The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia will present nine programs, featuring works by Beethoven, Debussy, Dvořák, Shostakovich and the contemporary Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, as well as music by five Virginia-based or -born composers, in its 2025-26 season.
Seven ticketed concerts at four Richmond area churches – Holy Comforter and St. Mary’s Episcopal, First Unitarian Universalist and Second Presbyterian – and two free concerts in the Richmond Public Library’s Gellman Room, will be staged from September to May.
Featured artists include cellist James Wilson, artistic director of the Chamber Music Society; harpsichordist and fortepianist Carsten Schmidt; violinist Jesse Mills; flutist Mary Boodell; pianist Reiko Uchida; and harpist Charles Overton.
The season will open on Sept. 15 with a program marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the late-romantic composer of African and English lineage, whose compositions and arrangements will be played alongside music by his British contemporaries.
Works by Virginia composers Adolphus Hailstork, Chloe Biggs, Joe Jaxson and Riley Peters will be performed during the season.
Also on tap are three new wrinkles on old favorites: Sally Beamish’s arrangement of Debussy’s “La mer” for piano trio; Wilson’s arrangement of Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” for winds, piano and string quartet; and a chamber arrangement of the adagio from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major by the Richmond-born composer Zachary Wadsworth.
Ticket subscriptions are $185; single tickets are $30. Admission is free for youths 17 and younger and for students, with advance registration required.
For more information, call (804) 304-6312 or visit http://cmscva.org
Dates, artists and programs for the Chamber Music Society season:
Sept. 15 (7 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon
Rebecca Anderson & Grant Houston, violins
Tanner Menees, viola
Mary Boodell, flute
David Lemelin, clarinet
Tom Schneider, bassoon
Devin Gossett, French horn
Mimi Solomon, piano
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Nonet in F minor, Op. 1 – I: Allegro moderato
traditional: “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child” (Coleridge-Taylor arrangement)
traditional: “La Bamboula” (Coleridge-Taylor arrangement)
William Yeates Hurlstone: “Characteristic Pieces” – “Croon Song”
Charles Villiers Stanford: Quartet in B flat major, Op. 104 – I: Allegro moderato
Coleridge-Taylor: “5 Fantasiestücke,” Op. 5 – V: Dance
Elgar: ”Variations on an Original Theme” (“Enigma”) (James Wilson arrangement)
Oct. 12 (4 p.m.)
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road, Goochland County
Rebecca Anderson & Claire Bourg, violins
Jordan Bak, viola
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Charles Overton, harp
Debussy: “Danses sacrée et profane”
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major – II: Adagio assai (Zachary Wadsworth arrangement)
Prokofiev: “Romeo and Juliet” Suite (Gilad Cohen arrangement)
Nov. 16 (4 p.m.)
Second Presbyterian Church, 5 N. Fifth St.
James Wilson, cello
Carsten Schmidt, fortepiano
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 102, No. 1
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 102, No. 2
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69
Dec. 15 (7 p.m.)
Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road
Nicholas DiEugenio, Chloe Fedor & Carmen Johnson-Pájaro, baroque violins
Kyle Miller, viola
James Wilson, baroque cello
Jessica Eig, violone
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons” – “Winter”
Chloe Biggs: new work TBA
other works TBA
Feb. 21 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First & Franklin streets
Kako Boga & Stephanie Zyzak, violins
Tanner Menees, viola
James Wilson, cello
Riley Peters: Quartet (“Virginia”)
works TBA by Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn
Feb. 22 (4 p.m.)
Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road
artists TBA
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Beethoven: Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
March 29 (4 p.m.)
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road, Goochland County
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
program TBA
May 9 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First & Franklin streets
Jesse Mills, violin
Jordan Bak, viola
James Wilson, cello
Rieko Aizawa, piano
Debussy: “La mer” (Sally Beamish arrangement)
Joe Jaxson: “Mountain Stars”
May 11 (7 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon
Jesse Mills, violin
Jordan Bak, viola
James Wilson, cello
Rieko Aizawa, piano
Joe Jaxson: new work TBA
Adolphus Hailstork: “Three Spirituals for String Trio”
Pēteris Vasks: Piano Quartet
Dvořák: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 87
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