Oct 25: Gardner Museum Presents “Celebrating Chrysanthemums” Concert
John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation in the Courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, photo by Ally Schmaling. Press photos available here.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents
Celebrating Chrysanthemums on October 25, 2026 in Calderwood Hall
A Concert in Celebration of the Museum’s Annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation in the Courtyard
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 1:30pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall | 25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/celebrating-chrysanthemums-20261025
For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com
BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series, presenting Celebrating Chrysanthemums on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 1:30pm. This ten-concert autumn season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel runs from September 13 through November 22, 2026 and features world-class artists in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intense and intentional listening experience.
Celebrating Chrysanthemums coincides with the Museum’s annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation and is an exploration of the flower as muse for musicians and writers. The concert will be hosted by the Gardner’s Stanley P. Kozak Director of Horticulture, Erika Rumbley, and Abrams Curator of Music, George Steel, who will read related poems, letters, and horticultural texts. An all-star cast including Kara Dugan, mezzo-soprano; Peter Dugan, piano; Katherine Winterstein, violin; Gabriela Díaz, violin; Mina Lavcheva, violin; Cara Pogossian, viola; Jia Kim, cello; Emi Ferguson, flute; and Cory Pesaturo, accordion will perform music by Jules Massenet, Léo Delibes, Giacomo Puccini, Scott Joplin, Dora Pejačević, Nikolai Kharito, Zbigniew Maciejowski, Ernesto Lecuona, Tōru Takemitsu, Xiaogang Ye, and Juantio Becenti.
The Gardner Museum’s annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation has been a beloved tradition since Isabella Stewart Gardner lived in the Palace. Throughout autumn, chrysanthemums of various colors and species make an appearance. Most eye-catching of all are the Single Stem Chrysanthemums, grapefruit-sized flowers with sculpture-like petals that crown statuesque stems four feet tall. These are the result of a Japanese pruning technique called ogiku—the Gardner is one of just a small handful of institutions in the United States trained in this practice. On view from October to November, the Gardner’s chrysanthemum display inspires visitors and artists alike just as the days begin to grow dark.
Celebrating Chrysanthemums follows the chrysanthemum through more than a century of music, and through its varying meanings as a flower of autumn and grief, and a symbol of longevity and endurance. The program includes selections from Europe in the 1800s such as Massenet's wistful song C'est au temps de la chrysanthème or It is the season of the chrysanthemum; Delibes's French art song Chrysanthème for voice and piano setting text by Paul Fuchs; and Puccini's Crisantemi, a grief-stricken elegy for string quartet, which was written in a single night and invokes the use of these evocative flowers at funerals in Italy. Croatian composer Dora Pejačević’s late-Romantic work Chrysanthemums is the final movement of her piano cycle, symbolizing late life, and Kharito's The Chrysanthemums Have Faded is a bittersweet waltz about lost love. Songs by Zbigniew Maciejowski, and Ernesto Lecuona bring the chrysanthemum into the cafe and cabaret. Scott Joplin’s lyrical rag The Chrysanthemum is dedicated to his late wife, who died only weeks after their wedding. The concert features three contemporary works: Takemitsu's impressionistic, dreamlike From far beyond Chrysanthemums and November fog for violin and piano; Xiaogang Ye's haunting December Chrysanthemum for flute, written in memory of his infant daughter; and In the Greenhouse from Navajo composer Juantio Becenti’s 2019 piano trio, which was commissioned by the Gardner Museum.
George Steel’s music programming for the Museum continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest-running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds.
Fall 2026 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule
September 13: Rachel Barton Pine, violin
September 20: Twelfth Night Ensemble
September 27: Chamber Music Celebration
This annual concert celebrates the life and legacy of Scott Nickrenz, first Abrams Curator of Music at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
October 4: Ivalas Quartet
October 18: ACRONYM: Esther in the Age of Rembrandt
October 25: Celebrating Chrysanthemums
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
October 29: Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain performed by Alarm Will Sound, conducted by Alan Pierson – Thursday Night Music
November 1: Eleanor Alberga with Green Room Ensemble
November 8: Poiesis Quartet
November 15: Lysander Piano Trio
November 22: Jean Rondeau, harpsichord
This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.
All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA), except for the October 29 Thursday Night Music concert which starts at 7 pm.
Ticketing Information
Tickets ($25-$99) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. All concert tickets include Museum admission.
About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers a singular invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, unforgettable galleries surround a luminous Courtyard and are home to masters such as Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Whistler, and Sargent. The Renzo Piano Wing provides a platform for contemporary artists, musicians, and scholars and serves as an innovative venue where creativity is celebrated in all of its forms.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115 • Hours: Open Weekends from 10 am to 5 pm, Weekdays from 11 am to 5 pm, and Thursdays until 9 pm. Closed Tuesdays. • General admission: Adults $25; Seniors $22; Students $15; Free Thursdays from 5 – 9 pm and for members, children 17 and under, and everyone named Isabella • Information: 617 566 1401 • Box Office: 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org
Music at the Gardner is supported by the Nora McNeely Hurley Foundation. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Scott Nickrenz Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Joseph Mari, Sallie and Jim McGregor, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.