Gardner Museum Concludes Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series - Isata Kanneh-Mason on May 10 and Renaissance String Quartet on May 17
L-R: Renaissance String Quartet, Isata Kanneh-Mason. Press photos available here.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Concludes
Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series
Sunday, May 10 at 1:30 pm: Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
Sunday, May 17 at 1:30 pm: Renaissance String Quartet
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 concludes its Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series, presenting leading pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 1:30 pm and the Renaissance String Quartet on Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 1:30 pm. 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.
The stellar pianist member of the great English Kanneh-Mason family of musicians, Isata Kanneh-Mason, takes a moment away from the concerto stage to bring this thoughtfully constructed program to Calderwood Hall on May 10. She performs two of Beethoven’s best-loved sonatas, the “Moonlight” and the “Waldstein;” Ravel’s astonishing three-movement tour-de-force Gaspard de la nuit, inspired by the dark poetry of Aloysius Bertrand; and pair of shorter works, Halo and Nocturne, by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova.
Isata Kanneh-Mason is in high demand from concert halls and orchestras worldwide. In July 2024, she was invited to perform at the First Night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony and conductor Elim Chan, a performance that resulted in stellar reviews. In addition to performing in recital at the Gardner Museum, this season she also appears at Wigmore Hall in London, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Powell Hall in St Louis, De Bijloke in Ghent, Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, among others. Her recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra was recently released on Decca. BBC Music Magazine raves, "She is a pianist who makes lines sing beautifully and virtuosic passages dance, finding intimacy and eloquence at telling moments."
The Gardner Museum presents the Renaissance String Quartet on May 17, for the closing performance of the Winter/Spring 2026 Weekend Concert Series. This supergroup includes violinist Randall Goosby, violinist Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass—four terrific musicians who find time in their busy touring lives as soloists and chamber musicians to perform together. Brahms’ String Quartet No. 2 in A minor anchors the program with its characteristic blend of passion and intellectual rigor. The concert also includes the great American composer Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 1 in G Major. Price had a special gift for quartet writing; the exquisite and eloquent slow movement of her first quartet shows her love of American song, especially Black spirituals. The program closes with String Quartet No. 1, “Love and Levity,” by Daniel Hass, the cellist in the Renaissance String Quartet. He describes the piece as “Beethovenian in its thematic and structural tautness, but even more so in its motion towards excess.”
The Renaissance String Quartet is driven by a desire to reimagine the role and capacity of the string quartet as a vehicle for change, inspiring audiences, students, and collaborators around the world. Founded in 2021, the New York City-based quartet was formed on the basis of over a decade of friendship at The Perlman Music Program and The Juilliard School. The quartet feels a responsibility to command a diverse repertoire of classic, underrepresented, and new works, so they can contribute to the reclamation, redefinition, and continuation of a musical tradition that belongs to all of us. They represent and articulate an inclusive vision of the future of classical music, which sees a culture of music wherein all lives and histories are welcomed and celebrated.
Also in May, the Gardner Museum presents its next Thursday Night Music concert on May 28, 2026, featuring John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet with John Zorn, saxophone; Julian Lage, electric guitar; Jorge Roeder, bass; and Kenny Wollesen, drums. The New Masada Quartet is iconoclastic composer and saxophonist John Zorn’s virtuosic ensemble that performs classic compositions from Zorn’s Masada songbooks—hundreds of short-form pieces marrying Jewish klezmer music and free jazz. Thursday Night Music brings a different energy to the concert hall than the afternoon performances of the Museum’s Weekend Concert Series, featuring edgier, more experimental work. With no intermissions, open seating, and a relaxed atmosphere, these single-set performances offer immersive and adventurous listening experiences.
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 at 1:30pm: Twelfth Night Ensemble (postponed)
February 1 at 1:30pm: Romuald Grimbert-Barré, violin; Tommy Mesa, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano
February 8 at 1:30pm: Claremont Trio
February 22 at 1:30pm: Attacca Quartet
February 26 at 7 pm: Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians performed by Ensemble Signal - Thursday Night Music
March 1 at 1:30pm: Goldmund Quartet with Gloria Chien, piano
March 8 at 1:30pm: Paul O’Dette, lute
March 15 at 1:30pm: Borromeo String Quartet
March 29 at 1:30pm: Castle of Our Skins with Daniel Bernard Roumain, electric violin and Val-Inc, sound chemist
April 5 at 1:30pm: Paul Galbraith, guitar
April 12 at 1:30pm: Randall Goosby, violin with Zhu Wang, piano
April 18 at 2 pm: Boston Children’s Chorus: The Road She Paved
April 19 at 1:30pm: Imani Winds
April 26 at 1:30pm: The Butter Quartet
May 10 at 1:30pm: Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
May 17 at 1:30pm: Renaissance String Quartet
May 28 at 7 pm: John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet - Thursday Night Music
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, Joseph Mari, Sallie and Jim McGregor, Nicie and Jay Panetta, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.