Smithsonian Chamber Music Society concerts are held in the intimate Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, American History Museum (Photo: Hugh Talman/Smithsonian)
Featuring musical masterpieces from the first decade of the 17th century to the early 21st, the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society (SCMS) celebrates its 50th season with performances on some of the world’s most highly prized musical instruments. Concerts (except for February 28 and April 7 programs) take place in the National Museum of American History’s intimate Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, with repertoire ranging from acclaimed masterpieces to undeservedly obscure gems by frequently overlooked composers. Veteran musicians of the Society, some returning to the series after many years, are joined by emerging artists on several programs.
Concert Season Information
This chronologically wide-ranging series begins in mid-September with a tribute to the 400th anniversary of the death of the English lutenist and composer John Dowland, when the Smithsonian Consort of Viols is joined by the exceptional lutenist Lucas Harris.
Later that month, members of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra join distinguished soloists for a program devoted to virtuoso works of Georg Philipp Telemann, J. S. Bach’s predecessor in Leipzig and godfather to his second-eldest son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.
In late November, Drew Minter and Slowik explore Schubert’s chilling monodrama on texts by Wilhelm Müller, which the composer called “a cycle of terrifying songs” that “have affected me more than have any other of my Lieder.”
Another masterful song cycle, Gustav Mahler’s autumnal Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”), brings back members of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra in a chamber arrangement completed by the Dutch composer Reinbert de Leeuw shortly before his death six years ago.
In early April, the strings of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra give a Wednesday evening performance of Mahler’s rarely heard “expansion” of Schubert’s haunting “Death and the Maiden” quartet.
In mid-April, Naoko Takao joins Slowik in a 4-hands Schubertiade.
The season concludes with an evening of music Haydn composed for the Esterházy court’s baryton-loving prince. Leopold Mozart called the baryton “one of the most charming of instruments” whose sound resembles that of “the soft humming of bees.”
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Kenneth Slowik, SCMS artistic director and recipient of the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award and Early Music America’s Howard Mayer Brown Lifetime Achievement Award, again curates a series of pre-concert talks one hour before most programs (except February 28 and April 7 concerts), shedding light on the glorious music and the lives and times of the featured composers.
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Concert Season Repertoire
Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
John Dowland: Lachrimæ, or Seaven Teares (1604)
The Smithsonian Consort of Viols
Kenneth Slowik, Arnie Tanimoto, Ryan Cheng, Catherine Slowik and Chelsea Bernstein, viols, with Lucas Harris, lute
Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
Suites and Concerti of Georg Philipp Telemann
Priscilla Herreid, oboe and recorder; Edwin Huizinga, violin; Kenneth Slowik, viola da gamba; Webb Wiggins, harpsichord; with members of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra
Sunday, November 22, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.
Schubert: Winterreise, D 911 (1827)
Drew Minter, baritone; Kenneth Slowik, fortepiano
Sunday, February 28, 2027 at 7:30 p.m.
Gustav Mahler, arr. Reinbert de Leeuw: Das Lied von der Erde (1908–09/2019)
Rhianna Cockrell, mezzo soprano; Gene Strenger, tenor
with members of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra
Catherine Manson, concertmaster; Kenneth Slowik, conductor
No pre-concert talk available
Location to be announced
Wednesday, April 7, 2027 at 7:30 p.m.
Franz Schubert, arr. Gustav Mahler: String Quartet in D Minor, D 810, Death and the Maiden (1824/1894) plus works of Bartók, Barber, and Warlock
Strings of the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra
Catherine Manson, concertmaster; Kenneth Slowik, conductor
No pre-concert talk available
Location: St. Mark's Capitol Hill, 301 A St SE, Washington, DC 20003
Sunday, April 18, 2027 at 6:30 p.m.
4-hands Music of Beethoven and Schubert
Naoko Takao and Kenneth Slowik, fortepiano
Sunday, May 9, 2027 at 6:30 p.m.
Music for Prince Nikolaus Esterházy “the Magnificent"
Edwin Huizinga, violin; Isaiah Chapman, viola; Kenneth Slowik, baryton and fortepiano
7 concerts
General Information
- All programs and artists are subject to change.
- Most Masterworks of Five Centuries concerts will be held in person at Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, National Museum of American History at 14th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC, except for the February 28, 2027 (location TBD) and the April 7 concert (St. Mark's Capitol Hill).
- If you are interested in additional Smithsonian Chamber Music Society in-person concert series, check out these 2026-2027 season options:
