OCMS Closes Out Summer Series with “The (Un)Usual Suspects”

June 19th, 2026

Danny Meyer’s relationship with the Omaha Chamber Music Society goes back further than her seat in the Omaha Symphony’s bass section. She served on the OCMS board for years, including six as board president, before settling into what she calls life as “just a humble musician.” This summer, for the first time, she’s also the curator, building a program from the ground up that she gets to play herself.

The result is The (Un)Usual Suspects, the third and final concert in OCMS’s Summer Series, running Sunday, June 21st, at the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

“It’s really about the ensemble, every piece is just a tour de force for the people on that stage,” Meyer said. The program opens with a Renaissance piece for string quintet, Orlando Gibbons’ In Nomine à 5, before moving into Jean Françaix’s Octet.

That piece comes with a bit of history. Françaix wrote it as a companion to Schubert’s famous Octet, intended for the same ensemble. But when the musicians who’d commissioned it got the score, Meyer said, they had a complaint.

“They came back and said, ‘Wait, why is this so hard?'” Meyer said. “And he told them, just because it’s fun doesn’t mean it can’t be hard. It’s party music. It’s clown music. He even threw in a Viennese waltz, even though he’s French.”

The second half of the concert turns to strings alone, including a Strauss arrangement and a Dohnányi serenade reworked for violin, viola, and bass. The program closes with the finale of a string quintet by Edgar Meyer, a piece Meyer describes as the ultimate test for any bassist.

“Edgar Meyer doesn’t publish a lot of the music he writes for himself, and every bass player has wondered why,” she said. “Then I got this music, and I realized,  it’s because no one else but Edgar can play this stuff. But it’s worth the work. It’s such an exuberant, overjoyed finale. I think people are going to love it.”

Katie, who helped shape this season’s lineup alongside Meyer, says this concert is a bit more intimate than some of the series’ larger programs.

“This is one of our smaller ensembles this summer, eight people total, so it’s a little more typical of what we usually do,” she said. “When I first heard this program, Danny sent me a list of everything she’d picked, and every piece on it is exquisite and beautiful in its own way. It’s one of the best concerts I think I’ve heard.”

Meyer hopes audiences come away with more than an appreciation for her instrument.

“If you’re not sure what kind of chamber music you enjoy, I feel like there’s something for everybody on this concert,” she said. “You’ll get to meet people you’ll see on other concerts in the series, and they’re going to do such exceptional work. If you’re not sure about the music, maybe come for the people, and then return, because both are so great.”