Seattle Chamber Music Society

Recognition

Our thanks to YOU for giving! Your GiveBIG donation to Seattle Chamber Music Society supports our wide range of performances during the 2024-2025 season!

Mission

Our mission is to cultivate a deep appreciation for chamber music by presenting exceptional performances in welcoming and accessible formats. Through education, community engagement, and a commitment to excellence, we seek to position chamber music as a central cultural force, both locally and globally, while ensuring its enduring relevance and sustainability.

Description

Now in our 44th season, Seattle Chamber Music Society presents Winter and Summer Festivals of chamber music concerts featuring the world's best chamber musicians. Led by our Artistic Director James Ehnes, 2021 Gramophone Artist of the Year, Seattle Chamber Music Society is known for delivering concert performances of transcendent beauty, a result of our uniquely collaborative Festival environment. With concerts at Nordstrom Recital Hall, our Center for Chamber Music on 6th and Union in downtown Seattle and our Virtual Concert Hall, we have built a space for chamber music in Seattle and beyond.

Your gifts during GiveBIG this year directly support our 2024-2025 artistic programs, enabling us to reach audiences where they are today, bringing joy and peace to a worldwide community. This year alone, our audience has grown to include people in 44 states and 20 countries.

Here are a few of the programs your gift during GiveBIG supports:

- More than 50 concerts during our 2024-2025 season, both in-person and online through the Virtual Concert Hall
- Community concerts and events including The Concert Truck, Chamber Music in the Park, and numerous initiatives
- Special programs for retirement and low-income housing communities
- The Youth Academy for Chamber Music - an intensive pre-college program that develops the next generation of chamber musicians

- The Adult Academy for Chamber Music - a program designed for dedicated adult musicians who share a passion for chamber music and seek ways to improve their craft

- 3 Wishes Project - a palliative care initiative that aims to improve the end-of-life experiences for patients, families, and healthcare team members by working to fulfill wishes for a dying patient and their loves ones. SCMS is a community partner with UW Medicine to provide chamber music and to support the mission of this program.
- Family Concerts during our festivals including the Azure Family Concert, which is a sensory-friendly performance for children with autism and their families
- Open Rehearsals and Educational Lectures for an intimate, in-depth look in on how the music comes to life

Thank you for your support!

Our History

Established in 1982 by cellist Toby Saks, we began with an outdoor Summer Festival at Lakeside School. Since 2009, our permanent concert hall home has been Benaroya Hall's 540-seat Nordstrom Recital Hall in downtown Seattle. Since March 2020, we have thrived in our new Center for Chamber Music, a year-round home for innovative programming, master classes, lectures and events.