Seattle Chamber Music Society Announces Partnership with Alaska Airlines

Performances from SCMS’s 2024 Summer Festival are now available to view on Alaska Airlines’ inflight entertainment system

Seattle, April 25, 2025 — Seattle Chamber Music Society announces a new content partnership with Alaska Airlines, offering archival recordings of SCMS performances on the airline’s inflight entertainment system, free for passengers on most Alaska Airlines flights. The first set of broadcasts is available now and comprises performances from SCMS’s 2024 Summer Festival: the World’s Largest Chamber Music Party. On June 1, 2025, three additional videos will be added to the platform, for a total of six broadcasts.

“We’re excited about bringing Seattle Chamber Music Society’s world class festival performances to Alaska Airlines fliers, and this partnership is a fantastic addition to our mission to make classical music more accessible to all,” said John Holloway, SCMS Executive Director. “With our Virtual Concert Hall performances currently enjoyed by fans in 12 countries and 40 states, we love that we can now add ‘above 30,000 feet’ to that list as well!”

All three broadcasts currently available feature SCMS Artistic Director, violinist James Ehnes, playing alongside other fantastic musicians on the SCMS roster. The recordings are sourced from SCMS’s Virtual Concert Hall, an unrivaled concert streaming platform that recreates the energy of a live performance through six HD camera angles and crystal-clear audio. Full details are below; information on the broadcasts to be released on June 1 will be announced at a later date.

Episode 1: Dvořák Bagatelles, Shostakovich Quartet No. 8; Mozart Divertimento

James Ehnes, violin; Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Edward Arron, cello; Andrew Armstrong, piano; Karen Gomyo, violin; Alexander Kerr, violin; Meredith Kufchak, viola; Efe Baltacıgil, cello; Jonathan Vinocour, viola; Ani Aznavoorian, cello

Dvořák’s Bagatelles charm with folk tunes, while Shostakovich’s Quartet and Mozart’s Divertimento dive into deep personal and emotional expression.

Episode 2: Babajanian Piano Trio; Dvořák Piano Quintet No. 2 

James Ehnes, violin; Andrew Armstrong, piano; Stella Chen, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello; Andrew Armstrong, piano; Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello

Babajanian’s Trio burns with rhythmic drama, while Dvořák’s Quintet fuses Czech passion and classical grace in vibrant, heartfelt themes.

Episode 3: Beethoven Septet

James Ehnes, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Paul Watkins, cello; Timothy Cobb, bass; Anthony McGill, clarinet; Stéphane Lévesque, bassoon; Radovan Vlatković, horn

Beethoven’s Septet blends elegance and energy, with playful themes and variations, marking the composer's rise as a major musical force.

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Curtis Opera Theatre presents Bernstein’s "Candide"

Curtis Opera Theatre’s 2024–25 Centennial Series concluded last weekend with Leonard Bernstein timeless Candide — filled with sparkling wit, soaring melodies, and globe-trotting grandeur — at the Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia’s premier Broadway touring theatre. Director Emma Griffin and conductor David Charles Abell led an exciting cast of rising young opera stars and members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. “...the artistry of Curtis Opera Theatre takes flight,” writes Linda Holt in her review for Broad Street Review, Philadelphia's online arts and culture journal.

Conductor David Charles Abell and stage director Emma Griffin unbottled the explosive drive and pent-up talent of a cast of brilliant artists and musicians, and nurtured their development in these roles, taken on for a mere two performances. From the sizzling overture to the resounding final chorus, this was a class production allowing artists to shine and audiences to laugh unabashedly and perhaps shed a tear of appreciation for the gift of so much musical talent.

To read the full review, click on the image below:

"Blue Electra," by Anne Akiko Meyers, out now

Today, Anne Akiko Meyers — one of the world’s most esteemed violinists, and a muse and champion of today’s most important composers — releases her latest album on Naxos, Blue Electra, featuring the violin concerto of the same title by Michael Daugherty. The piece was commissioned by and written for Meyers, who is joined on the album, her 43rd, by the Albany Symphony under conductor David Alan Miller.

