Cellist

The unique timbre of the viola—rich, dark, and soulful—has made it the instrument of choice for composers seeking to add even more luscious beauty to chamber ensembles. CMS proudly offers a one-of-a-kind program that includes a pair of violas in every work: from Vaughan Williams’s haunting Phantasy Quintet, to violist-composer Brett Dean’s poignant lament, to Mozart’s joyful and uplifting C-major Quintet, one of six he composed that truly put the viola quintet on the chamber music map.

EPSG:4326

Beethoven, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Viola Celebration: The unique timbre of the viola — rich, dark, and soulful — has made it the instrument of choice for composers seeking to add even more luscious beauty to chamber ensembles.

CMS Lincoln Center

California Institute of Technology

Bridge & Mendelssohn

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Beethoven and Onslow

Samuel B. & David Rose Building

Experience the grandeur of Baroque music like never before at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's "Baroque Organ" concert. This exceptional event, set to take place on Sunday and Tuesday, December 8 & 10, 2024, at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall, promises an unforgettable auditory journey through the works of eight Baroque masters.

For two hours, including an intermission, attendees will be treated to a rare opportunity to hear Alice Tully Hall’s magnificent 4,200-pipe organ. This lush and powerful instrument will serve as the centerpiece in a program meticulously curated to showcase its grandiosity. Nine extraordinary artists, including renowned organist Paolo Bordignon, will perform a selection of transcriptions by Bach himself, organ solos featuring a French holiday carol, and more, bringing the rich textures and intricate harmonies of the Baroque era to life.

The program features a diverse range of compositions, from Alessandro Scarlatti's "Three Arias for Trumpet, Oboe, and Organ" to George Frideric Handel's "Concerto in A major for Organ, HWV 307, Op. 7, No. 2". Each piece has been carefully selected to highlight the unique capabilities of the organ, as well as the virtuosity of the performers.

In addition to Bordignon, the concert will feature performances by violinists Benjamin Beilman and Alexander Sitkovetsky, violist Matthew Lipman, cellist Keith Robinson, double bassist Edgar Meyer, oboists James Austin Smith and Juri Vallentin, and trumpeter David Washburn. These acclaimed musicians, each with their own impressive career and contributions to the world of classical music, will come together to create an evening of unparalleled musical excellence.

Located at 1941 Broadway at W 65th St, New York, NY 10023, Alice Tully Hall provides the perfect setting for this musical feast. Its acoustics and intimate atmosphere ensure that every note of the Baroque organ and the ensemble's performance is experienced in its fullest beauty.

Tickets for this not-to-be-missed event are not yet on sale but keep an eye out for their release. This concert is a celebration of Baroque music's enduring beauty and the remarkable talents of today's classical musicians. Join us for an evening that promises to be both enlightening and enchanting, a true testament to the timeless appeal of Baroque music.

Baroque Organ

Lincoln Center

This piano-trio program unfolds entirely in the key of E-flat Major—a key that often expresses grandeur and majesty. The program opens with the floating theme of Schubert’s Notturno; moves to Beethoven’s uncommonly lighthearted Op. 70, No. 2; and closes with a masterpiece from Schubert’s final year: his D. 929. An internationally renowned lineup of artists comes together for this tender yet thrilling program.

Schubert & Beethoven

New Mexico Museum of Art

Two crown jewels of the chamber music repertoire— Ravel’s hypnotic Piano Trio and Brahms’s grand Piano Quartet in A Major—share a program with Elizabeth Ogonek’s Lightenings, a stunning and complementary piece that the Festival commissioned and premiered in 2016. Pianist Ran Dank, whom The Washington Post praised for playing with “explosive force and triumphant exultation,” is featured in the Ravel and Ogonek, and Haochen Zhang, hailed for his “preternatural virtuosity” by The Boston Music Intelligencer, joins violinist Paul Huang, violist Toby Appel, and cellist Peter Stumpf for the Brahms. 

Ravel & Brahms

Some 200 years after Bach’s death, 20th Century composers were still heavily inspired by the Baroque Era and the compositional techniques used (fugue, counterpoint, etc.), Stravinsky being one such composer. The fact that this will unquestionably still be the case in 2050, makes Bach’s music an eternal inspiration.

