Smithsonian Associates partners with Smithsonian Chamber Music Society

Smithsonian Associates - the largest museum-based education program in the world - produces vibrant educational and cultural programming. Entering its 60th year, Associates programs are inspired by the Smithsonian's research, collections, and exhibitions. Each year nearly 1,000 online and in-person programs engage a growing community of lifelong learners across America - and beyond.

Smithsonian Associates partners with Smithsonian Chamber Music Society to present two series of concerts each season - Masterworks of Five Centuries and Axelrod String Quartet. Smithsonian Chamber Music Society's 48th season features musical masterpieces from the late 16th century to the early 21st century, played on some of the world's most highly prized musical instruments.

Masterworks of Five Centuries' wide-ranging series includes works from Elizabeth composers Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd to late-17-century Austrian music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Johann Schmelzer to Jacobean chamber music by John Jenkins and William Lawes.

Axelrod String Quartet's audiences are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments - one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicoló Amati. In each of the first three programs, which probe the rich viola quintets repertoire, the quartet (Kenneth Slowik, James Dunham, Marc Destrubé and Mark Fewer) is joined by one of three different guest violists.

Kenneth Slowik, SCMS artistic director and recipient of the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award, again curates a series of pre-concert talks one hour prior to each concert, shedding light on the glorious music and the lives and times of the featured composers.