Meet the Artistic Directors

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Efi Hackmey Piano

Pianist Efi Hackmey is co-founder and co-artistic director of Chiarina Chamber Players. Known for his “feather-light pianism” (Washington Classical Review), Efi has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, the Kennedy Center and Bargemusic..... Read More

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Carrie Bean Stute Cello

A versatile performer bringing “sonorous life” to the stage [Cleveland Plain Dealer], cellist Carrie Bean Stute is co-founder and co-artistic director of the Capitol Hill-based chamber music series Chiarina Chamber Players. A recipient of a 2020 Classical Commissioning grant from Chamber Music America..... Read More

Our Mission

With a roster of world-class artists, Chiarina’s mission is to create an engaging, inclusive listening experience that connects audience members, performers, and music by a diverse spectrum of composers from the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. We believe that chamber music is a living art form and that its collaborative synergy represents the potential for unity and teamwork in a community — and in the world at large. With live performance as the cornerstone of our art, we build bridges with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

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Our Story

Founded in 2015 by pianist Efi Hackmey and cellist Carrie Bean Stute, Chiarina — a hybrid of chamber music series and self-presenting performer collective — brings distinctive chamber music performances and innovative programming to an intimate neighborhood setting in the historic residential sector of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Recognized in the Washington Post for putting on “some of the most compelling chamber music programs in town” and noted in the Washington Classical Review’s Critic’s Choice (2023-24) and its Top Ten Performances of 2022 and 2021, Chiarina is the recipient of grants from Chamber Music America, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, including that organization’s inaugural Franzén Award for the Arts. Chiarina’s performances are regularly featured on Classical WETA’s Front Row Washington.

Chiarina has collaborated with the award-winning Attacca and Aizuri Quartets in mini-residencies that included public concerts and visits to neighborhood public schools. Chiarina’s guest artist roster features performers from such ensembles as the Catalyst and Orion String Quartets, Orpheus and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Chamber Music Society, New York Philharmonic, and National Symphony Orchestra, and faculty members from such institutes as the Juilliard and Mannes Schools, Peabody and Bard Conservatories, and the University of Maryland.

Highlights of the 24-25 season include a collaboration with Imani Winds, to include visits to neighborhood schools, a commission and premiere by composer Reinaldo Moya, a concert for families and children, a chamber opera about the life of Josephine Baker in celebration of Black History Month, piano quintets with pianist Michelle Cann, and more. During its 2021-2022 season, Chiarina presented “The Best Cuisine,” a commission and world premiere by Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon, a project made possible by a Classical Commissioning Grant from Chamber Music America. Chiarina’s debut album of chamber music by Carlos Simon will be released in 2025.

The inspiration for Chiarina’s namesake comes from Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9, for piano. The name reminds us not only of Schumann’s imaginative spirit, but of his pianist-composer wife Clara, one of the most consequential musical figures in 19th-century Germany.

Chiarina Board & Staff

Carrie Bean Stute Co-Artistic Director
Efi Hackmey Co-Artistic Director
Stephen Daniels Treasurer
Felicia Weiss Secretary
Martha Pope Director
Maygene Daniels Director
Jackie Zins Director
Brendan Sweeney Operations Manager