Seattle Chamber Music Society Unveils 2025-26 Signature Series

The Seattle Chamber Music Society has unveiled programming for its 2025-26 Signature series, running from September 21, 2025, through May 10, 2026. Across six concert programs, leading classical musicians will perform extraordinary chamber music by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Clarke, Chausson, Fauré, Hindemith, Sinding, and Shostakovich. Early-bird season subscriptions are on sale starting today, and single-program tickets will be available on August 18.

"The Signature Series features music that continues to thrill artists and audiences. It's one of the most profound of shared experiences: witnessing exceptional musicians perform some of the most beautiful music ever composed," said James Ehnes, who curates the six concerts in his role as the Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling Artistic Director of SCMS.

Performers joining Ehnes on the series are Andrew Armstrong, Efe Baltacıgil, Inon Barnatan, Raphael Bell, Jeremy Denk, Noah Geller, Richard O'Neill, Jonathan Vinocour, and Orion Weiss, along with members of the Ehnes Quartet: Amy Schwartz Moretti, Che-Yen Chen, and Edward Arron. SCMS's first-ever String Quartet in Residence, the Balourdet Quartet - Angela Bae, Justin DeFilippis, Benjamin Zannoni, and Russell Houston - will play on two Signature Series concerts. During its nine-month residency, the quartet will also connect with audiences in non-traditional spaces throughout King County.

"The Signature Series has proved to be a fantastic addition to Seattle Chamber Music Society's season. The concerts build on our Summer and Winter Festivals and further our ultimate goal of deepening appreciation for this art form," said John Holloway, Executive Director at SCMS. "As our organization has expanded to present performances year-round, we have seen chamber music increasingly recognized as a vibrant, central force in Seattle's cultural life," he adds.

The Signature Series opens September 21 with Ernest Chausson's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet in D Major, Op. 21, performed by Ehnes, Weiss, and the Balourdet Quartet. Composed in the manner of a concerto grosso, the piece casts the violin and piano as the soloists, with support from the string quartet. The concert will also feature Beethoven's final String Quartet, No.16 in F Major, Op. 135 and Paul Novak's impossible inventions, premiered last year by the Balourdet Quartet.

On October 12, Barnatan, Bell, Ehnes, and Vinocour will perform Fauré's Piano Quartets No. 1 and 2. These, his most well-known chamber pieces are "among his most inventive and passionate works" (BBC Music Magazine). The bright, expressive Piano Quartet No. 1 is considered one of the most important French chamber music works of the 19th century; his Piano Quartet No. 2 "bristles with energy" (Kai Christiansen).

November 23 brings together famed pianist Jeremy Denk and Richard O'Neill, violist of the Takács Quartet. On the program is Hindemith's Viola Sonata Op. 11, No. 4. The concert also includes Beethoven's last Piano Sonata, Op. 111, Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G minor, BWV 1029, as well as British composer Rebecca Clarke's Viola Sonata, considered one of the most important works in the viola repertoire.

On March 8, the Balourdet Quartet joins Noah Geller and Efe Baltacıgil to perform Brahms's Sextet No. 1, a piece that has remained one of the composer's most popular early chamber works since its initial performances. The program also features Brahms's cheerful String Quartet No. 3, and Bartók's String Quartet No. 3, inspired by the folk music of the composer's native Hungary.

On March 22, Weiss and the Ehnes Quartet collaborate on the Brahms Piano Quintet, one of the crown jewels of the chamber music repertoire, alongside the enduring Shostakovich Piano Quintet, premiered in 1940 by the Beethoven Quartet with the composer himself at the piano.

The series concludes on May 10 at Town Hall, when James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong present a joyful program celebrating Ehnes's 50th birthday, with some surprises in store. The concert features Christian Sinding's virtuosic Suite in the Old Style, Op. 10, Brahms's Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, the Rhapsody No. 1 by Bartók, and virtuoso works to be announced from the stage.

Seattle Chamber Music Society - 2025-26 Signature Series

Concert I: Sunday, September 21, 2025, 2 pm

James Ehnes, Orion Weiss, and Balourdet Quartet

• Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet in D Major, Op. 21

• Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

• Paul Novak: impossible inventions

Nordstrom Recital Hall

Concert II: Sunday, October 12, 2025, 2 pm

Inon Barnatan, James Ehnes, Jonathan Vinocour, and Raphael Bell

• Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1

• Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 2

Nordstrom Recital Hall

Concert III: Sunday, November 23, 2025, 2 pm

Jeremy Denk and Richard O'Neill

• Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G minor, BWV 1029

• Hindemith's Viola Sonata Op. 11, No. 4

• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

• Clarke: Viola Sonata

Nordstrom Recital Hall

Concert IV: Sunday, March 8, 2026, 2 pm

Balourdet Quartet, Noah Geller, and Efe Baltacıgil

• Brahms: String Quartet No. 3

• Bartók: String Quartet No. 3

• Brahms: Sextet No. 1

Nordstrom Recital Hall

Concert V: Sunday, March 22, 2026, 2 pm

Ehnes Quartet and Orion Weiss

• Shostakovich: Piano Quintet

• Brahms: Piano Quintet

Nordstrom Recital Hall

Concert VI: Sunday, May 10, 2026, 2 pm

James Ehnes and Andy Armstrong

• Sinding: Suite in the Old Style, Op. 10

• Brahms: Sonata No. 3

• Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1

• Virtuoso works to be announced from the stage