Blue Electra, the album's longest work, is a dramatic violin concerto inspired by the extraordinary life and enigmatic disappearance of Amelia Earhart (1898–1937), the pioneering aviator who, in 1928, became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. A vivid, captivating tribute to the accomplishments and history of Earhart, Blue Electra gets its world-premiere recording. Earhart vanished without a trace in 1937 while flying her “Electra” airplane over the Pacific Ocean. Celebrated worldwide as “Queen of the Air,” she also advocated for women’s rights, taught aviation at Purdue University, and wrote three books and poems.

The violin concerto "is very lyrically beautiful," Meyers told Laurie Niles in her interview with violinst.com. "I really love the way that Michael tells a story - there is always a narrative throughout his music. Blue Electra is melodious and incredibly accessible. He makes it easy for me to share the story. There's everything from super-high notes to swooping figures. There are bellies of notes where you feel like you're flying on the fingerboard, and there are harmonics, where you feel like you're dropping out of the sky."

Every time I play Blue Electra I am reminded of her bravery and her courage. It's empowering, to share this beautiful story about how she felt in the sky - the feeling of being free, being like a hawk and looking down at the Earth and seeing life go by. Or looking from the ground and seeing the clouds, and imagining herself floating in those clouds.

All of these composers amaze me - they have this imagination that pushes me to new creative places that I wouldn't have ever dreamed of going on my own. I am so inspired by their musical minds and how they can create something like musical painting, or even a poem, and make that come alive through music. It's eternal, what can be said through music.

Critic David Hurwitz also reviewed the album. Twice! “Written for soloist Anne Akiko Meyers, it would be difficult to imagine a finer performance: soulful and virtuosic by turns,” he writes for Classics Today.

And he also recorded a video interview for his YouTube channel, calling Anne a "wonderful violinist still at the top of her game ... [who] plays magnificently."

Blue Electra is available on all streaming platforms.

Marc-André Hamelin's New Album with the Takács Quartet Reviewed on The Guardian

For world-class musicianship and brilliant chamber music interplay, look no further than the collaborations between the extraordinary Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin and the superb Takács Quartet. Dvořák & Price: Piano Quintets is their fifth album together on Hyperion records; it was released in March 2025. Like in the group's previous offerings, the results captured on the album are spectacular, with two works that are vital and invigorating. It is a “chamber-music dream team,” writes Erica Jeal for The Guardian.

While Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major (1887) has long been a chamber music staple, Price's Piano Quintet in A minor is a relatively recent find — the manuscript was only discovered in 2009, about 70 years after Price wrote it and more than 50 years after her death. Jeal singles out the third movement, which Price, as in her symphonies, casts as a juba — a dance from the plantations. “[As] played by Hamelin and the Takács it is fleeter of foot, jazzy and sparkling,” she says.

Read the four-star review here.

Stream the album here.

Marc-André Hamelin (Sim Cannety)

Sandbox Percussion’s Tiny Desk Concert Out Today!

The GRAMMY-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion, a true champion of contemporary art music, today joins the A-list of performers from across all genres who have appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, the popular stripped-down live-music series that has become a 21st-century pop culture phenomenon. In its genre-defying program, Sandbox Percussion presents music by Andy Akiho and Viet Cuong, two of the most important voices in contemporary classical music. 

“It is a dream come true to join the Tiny Desk community,” said Ian Rosenbaum, who co-founded the Brooklyn-based quartet in 2011 with fellow members Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, and Terry Sweeney. “Our group has always been shaped by the composers we work with, who have helped make Sandbox what it is, and we’ve chosen two very special people. We met Viet in college, and have worked with him on many projects, from Water, Wine, Brandy, Brine to Re(new)al, his fantastic concerto for Sandbox and orchestra. We also met Andy in school; he’s the creative force behind Seven Pillars. Thank you for watching!”

Sandbox Percussion: The Tiny Desk Concert

• Pillar III (Andy Akiho)

• Water, Wine, Brandy and Brine (Viet Cuong)

• Karakurenai (Andy Akiho), with Akiho on steelpan

Watch video now HERE

Read feature on NPR here

L-R: Akiho, Rosenbaum, Allen, Caccese, Sweeney, and Cuong

Carlos Simon Featured on NPR's "Amplify With Lara Downes"

Carlos Simon, GRAMMY-nominated composer, curator and activist who is the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair, was featured this week on NPR's "Amplify With Lara Downes." The show is a series of intimate, profoundly personal video conversations between Downes, who is a concert pianist, and Black creatives who are leading change and redefining the culture.

