Each visionary performance of the award-winning Borromeo String Quartet (BSQ) strengthens and deepens its reputation as one of the most important ensembles of our time. Admired and sought after for both its fresh interpretations of the classical music canon and its championing of works by 20th and 21st century composers, the ensemble has been hailed for its “edge-of-the- seat performances” by the Boston Globe, which called it “simply the best.”

Borromeo String Quartet

Mercy Center Burlingame

Virtuosic pianist Ilya Yakushev returns to Kohl in a collaborative concert with members of the elite St. Lawrence String Quartet for a memorable performance of the glorious Brahms Piano Trio, No. 1, but not before marking the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with a jazzy piano solo.

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Pianist Ilya Yakushev With Members Of The St. Lawrence String Quartet

Kohl Mansion

Dazzling Korean-American pianist Joyce Yang, who captivated Kohl audiences at our 35th Anniversary Gala in 2017, returns with a selection of her favorite preludes by Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky’s masterful Pictures at an Exhibition for solo piano.

Pianist Joyce Yang in Recital

Based in San Francisco, Brass Over Bridges is a brass quintet that understands that music is all about connection. Inspired by the cultural diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area, Brass Over Bridges seeks to engage audiences with music bridging barriers of style and artistic discipline.

Brass Over Bridges Free Family Concert

Palo Alto Art Center

The nationally acclaimed Poulenc Trio returns with an extraordinary and unique chamber music program including an introduction to the works of William Grant Still and Viet Cuong. Kohl welcomes the debut of rising star soprano Shawnette Sulker performing songs by French mid-century composer, Francis Poulenc. And what better finale than the music of Rossini.

Poulenc Trio With Soprano Shawnette Sulker

The celebrated Horszowski Trio returns with a piano trio by the too-infrequently-performed Clara Schumann and three recently composed short works after the music of her husband, Robert Schumann. Shostakovich’s profoundly moving WWII-era elegy rounds out the evening.

Horszowski Trio

Two-time Grammy-nominee violinist Jennifer Frautschi joins the award-winning duo of clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu in a concert of French, Polish, and Russian flavor, capped by two lively American rags composed for this trio.

Frautschi, Manasse, Nakamatsu Trio

Music at Kohl Mansion will celebrate the Holidays in style with the recently-announced special addition of a joyous seasonal concert, Holiday Roulette: A Mezzo Mash-up! featuring the luminary talents of San Francisco Opera mezzo-sopranos Nikola Printz and Gabrielle Beteag, with pianist-producer extraordinaire, Ronny Michael Greenberg.

Just Added: Holiday Roulette: A Mezzo Mash-up!

Music at Kohl Mansion’s international chamber music season continues on Sunday, November 19 with the Kohl Mansion debut of the nationally acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet. For their auspicious engagement, the ensemble will present Upheaval, a thoughtful program of music reflective of great social political upheaval from the past to the present.

Jupiter String Quartet

A trio of extraordinary musicians, including acclaimed guest artist, clarinetist Charles Neidich, will now perform works by Khachaturian, Bartók, Dvořák, Gershwin, and Paul Ben-Haim. Read the full press release here.

Israeli Chamber Project With Charles Neidich, Clarinet

The Alexander String Quartet, having just celebrated its 40th anniversary, has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world’s premier ensembles and a major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco. The quartet has served since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence of San Francisco Performances and Directors of The Morrison Chamber Music Center Instructional Program at San Francisco State University. They have established themselves as important advocates of new music, commissioning dozens of works from composers including Jake Heggie, Cindy Cox, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Greenberg, Cesar Cano, Tarik O’Regan, Paul Siskind, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Wayne Peterson. Samuel Carl Adams’s “Quintet with Pillars” was premiered and has been widely performed across the U.S. by the Alexander with pianist Joyce Yang. The ASQ’s distinguished discography of Mozart, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Dvořák and Mahler songs now includes a veritable Brahms compendium with a recording of the three string quartets, plus a recently re-recorded Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2, transcribed by Zakarias Grafilo.

Alexander String Quartet

Violinist Ida Kavafian and cellist Peter Wiley, world renowned soloists, chamber musicians and esteemed faculty members of Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, lead a quintet of string players (to be announced) from Curtis in Franz Schubert’s masterful String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 paired with award winning Curtis-composer Richard Danielpour’s, A Shattered Vessel. Co-commissioned by Ida Kavafian in 2019, the new work was composed as a companion to be played alongside the Schubert.

