The Allen Center Announces 2025-26 Season with Exciting New Partnerships and Diverse Lineup

The Allen Center (TAC) is set to open its doors for its 13th season of music, promising a wide array of musical programming and a fresh wave of partnerships. Now in its fourth year of programming, following nine years of development, the center's 2025-26 season will feature new collaborations with M. Steinert & Sons and the Lydian String Quartet.

As part of the new partnership, M. Steinert & Sons, New England's exclusive authorized Steinway Piano dealer, will provide a 9-foot Steinway “D” Concert Piano for performances and visiting artists throughout the year. Brendan Murphy, President of M. Steinert & Sons, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration. "Since its renovation just a few years ago, The Allen Center has become one of the premier music venues in the area," Murphy said. "We are proud that a Steinway Concert Grand is the official piano of The Allen Center and look forward to collaborating on a range of projects that showcase the extraordinary talents that are making music in our community.”

The Lydian String Quartet, which was formerly in residence at Brandeis University for 44 years, will now be the Ensemble in Residence at The Allen Center. The quartet will present a series of four open rehearsals during the season, with further details to be announced.

Season Highlights

The 2025-26 season, curated by Artistic Director Allison Eldredge, will feature more than a dozen concerts as part of the Cherry Street Music Series. The lineup includes a mix of classical, jazz, and other genres, performed by both rising and established artists.
The season kicks off the first weekend of October with a three-day celebration:

• Friday, October 3: A Taste of the Season will offer vignette performances by artists appearing throughout the year, including Phil Lima, Maxim Lubarsky, Karen Walwyn, and Julia Glenn. The evening will also feature an exhibit of mixed media works by artist Laura Scheuerell, including her Steinway Series Reimagined.
• Saturday, October 4: Internationally known jazz pianist Maxim Lubarsky and vocalist Gabriela Martina will perform works from their recent album, Explorations in Sound.
• Sunday, October 5: Steinway artists Max Levinson and Karen Walwyn will present a piano concert to celebrate the new partnership with M. Steinert & Sons, followed by a champagne reception.

Additional fall performances include:

• Sunday, October 19: Baritone Philip Lima and pianist Tudor Bota will perform Franz Schubert’s song cycle, Winterreise.
• Thursday, November 13: The Naumberg Award-winning Lydian String Quartet will hold the first of their open rehearsals, with a program featuring movements from Beethoven String Quartets Opus 18, No. 4 and Opus 127.
• November 23: Boston’s Brilliance, an ensemble featuring BSO violinist Alexander Velinzon, violist Cathy Basrak, cellist Allison Eldredge, and pianist Max Levinson, will return to perform chamber music, including Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet.
• December 18: Stefan Jackiw & Friends will present a program with violinist Stefan Jackiw, pianist Kevin Ahfat, clarinetist Yoonah Kim, and cellist Allison Eldredge.

The winter and spring lineup promises more performances from renowned artists, including pianists Karen Walwyn and Orli Shaham. The season will also feature a program curated by Philip Lima titled Bold Black Baritones, a new musical theater night with students from Berklee College of Music, and an all-Beethoven program with Allison Eldredge and pianist Pei-Shan Lee.
The Black Feathers will return from Wales with their genre-defying folk sound, and the season will close in June 2026 with a performance by the Howard University Gospel Choir.

Tickets and information for the 2025-26 season are available at newtonculture.org.

About The Allen Center

The Allen Center (TAC) is an Arts & Cultural Center located in West Newton, MA, owned and operated by the Newton Cultural Alliance (NCA). As a unique space dedicated to the creative community, its historic facility was renovated in 2021 and has been expanding its programming ever since. The NCA established its Artist-in-Residence program in the fall of 2022, inviting international concert cellist Allison Eldredge to serve in that role.