Setting the stage for our Fiftieth Anniversary Season, Artistic Directors Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park will present a marathon performance of Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for Piano and Cello. The duo sonata lies at the heart of chamber music — a deeply personal dialogue between two musicians, rich with nuance, trust, and expression. These five sonatas trace the full arc of Beethoven’s life and, at the same time, mirror our own journey: five decades of sharing the joy of chamber music with Kansas City.

The Friends opens its Fiftieth Anniversary Season in grand style, celebrating the enduring power of chamber music. On stage at the Kauffman Center are soloists Benjamin Beilman and Maria Ioudenitch, former Emerson Quartet violist Lawrence Dutton, the Viano Quartet — 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients — and Artistic Directors Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park. The program begins with a Haydn Op. 50 string quartet — honoring both the “father” of chamber music and our 50th season — followed by Schumann’s groundbreaking Piano Quintet. It concludes with Mendelssohn’s Octet, premiered 200 years ago and still dazzling as a pinnacle of the repertoire.

Hailed as “one of the reliably mesmerising musicians of the day,” pianist Angela Hewitt offers a program spanning centuries of contrapuntal invention. From the radiant depths of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier to the bold modernism of Shostakovich and Barber, she explores the evolution of the prelude-and-fugue form across time and style. The journey culminates in Brahms’s monumental Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel — a towering tribute to the past, reimagined through Romantic brilliance.

In a powerful celebration of the string quartet as a genre, we welcome the Jerusalem String Quartet in their own jubilee — 30 years together and praised for their “passion, precision, warmth… a gold blend.” The program opens with Haydn’s radiant “Sunrise” Quartet, a beacon of Classical elegance and invention. Janáček’s Kreutzer Sonata follows — a fiercely emotional, modern psychological portrait inspired by Tolstoy. The evening concludes with Beethoven’s towering Op. 130, performed with its original finale: the uncompromising Große Fuge — raw, monumental, and astonishingly ahead of its time.

In this vibrant and highly contrasted program, Stile Antico selects one piece from each of its sixteen award-winning albums to create a thrilling journey through some of the greatest music of the Renaissance. Exuberant works by composers such as Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins and Praetorius rub shoulders with tranquil motets by Taverner, Clemens non Papa and Tallis, and the alluring sounds of Huw Watkins’ virtuosic The Phoenix and the Turtle, written especially for the ensemble. Our voyage concludes with Allegri’s timeless Miserere — a work of enduring beauty and mystery.

As we reach the equator of our Fiftieth Anniversary Season and embrace the Holiday spirit, we are thrilled to partner with the nation’s premier chamber music organization — the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center — to bring to life one of the Baroque’s greatest treasures: the complete Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. Unmatched in their exuberant invention and boundless joy, these six concertos stand as a testament to the brilliance of human achievement and the universal power of music. With twenty world-class artists on stage, this extraordinary marathon will be a luminous offering to all the timeless qualities of chamber music!

In this dynamic and forward-looking program, four of today’s most celebrated wind players — Demarre McGill (flute), Titus Underwood (oboe), Anthony McGill (clarinet), and Bryan Young (bassoon) — chart bold new musical horizons. At its heart is Principal Brothers, a striking cycle of solo works by James Lee III, written for each performer. These are interwoven with Villa-Lobos’s vibrant wind quartet and Valerie Coleman’s Rubispheres, a rhythmic and expressive journey through urban soundscapes. A new commission from Errollyn Wallen and selections from Bach complete the program — showcasing the expressive power of wind instruments across the past, present, and future of chamber music.

In this electrifying program, we venture to early 18th-century Venice, where four legendary composers — Vivaldi, Veracini, Tartini, and Locatelli — engage in a spirited Battle of the Bows. These “four musketeers” of the violin transformed the city into a stage of fierce rivalries, where the instrument reigned as a weapon of artistic bravura, a tool for dazzling listeners, and a reflection of virtuosity often pushed to theatrical extremes. With her breathtaking technique and fearlessness, Chouchane Siranossian — hailed as “diabolical” by The Sunday Times — is the ideal interpreter for these fiery compositions. She is joined by the superb Venice Baroque Orchestra, led by Andrea Marcon, whose insight brings thrilling authenticity to these dramatic musical duels.

The Friends presents an exceptional evening celebrating the piano trio, featuring three of today’s most esteemed artists. Joining forces in Kansas City are pianist Wu Han, honored as Musical America’s Musician of the Year; violinist Daniel Hope, internationally acclaimed soloist and former member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio; and cellist David Finckel, former member of the Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet. The program opens with a sparkling trio by Joseph Haydn, the father of the form, followed by Beethoven’s bold and groundbreaking Op. 1 no. 1 — his first published work. The evening concludes with Dvořák’s beloved Dumky Trio, rich and emotional. Together, these masterpieces chart the piano trio’s evolution from Classical elegance to its late Romantic pinnacle.

Acclaimed French pianist Alexandre Kantorow makes his debut with The Friends in a program that blends profound Romanticism with visionary modernism. Hailed as a “fire-breathing virtuoso with a poetic charm,” Kantorow offers a fascinating journey through some of the piano repertoire’s most expressive works. The recital opens with Liszt’s majestic Variations on a Motive by Bach, followed by Medtner’s expansive early Sonata Op. 5. The journey continues through the lyricism of Chopin and the mysticism of Scriabin, culminating in the autumnal transcendence of Beethoven’s Op. 111.

In this vibrant and highly contrasted program, Stile Antico selects one piece from each of its sixteen award-winning albums to create a thrilling journey through some of the greatest music of the Renaissance. Exuberant works by composers such as Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins and Praetorius rub shoulders with tranquil motets by Taverner, Clemens non Papa and Tallis, and the alluring sounds of Huw Watkins’ virtuosic The Phoenix and the Turtle, written especially for the ensemble. Our voyage concludes with Allegri’s timeless Miserere — a work of enduring beauty and mystery.

The Friends crowns its landmark 50th Anniversary Season with a joyous celebration, assembling a 12-member all-star ensemble in Kansas City. At the heart of the program is Saint-Saëns’s enchanting Carnival of the Animals—a witty, whimsical, and dazzling showcase. Complementing it is the world premiere of Michael Stephen Brown’s Endangered Carnival: A Zoological Fantasy, an ingenious and refreshing companion piece. We open this “carnival procession” with three gems for cello and piano by Gabriel Fauré, performed by our Artistic Directors, followed by his graceful and nostalgic Pavane, Op. 50 — a fitting farewell to our Golden Jubilee. This festive finale not only caps a remarkable season—it joyfully reaffirms the vibrant future of chamber music for the next fifty years and beyond.