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CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors
2023-2024 Season Highlights
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) celebrates the passing of the artistic torch and the theme of Legacy this season, with the historic final farewell concerts of the Emerson Quartet (Oct) and the Orion Quartet (Apr). CMS’s Winter Festival, Quartet Panorama (Feb-Mar), features four of today’s leading quartets – the Calidore, Schumann, Cremona and Escher Quartets -- who are carrying the string quartet repertoire into the future.
Additional highlights of the season include the Sonic Spectrum series, four concerts featuring music by living composers, including two world premieres and four New York premieres; a Halloween concert including Gregg Kallor’s “The Telltale Heart;” the annual Baroque Festival in December; an evening with cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han (Jan); an evening with pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, including his own compositions (Mar); and an evening of music by George Crumb and Tan Dun (May).
Concerts take place in Alice Tully Hall (ATH) and at the Rose Studio (RS)
Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
OPENING NIGHT – STRING SONORITIES
In the tradition of the great conductorless chamber orchestras, seventeen of CMS’s incomparable virtuosi gather for an evening of lush and bracing works for string orchestra by Elgar, Bartók, Grieg, Walker and Britten.
Event page with artists and program
Saturday October 21, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
Sunday October 22, 2023, 5:00 PM, ATH
EMERSON STRING QUARTET: FAREWELL PERFORMANCE
In a historic event not to be missed, the Emerson String Quartet says goodbye from the CMS stage with Beethoven and Schubert (with special guest David Finckel).
Event page with artists and program
Sunday October 29, 2023, 5:00 PM, ATH
Saturday November 4, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
RACHMANINOFF: THE COMPOSER & PIANIST
One evening that pairs Rachmaninoff’s singular voice as a composer with compositions by his contemporaries (October 29) and another that focuses on major piano works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, alongside music by Debussy and Bolcom, that was influenced by Rachmaninoff.
Event pages with artists and program, October 29 and November 4
Left to right: Jennifer Johnson Cano, Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung, Arnaud Sussman, Nicholas Canellakis, Ayano Kataoka, Ian David Rosenbaum
Tuesday October 31, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
THRILLS AND CHILLS: GREGG KALLOR’S “THE TELL-TALE HEART”
Selections from Beethoven, Gregg Kallor and Bartók, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and percussionists Ayano Kataoka and Ian David Rosenbaum, in a program that also includes music for piano and strings.
Event page with artists and program
Thursday November 9, 2023, 7:30 PM, RS
SONIC SPECTRUM I: TWO WORLD PREMIERES & A NEW YORK PREMIERE
The series opens with two world premieres for clarinet, cello and piano—Soul-Bird (2021) by Todd Cochran and Trio Noir (2022) by Libby Larsen; the New York Premiere of Wang Jie’s new work for Narrator, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (2023 / CMS Co-Commission); and music by Reena Esmail and Saad Haddad.
Event page with artists and program
December 1-19
CMS’s ANNUAL BAROQUE FESTIVAL
Alice Tully Hall
Friday December 1, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
Sunday, December 3, 2023, 5:00 PM, ATH
BAROQUE COLLECTION
Harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss curates and performs a collection of rediscovered Baroque chamber works, most of which are being performed at CMS for the first time, including the rarely heard Rebel.
Event page with artists and program
Sunday December 10, 2023, 5:00 PM, ATH
BACH’S ART OF THE FUGUE
CMS’s annual Bach program presents The Art of the Fugue, arranged for string quartet and wind quintet, by American flutist, conductor, pedagogue Samuel Baron (1925-1997).
Event page with artists and program
The Brandenburg Concertos at CMS in Alice Tully Hall
Friday December 15, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH,
Sunday December 17, 2023, 5:00 PM, ATH
Tuesday December 19, 2023, 7:30 PM, ATH
30TH ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF THE BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS
CMS welcomes the holiday season with the 30th annual presentation of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, this year performed in numerical order (for the first time at CMS since 2005).
Event page with artists and program
Thursday January 18, 2024, 7:30 PM, RS
SONIC SPECTRUM II: NEW YORK PREMIERE BY JESSIE MONTGOMERY
The New York premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s Musings for Two Violins (2023 / CMS Co-Commission) as well as music by Lera Auerbach; 2023 CMS Stoeger Prize Winner Chris Rogerson; and Kaija Saariaho.
Event page with artists and program
Sunday January 28, 2024, 5:00 PM, ATH
AN EVENING WITH DAVID FINCKEL AND WU HAN
CMS’s Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han perform a program of music by Bruce Adolphe (Couple, written for them), Debussy, Shostakovich, and Dvořák’s Quartet with Bowers Program artists Richard Lin (violin) and Timothy Ridout (viola).
