Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival 2026

Violinist Leonidas Kavakos joins forces with pianist Enrico Pace for the Festival’s one-night-only, pre-season Gala Recital, which features a stunning selection of violin-and-piano showpieces.

Our 53rd season begins with a must-see musical moment, when bassist Edgar Meyer, violinist Daniel Phillips, and New York Philharmonic Principal Cellist Carter Brey reunite.

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival’s BAM!! Insights on the Brain & Music series includes four fascinating one-hour presentations by top researchers, whose topics range from innovative discoveries about the effects music has on memory and emotions to music’s therapeutic potential.

Pianist George Li plays two defining works of the solo piano repertoire.

This fascinating program begins with Julian Bliss making his Festival debut in one of the best-known works for solo clarinet.

Bernstein’s Halil opens the program, while Dvořák’s tumultuous F-minor Piano Trio brings the evening to a dramatic close.

This rich recital program features works from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Daniel Phillips, Danbi Um, violin soloists; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute soloist; Harvey de Souza, L. P. How, violin; Toby Appel, viola; Kajsa William-Olsson, cello; Edgar Meyer, double bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord 

This powerhouse program begins with an intimate violin-and-piano performance of music from Stravinsky’s enduring ballet Pulcinella, moves to a beloved early composition by Beethoven and culminates in Mendelssohn’s genre-defining Octet.

The Summer Young People’s Concert is a FREE event. Tickets are not required.

In this highly anticipated duo recital, Peter Wiley and pianist Anna Polonsky perform two gorgeous 19th-century works.

Grammy Award–winning baritone Will Liverman and Grammy-nominated pianist Myra Huang return for a powerful program.

Alan Gilbert returns to play violin in Arensky’s Quartet in A Minor on a program that includes Mozart’s G-minor Piano Quartet and the first-ever Festival performance of English composer Malcolm Arnold’s Divertimento.

Pianist Nicolas Namoradze returns with an all-Ravel recital that features the exquisitely restrained Pavane pour une infante défunte; Jeux d’eau, and music from the composer’s Daphnis and Chloé ballet score.

Three extraordinary musicians—Jennifer Gilbert, Alan Gilbert, and Paul Watkins, take listeners into a stunning alternative sound world for one of the most beloved works in the chamber music repertoire.

Two charming works open this program, which is then brought to a fiery conclusion with one of the most powerful works in the chamber music repertoire.

Pianist Haochen Zhang, who won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 19, gives a solo recital featuring two emotional piano sonatas.

This intimate program features two lovely duets, including Falla’s folk-song-inspired Suite populaire espagnole, and Brahms’s F-minor Sonata. The program also includes Dvořák’s elegant Terzetto.

Janáček’s Kreutzer Sonata opens this passionate program, which includes Weinberg’s Shostakovich-inspired Fourth Violin Sonata and Beethoven’s sophisticated and innovative Septet.

Filled with short and spirited solo works, this recital by Orion Weiss lets listeners revel in lesser-known gems by major 19th- and 20th-century composers, from Tchaikovsky to Copland.

The JACK Quartet returns to premiere commissioned works by the two participants in the Festival’s 13th F Young Composers String Quartet Project and to play other exciting works from the 20th and 21st centuries.

For this solo recital, guitar sensation Meng Su plays three beloved works by Bach, including an arrangement by the legendary guitarist Andrés Segovia of the famous Chaconne from Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2.

David Shifrin and the Verona Quartet perform Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet. The program also includes a gorgeous harp showpiece by Ravel.

Influential 20th-century Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Spell opens this wide-ranging program, which includes one of Brahms’s Clarinet Trio and Marc Neikrug’s Fantasy for Clarinet.

The husband-and-wife duo of Lucas and Irina Meachem present a program of American art songs.

Violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Katia Skanavi play Mozart’s virtuosic B-flat Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor.

This all-Brahms recital by Kirill Gerstein includes two early works: a scherzo that’s known for its youthful vigor and virtuosity and a sonata that stands out for its stunning symphonic scale.

Annual Free Concert

Jeremy Denk makes his highly anticipated Festival return playing three of Bach’s six partitas, a stunning set of dance suites that dazzle with their technical demands. 

Baritone Benjamin Appl and acclaimed pianist Simon Lepper perform a crown jewel of the piano-vocal repertoire: Schubert’s landmark song cycle Die schöne Müllerin.

Baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist Simon Lepper perform Schubert’s Schwanengesang (Swan Song).

Juho Pohjonen plays Russian composer Alexander Scriabin’s last five piano sonatas, which date from the early 20th century.

Baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist Simon Lepper mark their final appearance of the season with Schubert’s mournful and achingly beautiful Winterreise.

This thrilling program centers on piano duets by Schubert, Rachmaninoff, and György Kurtág, which are performed here by award-winning pianists Kirill Gerstein and Katia Skanavi.

The renowned Dover Quartet makes its first appearance of the season on this two-work program, which includes Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F Minor and String Quartet No. 4 by Grażyna Bacewicz.

Two brilliant musicians—violinist John Storgårds and cellist Anssi Karttunen—play stunning solo works written for them by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and Danish composer Bent Sørensen.

Santa Fe Opera Music Director Harry Bicket leads an ensemble of Opera musicians in two of Bach’s orchestral suites: BWV 1067 and BWV 1068.

Warm, early works by Schubert and Brahms open and close this program, providing a rich setting for the world premiere of a Festival-commissioned piano trio by Magnus Lindberg.

Martinů’s Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola; Trio in G Major for Violin, Cello, and Double Bass by Josef Mysliveček. Juho Pohjonen and the Dover Quartet play Dvořák’s rousing Piano Quintet.