The Four Seasons
Four seasons, four concerts, four fabulous homes in Ansley Park! See below for tickets, and see you soon!
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Meet the Musicians
Choo Choo Hu
Robert Anemone, violinist (10/25/26)
Laura Usiskin, cellist (10/25/26)
ACME's artistic director, pianist, and Ansley Park resident Choo Choo Hu is committed to uniting well-curated musical programs, delicious refreshments, and spirited fellowship. In a world full of division and discord, Choo Choo strongly believes that we need community and harmony more than ever, and that the arts are one of the best avenu
ACME's artistic director, pianist, and Ansley Park resident Choo Choo Hu is committed to uniting well-curated musical programs, delicious refreshments, and spirited fellowship. In a world full of division and discord, Choo Choo strongly believes that we need community and harmony more than ever, and that the arts are one of the best avenues to bring about meaningful change.
The Bethlehem Morning Call has lauded Choo Choo as being “one of the finest musicians [they]'ve ever heard," and EarRelevant called her playing "second nature, just a breezy afterthought born of keen training and extreme talent."
Choo Choo has performed all across the world as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist. As a founding member and pianist of the non-profit ensemble vim, she is dedicated to bringing multidisciplinary performances of underrepresented living composers to underserved communities. In August 2026, she completed a Creative Residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. Recent solo engagements include appearances with the Atlanta Symphony, the Spokane Symphony, and the Atlanta Philharmonic.
Choo Choo works frequently with the Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Symphony's Talent Development Program, and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings as a collaborative pianist, and has previously held faculty positions at the Lovett School, the Atlanta Music Project, and the Baltimore School for the Arts. She is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where she studied with Leon Fleisher and Brian Ganz. She loves nothing more than to host wine and music reading parties, and dreams of one day opening a chamber music/arts festival in the mountains.
For more info about Choo Choo, visit choochoohu.com
Laura Usiskin, cellist (10/25/26)
Robert Anemone, violinist (10/25/26)
Laura Usiskin, cellist (10/25/26)
Laura Usiskin (she/her) is dedicated to enriching the world through music performance, education, and innovation. Praised for her "electrifying" (EarRelevant) and "thoughtful, attentive" playing (Alabama Entertainment), performances have taken her throughout the United States and Europe, including the Kennedy Center, Palazzo Chigi Saracin
Laura Usiskin (she/her) is dedicated to enriching the world through music performance, education, and innovation. Praised for her "electrifying" (EarRelevant) and "thoughtful, attentive" playing (Alabama Entertainment), performances have taken her throughout the United States and Europe, including the Kennedy Center, Palazzo Chigi Saracini (Siena, Italy), Symphony Hall (Boston), and New York venues including Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, Merkin Hall, Miller Theatre, Barge Music, Steinway Hall, Klavierhaus, and more. She has been honored to receive the Prix d’Instrument from the Écoles d'art Americaines (France) and the Aldo Parisot Prize at Yale University.
Usiskin is a devoted chamber musician and has performed with such renowned artists as Emanuel Ax, Richard Stoltzman, and Ani Kavafian. As a founding and current member of the Bayberry String Quartet, Usiskin has performed at Carnegie Hall, Chautauqua Institute, and has released the album Only Mozarts in the Building featuring the six Mozart Milanese string quartets. Usiskin is also a co-founder of the Atlanta-based nonprofit ensemble vim, a new music collective whose initiatives include composer commissions, interdisciplinary projects, and educational outreach.
Solo performances include the complete J.S. Bach solo suites as well as concertos of Dvořák, Shostakovich, and Haydn with the Montgomery Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and Georgia Philharmonic respectively. Usiskin's début solo album, Reimagining Bach, features the 3rd Bach Cello Suite as well as two solo suites that she commissioned for the project.
While completing the Artist-In-Residency program with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Usiskin founded and served as the inaugural Executive Director the Montgomery Music Project, an El Sistema strings program for school students of all income levels in Montgomery, Alabama. Now more than ten years old, the program has given intensive string instruction to more than a thousand children across three counties.
A committed educator, Usiskin has served on the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, through which she founded the chamber concert series Chamber Music @ AEIVA, as well as Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama School of Fine Arts, and STEP Birmingham. She is also a proud co-author of Resonance: A Multicultural Cello Method, a new method book for cellists featuring music by historically underrepresented cultures and people. She currently maintains a private studio of cello students at her home in Atlanta.