Event page with artists and program
February 27 – March 10
WINTER FESTIVAL
QUARTET PANORAMA: A Four-Concert Series
Alice Tully Hall
The Winter Festival presents four spectacular ensembles whose artistry is lighting the way for the next generation of string quartets, three of which (Calidore, Schumann and Escher) are alumni of CMS’s Bowers Program, dedicated to developing the chamber music leaders of the future.
Clockwise from Top left: Calidore, Schumann, Cremona, and Escher
Tuesday February 27, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
WINTER FESTIVAL: CALIDORE STRING QUARTET
Music by Bach/Mozart, Mendelssohn, Purcell, and Britten.
Event page with artists and program
Sunday March 3, 2024, 5:00 PM, ATH
WINTER FESTIVAL: SCHUMANN QUARTETT
Music by Beethoven, Berg and Smetana.
Event page with artists and program
Friday March 8, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
WINTER FESTIVAL: QUARTETTO DI CREMONA
Music by Osvaldo Golijov, Shostakovich and Schubert.
Event page with artists and program
Sunday March 10, 2024, 3:00 PM, ATH
WINTER FESTIVAL: ESCHER STRING QUARTET
Bartók’s complete string quartets in one afternoon.
Event page with artists and program
Tuesday March 19, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN: FIRST SOLO RECITAL AT LINCOLN CENTER
The pianist and composer delves into the piano repertoire with rarities and original compositions that are all new to the CMS stage. The program includes music by Haydn (and musical tributes by Debussy, Ravel and Brown); Brown’s Breakup Etude for Right Hand Alone and Scriabin’s Nocturne for Piano Left Hand; and works by Delphine von Schauroth, Mendelssohn and Adolf Schulz-Evier.
Event page with artists and program
Tuesday April 2, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
ORION STRING QUARTET: FAREWELL PERFORMANCE
The Orion String Quartet, founded in 1987, has been playing as season artists with CMS since 1997. Their farewell features major quartets by Schubert and Beethoven.
Event page with artists and program
Sunday April 7, 2024, 5:00 PM, ATH
A SOLDIER'S TALE
Stravinsky’s masterful work The Soldier’s Tale, for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, percussion, violin and double bass is brought to life by an all-star ensemble, including mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, whom The New York Times called “revelatory… secure throughout her range, with dusky depths [and] ringing heights;” the incomparable young German-Russian clarinetist Sebastian Manz, winner of ECHO KLASSIK and OPUS KLASSIK awards and named a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist; the brilliant percussionist Ayano Kataoka, known for her dynamic technique and the unique elegance of her movement on stage; and the young trumpeter Brandon Ridenour, who was just named to the venerable American Brass Quintet. The program also features Telemann’s Gulliver Suite, songs by Ravel and Respighi’s Il Tramonto – all works with a dramatic flair.
Event page with artists and program
Thursday April 11, 2024, 7:30 PM, RS
SONIC SPECTRUM III: NEW YORK PREMIERE BY DAVID SERKIN LUDWIG
The third concert in the Sonic Spectrum series offers works by Felipe Lara Livro dos Sonhos for Clarinet and Piano (2004); Kurt Schwertsik Haydn lived in Eisenstadt for Viola and Piano, Op. 122 (2020); Johannes Maria Staud Lagrein for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (2008); a new work by David Serkin Ludwig for Piano, Violin, and Cello (2024) (CMS Co-Commission, New York Premiere); and Viet Cuong Wax and Wire for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (2014)
Event page with artists and program
Thursday May 2, 2024, 7:30 PM, RS
SONIC SPECTRUM IV: NEW YORK PREMIERE BY JAKE HEGGIE
The Miró Quartet perform the New York Premiere of "Home" by Kevin Puts.The quartet is joined by horn player David Byrd-Marrow for music by Jörg Widman, Dai Fujikura, Caroline Shaw and Eleanor Alberga.
Soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and Sandbox Percussion
Tuesday May 7, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
SONGS AND SNOW: GEORGE CRUMB & TAN DUN
George Crumb’s haunting American Songbooks is paired with Tan Dun’s visceral remembrance of the Tiananmen Square conflict. An all-star line-up of guest performers includes soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and Sandbox Percussion.
Event page with artists and program
Saturday May 18, 2024, 7:30 PM, ATH
Sunday May 19, 2024, 5:00 PM, ATH
TOTALLY MOZART: CMS SEASON FINALE
Well-loved masterpieces by Mozart and works not often performed.
Event page with artists and program (May 18 and 19)