Welcome to the North Shore Chamber Music Festival – the music makers!

We had a dream. We wanted to start a chamber music festival as a way to enhance and give back to our community. In 2011, we were running errands near our home in Chicago’s North Shore, noticed the Village Presbyterian Church, and quickly realized it would be ideal for such an event. For participating artists, we knew we could draw on a top-notch network of friends and colleagues with whom we have had the good fortune to collaborate throughout the years.

What resulted was the North Shore Chamber Music Festival, which takes place each June over four days in Northbrook. Critics have hailed it as one of the best-kept secrets in Chicago’s classical scene, and it’s not hard to understand why. “World-class” is an over-used term, but we never hedge on quality, consistently inviting guest artists who live up to the descriptor. The programs mix old and new, the well-known and little-known, so there is always something fresh and something familiar. Perhaps best of all, the concerts are warm, inviting, and intimate – all the qualities any worthwhile chamber music presentation should have.

During this unprecedented year of 2020, we have created a new onstage/offstage series with limited in-person seating that enjoyed a livestream audience of tens of thousands of people in the Chicago area and around the globe. The series provided a way for our artists to stay connected to you, our dear audience, and for talented young musicians to have the opportunity of performing in concerts, and to be encouraged and supported in masterclasses with world-renowned teachers.

Our concerts were streamed in Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Bright Star Community Outreach, and included performances by students of The Betty Haag Academy of Music.
We are happy to announce the new season of onstage/offstage series, for more information please click here.

In June 2021 we have marked the 10th anniversary of the North Shore Chamber Music Festival – a noteworthy milestone in the rough-and-tumble non-profit world – with extraordinary performances, described by the Chicago Classical Review as full of “big personality and panache… fire and brilliance… greatest poise and sensitivity”. Festival’s star musicians and incredible young artists, recipients of our Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund could not contain the excitement and joy of return to live music making.

Thanks to the amazing support of our donors and especially to that of our lead sponsor, The Alphadyne Foundation, this year we were able to offer complimentary access to everyone in celebration of our 10th anniversary and as a gesture of thanks and encouragement to our community here in Chicago’s North Shore and elsewhere. This included in-person attendance and all streaming concerts on our website – www.nscmf.org/livestream-2023/ – and on the platform of our wonderful media partner – The Violin Channel.

If you are a regular attendee, welcome back. If you’ve never experienced the event, this is the perfect time to give it a try, and welcome music as a sign of a new, brighter beginning.

Yours truly,

Vadim Gluzman
Artistic Director

Angela Yoffe
Executive Director