Usiskin's cello studies began at age five with Gilda Barston of the Music Institute of Chicago and continued with Richard Hirschl of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She graduated from Columbia University cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience and Behavior, The Juilliard School with a Master of Music, and Yale University with a Doctor of Musical Arts.
Robert Anemone, violinist (10/25/26)
Robert Anemone, violinist (10/25/26)
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Violinist Robert Anemone is the first prize winner of the 2015 Hudson Valley Philharmonic Strings Competition, the 2013-14 New England Conservatory Violin Competition, and the 2007 Concord Young Artist Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Concord Symphony, Univer
Violinist Robert Anemone is the first prize winner of the 2015 Hudson Valley Philharmonic Strings Competition, the 2013-14 New England Conservatory Violin Competition, and the 2007 Concord Young Artist Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Concord Symphony, University of Evansville Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory Philharmonia, and others, as well as in recital in the United States and Europe. Robert joins the second violin section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2020.
From 2018 until 2020, Anemone was in the first violin section of the North Carolina Symphony, where he also served as Acting Assistant Concertmaster for part of the 2019/20 season. Prior to that, Robert spent three years as concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic and a member of the Eykamp String Quartet, which served as the faculty artists-in-residence at the University of Evansville. From 2014 to 2019, Anemone also held the position of Principal Second Violin of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, where he served numerous times as Acting Concertmaster. Other orchestral engagements include appearances as guest concertmaster with Indianapolis Opera and Orchestra Kentucky, as well as performances and recording projects with a variety of larger ensembles including the Boston-based chamber orchestras A Far Cry and Discovery Ensemble, Odyssey Opera, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and the Callithumpian Consort.
As a chamber musician, Anemone has collaborated with such artists as the Borromeo String Quartet, Jeffrey Irvine, James Buswell, Stephen Drury and Grigory Kalinovsky, and has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Jordan Hall. During the summer of 2019, he took on the role of acting second violinist of the Jasper String Quartet as they toured across the United States. From 2015 to 2017, Anemone was a member of the Larchmere String Quartet, which gave recitals and masterclasses across the United States and Canada in such venues as the Chicago Cultural Center, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the University of Louisville’s Comstock Hall.
A graduate of James Buswell’s studio at the New England Conservatory (BM 2012, MM 2014), Robert was a recipient of the Dorothy J. Bales ’41 Violin Scholarship and was awarded the 2014 Gunther Schuller medal for outstanding graduate study. He received additional training at the Taos School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Heifetz Institute, where he worked with the Borromeo, Brentano, Miro, and Shanghai String Quartets, as well as Michael Tree, Robert McDonald, Thomas Sauer, Sylvia Rosenberg, Virginia Weckstrom, and Grigory Kalinovsky, among others. Passionate about passing on the knowledge he has gained from these mentors, he is a committed teacher and has taught at the University of Evansville, the North Bennet Street School, the St. Paul Chamber Music Institute, the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop, the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute, the Lamar Stringfield Music Camp, and others, and he has presented masterclasses at UNC Chapel Hill, Otterbein University, and the University of Evansville. In addition to music, Robert is an enthusiastic amateur woodworker and enjoys good coffee, bad movies, and the great outdoors.
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Brenda Nicole Moorer is a singer, songwriter, actress, and arts advocate hailing from Atlanta, GA. She has released three studio albums, with her 2020 release called "MARROW," produced by Troy Miller on Ropeadope Records, receiving FYC GRAMMY status. Jazz FM praises the album as "Absolute quality all the way through!" while Soul Tracks hi
Brenda Nicole Moorer is a singer, songwriter, actress, and arts advocate hailing from Atlanta, GA. She has released three studio albums, with her 2020 release called "MARROW," produced by Troy Miller on Ropeadope Records, receiving FYC GRAMMY status. Jazz FM praises the album as "Absolute quality all the way through!" while Soul Tracks highlights that "Brenda's voice is absolutely captivating!" Recognized as an Atlanta jazz staple by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Brenda has participated in the Atlanta Jazz Festival four times, headlining the main stage in 2023 alongside notable artists Christian Scott and Ledisi. She is a recipient of South Art’s Jazz Roads Grant and the New Music USA Emerging Artist Award, with her work receiving acclaim from Gilles Peterson and NPR. Brenda is also a trained actor, having studied at C Patten Studio in NYC. She was cast by Tony-Award-winning director Liesl Tommy as Brenda Franklin in the MGM official Aretha Franklin biopic "RESPECT," where had a supporting role alongside Jennifer Hudson. The film was nominated for NAACP's Best Motion Picture. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Brenda is a dedicated nonprofit arts advocate and serves on the board of the Atlanta Music Project. She is currently in the process of working on her fourth studio album.
