In 2009, we launched our own in-house “Friends of Music” (FoM) recording label, in order to provide music lovers all over the world the opportunity to experience recordings that grow out of the Museum concerts of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society’s resident ensembles, and the repertoire explorations of various ensemble members (which range from the mainstream to the arcane).
In the coming years, new recordings will be released on an ongoing basis through the course of each season. Each release will be launched at an SCMS Museum concert. FoM also plans to revive some of the currently unavailable SCMS CDs previously issued by the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings.
In accordance with the Smithsonian’s mandate to provide for “the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” copies of each new recording are sent to hundreds of music libraries and classical radio stations across the country.
The Smithsonian Chamber Players (Jaap Schroeder & Marilyn McDonald, violins; Kenneth Slowik, violone; Konrad Junghänel, theorbo; James Weaver, organo di legno)
Webb Wiggins, harpsichord and organ
The Esterházy Machine (Kenneth Slowik, baryton; Steven Dann, viola; Myron Lutzke, violoncello)
The Esterházy Machine (Kenneth Slowik, baryton; Steven Dann, viola; Myron Lutzke, violoncello)
The Smithsonian Chamber Players (Kenneth Slowik, conductor, with Russell Braun, baritone)
The Smithsonian Chamber Players (Vera Beths, violin; Kenneth Slowik, violoncello; Pedja Muzijevic, fortepiano)
The Smithsonian Chamber Players: (Mark Fewer, violin; Myron Lutzke, violoncello; Kenneth Slowik, harpsichord)
Vera Beths, violin; Kenneth Slowik, fortepiano
The Castle Trio (Lambert Orkis, fortepiano; Marilyn McDonald, violin; Kenneth Slowik, violoncello)
William Sharp, baritone
Kenneth Slowik, fortepiano
The Smithsonian Chamber Players (Lambert Orkis, fortepiano; Ian Swensen & Marilyn McDonald, violins (op. 44); Lisa-Beth Lambert, violin (op. 47); Steven Dann, viola; Kenneth Slowik, violoncello) on Stradivarius instruments from the Smithsonian Collection
