by Daniel Hathaway
After celebrating three quarters of a century in the concert presenting business with an extended season that drew large audiences to the Art Museum for the Jerusalem Quartet’s complete Shostakovich string quartet cycle — fifteen quartets in five concerts in April — the Cleveland Chamber Music Society will return to a more normal but equally enticing season in 2025-2026.
In addition to revisits by the Belcea and Takács Quartets, perennial favorites, the society will present some relatively new ensembles: the Leonkoro and Verona Quartets and the Isidore String Quartet, two of them with guest pianists. Yaron Kohlberg — head of Piano Cleveland, the driving force behind the Cleveland International Piano Competition — will join the Verona for the Dvořák Quintet, and Jeremy Denk will collaborate with the Isidore in the Brahms Quintet.
The Leonkoro (“Lionheart” in Esperanto, pictured left) was founded in Berlin in 2019, the Verona at Indiana University in 2013 (they currently serve as Quartet in Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory), and the Isidore at the Juilliard School in New York, also in 2019.
While the string quartet is the daily bread of chamber music series, CCMS will also include violin and vocal soloists on its 76th series. The opening recital will feature the popular Canadian violinist James Ehnes with Cleveland-born pianist Orion Weiss, as well as Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey with pianist Craig Ketter, both soloists performing unusual but highly engaging repertory.
The series begins at Disciples Christian Church in Cleveland Heights, and moves to Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art for the last two programs. Series and individual tickets can be reserved online.
The complete schedule follows.
Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 pm James Ehnes, violin, and Orion Weiss, piano. Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Suite from Much Ado About Nothing, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Violin Sonata in A minor, Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4, and Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor. Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 pm Belcea Quartet. Anton Webern’s Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5, Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465 “Dissonance,” and Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36. Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, November 11 at 7:30 pm Takács Quartet, Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3, Bela Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3, and Anton Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106. Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, February 3 at 7:30 pm baritone Quinn Kelsey and pianist Craig Ketter. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel, Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs, and Gerald Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring. Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 pm Leonkoro Quartet. Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in D major, Op. 20, No. 4, Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet, Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement) for String Quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13. Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, April 28 at 7:30 pm Verona Quartet and pianist Yaron Kohlberg. Alessandro Scarlatti’s Sonata a Quattro No. 4 (1720), Philip Glass’ String Quartet No. 2, “Company,” Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1, “The Kreutzer Sonata,” Antonín Dvořák’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in A major, Op. 81. Cleveland Museum of Art, Gartner Auditorium, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. Tickets available online.
Tuesday, May 19 at 7:30 pm Isidore String Quartet with pianist Jeremy Denk. Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise,” György Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 2, and Johannes Brahms’ Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor, Op. 34. Cleveland Museum of Art, Gartner Auditorium, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. Tickets available online.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com September 11, 2025.
Click here for a printable copy of this article.