Justin Bruns, violinist (3/14/27)
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Justin Bruns, violinist (3/14/27)
Justin Bruns began his tenure as North Carolina Symphony Concertmaster in September of 2025. He was previously the Associate Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for nearly two decades and before that Assistant Concertmaster at the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra. A seasoned orchestral leader and passionate chamber musician, Bruns
Justin Bruns began his tenure as North Carolina Symphony Concertmaster in September of 2025. He was previously the Associate Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for nearly two decades and before that Assistant Concertmaster at the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra. A seasoned orchestral leader and passionate chamber musician, Bruns is concertmaster of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Bellingham Music Festival, and has served as guest concertmaster with the São Paulo Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, among numerous others. His chamber music highlights include a Carnegie Hall debut, residencies at the Savannah Music Festival, San Miguel and Jackson Hole Chamber Music Festivals, world premieres of two dozen works, and frequent performance broadcasts on Performance Today. He is a familiar face to Atlanta audiences through performances with the Atlanta, Georgian, and Riverside Chamber Players along with the Peachtree String Quartet. A committed educator, Bruns has mentored students at Emory University, the National Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the NTSO Festival in Taiwan, New World Symphony, and through the ASO’s Talent Development Program. Bruns graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and earned his master’s Degree from Rice University.
Michael Kannen, cellist (6/6/27)
Brenda Nicole Moorer, singer (12/6/26)
Justin Bruns, violinist (3/14/27)
I have enjoyed a long, varied and extremely gratifying career in music. I am a musician because it connects me to people through music – whether audiences, collaborators or students – and, happily, my career has afforded me abundant opportunity to do so.
A pinnacle for me was my time in the Brentano String Quartet. I was a founding member
I have enjoyed a long, varied and extremely gratifying career in music. I am a musician because it connects me to people through music – whether audiences, collaborators or students – and, happily, my career has afforded me abundant opportunity to do so.
A pinnacle for me was my time in the Brentano String Quartet. I was a founding member of Brentano and making music with the three other magnificent musicians in that group was the essential experience of my career. We were very fortunate in having a lot of early success, and in those first years were awarded the
first Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society's award for best debut recital in England for the 1997-1998 season, and we were chosen to be the inaugural members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II program. We played in some of the most beautiful concert halls in the world, including Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Sydney Opera House. Soon after Brentano I joined the Apollo Trio and played in that group for over fifteen years. (You can find our recordings of the Dvorak Piano Trios on your favorite streaming services.) I have enjoyed playing in
numerous music festivals, but of special affection are my long-term associations with the Yellow Barn Music Festival (in Vermont), Music in Context (in Texas), and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival (in North Carolina), which has become a real musical home for me. Currently I am in the Cooperstown Quartet – another group of beloved colleagues with whom I not only play concerts, but also teach each summer at the Taos School of Music. Teaching chamber music has been at the very center of my musical life. For twenty-two years I was the Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where I continue to teach to this day. For me, teaching is a love equal to that of playing. Perhaps my proudest accomplishment was being awarded the Johns Hopkins Excellence in Teaching Award in 2019. Most musicians will tell you that it is the extraordinary people with whom you collaborate that forms the richest part of a life in music. Three great artists must be singled out for their outsized influence on my music making: flutist Paula Robison, violinist Sergiu Luca and the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher. Each
one changed me forever. But even a partial list of artists with whom I have played speaks for itself in
showing how fortunate a musical life I have led: Jessye Norman, Itzhak Perlman, Hilary Hahn, Daniel Phillips, Donald Weilerstein, Pamela Frank, Mitsuko Uchida, Kenneth Cooper, David Krakauer, Jörg Widmann, Steven Isserlis, and jazz artists Michael Formanek and Uri Caine.
After decades of playing on concert stages throughout the world, I have come to get my greatest satisfaction from playing in small venues for small groups of people who seek musical comfort and uplift: in shelters, prisons, hospitals, hospices and in people’s living rooms – all places where the connection is direct, immediate and visceral. For me, these experiences are at the very heart of why I am a musician.