Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center Begins Fall Season On Oct. 16

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center opens its fall season in Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, October 16 with a concert titled Russian Inspiration, underscoring its 2018-19 focus on Russia's inspirational and deeply felt music. The performance will present pianists Michael Brown and Gloria Chien, violinists Benjamin Beilman and Ida Kavafian, violist Paul Neubauer, and cellist David Requiro in a program of works spotlighting composers who influenced Russia's musical evolution, from Viotti and Mozart to Liszt and Schumann. The season-long survey of Russian music will continue with concerts by such artists as the legendary Borodin String Quartet and will incorporate a Russian Panorama as the center of its annual CMS Winter Festival in March, spanning repertoire from Glinka to Schnittke.

Among the fall highlights is the world premiere of Clarice Assad's Metamorfose as part of the artist-curated Art of the Recital in the Rose Studio series featuring violist Matthew Lipman and pianist Henry Kramer. Assad, a Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer, pianist and arranger, was approached by Lipman to write a work in memory of his mother. She says that Metamorfose attempts to express Lipman's emotional and physical loss and "reflects the transition from something so excruciatingly difficult into the freedom that perhaps only acceptance can provide." In addition, two superb quartets appearing at Alice Tully Hall are in The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), the premier three-year chamber music residency program for outstanding young musicians. The program has been newly-renamed in honor of a 5 million dollar gift from California philanthropist Ann S. Bowers. The two quartets are Germany's Schumann Quartet, winners of the 2016 Best Newcomers of the Year Award from BBC Music (Nov. 18), and the Calidore Quartet, BBC Next Generation artists and winners of the prestigious M Prize (Oct. 28).

Fall Alice Tully Hall Concerts

Following opening night, Alice Tully Hall programs comprise Quartet Variations with the Emerson String Quartet and pianist Shai Wosner in works by Mozart, Bolcom and Dvo?ák (Oct. 21); The Kreutzer Connection explores links between Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and works by Janá?ek and Kreutzer with pianist Juho Pohjonen, violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, and the Calidore String Quartet (Oct. 28); The Art of the Quintet offers gorgeous examples of the form with music by Mozart, Reicha, and Glazunov performed by artists including cellist and CMS Artistic Director David Finckel and clarinetist Tommaso Lonquich (Nov. 2); Schubert's beloved Trout Quintet headlines a program of musical diversion with pianist Orion Weiss, violinist Paul Huang, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Keith Robinson, and double bassist Xavier Foley (Nov 13); Schubert's Death and the Maiden is performed in two different settings, joining works by Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov in a program giving voice to human mortality with baritone Nikolay Borchev, pianist Wu Qian, and the Schumann Quartet (Nov. 18); Meet the Music! with series creator and host Bruce Adolphe, launches its first family concert of the season with Inspector Pulse: How Suite It Is (Nov. 11); and Windstorm, a sonic array of wind instrument chamber music with Lise de la Salle at the piano, will offer an exceptional lineup of CMS wind players in works by Reicha, Thuille, Copland, and Mozart (Nov. 30).

As the holidays approach, the Baroque Collection will celebrate the era when chamber music was born - roughly 150 years until the death of Bach in 1750 - with a program of music written by the greatest composer-virtuosi of the day (Dec. 9 & 11). And New York's festive season wouldn't be complete without CMS' annual presentation of Bach's complete Brandenburg Concertos, which will receive three glorious performances this season (Dec. 14, 16, & 18).

Fall Rose Studio Concerts

The Rose Studio will host the popular Inside Chamber Music with Bruce Adolphe series, coupling lectures and short live performances with insights into masterworks. This season includes music by Mozart (Oct. 3), Beethoven (Oct. 10), Mendelssohn (Oct. 17), and Debussy (Oct. 24). Two fall Rose Studio Concerts will explore classic and seldom-heard chamber music repertoire. Each program is presented in two ways: in a traditional setting, and as part of the cozy Late Night Rose series with cabaret-style seating and a complimentary glass of wine. Fall programs will feature works by Brahms, Schulhoff, and Schumann (Oct. 25); and an evening of Mozart and Brahms (Nov. 15). New Music in the Rose invites listeners to experience an innovative program of works by Grime, Corigliano, Pesson, and Adés in two seatings (at 6:30 and 9 pm, Nov. 8).

Most Rose Studio series - including Inside Chamber Music, Late Night Rose, The Art of the Recital, and the 9 PM New Music performances - are offered as high quality live streamingevents and on-demand for up to 72 hours later. Programs can be accessed here.

Tickets may be purchased in person at the Alice Tully Hall box office at Broadway and West 65th St. or the CMS ticketing office at The Samuel B. and David Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th floor; by calling 212.875.5788; or online at www.chambermusicsociety.org.

Fall Tours

A global leader in chamber music, CMS is the largest producing presenter of chamber music in the world and is now offering even more concerts on tour and in annual residencies than in its home at Lincoln Center. Beginning September 12 in Athens, Georgia and running through December 20 in Chicago, the 2018 fall tour season comprises 26 concerts, traveling across the U.S. to venues in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Virginia, and further abroad to British Columbia, Bogotá, Colombia, Taipei and Hsinchu in Taiwan, and Shanghai, China. Most of the repertoire and artists have been chosen from 2018 Alice Tully Hall presentations. For a complete listing of tour dates, artists, and programs, click here.

Recipient of CMS Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music Announced

The CMS Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music honors individuals and institutions that have significantly changed the landscape of chamber music through passionate commitment, dedication to the art form, and exceptional vision. This season, CMS is proud to bestow the honorary Award to an organization worthy of wider recognition and praise: Chamber Music Connection, of Worthington, Ohio. Under the leadership of founder and violist Deborah Price since its founding in 1992, Chamber Music Connection organizes 20-30 chamber ensembles per year, comprising approximately 100 musicians of all ages and abilities, and presents more than thirty concerts annually. "We can hardly imagine a greater service to the art, or any organization more deserving of our distinguished award," said Co-Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han. The Award will be presented on stage at Alice Tully Hall to Deborah Price by David Finckel and Wu Han at the opening night concert on October 16, 2018.

Recipients of the Award are chosen by the Society's artistic department from a wide variety of fields connected to chamber music. Previous recipients include pianist Menahem Pressler (2013), CMS founding director Charles Wadsworth (2014), Marlboro Music (2015), and South Mountain Concerts (2016).

Full details of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's fall season are available here.