Season XVIII Announcement
Artistic Director Gloria Chien unveils a 2026–2027 season that travels from Bach's solo suites to bluegrass and Grammy-nominated percussion — six evenings at the Hunter Museum.
String Theory at the Hunter returns for its eighteenth season with six evenings that span three centuries and cross every border chamber music has to offer. Curated by Artistic Director Gloria Chien, the 2026–2027 season unfolds at the Hunter Museum of American Art—from the shimmering Romanticism of Schubert to the raw invention of a Grammy-nominated percussion epic performed entirely from memory.
The season opens on September 23 with Romantic Reflections, as violist Timothy Ridout, clarinetist José Franch-Ballester, and pianist Gloria Chien weave together Horovitz, Schubert's beloved Arpeggione Sonata, and Bruch's Eight Pieces. In November, cellist Zlatomir Fung—the first American in four decades to win Gold at the Tchaikovsky Competition—takes the stage alone for three of Bach's Cello Suites, a rare and transcendent solo recital.
The new year brings a meeting of worlds. On January 27, bassist Edgar Meyer, his son George, and mandolin master Mike Marshall blur the lines between classical, bluegrass, and folk. Weeks later, the legendary Danish String Quartet returns—a String Theory favorite—pairing Ravel's String Quartet with Shostakovich's Piano Quintet alongside Gloria Chien.
An American Arc
The season's final chapter turns homeward. Americana gathers five of today's finest musicians—Richard Lin, Oliver Neubauer, Paul Neubauer, Mihai Marica, and Gloria Chien—to trace the many voices of American music, from Gershwin and spirituals to Amy Beach's radiant Piano Quintet. On April 14, the season closes with Sandbox Percussion performing Andy Akiho's Seven Pillars: seventy minutes of pure virtuosity, played entirely from memory.
Six evenings. One intimate room. Season passes are available now, and single tickets go on sale ahead of each concert.
