Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts originated in musical soirées of the 1930s at the Nightingale-Brown House, home to newlyweds Anne and John Nicholas Brown, both ardent lovers of chamber music and musicians themselves. Those private concerts started a tradition that has turned into the oldest public chamber music presenting organization in Rhode Island, and among the longest-running chamber music series in the United States. 

We are not sure of the exact date that these elegant house concerts transitioned into a public series, but we have maintained a detailed archive of performances presented by “Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts” since 1955.

Since then, RICMC has hosted many of the most famous names in chamber music – the same masterful artists who play sold-out concerts in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Celebrity Series of Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, London's Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and Vienna's Musikverein. 

Among our international guests have been legends like the Juilliard, Smetana, Budapest, Guarneri, and Tokyo quartets, and leading international ensembles from today including the Jerusalem Quartet from Israel, the Ebène and Modigliani quartets from Paris, the Casals Quartet from Spain, the Cuarteto Latinoamericano from Mexico, and the Artemis Quartet from Germany. In recent seasons, our audience has been thrilled to hear multi-instrumental ensembles like the Italian Saxophone Quartet, the Walden Chamber Players, and the Dorian Wind Quintet. 

Additionally, we provide substantial performance opportunities for emerging young artists who have won major international performance competitions and shine a spotlight on regional artists of extraordinary musicianship.

Generous donations from our audience, board of directors, state and private grants, and a dedicated team of volunteers has enabled us to present artists of the highest caliber at affordable ticket prices, a defining hallmark of this historic series.