Chamber Music Society Brings International Ensemble of Virtuoso Wind Players to Eight U.S. Cities, November 2-15, and to Lincoln Center on Sunday, November 17

Chamber Music by Poulenc, Beethoven and More

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), widely recognized as the world’s leading international chamber music organization, brings international, inter-generational ensembles of superb chamber music players to cities around the country and around the world as part of its extensive touring program. 

In November, CMS brings “Poulenc’s Homage to Winds” to eight cities, many of which are home to longtime CMS relationships. The tour begins at Drew University in Madison, NJ (Nov 2), the hometown of co-artistic director David Finckel, and where CMS has been performing for 20 years; another stop in the greater New York area is the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at Long Island University in Brookville, NY (Nov 3), where CMS is in its second year of a new partnership residency. CMS returns to St. Cecilia Music Center in Grand Rapids, MI (Nov 7), which has participated in a CMS residency since 2012, and Midwest Trust Center Yardley Hall in Overland Park, KS (Nov 8), a frequent stop for CMS tours. The tour continues on to The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA (Nov 10), where CMS has had a residency with regular performances since 2020 and the Harris Theater in Chicago, IL (Nov 12), part of a CMS residency since 2012. CMS heads west at the end of the tour for performances at the University of Nevada in Reno, NV (Nov 13) and Chamber Music Concerts at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR (Nov 15).  The tour culminates “at home” in New York with a final concert at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on November 17. While on the road CMS artists will also give masterclasses to students in Kansas City, Reno and Chicago.

This concert treats audiences to classics from the 18th through the 20th centuries, performed by some of the world’s best chamber music artists. The program opens with Beethoven’s Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon, and closes with Poulenc’s effervescent Sextet, which the composer described as “an homage to the wind instruments I have loved from the moment I began composing.”  Blending neoclassical elegance with French charm, this is a virtuosic work that promises to delight audiences with its infectious energy and melodic grace.

The tour is also a chance for musicians to spend time together as they move from venue to venue. “Touring with the Chamber Music Society is immensely gratifying,” said oboe player James Austin Smith. “As we bring these chamber programs to audiences around the country, we come to know each other more deeply, as musicians and as people. The teamwork inherent in chamber music—and the daring required to take risks together on stage—get stronger with each performance. Our audiences around the country sense that electricity; we can’t wait to share it with them!” 

"I'm so looking forward to sharing these masterpieces of the wind chamber repertoire with audiences around the U.S.,” said Adam Walker, who plays flute. “The Poulenc sextet in particular is such a treat to play, always satisfying and a lot of fun. To be playing it with such a dream team of musicians is very exciting and I’m sure it will be a tour to remember." 

The ensemble brings together the extraordinary British flute player Adam Walker, who appears as soloist regularly with UK orchestras and beyond; oboist James Austin Smith, called “virtuosic” and “dazzling" by The New York Times; veteran clarinetist David Shifrin, one of today’s most in-demand artists as a soloist, recitalist and chamber music  collaborator, and former Artistic Director of CMS; bassoonist Marc Goldberg, who served as principal bassoonist with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, and the internationally renowned Czech-born French horn player Radek Baborak.  Pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, hailed for his “powerful technique and a vivid imagination” (The New York Times), joins the wind ensemble on November 2 and 3; for the remainder of the tour, Anne-Marie McDermott, praised for her "daring, exquisite playing" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), is at the piano. CMS’s touring program presents 80 concerts this season around the globe, creating important opportunities for our artists to connect with audiences world-wide. For a full schedule of CMS’s touring concerts, visit the CMS website.  

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER: ON TOUR
Poulenc’s Homage to Winds

Beethoven Duo No. 3 in B-flat major for Clarinet and Bassoon, WoO 27 (1790–92)
Glière Four Pieces for Horn and Piano, Op. 35 (1908)
Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon (1922, rev.1945)
Martinů Sonata for Flute and Piano (1945)
Glinka Trio pathétique in D minor for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano (1832) (Nov 2 & 3)
Carl Reinecke Trio in A minor for Oboe, Horn, and Piano, Op. 188 (1887) (Nov 7-15)
Poulenc Sextet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, and Piano (1932-39)

ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT, Piano (Nov 7-15); MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, Piano (Nov 2 & 3) ADAM WALKER, Flute; JAMES AUSTIN SMITH, Oboe; DAVID SHIFRIN, Clarinet; MARC GOLDBERG, Bassoon; RADEK BABORÁK, Horn

TOUR DATES, November 2-15

*Indicates Michael Stephen Brown at the piano.  Anne-Marie McDermott is at the piano at all other concerts.

Saturday, November 2 at 7:30 pm*
Drew University, Madison, NJ
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Sunday, November 3 at 3:00 pm*
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at Long Island University, Brookville, NY
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Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 pm
St. Cecilia Music Center, Grand Rapids, MI
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Friday, November 8 at 7:30 pm 
Midwest Trust Center, Yardley Hall, Overland Park, KS
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Sunday, November 10 at 3:00 pm
The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA
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Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 pm
Harris Theater, Chicago, IL
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Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm
University of Nevada, Reno, NV
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Friday, November 15 at 7:30 pm
Chamber Music Concerts at Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR
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Sunday, November 17 at 5:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
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