Austin Chamber Music Center Appoints New Artistic Director

Violinist Sandy Yamamoto will lead the Center from September 2024

The Austin Chamber Music Center (ACMC) recently announced that violinist Sandy Yamamoto will serve as its new Artistic Director, and she will step into the position in September 2024. Frank Jenkins has also been appointed as the Center's new Managing Director.

A renowned chamber player, Yamamoto spent a significant period of her career playing in the Miró Quartet, with whom she appeared throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. She is a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Cleveland Quartet Award, won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Yamamoto presently holds an Associate Professorship at the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2016 her pedagogical skill was recognized with the Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award. She frequently appears around Austin with the Butler Trio and the Schumann Chamber Players.

"It is a privilege and an honor to become the new Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center," Yamamoto said. "Chamber music, education, and performing are all very important in my life, and I am excited to be able to combine my passions to serve the community of Austin."

"I look forward to collaborating with my new team, meeting more people, sharing inspirational music from artists from around the world, and making Austin Chamber Music Center an even bigger hub for chamber music in Austin."

"We are thrilled for the appointments of Frank and Sandy," said said Carl Caricari, ACMC Board President. "ACMC will have a strong and imaginative future and we will continue to be a force in serving our community through chamber music performance, education, and community engagement."