21st Century Consort

Founded in 1975 as the 20th Century Consort, the group became a resident ensemble at the Smithsonian Institution three years later. In its concerts at historic St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill, at the Hirshhorn Museum and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Consort has presented exciting programs frequently related to museum exhibitions, featuring music by a diverse array of living composers – often world premieres – along with 20th century classics.

Under the direction of its founder and conductor, Christopher Kendall, the Consort’s artists include members of the National Symphony Orchestra and other prominent chamber musicians from Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. The ensemble is managed by Boyd Sarratt.

For over forty-five years the Consort’s concerts have been professionally recorded and archived, complementing the Consort’s produced studio recordings. This vast, living archive is permanently preserved at the University of Maryland, and can be heard without charge on our archive page, where it can be searched for any concert, composition or composer.

To read more about us, click here. And to see our full concert season, click here.

  • Singular Beauty

    at 5pm on Saturday January 202024

    St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill – inspired by the Hirshhorn exhibition of work by Simone Leigh, Jamaican/American artist and U.S. representative to the 2022 Venice Biennale, with soprano soloist Lucy Shelton.

    Jeanne Lee
    Angel Chile
    Hannah Kendall
    Glances / I Don’t Belong Here
    Jesse Montgomery
    Voodoo Dolls
    Eleanor Alberga
    Jamaican Medley
    Tania Leon
    Arenas D’un Tiempo
    Jon Deak
    The Jury (poetry by Rhina Espaillat)
    Mikhail Johnson
    Ton yo han mek fashan