This always-evolving ensemble features a handpicked group of musicians from the historic Met Orchestra in concerts of remarkable ambition and variety. Adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece of music, this unique group offers endless programming possibilities—and audiences are treated to all-time chamber-music classic, hard-to-find hidden gems, and standout works by several of today’s significant composers

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Carnegie Hall Citywide: The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Brooklyn Public Library

Beloved countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo joins The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall’s most intimate performance space. Together they perform motets by High Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez and the infamous Carlo Gesualdo, as well as selected arias by Handel—a definitive composer for Costanzo. “Handel is my bread and butter,” he recently told the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. “There’s a kind of freedom inherent in his music … for the singer to imagine the psychological journey and then to make that palpable.” Members of The Met Orchestra also perform Stravinsky’s atypical woodwind-and-brass Octet for Wind Instruments.

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Carnegie Hall

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble lets members of The Met Orchestra explore the boundless world of chamber music. It’s a vehicle that yields rare experiences for artists and audience alike, such as this program featuring Met Orchestra Music Director and Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin playing the piano for Elgar’s Piano Quintet. This unique concert also includes a brass quartet by Villa-Lobos plus one of the composer’s Bach-meets-Brazil works, which features renowned soprano Nadine Sierra. Martinů’s Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet, and Piano rounds out the performance.

A chamber ensemble handpicked from The Met Orchestra explores the Weimar Republic’s “Golden Twenties.” This program highlights the era’s incredible contradictions and the thrillingly divergent, thriving artistic movements that came into shape as the republic approached catastrophe. Hear music from Weill and Brecht’s smash hit, the soon-to-be-banned Threepenny Opera. Hindemith’s grinning reconstruction of Wagner is paired with the well-loved Kammermusik No. 1, which offers excitement of a more sincere, if not significantly less eccentric nature. Also included are two of Schoenberg’s arrangements of Johann Strauss Jr., in which the “father of atonality” gave reverential treatment to Vienna’s beloved “Waltz King.”

After a remarkable opening to the concert, in which mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard performs Ravel’s Chansons madécasses, the program shifts to music written for string quartets—and quartets powerfully augmented into quintets. It begins with Justinian Tamusuza’s bright and driving Ekitundu Ekisooka, made world famous by the Kronos Quartet’s chart-topping Pieces of Africa. Two movements follow from James Lee III’s Clarinet Quintet, recently premiered by the Pacifica Quartet and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill. Andy Akiho’s exhilarating LIgNEouS 1 features extended technique from string and percussion instruments alike. The program closes with Beach’s potent Piano Quintet, which includes direct references to Brahms’s seminal Piano Quintet.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the ever-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble in its first concert of the season. Hear the Serenade for Winds in E-flat Major, a sweet and warmly scored early work by a teenaged Richard Strauss. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout follows, mixing elements from Western classical and Andean folk music traditions into a riveting whole. The program closes with another folk-infused masterpiece: Copland’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Appalachian Spring Suite, performed by a 13-piece chamber ensemble, as it was originally scored.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. This evening’s performance—the ensemble’s first of the Carnegie Hall season—is presented as part of the Hall’s 2024–2025 spotlight on the music of South Africa.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. This evening’s performance, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is featured as part of the worldwide Year of Czech Music celebration.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this Sunday matinee concert, Yannick Nézet-Séguin—music director and conductor of The Met Orchestra—joins as pianist in a program of works by Debussy, Price, Bolling, and Robert Schumann.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this performance, hear works by Wynton Marsalis, Beethoven, and Ravel.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this evening’s performance, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the ensemble with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and tenor Ben Bliss.

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this performance, the ensemble treats listeners to an “Italian Serenade.”

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Oct 28, 2024

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Nov 18, 2024

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Jan 13, 2025

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Mar 24, 2025

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Apr 28, 2025

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Jun 1, 2024

Carnegie Hall Citywide: The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Apr 7, 2024

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble