Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Cancels Remainder of Season

As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, with the health and safety of their audiences, artists, and staff foremost in our minds, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) has extended cancellations of concerts and events at Lincoln Center through the finale of the Society's 2019-2020 50th anniversary season (through May 19) and its annual July Summer Evenings Festival (July 8-15). All 2019-2020 50th anniversary concerts cancelled due to COVID-19 will be rescheduled as a festival in the 2021-2022 Lincoln Center season and the cancelled Summer Evenings Festival will be rescheduled in the summer of 2021. In addition, all domestic and international touring engagements have been cancelled through May 21, 2020.

Newly cancelled concerts at Lincoln Center include The Art of The Recital: Dmitri Atapine & Hyeyeon Park (May 14); Mendelssohn's Octet (May 17 and May 19); Summer Evenings I (July 8); Summer Evenings II (July 12); and Summer Evenings III (July 15). Cancelled tours include Grand Rapids, MI (April 30) and Vienna, VA (May 1). For the full list of concerts and events cancelled due to COVID-19, click here.

The announcement was made today by the Chamber Music Society's Executive Director Suzanne Davidson. "We held out until this moment the hope that the health situation would have progressed to the point where we would be able to offer our audiences the joy of attending these extraordinary final concerts of our 50th Anniversary season and Summer Evenings programs, but our gathering together safely so soon is clearly no longer possible. However, we are delighted to announce that all of the highly-anticipated 50th anniversary milestone programs and Summer Evenings concerts are not truly cancelled but just postponed - our artists are looking forward to performing them for our audiences in the incomparable acoustics of Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Studio in the upcoming 2021-2022 season."

"Nothing has given us a more positive vision of CMS's future than our organization's quick response to the current necessary cancellations: due to the tireless work of our staff, and the dedication of our musicians, we can now look forward to hearing the rest of our 50th anniversary milestone events performed in the 2021-2022 season," said co-Artistic Directors David Finkel and Wu Han. "The vision of landmarking CMS's history in parallel with celebrating the works of music that caused our art to evolve proved, for the first half of this season, to be the most exciting project we have ever mounted for the organization. That this interrupted journey will resume and be completed with all of its original artistic integrity, beauty and strength in a future season lifts our spirits and focuses our attention on the many wonderful things to come for CMS, its musicians and its audiences."

The Chamber Music Society continues to offer free digital offerings on its website and social media channels including daily releases of archival video and audio as well as a learning guide for families and educators to provide at-home music education.

"While we are unable to present live concerts, CMS stands by our commitment to present the best in chamber music to audiences around the globe," added Davidson. "We are proud to share over 1,000 videos and fifty years of audio recordings with both returning audiences and newcomers to the chamber music repertoire. As we experience this unprecedented health situation in separation, we hope to create unifying experiences of inspiration, consolation, and connection to strengthen us during these challenging and uncertain times."