Part concert, part film, part comedy – Humor & Harmony reinvents the traditional recital, colliding brilliant music, original shorts, and sharp humor. Cellist-filmmaker Nicholas Canellakis and pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown move seamlessly from gorgeous classics to their own virtuosic arrangements and originals to their wildly popular comedy films (which have garnered tens of millions of views online), creating one unforgettable evening.
Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Saturday, June 20, 5:00 pm
Humor & Harmony
An Evening of Music, Film, and Comedy with the Canellakis–Brown Duo
MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, piano
Michael Stephen Brown is a composer and pianist hailed by the New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” The 2026 Andrew Wolf Award Winner and a recent fellow at both MacDowell and Yaddo, he is also a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Brown performs internationally and receives commissions from orchestras, soloists, and festivals around the world.
Recent highlights include a recital at Alice Tully Hall for CMS, and collaborations with cellist Nicholas Canellakis and violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Kristin Lee, and Arnaud Sussmann. He is currently composing The Carnival of Endangered Wonders, a CMS-led project co-presented by a consortium of US presenters. His first album devoted entirely to his music, Twelve Blocks, will be released in February 2026. Brown is also composing the score for Angeline Gragasin’s upcoming film Look But Don’t Touch and lives in New York City with his two 19th-century Steinways, Octavia and Daria.
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NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, cello
Cellist Nicholas Canellakis is an innovative and widely sought-after performer whose career bridges classical tradition and creative exploration. He appears internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and tours widely in recital with pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown. A longtime artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he performs regularly at major venues and festivals worldwide and serves as Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona.
Canellakis recently joined the cello faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Equally active beyond the concert stage, he is an accomplished filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose creative content has reached millions of viewers. His latest album, (b)romance, was released in 2023, and he performs on an 1840 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello.Canellakis recently joined the cello faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, his alma mater. His latest album, (b)romance, featuring original works with Michael Stephen Brown, was released in 2023. He performs on an 1840 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello.
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