After a year and a half away from a darkened stage, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s community bands together to reawaken its home of Alice Tully Hall for its first concert since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In "Setting the Stage," artists give viewers an inside peek into the healing power of music as they reflect on how, amidst all of the unknown variables at the beginning of the lockdown, playing music served as a pillar and a beacon, providing comfort and hope. It is this sustaining quality that drives the work of rebuilding in a now-unfamiliar concert landscape, full of new processes and protocols, and with uncertainties around every corner. As anticipation for opening night mounts, nerves and excitement are palpable in watching the artists and staff work to breathe life back into a shuttered concert hall and bring music back to a live audience.

Following the success of opening night, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center gets back to work as it continues to mount its new season, complete with a number of ambitious projects and daunting challenges. In "Bringing Down the House," we move through the season at breakneck speed, as CMS staff attempt to safely gather over a dozen wind players for whom performing was considered taboo earlier in the pandemic, and then send another group of artists on a six-city tour of Bach’s timeless Brandenburg Concertos. Just as it gave solace during the initial pandemic lockdown, Bach’s music creates a sense of stability for these traveling musicians on a tour in which the idea of “expecting the unexpected” is an understatement.