​The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Unveils 2026-27 Season

​
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has revealed its 2026–27 season, with 80 concerts of chamber music by 100 composers across 346 years.  Concerts take place in Alice Tully Hall and the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS (with many more concerts on tour in the US and beyond). These performances feature CMS's international, intergenerational roster of artists whose virtuosity and camaraderie breathe new life into each work on every program.

The season opens with an all-American Opening Night (Oct 13) in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence, with music by William Bolcom, Amy Beach, Bernard Herrmann, and Aaron Copland. The celebration begins in the lead-up to the fall season, when each of the six Summer Evenings concerts in July includes one or more American composers. Beginning on October 25 and continuing throughout the season, renowned pianist Gilles Vonsattel performs the 32 piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven in eight concerts. Vonsattel is renowned for bringing his elegant, precise technique, and a vibrant spontaneity to a wide variety of repertoire. This season's Winter Festival (Feb 19–March 7) explores the impact and genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by diving deep into a prolific and groundbreaking six-year compositional period during which he composed some of his most consequential chamber works.

Over the course of the season, CMS continues its longstanding legacy of commissioning and presenting new chamber works that expand the repertoire by presenting six New York premieres, including three CMS co-commissions, and music by 23 living composers across 12 concerts.

The annual Art of the Recital series provides CMS artists with the opportunity to craft programs that are meaningful to them, whether it's by revisiting repertoire that has been an integral part of their careers and/or exploring new works in programs that offer their own individual perspectives. This season features violinist Bella Hristova with pianist Gloria Chien (Oct 15), flutist Ransom Wilson with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott (Feb 18), and cellist Jonathan Swensen with pianist Juho Pohjonen (April 15).

Other highlights include an evening of two-piano and four-hands works, featuring an all-star roster of pianists, including Wu Han and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Nov 7); Schubert's Winterreise with tenor Matthew Polenzani (Jan 24); and clarinet quintets by Mozart and Brahms with Sebastian Manz, Principal Clarinet of the SWR Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart (May 2). The season finale on May 16, “From Bach to Stravinsky,” features Stephanie Blythe singing Haydn, Tommaso Lonquich in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, Stravinsky's “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto, and more.