Seattle Chamber Music Society Names Balourdet Quartet its First String Quartet in Residence

Quartet to appear throughout King County from September 2025 to May 2026

©Kevin W. Condon

Seattle, May 20, 2025 — Seattle Chamber Music Society, a cornerstone of the American classical music scene since 1982, is proud to announce the acclaimed Balourdet Quartet as its first-ever string quartet in residence, from September 2025 to May 2026. Praised for its vibrant energy and masterly blend of technical precision and emotional depth, the Balourdet Quartet will be embedded in King County, Wash., during its nine-month residency, with a multitude of engagements across the county, including special community events, educational initiatives, and formal concerts. 

“This long-term partnership with the extraordinarily gifted Balourdet Quartet allows us to deepen our artistic mission in ways that extend far beyond the stage,” said James Ehnes, Artistic Director of Seattle Chamber Music Society. “By relocating to Seattle, the quartet will engage meaningfully with students and audiences across King County, not only performing but becoming part of the fabric of our community. This is the only residency of its kind at a non-academic institution — fully dedicated to artistic excellence and community engagement rather than traditional public concert presentation.”

The Balourdet Quartet — Angela Bae, violin; Justin DeFilippis, violin; Benjamin Zannoni, viola, and Russell Houston, cello — is currently the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. In 2024, it received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award. “We’re honored to be the inaugural ensemble for Seattle Chamber Music Society’s new String Quartet in Residence program,” said Bae. “We look forward to an exciting 2025–26 season of performances and meaningful involvement in SCMS’s education and community outreach across King County.”

©Stephen Barton

During the residency, SCMS and the Balourdet Quartet will launch community partnerships and travel to schools in King County to present outreach events. The group will present Azure Concerts — free and engaging performances tailored to children and young adults who are on the autism spectrum; mentor and coach students from the SCMS Youth Academy; and perform in the Living Room Concert Series, at the Crescendo Concert series in private homes, and as part of the SCMS Signature Series, alongside Artistic Director James Ehnes and other SCMS musicians. During the residency, the Balourdet Quartet members will live in housing provided by Skyline Seattle, the cosmopolitan retirement community in downtown Seattle.

The members of the Quartet will participate in a media event on May 20 at the Center for Chamber Music, to announce the start of the residency later in the year. The event consists of a short performance by the Quartet, followed by lunch and a Q&A session. 

The residency is sponsored by Heidi Charleson, a long-time and steadfast supporter of Seattle Chamber Music Society. The program is inspired by the taxpayer-funded program, Doors Open, a cultural access initiative by King County that aims to make the arts, science and heritage accessible for all residents. It is also made possible by housing support from Skyline Seattle.

“For nearly two decades, arts and local government leaders championed a vision of expanding cultural access for exactly this purpose — to create opportunities for all King County residents to explore, find joy, and forge connections through the arts, sciences, and heritage,” said King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, a key architect of the Doors Open cultural access levy. “I am delighted that our efforts are already showing a positive impact, bringing world-class performers like the Balourdet Quartet to King County and making their artistry accessible to audiences throughout our County. This residency perfectly exemplifies what the Doors Open initiative was designed to achieve.”

For more information, including updates on all upcoming SCMS performances by the Balourdet Quartet, please visit seattlechambermusic.org.

For more information about the Balourdet Quartet, please visit balourdetquartet.com.

©Nielsen Competition

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.

About the Balourdet Quartet

The Balourdet Quartet is acclaimed for their vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision and emotional depth that brings a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions. Its unique closeness and willingness to take creative risks earned it the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. With more than 70 concerts per season, recent highlights include the Balourdet’s debuts at Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, and new string quartets by composers Karim Al-Zand, Paul Novak, and Nicky Sohn through grants from Chamber Music America (2021) and the Barlow Foundation (2023). They are graduates from the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program.

"Curiosity is at the core of human nature" — Roberto Díaz’s life lessons on The Strad

Roberto Díaz is an American–Chilean violist of international reputation and the president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music. He discusses the importance of technique and curiosity in the latest issue of The Strad.

“Curiosity is at the core of human nature. I would find it impossible to name one great artist, scientist or engineer who didn’t have a healthy sense of curiosity,” he says. “We often speak to young musicians about the importance of keeping their minds open to opportunities and experiences that may not immediately seem to pay off, or might appear to have very little to do with what they want. I strongly recommend that young players stay open-minded, because you never know.”

Photo by Charles Grove

Read the full piece HERE.

Seattle Chamber Music Society Announces Tasting Notes 2

Live music and cooking demonstrations from Seattle’s best chefs and the world’s best classical musicians returns for second edition

James Ehnes and J. Kenji López-Alt (photo credit: Chona Kasinger)

Seattle, May 5, 2025 — Seattle Chamber Music Society, a cornerstone of the American classical music scene since 1982, is excited to announce that Tasting Notes 2, a one-night-only live music and cooking event, is returning by popular demand this year on July 25 for its second edition. Tasting Notes 2 is created and hosted by J. Kenji López-Alt, a chef, food writer for the New York Times and Serious Eats and a best-selling author, and co-hosted by James Ehnes, the Artistic Director of SCMS. The fundraising event will take place in the Taper Auditorium at Benaroya Hall; it is part of SCMS’s 2025 Summer Festival — the World’s Largest Chamber Music Party — a five-week celebration of chamber music from June 20 to August 1. Tickets to Tasting Notes 2 will be available at seattlechambermusic.org starting today.

“When I moved to Seattle and connected with friends at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and started attending their concerts and sight-reading parties, not only did I find my outlet, I also found a new passion project,” says López-Alt, who is also the creator and host of the popular YouTube channel Kenji’s Cooking Show, and a trained violinist. That passion project was to “create a live stage event that would explore the parallels between music and food, and demonstrate them in a tangible and even tasteable way.” It led to the creation of Tasting Notes, which first took place in 2024.

