Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music Announces 2026 Summer Concert Season

NELSON — The Monadnock Region's home for chamber music's summer concert line up will feature a variety of creatives. It wraps up with a night celebrating Czech brothers Hugo and Pavel Haas —who's lives were upended by Nazi occupation. The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music recently announced its lineup of performers and programs for the annual Tuesday Night Summer Concert Series, which runs June 23 through Aug. 25. This summer's concert lineup will feature members of the resident Apple Hill String Quartet, dozens of faculty members from Summer Chamber Music Workshops, and guest artists from around the world. Each concert program will feature a range of music from beloved classics to world premieres by 21st century composers and hidden gems from past eras. Featured guest artists in summer 2026 will include the Illuminos Quartet, who will perform as Apple Hill's resident Fellowship Ensemble on June 30. The Fellowship Ensemble program identifies rising talent in the chamber music world and invites the musicians to attend a summer workshop session at Apple Hill on full scholarship, where they receive coaching and instruction before headlining a concert. The Illuminos Quartet's concert will feature music by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw, as well as classic string quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven and Joaquin Turina. The final concert of Apple Hill's summer season on Aug. 25, focusing on the music and film of Czech brothers Hugo and Pavel Haas — Jewish artists whose lives took dramatic turns as the Bohemian Golden Age was devastated by Nazi occupation — will be co- presented with the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College. Hugo's 1933 comedic Film, "It's a Dog's Life," with a score by Pavel, will be screened in full at Apple Hill's concert barn, and followed by a complete performance of Pavel's searing third string quartet, written as a musical call to resist fascism. Picnicking and Pre-Concert Conversations Every Apple Hill Summer Concert —except for the Summer Gala on Aug. 5 — is preceded by a listenUP! talks in the John and Jean Hoffman Community Auditorium on the central campus. These informal conversations are hosted by Executive Director Sam Bergman and members of the Apple Hill String Quartet, and highlight the performers and composers featured on each concert. listenUP! talks are free to attend and begin at 6:45 p.m. before each 7:30 p.m. concert. Concertgoers are also invited to picnic on the Apple Hill lawn before each concert — bring food or eat from the professional kitchen. Reservations are required for the catered dinner. Apple Hill Summer Gala Returns on Aug. 11 One highlight of the summer concert season at Apple Hill is the Summer Gala, where supporters of Apple Hill's Playing for Peace mission gather to celebrate with great food and music. This summer's gala concert will feature the Apple Hill String Quartet with Cypriot clarinetist George Georgiou, performing Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings. Tickets for the gala are $125, and the evening begins with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 6 p.m. Apple Hill's Summer Concert Series is supported in part by hundreds of generous donors, as well as local foundations, businesses, and funders throughout the Monadnock Region. Concerts will be held every Tuesday evening in the Louise Shonk Kelly Concert Barn on Apple Hill's central campus, located at 410 Apple Hill Road in Nelson. Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., except for the Summer Gala on Aug. 11. Reserved seating for all 10 summer concerts is on sale now at applehill.org.