Orion Ensemble Announces Opening of its 33rd Season with Original Huydts works, Mozart, and Brahms on September 21-28, 2025

The Orion Ensemble announced the opening of its 33rd season in September 2025 with a program that combines compositions created for Orion with classic chamber works and guest violist Stephen Boe. Performances take place at three venues between September 21–28, 2025.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-91) Trio in E-flat Major for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (“Kegelstatt”), KV 498—featured in Orion’s September program—was completed in August 1786 and first performed at the home of the composer’s friend Gottfried von Jacquin. Franziska, Gottfried’s sister, and one of Mozart’s favorite students, played the piano; his good friend, Anton Stadler, played the clarinet; and Mozart himself likely played the viola. The work was groundbreaking for its unusual combination of instruments—there were no earlier models for clarinet–viola–piano trios—and it helped establish Stadler as the first prominent clarinetist linked to a major composer. The playful nickname “Kegelstatt” comes from the legend that Mozart composed at least parts of the work while playing skittles (“Kegel”)—a type of ninepins in which a player uses a wooden ball to knock down the pins. In other words, as the story goes, he composed this piece at a bowling alley. 

Sebastian Huydts and Orion have had a delightful relationship for many years: He composed one of Orion’s first commissioned works, and they have premiered several of his other pieces. During September’s performances, Orion plays selected movements from works Huydts wrote or adapted for Orion that the ensemble has performed throughout the years, including the lyrical second movement of his Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano “For Elise,” Op. 27, No. 2 (2014); several movements from his Snow White’s Delight, Op. 49 (2015); and the festive second and calm third movements of his Quintet, Op. 30, written in 2002 for Orion’s 10th anniversary season.

Johannes Brahms’ (1833–97) three piano quartets are among the gems in his chamber music crown. He completed the Op. 25 and 26 quartets, often called the Hamburg Quartets, relatively quickly, whereas Op. 60 took 19 years. The Quartet in G minor for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano, Op. 25, which has been likened to Beethoven in its thematic development, shows characteristics of the young composer, along with hints of the more mature Brahms. The movements are large and have many themes. Although the textures are thick, with the piano and strings often doubling or contrasting each other, there are hints, especially in the second movement, of the more mysterious and somber colors that became characteristic in his later oeuvre. The final “Gypsy” movement is one of the most exciting in all of the repertoire.

Following the opening performances in September, Orion’s 2025–26 season continues with Concert 2 in October and November, featuring works by Joseph Haydn, Philip Glass and Arthur Bliss and guests Boe and violinist Mathias Tacke; Concert 3 in March 2026, including a world premiere created for Orion by Ephraim Champion, as well as works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Anton Arensky; and Concert 4 in April and May 2026, welcoming back Boe and Tacke for works by Francis Poulenc, Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann.

Founded in 1992, The Orion Ensemble, winner of the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming for its critically acclaimed millennium celebration “An Inside Look at Contemporary Music,” features a roster of four acclaimed musicians—Kathryne Pirtle (clarinet), Florentina Ramniceanu (violin), Diana Schmück (piano) and Judy Stone (cello)—who have performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia, as an ensemble and individually in solo, orchestral and other chamber music roles.

The Chicago Tribune called Orion “one of Chicago’s most vibrant, versatile and distinctive ensembles,” and the Chicago Sun-Times said Orion is “what chamber music should be all about: Individual virtuosity melded into a group personality.” The Orion Ensemble is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the John R. Halligan Charitable Fund and generous donations from its patrons.

Dates and locations for the September performances include New England Congregational Church in Aurora (Sept. 21), PianoForte Studios in Chicago (Sept. 22) and Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston (Sept. 28), where Orion is a Resident Ensemble.  For additional information please see orionensemble.org or call 630-628-9591.