Chamber Music Raleigh kicks off its 85th anniversary season this Sunday with a pair of concerts by Brooklyn Rider, the genre-blending string quartet known for pairing Schubert with contemporary composers. The performances take place at the North Carolina Museum of Art's SECU Auditorium, with an afternoon program called Chiaroscuro at 2:00 p.m. and a distinct evening program at 7:00 p.m.
As reported by CBS 17, the afternoon concert presents works by Haydn, Ustvolskaya, Hildegard of Bingen, and Schubert, while the evening program features Philip Glass's String Quartet No. 2, Schubert's String Quartet No. 15, and violinist Colin Jacobsen's own composition, Beloved, Do Not Let Me Be Discouraged. Tickets run $31 for adults, $28 for NC Museum of Art members, and $23 for students, and the station notes reservations are highly recommended because seating is limited. Chamber Music Raleigh can be reached at 919-821-2030 for ticketing questions.
Brooklyn Rider currently consists of violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Michael Nicolas, who joined in 2016 to replace founding cellist Eric Jacobsen, according to Chamber Music Raleigh. Colin and Eric Jacobsen are brothers, while Cords and Gandelsman were college roommates at the Curtis Institute of Music. The quartet took its name from Der Blaue Reiter, or The Blue Rider, the early 20th-century Munich-based artist collective that included Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Arnold Schoenberg, according to the UKARIA Cultural Centre.
A Quartet Built on Genre-Crossing Credentials
CBS 17 describes Brooklyn Rider as a critically acclaimed group that pushes the boundaries of the string quartet genre, blending classical influences with contemporary and international music. The station reports the ensemble has performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. In 2010, per Wikipedia, Brooklyn Rider became the first classical music ensemble ever invited to perform an official showcase at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, a performance broadcast live on NPR.
The group's commitment to new work extends beyond the stage. Brooklyn Rider founded Minnesota's Stillwater Music Festival in 2006 as an annual incubator for developing and unveiling new string quartet compositions and creative collaborations, according to the Ojai Music Festival. That same appetite for original repertoire shows up in Sunday's evening program, which includes Colin Jacobsen's own composition alongside Schubert and Glass.
Eighty-Five Years of Chamber Music in Raleigh
Chamber Music Raleigh was founded in 1941 as the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild by roughly 20 local professional musicians and music lovers, presenting its inaugural concert on April 25, 1941, at the Raleigh Little Theatre, according to the organization's own history. The group officially changed its name to Chamber Music Raleigh in 2015, and the North Carolina Museum of Art's 240-seat SECU Auditorium has served as the permanent home for all of its concerts since 2016, with performances presented as part of the museum's Sights & Sounds on Sundays series.
That intimate 240-seat setting has made tickets tough to come by. The organization says its 2:00 p.m. afternoon performances in the Sights & Sounds on Sundays series have sold out every available seat since December 2021, which is why Chamber Music Raleigh now also offers 7:00 p.m. evening performances to accommodate additional attendees. CBS 17 notes that Sunday's concerts will feature two entirely distinct programs rather than a repeat performance, giving audiences at each show a different experience.
A Season Built on Local Support
Chamber Music Raleigh features a 2026–2027 season filled with renowned musicians and diverse musical traditions, according to CBS 17, with upcoming performances scheduled by the Texas Guitar Quartet, Isidore String Quartet, The String Queens, Salix Piano Trio, and two-time Grammy Award winners Turtle Island Quartet. The season also includes a wine gala fundraiser at the North Carolina Governor's Mansion, and corporate sponsorship for the 85th season comes from Collegiate Capital Management.
The nonprofit also receives public grant funding from the City of Raleigh based on recommendations from the Raleigh Arts Commission, underscoring municipal support for local cultural programming. Chamber Music Raleigh also sponsors live music education outreach and master classes in Wake County Public Schools while partnering with the Community Music School, which serves over 275 students annually and offers $1 weekly lessons and free instrument loans to low-income youth. The pairing of grassroots educational outreach with a nationally touring quartet like Brooklyn Rider reflects the dual identity Chamber Music Raleigh has built over 85 years, straddling traditional repertoire and contemporary, genre-spanning programming alike.
The North Carolina Museum of Art has hosted other community music programming in recent months, including a Community Music School concert covered in Hoodline's holiday arts roundup. Sunday's Brooklyn Rider concerts mark the formal opening of Chamber Music Raleigh's milestone 85th season at the same SECU Auditorium.