Curtis on Tour with Ida Kavafian and Peter Wiley

Celebrating its 27th anniversary, the Fauré Piano Quartett has established itself as one of the world’s premier piano quartets, visionary in its approach and highly regarded for its experiments and insights into undiscovered repertoire. The ensemble has distinguished itself with groundbreaking recordings of music by Mozart, Brahms, Mahler, R. Strauss along with popular songs by Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan, and the first-ever recording in a rare transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Of their performance, the Toronto Star wrote, “The communication between the four performers was as beautiful to watch as their music was satisfying to hear. This quartet thinks and breathes as one, focused on a singular, clear vision for their music making.” Award-winning opera, concert and recording star extraordinaire, Frederica von Stade joins the Fauré Quartett for her MAKM debut in a performance of four romantic songs by Gabriel Fauré, newly arranged by Zakarias Grafilo.

Fauré Piano Quartett with Frederica von Stade

Recognized as one of the world’s finest piano ensembles, the Trio con Brio Copenhagen’s multifaceted members are not only touring performing artists, but also esteemed recording artists, artistic directors and educators. The Trio appears regularly at the world’s leading venues and concert series, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez-Saal, the Concertgebouw, and all of the leading concert halls across Denmark. Trio con Brio (Lively with Spirit) is a recipient of the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Award, one of Denmark’s most prestigious prizes. Founded at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna in 1999, the Trio is now based in Copenhagen and is recognized for its exceptional musicianship, fresh approach to the core repertoire, adventurous programming and a commitment to bringing music to young people through their highly creative concerts. International critical acclaim for the Trio includes “One of the greatest performances of chamber music I’ve ever encountered…”

Trio con Brio Copenhagen

The Maxwell Quartet is firmly regarded as one of Britain’s finest young string quartets with a strong connection to their folk music heritage. Special to this concert will be the premiere of new compositions based on songs associated with the Scottish jute and tweed industries in Dundee and the Hebridean Isles. The Maxwell Quartet, formed in 2010 in Glasgow, Scotland, is now an internationally prizewinning string quartet (2017 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition) with performances hailed by The New York Times as “eloquent performers … they bring the same sense of charisma and adventure to their performing … the sound of traditional fiddle carried over beautifully into fresh readings of Haydn and Beethoven.” The ensemble holds distinguished guest faculty positions at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and the Music at Paxton Festival in the Scottish Borders.

Maxwell Quartet

One of America’s most celebrated and dedicated string quartets, the Miró Quartet has been labeled by The New Yorker as “furiously committed” and noted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for its “exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity.” Founded in 1995, the Quartet has performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from critics and audiences alike. They have championed the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts for more than a decade, and in the 2019-20 season they premiered a new string quartet entitled Home, by the composer for the Miró’s 25th anniversary. In their 2021-22 season, the Miró premiered Microfictions written for them by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw with performances in Carnegie Hall, Houston, La Jolla and Hong Kong. The Miró is also partnering with soprano Karen Slack in a new program exploring the works of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds with concerts scheduled for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Shriver Hall, Music Toronto, the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music Northwest.

Miró Quartet

Composer Shinji Eshima said, “Within the crown of chamber music in the Bay Area, Music at Kohl Mansion has long been its brightest jewel. Music at Kohl Mansion provides exactly the intimacy and setting that is the very definition of what chamber music is all about. I have never been so surprised as when Patricia Kristof Moy contacted me and asked if I would compose a new work for them. That this would be for their 40th anniversary, and I would be their 4th commission, following on the heels of Ernst Bacon, David Carlson, and Jake Heggie, well, this was extremely daunting. But it is also the honor of a lifetime.”
Music at Kohl Mansion was founded 40 years ago by Liz Dossa in association with then-principal at Mercy High School, Burlingame, Amy Bayley, R.S.M. Over the years, Music at Kohl Mansion has commissioned musical works from Ernst Bacon with his Piano Trio No. 2 (1987); David Carlson’s Sonata for Cello and Piano (1993); and Jake Heggie’s Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope (2020). The commissioning of Japanese-American composer Shinji Eshima for the 2022-23 season marks the fourth.

40th Anniversary Celebration

The dynamic and charismatic Heath Quartet is one of the most exciting British chamber ensembles of today, as they build a reputation for their upbeat and integrated sound. Their recording of Sir Michael Tippett’s string quartets (Wigmore Live) received widespread acclaim and won the 2016 Gramophone Chamber Disk of the Year. A subsequent, critically acclaimed release on Harmonia Mundi of Tchaikovsky’s Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 was selected as Disk of the Week by both The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 3. The Quartet’s complete Bartók cycle (recorded live at the Wigmore Hall) was released by Harmonia Mundi (June 2017). Champions of contemporary music, the Quartet has worked with numerous leading composers including Hans Abrahamsen, Louis Andriessen, Brett Dean, Anthony Gilbert, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Mackey, and John Musto.

