Emerald City Music
Photo by Carlin Ma
LINKS & ASSETS
PRESS CONTACTS
Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com
Kira Grunenberg, kira@jensenartists.com
646.536.7864
“the beacon for the casual-classical movement”
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences in its South Lake Union home venue, 415 Westlake. Catch them on tour also in residence in Olympia, Bellingham, and New York City.
Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495 seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
ECM gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Artistic Director Kristin Lee – a touring violinist awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and who is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – is regarded for her innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre’s boundary past common limits.
Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to press the boundary of chamber music with accolades like a tour of Steve Reich’s iconic and rare Music for 18 Musicians, a pitch-black performance of Georg Haas’s “In the Dark” quartet, and the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group The Dreamers’ Circus.
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ECM values real, authentic connection and holds the belief that music possesses the innate power to connect people, inclusive of varying backgrounds and perspectives. Over eight years, artists from every corner of the globe have visited Emerald City Music to prove just that: there exists a special connection between artist and listener that only music can facilitate.
Emerald City Music is a platform where artists and audiences transform one another. This breathes life into every element of what ECM does, from the casual open-bar setting of its flagship Seattle concert experiences, to the bustling community that faithfully assembles in its concert halls in Olympia and beyond. At Emerald City Music concerts, the audience’s presence matters, transforming the artists, the community, and the future of classical music.
For Emerald City Music’s eighth season, the theme of connection permeates each performance. From exploring the evolution of improvisation from baroque to jazz, to hosting major ensembles such as the New York Classical Players, the UBC Balinese Gamelan Ensemble, two string quartets –– the Calidore Quartet and the Abeo Quartet –– and more, this season is packed full of opportunities to connect with music and with one another.
“brilliant [and] exceptional programming”
NEWS
PHOTOS
“[Emerald City Music] loves to host exploratory concerts that both educate and inspire”