The Kalos Arts
Ensemble

What is an Evening with the Kalos Arts Ensemble?

The Kalos Arts Ensemble performs Souvenirs & Passions: An Evening of Chamber Music — an intimate salon concert of original works by composer and pianist Gustav Hoyer, anchored by internationally acclaimed violinist Teimuraz Janikashvili. The evening begins before the first note, as guests gather with light refreshments. When they are invited to find their seats, the composer opens not with a program note but with a question: how do we hear music?

The spoken presentation guides listeners into a quality of attention that most music never asks for. Hoyer speaks briefly before each work — honest, personal context that opens the listener without explaining the music away. The music itself is instrumental: no words, no narrative. It is, as Hoyer describes it, the sculpture of vibrating air — you sit in a tub of vibrating air together, sharing those vibrations with each other. What passes from the musicians' hands through the air is reconstituted in the listener's own soul.

The evening closes with a post-concert reception: wine, food, and the ensemble present to meet the audience. The composer in the room, the performers at arm's length, 75–150 people who came to listen. This is an encounter that concert hall formats cannot replicate.

Light as a Second Language of the Music

Salon performances include a bespoke real-time lighting environment built specifically for these events. The system captures the live audio of each instrument as it is played, analyzes it across the full frequency spectrum, and drives DMX-controlled stage lighting in real time.

Each instrument has its own light bar, showing the full profile of its sound — the fundamental pitch and all the overtones — translated into color: reds for the lowest frequencies, rising through the spectrum to violets and blues for the highest energies. A second layer of ambient lights washes the room in the color of each instrument's fundamental, driven by intensity — how loudly or softly the instrument is sounding. The piano displays which specific notes are sounding across its full range at any given moment.

Audiences are cradled in light the way they are already being cradled in the sound waves of the music. The goal is not storytelling. It amplifies and reinforces; it does not compete or explain. This is not a light show. It has been built to deepen the encounter.

Watch the Ensemble

Filmed live at the inaugural concert — St. Peter's Anglican Church, Souderton, PA, May 2026. Video assets are in production and will appear here as they are completed. The Hero Reel and Chroma feature are targeted for release before the July 2026 touring window.

Video placeholders above will be replaced with embedded players as assets are completed.
Additional excerpts and the full Chroma feature will be added on a rolling basis.

The Ensemble

Violin I · Concertmaster Teimuraz Janikashvili

Internationally acclaimed soloist and concertmaster. Solo debut at age eight with the Georgian National Orchestra. Trained at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Prof. Irina Bochkova. Member, Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra under Yuri Bashmet (1994–1999). Since 2004, regularly engaged as guest concertmaster and soloist with leading European orchestras including the National Orchestra of Spain, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia. Endorsed by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) as an artist of extraordinary ability. Lincoln, Nebraska.

Violin II Cynthia Knotts

Degrees in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy, Wheaton College and The Hartt School. Concertmaster, Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra and Manchester Symphony Orchestra. Performed with the Hartford Symphony and Eastern Connecticut Symphony. Private Suzuki studio since 2003. Windsor, Connecticut.

Viola Casie Runkle

An active violist with fourteen years performing with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. Her repertoire spans orchestral masterworks, film scores, and pop music; she has served as section leader and participated in school outreach concerts. She maintains a large private studio of violin and viola students. B.M. in Viola Performance, University of Memphis; M.M. in Performance with Emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy, The Hartt School of Music. Winner of the concerto competition at both universities. Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Cello Eric Jones

Cellist and educator whose passion for chamber music began in high school and remains, as he describes it, the most engaging music he plays. Degrees in cello performance from Stetson University and Temple University. Festival training at the Schlern International Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Brevard Music Center. Studied with Orlando Cole, Deborah Reeder, David Bjella, George Work, Elizabeth Simkin, and Ron Leonard. Passionate music educator, currently on faculty at Philadelphia Classical School, Cairn University School of Music, and Csehy Summer School of Music. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Piano · Composer · Director Gustav Hoyer

Composer and pianist. Works recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Budapest Film Orchestra for Navona Records, including Symphony No. 1 (Navona, 2024, RSNO conducted by Miran Vaupotic). Chairman, Board of Directors, Kalos Arts Foundation. Fort Collins, Colorado.

What Is Involved in Hosting

The Kalos Arts Ensemble performs in donated or low-cost intimate venues — churches, university halls, private homes, galleries, and arts centers. Hosting is not a conventional presenter arrangement. You are not booking a touring act; you are partnering to bring something specific to your community, and your local knowledge, relationships, and networks are central to making it succeed.