The Heath Quartet

Internationally recognized as one of the world’s finest quartets, the American String Quartet has spent decades honing the luxurious sound for which it is famous. The Quartet celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2019, and, in its years of touring, has performed in all fifty states and has appeared in the most important concert halls worldwide. The group’s presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim, and their MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.

American String Quartet

They transported us with their performance during our virtual season and we can’t wait to experience the French-Belgian Quatuor Danel live and in person! The quartet is famous for its bold, concentrated interpretations of major string quartet cycles. Its lively, fresh vision of the traditional quartet repertoire has earned the Quatuor Danel praise for vivid and intense performances that keep audiences “on the edge of their seats.”

Quatuor Danel

Five string players from our own SF Symphony travel from Davies Hall to our Great Hall to offer an evening that begins with one of Rossini’s youthful string sonatas written when the composer was just 12, showcases two celebrated African American women composers of past and present, and concludes with Dvořák’s superb String Quintet. Polina Sedukh, Jessie Fellows, violins; Matthew Young, viola; Barbara Bogatin, cello; Charles Chandler, bass.

Musicians from the San Francisco Symphony

Canada’s endlessly inventive Gryphon Trio has impressed international audiences and the press for the past twenty-five years with its highly refined, dynamic performances, and has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios. With a repertoire that ranges from the traditional to the contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia, the Gryphons are committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.

Gryphon Trio

Under the direction of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, the San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) has achieved an incomparable sound that underscores the unique clarity and force of impeccably trained treble voices fused with expressiveness and drama. As a result, the Chorus vibrantly performs 1,000 years of choral masterworks from plainchant to the most challenging and nuanced contemporary works created expressly for them in programs that are as intelligently designed as they are enjoyable and revelatory to experience.

San Francisco Girls Chorus

Founded in 2017, the Reverón Piano Trio has quickly established itself as one of the most important chamber music ensembles from Latin America. Its members share a true passion in the performance of works by Latin American composers whose main goal is to introduce audiences to their rich repertoire of contemporary and standard works. These seasoned artists, all Venezuelan but now residing in the U.S., are active promoters of Latin American music through their work as scholars and entrepreneurs, and they have devoted their careers to the discovery, cataloging, performance, editing, and recording of this repertoire along with commissioning new works. Recent collaborations include La Hamaca (2021) and El Ventilador (2022), written for the trio by Venezuelan-American composer Ricardo Lorenz, and the world premiere of Barroqueada (2020) by Grammy-nominated composer Miguel del Águila.

Reverón Piano Trio

Founded in Paris in 2009, Trio Karénine bears the name of Tolstoy’s beautiful and emotionally honest heroine. The French trio is acclaimed by critics and audiences for its musical integrity and passionate interpretations, and was the top prizewinner at the ARD International Competition in 2013. The group has performed in the world’s most prestigious halls, including the Philharmonie and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Frick Collection in New York, Salle Bourgie in Montréal, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater in Münich, the Leiszhalle in Hamburg, and Sydney Opera House. The trio has just completed a highly successful return tour of Australia and is currently engaged in a full summer schedule of performances throughout France.

Trio Karénine

Expressive, dynamic, spectacular – the Aris Quartet of Germany has been at home on international stages for the past fifteen years. With its unmistakable sound, it has long been known as one of the world’s top-rank chamber music ensembles. The musicians have performed in venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Herbst Theatre San Francisco, and the Philharmonie de Paris.

Aris Quartet

Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than twenty years. Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support.

Ariel Quartet

The Alexander String Quartet stands among the world’s premier ensembles, having performed in the major music capitals of five continents. The quartet is a vital artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, serving since 1989 as Ensemble-in-Residence of San Francisco Performances and as frequent performers for Music at Kohl Mansion. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet’s recordings have won international critical acclaim. Founded in New York City in 1981, the Alexander String Quartet has maintained an unyielding and passionate commitment to education. For decades, the ensemble has trained generations of gifted performers, emerging string quartets, and talented young musicians destined to pass on their knowledge and love of music as teachers in schools across the globe.

Music At Kohl Mansion

Nov 24, 2024

Gryphon Trio

Dec 15, 2024

San Francisco Girls Chorus

Jan 12, 2025

Reverón Piano Trio

Feb 23, 2025

Trio Karénine

Mar 16, 2025

Aris Quartet

Oct 20, 2024

Borromeo String Quartet

May 5, 2024

Pianist Ilya Yakushev With Members Of The St. Lawrence String Quartet

Music At Kohl Mansion