‍NBSO's 2025-26 Chamber Music Series

TICKETING INFO
$35 general admission (fee free)
$140 Subscription to all five concerts (fee free)
All tickets must be purchased in advance.
Subscriptions available here or through the ticket button above from August 19 through October 3.
For individual show tickets, click the links under the show description below.

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CONCERT TIMES AND LOCATIONS

Saturdays, 3 PM
St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church
124 Front Street
Marion, MA

Sundays, 3 PM
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
351 Elm Street
South Dartmouth, MA

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“We welcome our indefatigable audience to a new season replete with beloved chestnuts, coruscating contemporary works, and unexpected delights from celebrated creators. Programs feature piano quintets by Louise Farrenc and Franz Schubert; Rachmaninoff’s huge cello sonata and the “Dissonance” quartet of Mozart; Christopor Najarian’s searing Tale for Two Violins; seldom heard quartets of Stravinsky and Prokofiev; and much more to intrigue and delight our growing circle of ardent music lovers. Thank you for joining us on a new adventure!”

—Janice Weber, Artistic Director

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RACH N' SOUL

Oct 4 & 5, 3 PM

Many thanks to Patty Plum Wylde, whose generous Gift of Music has made this concert possible. She dedicates her gift to all teachers of music for their devotion to the art of making music eternal.

Begin in breath, end in brilliance—music that rocks your soul

Reena Esmail: Saans (Breath) (2017)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Piano and Cello in G Minor, Op. 19
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 "Dissonance"

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin
Theo Ramsey, violin
Anna Griffis, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello
Janice Weber, piano

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail’s soulful piano trio Saans (Breath) opens the program with her charismatic fusion of eastern and western traditions. In brilliant contrast, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, written over a century earlier, is testament to the untrammeled passion and virtuosity for which he is celebrated. What better musical capstone than the elegant “Dissonance” quartet of Mozart, showing a master at the height of his creative powers.

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QUINTESSENTIALS

November 22 & 23, 3 PM

Warmth, grace, and joy—experience music at its most perfect

Jessie Montgomery: Duo for Violin and Cello (2015)
Louise Farrenc: Piano Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 30
Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667 "Trout"

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin
Emma Powell, violin
Anna Griffis, viola
Peter Zay, cello
Janice Weber, piano
Peter Walsh, bass

Born in 1804, Louise Farrenc was a true French Romantic whose works are earning – again – a huge following. Her unique Piano Quintet (1839), utilizing string bass, reflects and complements Schubert’s immortal “Trout” Quintet, a work employing the same musical forces. Firebrand American composer Jessie Montgomery proves that less is more with her delightful ode to friendship, Duo for Violin and Cello.

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WINTER FIRE

Jan 31 & Feb 1, 3 PM

Spark your spirit. Melt the midwinter chill

Igor Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
Sergei Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 92
Kevin Day: Variation V (Miniature for String Quartet)

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin
Emma Powell, violin
Anna Griffis, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello
Janice Weber, piano

Beat midwinter chill with warming string quartets by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, the effervescent Piano Trio No. 2 of Felix Mendelssohn, and a devilish Variation V by American Kevin Day, who based this miniature on a variation from Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 5. Keep the bonfires burning!

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STORY TIME

March 28 & 29, 3 PM

Every note tells a tale. Let these stories stir your heart.

Kenji Bunch: Hard Winter/Holler and Stomp
Cristopor Najarian: A Tale for Two Violins
Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor , Op. 15
Billy Mayerl: Marigold

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin
Emma Powell, violin
Anna Griffis, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello
Janice Weber, piano

Kenji Bunch’s intriguing Hard Winter/Holler and Stomp takes a fresh look at Appalachian fiddling and string band traditions while Cristopor Najarian’s Tale for 2 Violins revisits Turkish, Armenian, and middle eastern folk melodies to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Fauré’s sublime Piano Quartet No. 1 and Billy Mayerl’s jazzy Marigold close the program with ineffable joie de vivre.

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FOURSOMES

May 2 & 3, 3 PM

Four voices. Infinite emotion. A season’s end that leaves you transformed.

Akshaya Tucker: Hollow Flame
Lei Liang: Gobi Gloria
Kareem Roustom: Syrian Folk Songs
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60

EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin
Theo Ramsey, violin
Anna Griffis, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello
Janice Weber, piano

String quartets by Akshaya Tucker (Hollow Flame), Lei Liang (Gobi Gloria) and Kareem Roustom (Syrian Folk Songs), each only ten minutes, demonstrate the amazing depth of this genre centuries after its first appearance around 1760. Brahms’s tempestuous Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, gigantic in all ways, represents the pinnacle of romantic emotion.

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