Carlos Simon descends from three generations of preachers. His great-grandfather was ordained in 1924; his grandfather and father both followed at the pulpit. Carlos grew up in Atlanta, where family life revolved around the weekly rhythm of his father's church: Monday night was Bible study, Thursday night was choir rehearsal, Saturday was for cleaning the church and mowing the grass. By the time he was 10, Carlos was playing the piano for Sunday services.

That deep-in-the-DNA gospel was the foundation for his musical life, as a keyboardist and music director for artists like Angie Stone and Jennifer Holliday, and as a composer whose work for both concert stage and film uses a distinctive blend of gospel, jazz and unabashedly romantic influences.

Watch the full video conversation HERE.

Parlando’s Debut Album Reviewed on San Francisco Classical Voice

The ensemble Parlando, praised by the New York Times for its “smart, unusual programming,” recently released its debut album, Censored Anthems, on DELOS. The program explores music from the 20th century as a tool of cultural resilience in the face of censorship, particularly in the Soviet Union.

These are “vigorous performances, enhanced by excellent production, [making] for invigorating listening,” writes San Francisco Classical Voice. “Thoughtful performances of key works, supplemented with audio commentary by conductor Ian Niederhoffer — who founded Parlando in 2019 — show how these three very different personalities managed to survive and compose ‘with a KGB agent in the room’.”

The album opens with a selection from Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, arranged by Niederhoffer. Following is the Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra by the Polish, Soviet, and Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg, whose career was shaped by persecution during Stalin’s anti-cosmopolitan campaign. The American violinist Aubree Oliverson is the featured soloist. The final piece is the Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani by the Armenian composer Edvard Mirzoyan, the son of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Andrew Beall is the featured timpanist.

To read the full review, click here.

Seattle Chamber Music Society Announces 2025 Summer Festival

Join the World’s Largest Chamber Music Party, June 20–August 1, at Nordstrom Recital Hall, online, and throughout the Seattle area.

(To download image, click HERE)

Seattle, March 18, 2025 — Seattle Chamber Music Society, a cornerstone of the classical music scene since 1982, announced today the programming for its 2025 Summer Festival, the World’s Largest Chamber Music Party. The five-week celebration of extraordinary music and first-rate artists takes place June 20–August 1, with 12 mainstage concerts at Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, each including a free pre-concert recital; two outdoor concerts in idyllic parks in Seattle and Bellevue; 18 concerts aboard The Concert Truck; the live music and cooking event Tasting Notes; and an exciting variety of community and education programs. Chamber music fans and casual listeners alike can expect to hear some of the most beloved and iconic works from the repertoire alongside lesser-known gems and new music by some of the most original and compelling voices of today. (Full program details are below.)

Among the renowned artists participating this year are violinists James Ehnes, Elena Urioste and Noah Bendix-Balgley; pianists Yulianna Avdeeva and Inon Barnatan; and cellists Bion Tsang and Sterling Elliott. Highlights include masterpieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky; music by important 20th-century composers, such as Mieczysław Weinberg, Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach; and a selection of lesser-known works handpicked for the festival, including neglected pieces by Mel Bonis, Charlotte Sohy, and Moritz Moszkowski.

For those who can’t attend in person, all 12 mainstage concerts will be livestreamed through SCMS’s state-of-the-art Virtual Concert Hall; the content will also be available on-demand following the festival. Featuring six camera angles, live intermission interviews with SCMS musicians and hosts from Classical KING, Seattle’s premier classical music radio station, this digital experience brings the magic of chamber music straight to the viewer’s home. Available worldwide, the Virtual Concert Hall has reached more than 40 states and 12 countries to date.

“I want every single program to be the kind of concert that if I saw it listed I would say ‘I have to go to this!’,” says James Ehnes, the Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling Artistic Director of SCMS. “We have an incredible collection of the world’s greatest musicians coming to Seattle to play works that are close to their hearts. Each program is designed to show off the range of what chamber music can communicate, and the incredible artistry of our players.”

