’s 2025-26 season features the continuation of his Immunity project, both on tour and with Long COVID clinics in December 2025; as well as ongoing trio performances with violinist Tessa Lark and double bassist Edgar Meyer in festivals and recital halls across the U.S. Additional highlights of the 2025-26 season include concerto appearances with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and Bellingham Symphony Orchestra. 

Roman plays an 1830 Giovanni Francesco Pressenda on a generous loan through The Stradivari Society of Chicago. 

Joshua Roman’s website is joshuaroman.com.

About Edgar Meyer
Hailed by The New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument,” Edgar Meyer is the only bassist to be awarded both the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and MacArthur Grant, solidifying his unparalleled talent in his field. In 2024, he was honored with his sixth and seventh Grammy Awards for “As We Speak,” the second acclaimed studio album released with long-time friend and collaborators, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Rakesh Chaurasia. 

2024 also saw a complete recording of Meyer’s three concertos for bass and orchestra with The Knights, conducted by Eric Jacobsen and produced by Chris Thile. The concerto project includes his Concertino for Bass and 14 Strings, recorded in 2023 with the Scottish Ensemble led by Jonathan Morton, who commissioned and toured the piece with Meyer in 2022.

In addition to his performing and recording career, Meyer is a celebrated composer, seamlessly displaying a range that encompasses classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Most recently, he was one of five composers commissioned by American violinist Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic for Bell’s project The Elements, which had its world premiere in 2023.

In the 2025-26 season, Meyer continues his U.S. tour with violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Joshua Roman, performing newly commissioned works alongside his trios. He also joins fellow bassist Christian McBride to tour their 2024 album, “But Who’s Gonna play the Melody?”, and reunites with George Meyer and Mike Marshall to tour the U.S. with music from their celebrated album “Short Trip Home.”

Meyer is the subject of an ongoing documentary filmed and produced by Tessa Lark, Andrew Adair, and Michael Thurber. 

Edgar Meyer’s website is edgarmeyer.com.

About Abeo Quartet
Njioma Grevious, violin
Rebecca Benjamin, violin
James Kang, viola
Macintyre Taback, cello

The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet from 2021 to 2023. Abeo's accomplishments include receiving Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition, reaching the semi-finals at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and being among the ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition. The Quartet won both the First Prize and Audience Favorite award in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and the Silver Medal in the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Additionally, Abeo was a finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Competition and the Silver Medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Abeo has performed at the Perlman Music Program Suncoast, La Jolla Chamber Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Princeton Festival, Emerald City Music in Seattle, WA, and Sunday@Central in Columbus, OH, among other series.  The Quartet was the 2024 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, an exciting yearlong residency. Other performances have included Caroga Lake Chamber Music Collective, Every Blue Moon Concert Series in Inverness, CA, and the Carnegie Hill Concerts inaugural Sunset Series in New York City. Most recently, they performed at Clarion Concerts in Hudson, NY and were named the winners of this year’s Excellence Award for the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth.  

This season, Abeo looks forward to making a return to both the Schneider Concert Series in New York City and to Chesapeake Music in Easton, MD. They also make their Shriver Hall Concert Series debut in Baltimore, MD.

Previous performance highlights include performances at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series with the Danish String Quartet, and WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces. Abeo was invited to perform in Norway’s 2019 Vertavo Festival, performing seven Haydn string quartets, and was in residence at the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, MD, debuting "Moonshot" by Alistair Coleman.

The Quartet studied and performed at Music@Menlo, with the Emerson Quartet at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and with the Brentano String Quartet at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Abeo was coached by members of Quatuor Ébéne, and the Alban Berg, Takács, Artemis, Cecilia, and Meta4 string quartets. During their time at Juilliard, Abeo studied regularly in the Honors Chamber Music Program under the tutelage of the Juilliard String Quartet with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, and Roger Tapping.

The quartet chose the name Abeo / ah - bey - oh / — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — to reflect their love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others. Their website is abeoquartet.com

Photo of Edgar Meyer, Tessa Lark, and Josha Roman by Robbin Myers; photo of Abeo Quartet by Titilayo Ayangade

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ season is made possible through generous support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County Commission for Arts & Sciences, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Peggy & Yale Gordon Trust, and William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund.

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