Philip Dukes & Friends III: Bach’s Eternal Inspiration

Savannah Cultural Arts Center

This concert features two composers that were most definitely not influenced by JS Bach, and in the case of Tchaikovsky, Bach’s music was very much “back and beyond.” Although he acknowledged his technical skills, he in no way regarded Bach as a musical legend.

Philip Dukes & Friends II: Bach and Beyond

Trinity United Methodist Church

This opening concert of the series traces a journey from Bach to Brahms and Shostakovich, through the Romantic Era, featuring two composers that admired Bach immensely.

Philip Dukes & Friends I: Bach’s Romantic Odyssey

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) returns in December 2023 with Bach’s complete Brandenburg concertos, performed in their original instrumentation – each year in a different order with an evolving roster of the finest CMS musicians.

If Johann Sebastian Bach had only left the world his six Brandenburg Concertos, he would still reside in the pantheon of the great composers. One memorable tune is heard after another; uplifting energy abounds; feats of virtuosity for violins, violas, cellos, oboes, trumpet, horns, and harpsichord leap from the stage. With their novel instrumentation and irresistible energy, the six concertos are uplifting to all who hear them and have become an annual tradition at the Harris.

Brandenburg Concertos

Harris Theater

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) returns to the Mondavi Center to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, works that unfailingly provide spiritual fulfillment for music lovers of all faiths and beliefs, inspiring strength at year’s end and a vision of the brightest future. The artistic core of CMS is a multigenerational, dynamic repertory company comprised of an evolving and unparalleled roster of performers. Demonstrating the belief that the future of chamber music lies in engaging and expanding the audience, these expert chamber musicians draw more people to the genre than any other organization of its kind.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Two of today’s most electrifying classical musicians—violinist Paul Huang and pianist Zoltán Fejérvári—join the Miami String Quartet for Chausson’s lyrical and bravura Concerto in D Major on a program that also includes one of Mendelssohn’s teenaged masterpieces: the String Quartet in A Minor—a work that features several nods to Beethoven, who died only a few months before the piece was written.

Mendelssohn & Chausson

The dynamic Miami String Quartet plays one of the most beloved works for string quartet, Dvořák’s American Quartet, which the composer wrote while living in the US, and another Czech delight: Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet, a lively suite of international dance miniatures that span the waltz to the tango. The Miami opens the program with a work that marks Schubert’s entrée into his mature compositional years: the Quartettsatz.

Miami String Quartet

Renowned as the composer of 16 Hollywood film scores, including The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk, Erich Wolfgang Korngold — a child prodigy coincidentally named after Mozart — was also the composer of operas, concerti, orchestral works, and chamber music. His lush, melodic, and intensely romantic piano quintet, completed in 1921, goes straight to the heart — without Olivia de Haviland or Errol Flynn.

Inside Chamber Music: Korngold’s Piano Quintet in E major

Rose Studio

Like a shooting star, Franz Schubert blazed across music's sky for a brief 31 years, leaving behind over 1,000 works that transformed the Classical into the Romantic age.
Four programs spanning Schubert's creative career and variety of compositions offer a rich journey into one of music's most ethereal worlds. A fifth concert explores how the legacy of Schubert and composers in the two centuries following his death have re-worked and been inspired by his compositions.

Winter Festival: Schubert Forever

Handel and Vivaldi shared an astounding 56 years of life on earth, yet never met. At the height of their careers, separated by some 950 miles in London and Venice respectively, Handel and Vivaldi’s music reflected everything that surrounded them. Handel, always dignified and highly skilled, was Beethoven’s favorite composer; Vivaldi, daring, flashy, and breathtaking, captivated Bach, who borrowed freely from him. This first CMS pairing of these Baroque masters is a study in contrasts, and a solid evening of terrific musical entertainment.

Cellist

Keith Robinson

Events

Past events

Nov 15, 2025

Beethoven, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Nov 9, 2025

CMS Lincoln Center · Chamber Music SoCal

Future and recently performed repertoire

Cello in Phantasy Quintet by Williams

Chamber Music SoCal

Cello in String Quintet No. 3 by Mozart

Chamber Music SoCal

Cello in Epitaphs for String Quintet by Dean

Chamber Music SoCal

Cello in Fugue for String Quintet by Beethoven

Chamber Music SoCal

About

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