On July 20, SCMS proudly presents the world premiere of Martin Kennedy’s Verses for Piano Quintet, the 2025 piece commissioned by the SCMS Commissioning Club, which supports the creation of a new chamber piece every year. In different programs there will also be music by contemporary composers Ethan Soledad and John Novacek. Soledad’s piano quintet Poems from Angel Island was co-commissioned by SCMS, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Northwest. It will be performed on July 27. Novacek’s Music for 8, a string octet, was co-commissioned by SCMS, Schubert Club, Colorado College, and Festival Mozaic. It will be performed on July 17.

In addition to the concert hall performances, audiences are invited to enjoy outdoor concerts in a relaxed setting at two stunning parks — Bellevue Downtown Park (July 12) and Seattle’s Volunteer Park (July 19) — including a community play-along one hour before each concert. The festival opens with a series of 18 concerts running June 20–July 3 aboard The Concert Truck, taking the joy of live music throughout the Seattle metropolitan area. Locations include Seward Park, Alki Beach, and the Bellevue Botanical Garden (all locations and dates will be announced soon).

A highlight of the festival is Tasting Notes, returning this year on July 25, and hosted by James Ehnes and J. Kenji López-Alt. Tasting Notes brings together Seattle’s best chefs and a selection of the world’s greatest classical musicians for live music and cooking demonstrations in the Taper Auditorium at Benaroya Hall.

“I’m very proud of the balance of these programs, which is always a goal for me,” added Ehnes. “Each represents the very best of SCMS, and is designed to leave our audience fulfilled, inspired, and eager to continue their personal journey with this incredible art form.”

James Ehnes, SCMS Artistic Director

Seattle Chamber Music Society: 2025 Summer Festival
The World’s Largest Chamber Music Party: June 20–August 1

Benaroya Hall (Nordstrom Recital Hall): 200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101

• All Sunday concerts at 2 p.m.: July 6, 13, 20 & 27; pre-concerts (free) start at 1 p.m.

• All others at 7:30 p.m.; July 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 and Aug 1; pre-concerts (free) start at 6:30 p.m.

Tasting Notes at Benaroya Hall (Taper Auditorium): July 25
200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101; 7:30pm

Community and education programs (see details below):
SCMS Center for Chamber Music: 601 Union St Ste 220, Seattle, WA 98101

Bellevue Downtown Park (Chamber Music in the Park): July 12
10201 NE 4th St, Bellevue, WA 98004 (6:30 p.m. Community Play-Along; 7:30 p.m. concert)

Volunteer Park (Chamber Music in the Park): July 19
1247 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112; (6:30pm Community Play-Along; 7:30 p.m. concert)

For a full list of programs, including free pre-concerts, please visit seattlechambermusic.org.

—June 20–July3—

The Concert Truck: 18 locations in the Seattle metropolitan area, including Seward Park, Alki Beach, and the Bellevue Botanical Garden. The full list of locations and dates will be announced soon. For updates, please visit seattlechambermusic.org.

—July 6—  

Franz Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio No. 25 in E minor, Op. 57 No. 2, Hob. XV:12
Jeewon Park, piano; Noah Geller, violin; Efe Baltacıgil, cello  
George Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 25, dans le caractère populaire roumain
Yura Lee, violin; Inon Barnatan, piano 
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87 
James Ehnes & Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins; Che-Yen Chen & Beth Guterman Chu, violas; Edward Arron, cello  

—July 8—  

Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche, Suite for 2 Pianos, Op. 165b
Alessio Bax & Jeewon Park, pianos
Ludwig van Beethoven: Serenade for String Trio in D Major, Op. 8
Yura Lee, violin; Beth Buterman Chu, viola; Sterling Elliott, cello
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 14
Inon Barnatan, piano; James Ehnes & Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello  

—July 10—  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata for Piano and Violin in E-flat Major, K. 380
James Ehnes, violin; Alessio Bax, piano
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B-flat Major, D. 581
Yura Lee, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Sterling Elliott, cello
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26
Jeewon Park, piano; Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Beth Guterman Chu, viola; Edward Arron, cello

—July 12 (Chamber Music in the Park, Bellevue Downtown Park)—

Ernő Dohnányi: Serenade in C Major, Op. 10
Andrew Wan, violin; Beth Guterman Chu, viola; Sterling Elliott, cello
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
James Ehnes & Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello  

