The Omaha Chamber Music Society announces its Summer Concert Series with promotional artwork inspired by open skies, natural landscapes, and the expressive spirit of live chamber music.
By Gabriel Escalera
Omaha Chamber Music Society Opens Summer Series With Comedy and Classics
June 5th, 2026
What happens when classical music stops taking itself too seriously? This weekend, the Omaha Chamber Music Society opens its summer season with musical jokes, unexpected twists, and even Mozart played intentionally wrong.
The concert, titled From the Courts, With Comedy, features thirteen musicians on stage and marks the first season under new Artistic Director Brett Hodge, who also serves as Principal Horn of the Omaha Symphony.
That playful spirit drives the opening concert of the Society’s 26th summer series. The program features works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Caroline Shaw, and Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by one of the largest ensembles in the series’ history.
Hodge designed the evening to take audiences through musical humor, architectural inspiration, and the grand virtuosity of the Baroque era.
“Mozart was kind of a jokester,” Hodge said. “He wrote some, quote, wrong things in there. People playing in the wrong keys, wrong notes. You’re going to see things you don’t normally see at a chamber music performance.”
The concert also includes a string quartet by Shaw, one of today’s most celebrated American composers. The piece was written for the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington, D.C., creating a direct connection to Bach’s First Brandenburg Concerto, which closes the evening.
The Brandenburg Concerto remains one of Bach’s most beloved works, known for its energy, scale, and demanding parts for nearly every musician on stage.
For Katie Wojtulis, the Society’s General Manager and longtime harpist with the organization, chamber music creates a connection audiences rarely experience elsewhere.
“It’s much more intimate,” Wojtulis said. “The way you rehearse and discuss the ideas you want to get across, it’s completely different than being conducted by someone. You all really get to have a say in how you want the product to come out.”
The Omaha Chamber Music Society was founded 26 years ago by members of the Omaha Symphony who wanted to continue performing during the summer months. What began as four concerts at Trinity Cathedral has grown into a community institution with educational programming and outreach performances at the Nebraska Veterans Home, Hospice House, and other community spaces throughout the region.
