Lyon-Sasaki Duo – Upcoming Concerts

Cellist Mitchell Lyon and pianist Mika Sasaki met in 2017 at the Charles Ives Chamber Music Intensive in Danbury, C.T., where they both taught and performed as Artist Faculty. They found themselves equally passionate about chamber music, community engagement, and education, and have since become close collaborators on a variety of projects, from chamber music performances of traditional, contemporary, and original repertoire for cello and piano, to educational workshops.

Both alumni of The Juilliard School, Mitchell and Mika have performed in a variety of concert halls and intimate spaces around the world, and have worked regularly with students and community members of all ages in New York City as teaching artists for the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, respectively, and Juilliard.

As individuals, they have established themselves as active and versatile performers and educators in the city and beyond. Mitchell performs regularly in Lincoln Center and is a founding member of Empire Wild, a crossover trio of two cellos and voice/piano/percussion. His festival appearances include the Woodlands, Norfolk, Fontainebleau, Meadowmount, and Valley of the Moon, among others. Mika recently completed her doctoral degree at Juilliard, where she teaches keyboard studies and piano in the College and Evening Divisions, respectively, and tours frequently as a member of Ensemble Mélange. Her summer festival appearances include the Nord Anglia Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard, pianoSonoma, Music@Menlo, Chigiana, Tanglewood, Taos, Yellow Barn, and Aspen.

Their artistic vision as a duo is to meet new audiences and help listeners make personal connections with different kinds of music.