The chamberconcerts.cologne – launched in 2020 at the Kölnischer Kunstverein and based at the Humboldt Chamber Music Hall since 2024 – has developed into a fixture and central concert series of the independent classical chamber music scene in Cologne during its six years of existence.
Under the artistic direction of Tobias Kassung and the Kölner Klassik Ensemble, the entire diversity of today's classical chamber music is presented here – spanning all eras from early to contemporary music.
New formations combining classical, jazz and world music are just as much a part of the programme as classical string quartets, piano trios, duos and outstanding soloists. Famous and important chamber music works are featured alongside rarely heard pieces and world premieres of new music and unusual arrangements.
These concerts quickly established themselves, and the exciting programme selection, featuring outstanding and often unusual ensembles and line-ups, has been thrilling large audiences ever since. Until 2023, the concerts took place in the Riphahn Hall of the Cologne Art Association. Since 2024, the series has been a guest in the Humboldt Hall. This new chamber music hall on the grounds of the Humboldt Gymnasium on Kartäuserwall was opened in 2024/25 by the City of Cologne's Cultural Space Management (KRM) as part of a pilot project for public concerts. As a partner in the pilot project, the Cologne Classical Ensemble presents its own ensembles and the top ensembles of the music metropolis on the Rhine in the hall's excellent acoustics.
Now, the Humboldt Hall is finally to be made permanently available to Cologne's independent chamber music scene. This gives our series a special responsibility: in this pioneering position, we want to use our high-calibre, thematically distinguished concert series to put the hall firmly on the city's cultural map.
2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Hans-Werner Henze's birth. To mark this occasion, all five chamber concerts will be dedicated to the outstanding work of this important German composer. In each concert, under the hashtag #henze2026, a chamber music work by Henze will enter into dialogue with music from other eras and musical contexts. In this way, we aim to raise the profile of this important composer, who has often been overlooked in recent times. Henze, a comprehensive, great artist whose work stands for humanism, aesthetic openness and resistance to all forms of totalitarianism, was born in North Rhine-Westphalia and worked primarily in Cologne for many years.
With our #henze2026 focus, we are also setting ourselves the important goal of making Henze's chamber music oeuvre more visible again and sending a clear cultural and political signal for openness, tolerance and humanism.
Artists 2026: Formations of the Cologne Classical Ensemble: Arisva String Quartet; Guitar Duo Kassung & Marziali; Duo Kravets-Kassung; Guest Ensembles: Morgenstern Piano Trio; Arundos Wind Quintet
You can find the current programme here. A review of the programmes from previous years can be found here.
