Feb 8 & 22: Claremont Trio and Attacca Quartet Perform at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

L-R: Claremont Trio by Merri Cyr; Attacca Quartet by David Goddard. Press photos available here.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Presents the Claremont Trio & Attacca Quartet in February

Concerts Include Rarely Heard Music by French Composer Louise Farrenc and a Boston Premiere by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer David Lang Co-Commissioned by the Gardner Museum 

Claremont Trio: Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Attacca Quartet: Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 1:30 pm 

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall
25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/about/music

For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com

BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series, presenting the Claremont Trio on Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 1:30 pm and the Attacca Quartet on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 1:30pm. This fifteen-concert season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel runs from January 25 through May 17, 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.

Lauded as “one of America’s finest young chamber groups” by The Strad Magazine, the Claremont Trio (violinist Emily Bruskin, cellist Julia Bruskin, and pianist Sophiko Simsive) is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. The ensemble has a long history of performing at the Gardner Museum, which presented the Trio’s Boston debut over 25 years ago.

Emily Bruskin says, “Two visionary curators of music at the Gardner Museum—Scott Nickrenz and George Steel—have made this series feel like a second home for us, having presented our Boston debut; our Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann trio cycles; world premieres by Gabriela Lena Frank, Sean Shepherd, Helen Grime, and Juantio Becenti; underappreciated masterpieces by Charlotte Sohy, Cecile Chaminade, Rebecca Clarke, and Louise Farrenc; and so much more.” 

For this concert, the Trio will be joined by violist Rosemary Nelis and bassist Bradley Aikman in a performance of 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc’s Piano Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 30. Farrenc, whose music is only now receiving the attention it deserves, was a formidable pianist and composer whose piano quintet stands alongside the finest chamber works of her era. The trio will also take on Ravel’s luscious piano trio and Shulamit Ran’s yearning Soliloquy, which grew out of her work on an operatic adaptation of The Dybbuk by S. An-sky.

The two-time Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet is recognized and acclaimed as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment—a true quartet for modern times. Their repertoire spans from Haydn and Beethoven to Caroline Shaw and electronic music. Recent highlights include performances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Ojai Festival, Big Ears Festival, and much more. The Attacca returns to the Gardner Museum with Bartók’s pungent fourth quartet, which mixes Hungarian folk music and modernism with foot-stomping ferocity. Mendelssohn’s Apollonian musicianship will be on display in his elegant String Quartet in E minor.

The Attacca Quartet will also give the Boston premiere of daisy, a Museum-commissioned work by Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang, who created his “in-ear opera” true pearl for the Gardner Museum’s Tapestry Room in 2018. Lang explains that daisy is inspired by an advertisement from the Vietnam War era. He writes, “[Lyndon Baines Johnson's] campaign included what many consider the most effective political ad in American history—it featured an innocent young girl plucking the petals off a flower, who is then interrupted by the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb. The name of the ad was 'Daisy.' My quartet daisy remembers this moment in American history, and it proposes two different futures for the innocent. The opening movement—‘first daisy’—begins in a gentle openness that is soon forgotten, and taken for granted, and which then becomes relentlessly overwhelmed. The concluding movement—‘second daisy’— imagines what might happen if that gentle and open spirit could be believed, and valued, and supported, and preserved.” daisy was co-commissioned by an international group of presenters: La Biennale di Venezia, Kings Place, Newport Classical, String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, Park Avenue Armory, and the Isabella Stewart 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.

Winter/Spring 2026 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule

January 25: Twelfth Night Ensemble

February 1: Romuald Grimbert-Barré, violin; Tommy Mesa, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano

February 8: Claremont Trio

February 22: Attacca Quartet

February 26: Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians performed by Ensemble Signal - Thursday Night Music

March 1: Goldmund Quartet with Gloria Chien, piano

March 8: Hopkinson Smith, lute

March 15: Borromeo String Quartet

March 29: Castle of Our Skins with Daniel Bernard Roumain, electric violin and Val-Inc, sound chemist

April 5: Paul Galbraith, guitar

April 12: Randall Goosby, violin with Zhu Wang, piano

April 18: Boston Children’s Chorus: The Road She Paved

April 19: Imani Winds

April 26: Diderot String Quartet

May 10: Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano

May 17: Renaissance String Quartet

All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm, except for Ensemble Signal which performs on Thursday, February 26 at 7 pm and the Boston Children’s Chorus which performs on Saturday, April 18 at 2 pm. All concerts take place in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA).

Ticketing Information

Tickets are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. For additional information including about accessibility, please contact boxoffice@isgm.org.

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 11am to 5 pm and Thursdays until 9 pm. Closed Tuesdays. • Admission: Adults $22; Seniors $20; Students $15; Free for members, children under 18, everyone on their birthday, and all named “Isabella” • $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ticket • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org

Music at the Gardner is supported by Manitou Fund. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial 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, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.