Coming up in Philly music: Natalie Zhu and friends

The 1807 & Friends chamber series frequently teams leading local pianists with the veteran Philadelphia Orchestra musicians in its core ensembles. For their next Monday-night soiree, the Friends will host Natalie Zhu, a pianist with an exceptionally sensitive touch.

The main event will be Schumann’s Quartet in E-flat Major for piano and string trio, a work that’s guaranteed to hand a major experience to the audience. The other quartet on the program will be one of the first pieces to combine the piano with the string trio, Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Major. The opener will be something less familiar — a prelude and fugue for string trio by Gerald Finzi, a 20th-century English composer best known for his choral works.

1807 & Friends dates from the legendary early days of the Chestnut Street Transitway, an experiment in car-free streets that opened in 1976 and died in the late ’90s. A group of young musicians played for handouts on the Transitway and followed their street busking with private chamber-music sessions at 1807 Sansom Street. Their get-togethers mutated into a series that has lasted 37 years and become one of the many little treasures tucked into the Philadelphia music scene.

1807 & Friends will partner with Natalie Zhu on Monday, March 12, at 7:30pm at the Academy of Vocal Arts (1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia). Tickets ($20) are available by calling 215-438-4027, online, and at the door.