“Heartstrings,” featuring Empire Wild and ArcoStrum – September 18, 2025

Meet Empire Wild: Empire Wild is a genre-defying, crossover ensemble founded by Juilliard-trained cellists Mitchell Lyon and Ken Kubota. Blending classical training with a passion for musical exploration, the group fuses pop, folk, jazz, and more into original songs and innovative arrangements. Honored with the Ambassador Prize at the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, Empire Wild has captivated audiences around the globe with their distinctive sound and boundless energy. Their debut EP, Paper Seasons, features original works that highlight the ensemble’s unique instrumentation and voice. Live performances offer a vibrant mix of original music, inventive covers, and reimagined classics. Recent engagements include appearances at Newport Classical, Carnegie Hall Citywide, the Harriman-Jewell Series in Kansas City, and Jakarta’s Aula Simfonia. This season they look forward to performances across the country including stops in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and more!

The Journey: Mitch and Ken first crossed paths as undergraduates at the Juilliard School, drawn together by a shared desire to reimagine what cellists could be. Mitch brings a passion for guiding string players into new stylistic territories, integrating contemporary techniques into classical frameworks, and reshaping assumptions about the cello’s role. Ken, on a parallel journey, reoriented his artistic focus around joy, collaboration, and creative freedom—often playing the cello like a guitar and challenging conventions with curiosity and flair. Both are deeply committed to education and community engagement, helping students of all backgrounds find their creative voices. Empire Wild thrives on collaboration, inviting guest artists into their orbit to co-create dynamic, genre-blurring experiences. At its heart, the ensemble is a celebration of connection—across styles, across cultures, and across audiences.

ArcoStrum

Strauss Shi – violin, erhu, dizi|TY Zhang – classical guitar, electric guitar

Praised as “a first-rate ensemble among the new generation of performing artists,” ArcoStrum is a trailblazing violin-guitar duo hailed for their creative concert design, on-stage charisma, and innovative programming. A Winner and Audience Prize recipient at the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition—the first violin-guitar duo in CAG’s 70+ year history to achieve this—ArcoStrum is comprised of violinist Strauss Shi, a three-time international competition winner, and guitarist TY Zhang, the first and only Chinese classical guitarist to win the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition (GFA-ICAC).

The duo has brought its dazzling virtuosity and magnetic stage presence to sold-out audiences across China, Mexico, and the United States. Recent and upcoming highlights include debuts at New York City’s Merkin Hall, the Krannert Center, University of Nevada–Las Vegas, Austin Chamber Music Festival (with Empire Wild), Caramoor, Kravis Center, the Guitar Foundation of America, and more.

ArcoStrum believes in the power of music to spark imagination and is committed to delivering educational programs that inspire wonder, ignite passion, and empower the next generation. Their 2025 “RockoStrum” Summer Residency at the Fried Music School in Alhambra, CA brought students together to explore non-classical genres, arrange music collaboratively, and step outside their comfort zones.

On stage, they are ArcoStrum. Offstage, they are lifelong friends whose musical bond began as classmates at The Juilliard School and has evolved into a brotherhood rooted in curiosity, creativity, and a love for sharing music. ArcoStrum is represented by Concert Artists Guild.