Valentines at Tawny: Secret Notes of the Great Romantics with Lucy Yao and Jay Julio

"I would gladly write to you only by means of music, but I have things to say to you to-day which music could not express."
- Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann 1854

The letters were supposed to be burned. Narrowly avoiding a Victorian scandal and the death of her husband Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann made a pact to destroy a certain segment of their correspondence to protect their legacies.
But some words were too powerful to be lost to the flames.
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We are so thrilled to welcome Lucy Yao (Pianist) and Jay Julio (Violin) for an intimate Valentine’s Day evening at Tawny as we decode the secret ciphers and hidden longings of one of the 19th century’s most complex and tender relationships.

Join us for an evening to uncover the secret love letters and ciphers between the young Johannes Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann.

We welcome lovers of classical and contemporary music, first-timers, anyone who loves to find the story behind the notes.

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THE STORY
In 1853, a 20-year-old Brahms walked into the home of the legendary Robert and Clara Schumann. Within a year, Robert was institutionalized in an asylum, and Brahms was "spellbound" by Clara—a world-class virtuoso, mother of seven, and the woman he would address in his letters as "My Beloved Clara" while begging for a kiss.

Through a program of Schumann (Clara and Robert), Brahms, Bill Evans, and Johnny Hartman, we explore love in all its complicated forms: tender friendship, fierce loyalty, and the "slow-burning" romantic yearning that Brahms hid inside his music when he couldn't say it out loud.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Lucy Yao is a New York City–based collaborative pianist-composer, strategist, and chamber musician. She has been commissioned to compose and perform at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, New York Philharmonic, MIT Museum of Science, and Boston’s Celebrity Series, and Joffrey Ballet.

Lucy is the co-founder of Chromic Duo, an award-winning toy piano and creative studio project that commissions and performs new works for piano and toy piano. Through this work, she collaborates closely with a wide range of artists, students, and faculty at universities to expand what it means to tell stories through toy pianos, spatialized storytelling enabled by immersive technology (AR/VR). Her performances and projects are often presented in intimate venues and nontraditional spaces, from Central Park to NYC’s Chinatown.

As an educator, Lucy has taught and facilitated workshops with the American Composers Orchestra, Purdue, and across the country to work not only with composers and performers on collaboration, interpretation, and contemporary performance practice, but with students who are interested in storytelling. While at Purdue, she led a multidisciplinary team across Psychology, UX, Computer Animations, and Music, to create a mental health wellness initiative and installation that creates a relief valve for students struggling with mental health.

She is also a Citizens University Fellow, and her artistic work is shaped by an interest in how concerts can function as civic “third spaces”—places for gathering, listening, and connection beyond institutional or commercial settings.

Across performance, creation, and education, Lucy is committed to music as a shared, social practice.

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From Uniondale, New York, first-generation Filipino-American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and writer Jay Julio (b. 1997) splits time between NYC, Philadelphia, and on tour. Jay serves as Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and has performed with the American Composers Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and for over a year with the Angelica touring company of Hamilton. Solo appearances include concertos with the Ocala Symphony, the Marquette Symphony, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Jay has recorded for Parma, Nonesuch, and Broadway Records, including releases nominated for 2025 and 2026 Grammy Awards, and they have been heard on radio/TV across the US, Australia, and Europe both as musician and equity advocate.

They are a 2025 recipient of an Interdisciplinary New York State Council for the Arts grant and a 2025 YoungArts Alumni Microgrant to support the development of their original musical/literary/visual work america is in the heart, and will serve as a Tell Your Story fellow at the 2026 Spoleto Music Festival, working with members of the Charleston, SC community to devise a collaborative artistic work through the lens of local experiences.

They look forward to a renewed commitment to new music in the 2025-2026 season; highlights include shows with the BlackBox Ensemble in an all-Asian-American music program at National Sawdust, celebrating the album release of Charles Gaines’ Manifestos 6 at CAP UCLA, and regional premieres of works by James Lee III, Courtney Bryan, and themselves in a duo tour of the Midwest with pianist Josh Tatsuo Cullen.

What's the music?

Jay Julio (they/them) Violin

Lucy Yao Piano

Attendees

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Kevin K.

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Liz L.