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.
-
Quinquagenerians
at 5pm on Saturday April 62024
at Hirshhorn Museum’s Ring Auditorium
- Lukas Foss
- Time Cycle “We’re Late”
- Jessie Montgomery
- Rhapsody #1a
- Lukas Foss
- Time Cycle “When the Bells Justle”
- Jessie Montgomery
- Rhapsody #1b
- Lukas Foss
- Time Cycle “Sechzehnter Januar”
- Jessie Montgomery
- Rhapsody #2
- Lukas Foss
- Time Cycle “O Mensch, Gib Acht”
- Olivier Messiaen
- Quartet for the End of Time
- QuinquageneriansThe recent launch of the Hirshhorn exhibition Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection,1860–1960 is the exhilarating opening salvo of the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration. By happy coincidence, the coming season is also the