Taos Chamber Music Group Unveils 2026-27 Concert Season

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on August 2, 2026
- 9:01 am

Musicians in Taos Chamber Music Group’s 2026-2027 concert season. Courtesy/TCMG

From Taos Chamber Music Group:

Continuing in its commitment to offering a “wild and scenic” range of chamber music, the Taos Chamber Music Group’s (TCMG) 34th season is bookended with two emerging and unique ensembles. They’ve also added an 8th program to its diverse chamber music offerings. The performance home is the Arthur Bell Auditorium in the Harwood Museum.

This will truly be an exceptional year!

The series begins on Oct. 10-11 and features the Nois Quartet. Their “Renewal: A New Classical” features classic and newer works remixed for saxophone quartet. As their website describes, “they are harnessing chamber music’s capacity for beauty, with one foot in the past and the other in the present.” Works by young masters Caroline Shaw and Jessie Montgomery are featured along with an arrangement by William Bolcom of the Robert Schumann work “A Schumann Bouquet.” Commissioned works by Washington, Okpebholo, Ge, and Muhly “create new classical music that is vibrant, inclusive, and focused on the future.”

The program on Nov. 7-8 turns to the Baroque Era, where J.S. Bach’s “A Musical Offering” comes to the Harwood stage, performed on period instruments. This work is based on a long and complex theme given to Bach by Frederick the Great on which to improvise. Bach then went on to compose this impressive collection of canons, fugues, ricercars, and his masterful trio sonata.

Pianist Gleb Ivanov returns on Dec. 11 for the first of two programs celebrating our Holiday Season Festival Weekend with a recital featuring an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” by Mikhail Pletnev along with works by Brahms, Debussy, Liszt, and Poulenc. Ivanov’s extraordinary performances have become a yearly tradition.

On Dec. 12-13 Ivanov joins TCMG core artists in an all-Franck program. Franck’s Violin Sonata and Piano Quintet are both masterpieces of the French Romantic repertoire. They are considered some of the most emotional works of the period. This program will be a true immersion into the realm of deep expression.

In the first program of 2027, TCMG celebrates Valentine’s Day on Feb. 13-14 with “A Romantic Valentine.” Brahms’s Violin Sonata in G Major and his F Minor Clarinet Sonata are performed by TCMG core artists. The program concludes with Stravinsky’s arrangement of his “L’Histoire du Soldat” for violin, clarinet, and piano. The Suite focuses on various parts of the story: the Soldier marching towards home on a leave, playing his beloved violin by a stream as he rests, playing his violin after getting it back from the Devil, three dances by a Princess after she is healed by the Soldier playing his violin for her, and the dance played by the Soldier that drives the Devil to exhaustion.

The March 13-14 concerts feature a “Cello Extravaganza” with works for five cellos by Bach, Dvorak, and Villa-Lobos, and special arrangements by Gershwin, Kreisler, and film composer John Williams. Long-time TCMG core artist, Sally Guenther, has curated this program and assembled many of the finest cellist from New Mexico and beyond.

April 10-11 begins our Spring Festival showcasing the fourth appearance of the Taos School of Music Alumni. Coached by Brentano Quartet cellist, Nina Lee, these young talented artists on the brink of major careers are hand-picked to present a program of string quartets from the classical repertoire.

The May 22-23 program concludes our season with the introduction of “Rising Stars”, a focus on emerging ensembles that are on their way to becoming sought after worldwide. TCMG brings to the Harwood stage, Trio D.N.A. They will perform the Horn Trio and Cello Sonata by Brahms, Debussy’s Violin Sonata, and Nico Muhly’s Common Ground for Piano Trio. This ensemble reimagines the Piano Trio in a unique way.

Performance information:

Saturday performances are at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday performances are at 3:30 p.m.
Gleb Ivanov’s recital will be at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11
All performances will be at the Arthur Bell Auditorium at the Harwood Museum in Taos.

For tickets and more information on our season, program details, artists and performances, visit taoschambermusicgroup.org.