Since 1997, Friends of Chamber Music has been presenting a full season of concerts and outreach programs by world-class musicians yearly, aiming to enrich the quality of life, entertain, and inspire.

Zora String Quartet

The Zorá String Quartet captivated national attention in 2015 when they won three major awards: the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Grand Prize and Gold Medal of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and First Prize in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in California. They were also awarded the Sander Buchman Debut Prize of Young Concert Artists and five concert prizes. As a result of winning the Fischoff Competition, they toured the Midwest and appeared at the 2016 Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy. In 2016, they were chosen as the Quartet in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music.. To make this

Heinavanker Estonian Vocal Ensemble

Estonian vocal ensemble Heinavanker is a unique meeting point for musicians, five men and two women, active in different fields. Since 1996, under the direction of composer Margo Kõlar, the ensemble has explored early sacred music, traditions of their ancestors, and contemporary imagination. Ancient Estonian runic songs and folk hymns are an important part of Heinavanker's repertoire. On many concert tours in Europe and USA, Heinavanker has performed the ensemble’s original compositions based on Estonian folklore and European early polyphonic music.

Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet and James Dick, piano

Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet (QGQ)

Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet is acclaimed as one of the world’s top guitar ensembles. Composed of Brazilian guitarists Chrystian Dozza, Fabio Ramazzina, Thiago Abdalla, and Sidney Molina, QGQ is recognized for its artistic excellence and significant contributions to the expansion of guitar quartet repertoire. Over the past twenty five years, the group has established a wide canon of original pieces and ambitious arrangements through collaboration with composers Leo Brouwer, Almeida Prado, Egberto Gismonti, Sergio Molina, Paulo Bellinati, and many others.  

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James Dick, piano 

Recognized as one of the important pianists of his generation, James Dick brings keyboard sonorities of captivating opulence and brilliance to performances that radiate intellectual insight and emotional authenticity. Dick's early triumphs as top prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky, Busoni and Leventritt International Competitions were a mere prelude to an eminent career highlighted by acclaimed recitals and concerto performances in the world's premier concert halls, including New York's Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall and 92nd Street "Y", London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, le Theatre du Chatelet and Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, the Rudolphinum in Prague, and Victoria Hall in Singapore.

Ars Lyrica Houston & the Moores School of Music Concert Chorale

Long Live The Queen

This regal program commemorates two beloved female patrons with J. S. Bach’s rarely heard Trauerode, written for the 1717 funeral of Christiane Eberhardine of Saxony, and Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne of Great Britain composed in 1713. Both works call for multiple soloists, chorus, and unusually expressive orchestral forces with harpsichord and organ, including two violas da gamba and lutes in the Bach's Cantata and an echo natural trumpet at the beginning of Handel’s Ode. A stellar array of five soloists and the award-winning University of Houston Moores School Concert Chorale join the Ars Lyrica Houston ensemble for a concert of noble and hauntingly beautiful music.