Located Within The Heart of Downtown Seattle, The Center Will Be a Hub For World Class Chamber Music Performance In The City
Seattle, July 15, 2026 — Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS), a cornerstone of cultural life in the city since 1982, announces plans to build a new Center for Chamber Music in downtown Seattle—the city’s first permanent venue designed exclusively for chamber music performance, education, recording, and community engagement. Located within the newly refreshed U.S. Bank Building on 6th & Union at the heart of Seattle’s arts ecosystem, the new Center for Chamber Music will house a 271-seat concert hall with mesmerizing acoustics as well as rehearsal space, a hospitality suite fit for world-class visiting artists, and the SCMS offices. Construction is set to begin in the winter of 2026 with an opening date planned for early 2028.
The design team for the new Center for Chamber Music includes architect Joseph Herrin (Heliotrope Architects), acoustician Joseph W. A. Myers (Kirkegaard), theatre consultant Adam Shalleck (The Shalleck Collaborative), and mechanical engineer Anne Marie Moellenberndt (ARUP). The contractor for the project is Sellen Construction.
“Having performed chamber music in venues all over the world, I am thrilled for the possibilities this new Center will offer Seattle Chamber Music Society,” said violinist James Ehnes, SCMS’s Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling Artistic Director. “Acoustically and visually exceptional, it will be a true home for intimate, unamplified music. When musicians think about where they most want to perform chamber music, and when audiences think about where they most want to hear it, Seattle will be at the top of that list.”
“Most concert halls ask chamber music to adapt to the room. This hall is being designed around chamber music itself,” said John Holloway, SCMS’s Dr. Oliver E. Cobb Chief Executive Officer. “Every decision—from the acoustics and sightlines to the audience amenities and artist spaces—is centered on creating what we believe will be one of the finest chamber music experiences anywhere in the world. This Center is an investment in artistic excellence, in downtown Seattle, and in ensuring that our city remains an international destination for chamber music for generations to come.”
The new Center for Chamber Music will become Seattle Chamber Music Society’s primary concert venue, offering greater flexibility for both festivals and year-round programming. SCMS will also continue to perform in other venues around Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region, including Benaroya Hall and Town Hall Seattle.
Physical accessibility has shaped the design of the new Center from the beginning. The venue features threshold-free access, welcoming public spaces, and intuitive circulation so every visitor can experience performances comfortably. Just as importantly, the intimacy of the hall dissolves the barrier between artists and audiences, creating a musical experience that feels remarkably immediate.
Artists will benefit from acoustically superior rehearsal rooms, an extensive chamber music library, a dedicated streaming and playback room, and a performance space designed first and foremost for chamber music. The Center will also support SCMS’s growing education and community engagement activities, including the Academy for Chamber Music, The Concert Truck, open rehearsals, lectures, and sight-reading parties for community members.
The new Center also creates opportunities for SCMS to dramatically expand its digital offerings, including the popular Virtual Concert Hall, which has reached viewers in dozens of countries and nearly all U.S. states. The new Center creates opportunities to stream Signature Series concerts, improve production quality for lectures, stream Academy master classes and performances, and create new digital content. Additionally, SCMS’s brand-new recording label, SCMS Records, will be based at the Center.
With this transformational project, SCMS reaffirms its commitment to downtown Seattle, creatively repurposing existing space into a vibrant cultural destination that will bring people into the city. With the new Center for Chamber Music, SCMS is positioned to reach higher levels of artistic excellence and introduce new audiences to chamber music’s enduring relevance and beauty.
