Smithsonian Chamber Music Society concerts are held in the intimate Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, American History Museum (Photo: Hugh Talman/Smithsonian)
The 48th season of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society features musical masterpieces from the late-16th to the early 21st century, played on some of the world’s most highly prized musical instruments. The repertoire ranges from acclaimed masterpieces to undeservedly obscure gems by all-but-forgotten composers in this 6-concert series held mostly on Saturdays*.
This chronologically wide-ranging series begins in early November with the first of two appearances by the Smithsonian Consort of Viols, playing works by Elizabethan composers Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd. In mid-November, the Smithsonian Chamber Players offers a feast of sumptuous late-17th-century Austrian music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Johann Schmelzer, followed in December by a program of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord. The Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra concert in March, featuring baritone Mischa Bouvier, explores 20th- and 21st-century works ranging from the elegiac (Busoni, Mahler, and Richard Strauss) to the transcendently hopeful (Golijov). The four-hands fortepiano team of Naoko Takao and SCMS director Kenneth Slowik presents a Schubertiade later the same month. To cap the series, the Smithsonian Consort of Viols returns with a selection of Jacobean chamber music by John Jenkins and William Lawes.
Kenneth Slowik, SCMS artistic director and recipient of the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award, again curates a series of pre-concert talks one hour prior to many of the programs, shedding light on the glorious music and the lives and times of the featured composers.
*Concert Season Special Information
- Concert times vary throughout the season.
- This series includes five Saturdays and one Sunday concert on Sunday, March 16, 2025. The March 16 concert has a different location compared to the rest of the series and other varying terms so please read this section carefully.
- Location: All five Saturday concerts take place in the National Museum of American History’s intimate Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music at 14th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The Sunday, March 16 concert will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 301 A St. SE, Washington, DC (Metro: Capitol South).
Concert Season Repertoire
Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Music of Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd
The Smithsonian Consort of Viols
Kenneth Slowik, Arnie Tanimoto, Ryan Cheng, Catherine Slowik, and Chelsea Bernstein
Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.
Austrian Music from the Time of Leopold I
Works by Heinrich Biber, Johann Schmelzer, and Johannes Schenck
The Smithsonian Chamber Players
Edwin Huizinga and Manami Mizumoto, violins; Kenneth Slowik, Rebecca Landell, Catherine Slowik, Lily Schrantz, viols; Lucas Harris, theorbo; Webb Wiggins, organ and harpsichord
Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Obbligato Harpsichord
Catherine Manson, violin; Kenneth Slowik, harpsichord
Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.**
Ferruccio Busoni, arr. Schönberg: Berceuse élégiaque
Gustav Mahler, arr. Slowik: Kindertotenlieder
Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen
Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae
The Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra
Mischa Bouvier, baritone; Kenneth Slowik, conductor
**Note the March 16 concert is on a Sunday and will be held at a different location compared to the rest of the series.
Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
4-hands Music of Franz Schubert
Naoko Takao and Kenneth Slowik, fortepiano
Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Music of John Jenkins and William Lawes
The Smithsonian Consort of Viols
Kenneth Slowik, Arnie Tanimoto, Ryan Cheng, Catherine Slowik, and Chelsea Bernstein
6 concerts
Special Opportunity for Subscribers
Subscribers to the Masterworks series are invited to attend a free concert on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 7 p.m., in the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History, when the 2024 edition of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Slowik, presents music by Haydn and Beethoven with fortepiano soloist Patricia García Gil, artist-in-residence at the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards at Cornell University. No reservations are required.
General Information
- All programs and artists are subject to change.
- In accordance with audience requests, several of the winter concerts take place during daylight hours.
- This series is also available on Sundays.
- If you are interested in additional Smithsonian Chamber Music Society in-person concert series, check out these 2024-2025 season options:
- Refer to our health and safety information for in-person programs.
