The 2026 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series opens with “one of the most popular brass ensembles in the world” (Washington Post), the Juno Award-winning quintet Canadian Brass. With a discography of over 130 albums and an extensive worldwide touring schedule, Canadian Brass is a pioneer in bringing brass music to audiences through their trademark humor, charismatic stage presence, and sparkling musicianship.
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a world premiere by “astonishingly innovative” composer James Stephenson (Musical America); while he writes deftly “in all walks of the musical landscape,” his new quartet features trumpet and strings. Following intermission, Tchaikovsky remembers Italy — by way of Russia, of course — in an irresistible sextet for strings, his final contribution to chamber music.
The Robert Mann Chamber Music Series continues with a program featuring the Festival’s own musicians. Beethoven’s only quintet for piano and wind is rife with rhapsodic dialogue between its instruments. In Stravinsky’s bitter L’Histoire du Soldat, a WWI soldier makes a deal with the devil in order to know the future, but — after a rousing story animated by music — the cunning devil keeps the upper hand.
“None of us have any memory of our lives without the string quartet,” claims this highly sought-after ensemble of energetic musicians who met each other at music camp as teenagers. By audience request, the Danish String Quartet returns to the Robert Mann Chamber Music Series with a delectable program including works by Mozart, Shostakovich, and Ravel.