Some of Seattle’s finest chefs are participating: Kelly Van Arsdale of Spinnaker Chocolate and Kevin Smith of Beast and Cleaver will return to the stage from last year. New to the second edition are Renee Erickson, the James Beard Award-winning restaurateur; Lee Kindell of MOTO Pizza; and Shota Nakajima of Bravo TV’s Top Chef and the Food Network’s Tournament of Champions. They will join world-class musicians James Ehnes, Tessa Lark, Adam Nieman, Jun Iwasaki, Joan DerHovsepian, Bion Tsang and Brant Taylor for a live experience that brings together these two delectable art forms.

(photo credit: Chona Kasinger)

The theme of Tasting Notes 2 is the process of designing an experience from the small-scale — a single dish or piece of music — to the grand, such as an entire front- and back-of-the-house restaurant experience and a full music festival. The demonstrations and conversations include both the artistic aspects and the mechanical and logistical details required to bring these projects to fruition. Guests are treated to live cooking demonstrations alongside the live music performances; each chef performs a silent demonstration of one of their signature dishes or techniques, with accompaniment from a thematically linked piece selected by Ehnes. This year the program includes selections by Brahms, Mozart, Dvořák, and Moritz Moszkowski, among others. In between each movement/course, the chef and one of the musicians leads a guided conversation, hosted by López-Alt and Ehnes, exploring one specific aspect of the relationship between food and music.

All attendees this year will join in a Spinnaker Chocolate experience and a MOTO Pizza after-party in the lobby. For VIP ticket holders there will be an exclusive reception with tasting menus, Gård Vintners wine pairings, and artist meet-and-greets.

Tasting Notes is sponsored by Skyline Seattle, James A. Penney, and Lauraleigh Young. 

For more information and updates, please visit seattlechambermusic.org.  

Tasting Notes 2 Guest Chefs:

• Renee Erickson: chef and proprietor of Sea Creatures, which operates many Seattle restaurants that focus on Pacific Northwest seafood, including The Walrus & The Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Bateau, and Boat Bar. She is also a painter and the author of several cookbooks.

• Lee Kindell: founder of MOTO Pizza, which makes delicious Detroit-style pizza with a variety of innovative toppings. Kindell has expanded his business to serve thousands of guests a day at his restaurants, at T-Mobile Park, and at a soon-to-be-launched catering operation.

• Shota Nakajima: multiple James Beard Award-nominated restaurateur who cooks both innovative and traditional Japanese cuisine. He regularly appears on competition shows, such as Bravo TV’s Top Chef and Food Network’s Tournament of Champions.

• Kelly Van Arsdale: co-founder of Spinnaker Chocolate, the Award-winning chocolatier that makes some of the best chocolate in Seattle produced from the finest cacao in the world.

• Kevin Smith: chef, proprietor, and head butcher at Beast and Cleaver. He makes an excellent pâté en croûte and is also a former painter.

Seattle Chamber Music Society presents: Tasting Notes 2

• July 25, at 7 p.m.

• Taper Auditorium at Benaroya Hall, Seattle

(photo credit: Chona Kasinger)

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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Media contact:
Matt Herman, Managing Director
8VA Music Consultancy
matt@8vamusicconsultancy.com 

Alexander Shelley and National Arts Centre Orchestra Featured on BBC Music Magazine, May 2025 Issue

(BBC Music Magazine, May 2025)

The May 2025 issue of BBC Music Magazine is out. Charlotte Smith wrote a fabulous feature about the Mentorship Program and other educational initiatives at Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. The organization is serious about education, and its flagship orchestra is training the next crop of top musicians.

A highlight:

Read the full feature HERE.

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, harmonium; Stella Chen, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello; 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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Shepherd School of Music's "The Ghosts of Versailles" Reviewed on San Francisco Classical Voice

Shepherd School of Music’s The Ghosts of Versailles | Credit: Lynn Lane

By Katelyn Simone

When the Metropolitan Opera commissioned John Corigliano to write his first opera in celebration of the company’s centennial in 1983, he pulled out all the stops. The result, premiered in 1991, was The Ghosts of Versailles, a maximalist spectacle layering Mozartian pastiche, lush romanticism, and 20th-century dissonance into storylines that swirl through time, the afterlife, and operatic history — by turns haunting, comedic, and moving.

Ghosts was an inspired choice in 2025 to commemorate another milestone: the 50th anniversary of the Shepherd School of Music at Houston’s Rice University. The school’s recent production, which opened April 11 to a sold-out house, met Corigliano’s vision with equal ambition in a compelling performance that made clear Shepherd’s educational philosophy and aspirations for the next 50 years.

As described by Joshua Winograde [director of opera studies at Shepherd], opera studies at Shepherd function as a kind of laboratory: a space where students test, integrate, and apply what they’ve learned, reflecting Rice’s broader research ethos. This production of Ghosts stood as a testament to the results — and potential — of that approach to training the next generation of artists.

Under conductor Benjamin Manis, the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra navigated the score’s shifting styles with agility. The orchestra was most compelling in the Act 2 interlude — a musical metabolism of Marie Antoinette’s realization of Beaumarchais’ sacrifice. Solo woodwinds traded a fragile high-register motif, while declamatory brass brought clarity and resolve as she ultimately chose not to alter history. In such a dense score, some balance issues inevitably arose, particularly affecting the male singers.

Shepherd School of Music’s The Ghosts of Versailles | Credit: Lynn Lane

To read Katelyn Simone’s full feature/review, click HERE.

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