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The 39th season of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society features musical masterpieces from the 17th to the early 20th century, played on some of the world’s most highly prized musical instruments. Two series, performed by the SCMS's accomplished artists, offer musical feasts simply unobtainable anywhere but at the Smithsonian. Concerts will be presented in three venues: the chic new Hall of Music in the National Museum of American History (which occupies the space formerly given over to the Hall of Musical Instruments); the newly restored Grand Salon of the Renwick Gallery; and the historic Smithsonian Castle Commons. One hour prior to each program, Kenneth Slowik, SCMS artistic director and recipient of the 2011 Smithsonian Secretary’s Distinguished Scholar Award, continues his popular pre-concert lectures, shedding light on the glorious music and the life and times of the featured composers.

For tickets and subscription information, visit: ResidentAssociates.org/Chamber (no handling fee), or call 202-633-3030 ($3 nonrefundable handling fee per phone order)

The Axelrod Quartet Series

The Axelrod String Quartet
Marc Destrubé, violin
Marilyn McDonald, violin
James Dunham, viola
Kenneth Slowik, violoncello

Smithsonian Chamber Music Society audiences Axelrod String Quartet are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments—one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicolò Amati—in this popular three-concert series. Over the course of the season, the Axelrod String Quartet concludes its traversal—begun last season—of Haydn's Op. 76 quartets. Each program is further developed around the presence of a guest artist or ensemble. For the November concerts, Deborah Dunham lends the profound voice of her instrument to Dvorak's String Quintet in G Major, Op. 77, which the Axelrods introduce with his Quartet in D Minor, Op. 34. Following its January tradition, the Axelrods invite a promising quartet early in its career to participate in a gala, all-Stradivarius-and-Amati reading of the Mendelssohn Octet. This year's choice is the Excelsa Quartet, the prize-wining graduate quartet-in-residence at the University of Maryland, College Park. Mendelssohn's Quartet in A Minor, based on his song, Frage ("Question"), fills out the program. For the final concerts, one of Schubert's most intriguing early quartets is paired with his incomparable two-cello Quintet, D956. Guest cellist Norman Fischer wields the powerful 1701 "Servais" Strad for these memorable performances.

Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 November 2015 at 7:30 pm
Hall of Music, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert

Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 January 2016 at 7:30 pm
Hall of Music, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert
Cancelled due to blizzard

Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 March 2016 at 7:30 pm
Hall of Music, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert

See the individual listings in the Concert Schedule for complete program information for the Axelrod Quartet Series.

The Masterworks Series

The Smithsonian Chamber Players

Vera Beths, violin
Phoebe Carrai, violoncello
Nicholas Cords, viola
Lucas Harris, lute
Edwin Huizinga, violin
Francis Liu, violin
Gregory Luce, viola
Loren Ludwig, viol
Marilyn McDonald, violin
Robert Mealy, violin
Robert Nairn, bass
Charles Neidich, clarinet
Molly Netter, soprano
Lambert Orkis, piano
William Purvis, horn
Mayumi Seiler, violin
Catherine Slowik, viol
Kenneth Slowik, violoncello, harpsichord, fortepiano, viol, conductor
Arnie Tanimoto, viol
Dominic Terisi, bassoon
Zoe Weiss, viol

The season opens with Robert Mealy and Kenneth Slowik completing their survey of Bach sonatas violin and obbligato keyboard. In January, a new, second-generation Smithsonian Consort of Viols explores English music from the first half of the 17th century. The  Castle Trio returns, with friends, in February, for two of the best-loved piano quintets in the repertoire: those of Dvorak (1887) and Brahms (1865). Paralleling the  Axelrod Quartet's  long-term Haydn survey, Mealy, Slowik, and cellist Phoebe Carrai  present another in the series of choice programs of Haydn piano trios in March. An all-Beethoven program, developed in conjunction with the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, brings a septet of winds and strings to test the acoustics of the new Hall of Music in early April with three of Beethoven's most joyus early-period works. The series concludes as the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra returns to the re-opened Grand Salon of the Renwick Gallery with a program of Schoenberg's revolutionary Op. 9 Chamber Symphony and the premiere of Slowik's new chamber-orchestra arrangement of Mahler's 4th Symphony.

Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 December 2015 at 7:30 pm
The Smithsonian Chamber Players
Works of J.S. and CPE Bach 
Smithsonian Castle Commons (5 December), Hall of Music, American History Museum (6 December)
Lecture one hour before the concert

Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 January 2016 at 7:30 pm
The Smithsonian Chamber Players
Consort Music of John Dowland and William Lawes
Music Hall, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert

Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 February 2016 at 7:30 pm
The Castle Trio and Friends
Quintets of Dvorak and Brahms
Music hall, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert

Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 March 2016 at 7:30 pm
The Smithsonian Chamber Players
Piano Trios of Joseph Haydn
Music Hall, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert

Saturday 3 & Sunday 9 April 2016 at 7:30 pm
The Smithsonian Chamber Players
Beethoven: "Spring" Sonata, Trio Op. 9, No. 1, and Septet, Op. 20
Music Hall, American History Museum
Lecture one hour before the concert 

Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 April 2016 7:30 pm
The Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra
Schoenberg & Mahler
Music Hall, American History Museum

Please note: there will be no lectures before these concerts

See the individual listings in the Concert Schedule for complete program information for the Masterworks Series. Some of these concerts may also be heard in Washington, Virginia, at The Theatre at Little Washington. To check the schedule, visit www.theatre-washington-va.com

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