Ensemble Music Society

Ensemble Music Society -- An all-volunteer organization, the Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis provides a series of professional chamber music performances in the city. Under the leadership of Leonard Strauss – an amateur violinist who helped establish the ISO in 1929 – the Society met at the Herron Art Museum on 16th Street in early 1944 to plan its first events. On April 12, 1944, the Musical Art Quartet presented the society’s first concert at the Indiana World Memorial Auditorium to a crowd of around 500 people. Within its first two years, the subscription series of four concerts sold out. Prominent guests over the years have included the Budapest Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Beaux Arts Trio, Guarneri Quartet, New York String Sextet, and the Tokyo Quartet. The Miró String Quartet was be the first of five groups for the 2018-19 season. Currently, the series concerts take place mainly at the Glick Indiana History Center on Ohio Street. In addition, the Society organizes extra concerts and master classes given by the guest performers in the area schools.