Steven Isserlis to Conclude Shriver Hall's 60th Season with Cello Performance

Shriver Hall Concert Series will conclude its 60th anniversary and 2025-26 mainstage season on Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 5:30 pm with a performance by celebrated British cellist Steven Isserlis and Canadian pianist Connie Shih. The duo was last seen by Shriver audiences in 2022.

Known as an internationally renowned British cellist, Steven Isserlis CBE, who debuted with SHCS in 1986 and will now return for a sixth engagement at Shriver Hall, is praised for leaving listeners “in perpetual wonder at the ingredients in his art” (The Australian). He will perform a program suited to his brilliance and versatility: From the playful charm and innovation of Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann to Soviet composer Dmitry Kabalevsky's personal emotion to Czech trailblazer Vítězslava Kaprálová's explosiveness, Isserlis embarks on a captivating journey for all who cherish cello and piano.

“I have a long history of coming to the Shriver Hall – and it's always a treat,” remarks Steven Isserlis. “Lovely acoustics and a lovely audience –  an excellent combination! Connie and I are very honored to be part of the 60th anniversary season.”

Shriver Hall Concert Series' Subscription Series continues this March with the collaboration of the Isidore String Quartet and pianist Jeremy Denk on Sunday, March 8, 2026 and the Baltimore Debuts of soprano Golda Schultz and pianist Jonathan Ware on Sunday, March 22, 2026. SHCS's Discovery Series concludes this spring with the winner of the 2025 Yale Gordon Competition, guitarist David Manzanares-Salguero, on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Concert Information

Steven Isserlis, cello and Connie Shih, piano
Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $48 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/isserlis

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: 12 Variations on a Theme from The Magic Flute, Op. 66
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Fantasistücke, Op. 73
DMITRY KABALEVSKY: Cello Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 71
VÍTĔZSLAVA KAPRÁLOVÁ: Ritournelle
BEETHOVEN: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69

The Piatigorsky Memorial Concert

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
For 60 years, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore's finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area's premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to enrich the Baltimore community through outstanding chamber music and recital experiences. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine's distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world's most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University's Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years, SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals, and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Han Lash, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Caroline Shaw, Carlos Simon, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region, focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers a variety of student programs.

British cellist Steven Isserlis CBE enjoys an international career as a soloist, chamber musician, author, educator, and broadcaster. Equally at home in music from Baroque to the present day, he performs with the world's greatest orchestras, including period ensembles, and has given many world premieres, including Sir John Tavener's The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès's Lieux retrouvés, four works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holliger, Jörg Widmann, Olli Mustonen, Mikhail Pletnev, and many others.

His vast award-winning discography includes most of the cello repertoire, including the J.S. Bach suites (Gramophone Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He has received two Grammy nominations for his recordings of Haydn's cello concertos and Martinů's cello sonatas with Olli Mustonen. Premiere recordings include late works by Sir John Tavener (BBC Music magazine Premiere Award). His latest recordings, Mendelssohn Piano Trios with Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, and Boccherini Cello Concertos, Sonatas, and Quintets, were released in 2024.

As an author, his latest book is a critically acclaimed companion to the Bach cello suites, while his two books for children about music are among the genre's most popular ever written and have been translated into many languages. He has also authored a commentary on Schumann's famous Advice for Young Musicians. As a broadcaster, he has written and presented two in-depth documentaries for BBC Radio on Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.

An insightful musical explorer and curator, he has programmed imaginative series for London's Wigmore Hall, New York's 92nd Street Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs orchestras from the cello, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in 2019 with Radu Lupu in his final public performance.

He was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, in recognition of his services to music. International recognition includes the Piatigorsky Prize (USA) and the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award (Germany). Since 1997, he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, Cornwall.

He plays the 1726 ‘Marquis de Corberon' Stradivarius, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.

Steven Isserlis's website is stevenisserlis.com.

About Connie Shih
Canadian pianist Connie Shih is consistently described as an exceptional artist. Born in Vancouver, she began playing piano at age 5 as the youngest of three gifted sisters. At age nine, she made her orchestral debut playing Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In 1993, she was awarded the Sylva Gelber Prize for the most outstanding classical artist under the age of 30.

As a soloist, she has performed with numerous orchestras in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. As a soloist, she has given numerous concerts in Canada, the U.S., Iceland, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, and China. With her duo partner, cellist Steven Isserlis, she regularly performs concerts worldwide to critical acclaim. In addition to chamber music performances at London's Wigmore Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall, she has appeared at the prestigious Bath, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Verbier, Lucerne, and the Kronberg music festivals. She has worked with baritone Sir Simon Keenlyside, violinist Joshua Bell, violinist Maxim Vengerov, violist Tabea Zimmerman, cellist Manuel Fischer-Dieskau, and violinist Isabelle Faust, among others.

Shih's performances are frequently broadcast on television and radio on CBC (Canada), BBC (U.K.), SWR, NDR, and WDR (Germany), as well as various other television and radio stations in North America, Asia, and Europe. She was adjunct professor at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. Since 2022, she has been Professor of Piano and Piano Chamber Music at the Salzburg Mozarteum. She has also given master classes at prestigious music institutes and has been a lecturer at the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy and Musiktage am Rhein. During summer 2025, she was on the faculty of the Mozarteum Summer Academy.