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Meeting the Moment: An Adventure across Eras and Cultures

Meeting House Chamber Music Festival 2026

Orleans, MA, April 30. The Meeting House Chamber Music Festival has announced its 52nd summer season, continuing its remarkable tradition as Cape Cod’s most enduring and artistically vibrant summer music series. The Festival’s Artistic Director and Pianist Donald Enos has designed a season program that is exceptionally panoramic and fresh, with some of the world’s greatest composers across three centuries speaking with clear and stirring voices to audiences at this moment in time. Outstanding performers from the region and around the world will join Enos in presenting a seven-concert season from June 22 through July 27, 2026. All concerts take place at The Church of the Holy Spirit, Episcopal, 204 Monument Road, Orleans, MA, and begin at 7:30 PM. Seven-concert season subscriptions: $105 ($15/concert). Single tickets:  $25 at the door. Free admission for those under 18.

Cornerstone works—such as Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in C minor, Brahms’s Trio in C Major, Mozart’s Trio in C Major, K.548, and Saint-Saëns’s Piano Quartet in B-flat—anchor the season with repertoire representing the height of the chamber music tradition. Donald Enos has designed each summer evening of music to nevertheless feel unmistakably of the moment, as he invites audiences to hear chamber music past and present not as a museum art, but as an adventure. To accomplish this, he has moved even more boldly than ever into new musical territory.

The season line-up includes works spanning more than three centuries—from the Baroque brilliance of a Vivaldi concerto to vivid contemporary voices—and spotlighting music that is seldom heard in mainstream concert series. Early and Classical-era foundations appear in figures such as Alessandro Rolla, a pivotal transitional composer between Mozart and the Romantic generation, while the 19th century is represented by the virtuoso lyricism of Vieuxtemps and the richly crafted but underperformed Romanticism of Herzogenberg. The 20th century unfolds in remarkable stylistic variety: Françaix’s sparkling wit, Hindemith’s intellectual rigor, Martin’s refined modernism, Ginastera’s electrifying rhythmic drive, and the distinctive national voices of Tsintsadze and Tcherepnin, each blending folk elements with modern technique.

Equally compelling is the presence of recent and living composers, including Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Jung Sun Kang, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, whose works expand the Festival’s sound world through new cultural perspectives, contemporary idioms, and imaginative instrumental writing. The virtuosic harp showpiece by Henriette Renié further broadens the palette, highlighting an instrument rarely featured at center stage.

The season opens on June 22 with a program spotlighting the expressive possibilities of the French horn, featuring Clark Matthews alongside Enos, and music by Schumann, Hindemith, Scriabin, Françaix, and Ewazen. Subsequent concerts bring together an exceptional roster of Festival favorites and distinguished guest artists, including violinists Joyce Hammann, Katie Lansdale, Irina Muresanu, Laura Manko Sahin, and Heather Goodchild Wade; cellists Sergey Antonov, Leland Ko, Megan Koch, and Matthias Naegele; harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson; and violist Danielle Farina. Ensemble highlights range from intimate duo and trio works to expansive piano quartets by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Saint-Saëns.

A centerpiece of the season arrives on Thursday, July 2, when internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled, one of the Festival’s most beloved long-time guest performers, returns for a special recital with Donald Enos. A tradition eagerly anticipated by Festival audiences, Peled’s program is always virtuosic and filled with deeply personal insight. This year he and Donald Enos will present compositions by Beethoven, Samuel Barber, and the four-time Emmy Award nominated and Grammy-winning composer, Sharon Farber. 

For ticketing and detailed program information, please visit www.meetinghousemusic.org.

Advance Release for 2026 Season

​Meeting House Chamber Music Festival 2026

Orleans, MA, March 18. The Meeting House Chamber Music Festival has announced its 52nd summer season, continuing its remarkable tradition as Cape Cod’s most enduring and artistically vibrant summer music series. The Festival’s Artistic Director and Pianist Donald Enos has designed a season program that is exceptionally panoramic and fresh, with some of the world’s greatest composers across three centuries speaking with clear and stirring voices to audiences at this moment in time. Outstanding performers from the region and around the world will join Enos in presenting a seven-concert season from June 22 through July 27, 2026. All concerts take place at The Church of the Holy Spirit, Episcopal, 204 Monument Road, Orleans, MA, and begin at 7:30 PM. Seven-concert season subscriptions: $105 ($15/concert). Single tickets:  $25 at the door. Free admission for those under 18.

Cornerstone works—such as Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in C minor, Brahms’s Trio in C Major, Mozart’s Trio in C Major, K.548, and Saint-Saëns’s Piano Quartet in B-flat—anchor the season with repertoire representing the height of the chamber music tradition. Donald Enos has designed each summer evening of music to nevertheless feel unmistakably of the moment, as he invites audiences to hear chamber music past and present not as a museum art, but as an adventure. To accomplish this, he has moved even more boldly than ever into new musical territory.

The season line-up includes works spanning more than three centuries—from the Baroque brilliance of a Vivaldi concerto to vivid contemporary voices—and spotlighting music that is seldom heard in mainstream concert series. Early and Classical-era foundations appear in figures such as Alessandro Rolla, a pivotal transitional composer between Mozart and the Romantic generation, while the 19th century is represented by the virtuoso lyricism of Vieuxtemps and the richly crafted but underperformed Romanticism of Herzogenberg. The 20th century unfolds in remarkable stylistic variety: Françaix’s sparkling wit, Hindemith’s intellectual rigor, Martin’s refined modernism, Ginastera’s electrifying rhythmic drive, and the distinctive national voices of Tsintsadze and Tcherepnin, each blending folk elements with modern technique.

Equally compelling is the presence of recent and living composers, including Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Jung Sun Kang, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, whose works expand the Festival’s sound world through new cultural perspectives, contemporary idioms, and imaginative instrumental writing. The virtuosic harp showpiece by Henriette Renié further broadens the palette, highlighting an instrument rarely featured at center stage.

The season opens on June 22 with a program spotlighting the expressive possibilities of the French horn, featuring Clark Matthews alongside Enos, and music by Schumann, Hindemith, Scriabin, Françaix, and Ewazen. Subsequent concerts bring together an exceptional roster of Festival favorites and distinguished guest artists, including violinists Joyce Hammann, Katie Lansdale, Irina Muresanu, Laura Manko Sahin, and Heather Goodchild Wade; cellists Sergey Antonov, Leland Ko, Megan Koch, and Matthias Naegele; harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson; and violist Danielle Farina. Ensemble highlights range from intimate duo and trio works to expansive piano quartets by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Saint-Saëns.

A centerpiece of the season arrives on Thursday, July 2, when internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled, one of the Festival’s most beloved long-time guest performers, returns for a special recital with Donald Enos. A tradition eagerly anticipated by Festival audiences, Peled’s program is always virtuosic and filled with deeply personal insight. This year he and Donald Enos will present compositions by Beethoven, Samuel Barber, and the four-time Emmy Award nominated and Grammy-winning composer, Sharon Farber.