—July 13—

Franz Schubert: Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897 "Notturno"
Alessio Bax, piano; Andrew Wan, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello 
Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major, Op. 13
James Ehnes, violin; Orion Weiss, piano
Mieczysław Weinberg: Piano Quintet, Op. 18
Yulianna Avdeeva, piano; Amy Schwartz Moretti & Noah Geller, violins; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello  

—July 15— 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto in A Major for Piano and String Quartet, K. 414
Steven Osborne, piano; Amy Schwartz Moretti & Erin Keefe, violins; Matthew Lipman, viola; Raphael Bell, cello
Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 67
Orion Weiss, piano; Stephen Rose & Andrew Wan, violins; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello
Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47
Yulianna Avdeeva, piano; James Ehnes, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Efe Baltacıgil, cello 

—July 17—  

Claude Debussy: Six Épigraphes Antiques
Steven Osborne & Yulianna Avdeeva, pianos
John Novacek: Music for 8 (SCMS co-commission)
Erin Keefe, Andrew Wan, Amy Schwartz Moretti & Stephen Rose, violins; Matthew Lipman and Che-Yen Chen, violas; Edward Arron and Raphael Bell, cellos
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 16
Orion Weiss, piano; James Ehnes, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Efe Baltacıgil, cello  

—July 19 (Chamber Music in the Park, Volunteer Park)— 

Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111  
James Ehnes & Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins; Che-Yen Chen & Matthew Lipman, violas; Edward Arron, cello 
Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81, B.155 
Orion Weiss, piano; Andrew Wan & Erin Keefe, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Raphael Bell, cello  

—July 20— 

Claude Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140
Andrew Wan, violin; Steven Osborne, piano
Martin Kennedy: Verses for Piano Quintet (world premiere; SCMS commission) 
Paige Roberts Molloy, piano; Erin Keefe & Alexander Kerr, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Raphael Bell, cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet No. 5 in D Major, K. 593
James Ehnes & Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins; Che-Yen Chen & Matthew Lipman, violas; Edward Arron, cello  

—July 22—  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Flute Quartet in C Major, K. 285b  
Demarre McGill, flute; Jun Iwasaki, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Bion Tsang, cello
Paul Hindemith: Viola Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4 
James Ehnes, viola; Adam Neiman, piano
Rebecca Clarke: Morpheus for Viola and Piano 
James Ehnes, viola; Adam Neiman, piano 
Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor, Op. 45 
Steven Osborne, piano; Alexander Kerr, violin; Meredith Kufchak, viola; Brant Taylor, cello 

—July 24—  

Bohuslav Martinů: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola, H. 313 
Alexander Kerr, violin; Meredith Kufchak, viola 
Bedřich Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life"
Noah Geller and Jun Iwasaki, violins; James Ehnes, viola; Brant Taylor, cello 
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 6 in E-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2
Adam Neiman, piano; Tessa Lark, violin; Bion Tsang, cello  

—July 25— 

Tasting Notes

Join Seattle’s best chefs and the world’s greatest classical musicians for live music and cooking demonstrations by hosts Kenji Lopez-Alt and James Ehnes. For one night only, Renee Erickson, the James Beard Award-winning chef, and chefs Lee Kindell of MOTO pizza; Shota Nakajima of Bravo TV’s Top Chef and the Food Network’s Tournament of Champions; Kelly Van Arsdale of Spinnaker Chocolate; and Kevin Smith of Beast and Cleaver, will join musicians James Ehnes, Tessa Lark, Adam Nieman, Jun Iwasaki, Joan DerHovsepian, Bion Tsang and Brant Taylor, on stage at Benaroya Hall for a unique live experience that explores the parallels between food and music.

—July 27— 

Johannes Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99  
Mark Kosower, cello; Max Levinson, piano 
Ethan Soledad: Poems from Angel Island (SCMS co-commission)
Tom Poster, piano; Tessa Lark and Elena Urioste, violins; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Julie Albers, cello 
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 
Adam Neiman, piano; James Ehnes, violin; Bion Tsang, cello  

—July 29— 

Moritz Moszkowski: Suite for Two Violins and Piano in G minor Op. 71  
James Ehnes and Tessa Lark, violins; Max Levinson, piano 
Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11 
Tom Poster, piano; Elena Urioste, violin; Mark Kosower, cello
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 3 
Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Julie Albers, cello 

—August 1—  

Joaquín Turina: Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor, Op. 76  
Max Levinson, piano; Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin; Efe Baltacıgil, cello  
Mel Bonis: Andante religioso, Op. 78  
Mel Bonis: Allegretto ma non troppo, Op. 84  
Charlotte Sohy: Thème varié, Op. 15 
Elena Urioste, violin; Tom Poster, piano  
Franz Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, D. 956 
James Ehnes & Tessa Lark, violins; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Mark Kosower & Julie Albers, cellos 

To order single tickets or season subscriptions, click HERE.

