Influence is not always loud. Sometimes it is a quiet room on Lexington Avenue, five musicians, and a masterpiece that has outlasted empires. Tonight, Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 — one of the defining masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire — will be performed at All Souls, 1157 Lexington Avenue, on the Upper East Side. Doors at 7:00 PM, music at 7:30.
The performers are an exceptional international ensemble: violinists Dmitri Berlinsky and Taisiya Losmakova, violist Marija Räisänen, cellists Mickey Katz and Adrian Daurov. Presented by Groupmuse and ART&MUSICA, hosted by Superhost Kofi H. and co-host Taisiya L.
The leadership lesson in the program
Consider what it takes to put on an evening like this. No massive institution, no seven-figure budget — just hosts who know their community, musicians at the top of their craft, and a $5 reservation that opens the door (with $50 or more at the event). Groupmuse built its reputation on live concerts in living rooms, backyards, and intimate spaces: small rooms, big art, real connection.
That is leadership in its purest form — assembling the right people around the right idea and letting excellence do the rest. The dress code is elegant evening attire; the event is wheelchair accessible and kid-friendly. Every detail signals intention.
Presence over noise
The people who shape culture are rarely the loudest in the room. They are the ones who show up, who gather others, who choose the profound over the fashionable. A Tuesday-night Schubert quintet will not trend — and that is precisely the point. Real influence is built in rooms like this one, note by note.
Tonight, Manhattan’s leaders in all but title will be at All Souls. The rest of us are invited too.
There is also a quiet confidence in the programming itself. Schubert’s quintet — scored unusually for two violins, viola, and two cellos — is not an easy crowd-pleaser; it is a profound late work that rewards attention. Choosing it signals that the hosts trust their audience. That trust, extended night after night in rooms across the city, is how a cultural movement gets built: one discerning program at a time.
Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.
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