The Virtual Concert Hall is generously sponsored by Diana K. Carey.

The 2024-2025 season is generously sponsored by Dave and Amy Fulton.

Community and Education programs: all at the SCMS Center for Chamber Music (all free with registration; dates to be announced)

• Four lectures (also streamed via Zoom)

• Sight-Reading party

• Azure Family Concert

• Open rehearsals

• Community Play-Along (Chamber Music in the Park)

About Seattle Chamber Music Society

The mission of the Seattle Chamber Music Society is to cultivate a deep appreciation for chamber music by presenting exceptional performances in welcoming and accessible formats. Through education, community engagement, and a commitment to excellence, SCMS seeks to position chamber music as a central cultural force, both locally and globally, while ensuring its enduring relevance and sustainability. 

Each year, SCMS presents a Winter Festival in January and a Summer Festival in July at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, bringing the world’s finest classical musicians to the stage. These intimate chamber music performances captivate both seasoned enthusiasts and newcomers alike. In addition to its renowned festivals, SCMS offers an expanded year-round lineup, including the new Signature Series, Crescendo Concerts in Seattle’s most stunning homes, and Concerts at the Center for Chamber Music, providing unparalleled access to extraordinary musical experiences. 

SCMS also enriches the community through dynamic engagement programs designed for audiences of all ages. From inspiring young learners in elementary schools to enriching lives in retirement communities, and from performances in hospitals and parks to concerts on wheels, SCMS remains steadfast in its mission to bring world-class chamber music to every corner of our community.

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Marin Alsop on the Wall Street Journal and New York Times

In March, Marin Alsop, one of the foremost conductors of her generation, conducted the New York Philharmonic in a new concerto by Nico Muhly, featuring violinist Renaud Capuçon.

"Preceding the concerto was a stirring, well-modulated account of Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3," wrote critic David Mermelstein for the Wall Street Journal. "Ms. Alsop demonstrated her prowess on the podium through disciplined phrasing and careful terracing of Beethoven’s plethora of climaxes."

Anything but a showboater on stage, Ms. Alsop, a former music director of the Baltimore Symphony, is a well-traveled American conductor of the no-nonsense school—ironic given her reverence for her old teacher, Leonard Bernstein. Her concerts are all about the music, and so it was heartening to observe not only a very full house coinciding with her guest appearance, but also the intensity of the applause she garnered throughout the evening.

To read the full review, please click here.

In the New York Times, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim wrote: "Alsop has an ability to manipulate time to expressive effect, and the sound she drew from the Philharmonic was cohesive and malleable, the playing poised between discipline and individual dazzle."

To read the full review, please click here.

This past month, Alsop became the first U.S.-born woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. She also conducted the Lorelei Ensemble and the National Symphony Orchestra in the Washington D.C. premiere of Julia Wolfe’s oratorio Her Story.

James Ehnes on the cover of ‘the Strad’

Violinist James Ehnes, the artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society, is on the cover of the March 2025 issue of The Strad. This month Ehnes is releasing an all-Bach album with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

In the story, Ehnes tells Thomas May about the latest chapter of his career, including his new album of the complete violin concertos by Bach, recorded with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. "I knew this was a rare chance to do the Bach concertos the way I wanted to: a miracle of logistics and circumstance," he said.

"Having known Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra for over 30 years and having worked with them in the capacity of Artist-in-Residence for the past three seasons, I felt there could be no better opportunity to explore these incomparable masterpieces," Ehnes writes in his program notes for the album, released on the ANALEKTA label.

Earlier this year, Ehnes extended his contract as Seattle Chamber Music Society’s artistic director.

The Strad, March 2025

To read the full article, please click here.