A new music venue is coming to downtown Seattle.
The Seattle Chamber Music Society announced plans Tuesday to develop a new, dedicated chamber music hall in downtown Seattle at Sixth Avenue and Union Street, setting up shop in the recently renovated, 44-story U.S. Bank Center office tower.
When it opens in 2028, this new Center for Chamber Music will be Seattle’s first permanent venue designed exclusively for chamber music performance, featuring a 271-seat concert hall engineered to create an immersive experience where no listener will be more than 40 feet from the performers.
Construction is set to begin this winter with an opening date planned for early 2028.
The new facility will house five rehearsal spaces, a hospitality suite for visiting artists, an extensive chamber music library, a dedicated streaming and playback room, and the SCMS offices.
SCMS — which also hosts performances around the region, from a salon performance space in its current Center for Chamber Music to Benaroya Hall as well as local parks, homes, hospitals and schools — says it has outgrown its downtown location, which opened to the public in 2021. It sits kitty-corner from its new location. The growth comes in large part due to successful programs launched in that building.
“We’re thriving. Our audience is growing,” said John Holloway, CEO of Seattle Chamber Music Society.
Though performances at select other venues will continue, SCMS artistic director James Ehnes said the nonprofit felt both patrons and artists deserved a purpose-built facility.
“The Symphony performs in a symphonic hall, the Opera performs in an opera hall,” Ehnes said. “Seattle has some very nice venues for particular things. One thing it does not have is what we’re building, which is a dedicated chamber music hall. We feel that the arts lovers of the city deserve that, and we’re in a position to do it.”
Chamber music, an intimate art form for two to 10 musicians — spanning historical repertoire from the greats like Mozart to contemporary works — is best experienced in small, immersive settings, Holloway and Ehnes said. Few concert halls are built for that.
Working with architect Joseph Herrin of Heliotrope Architects, acoustician Joseph W.A. Myers, theater consultant Adam Shalleck and mechanical engineer Anne Marie Moellenberndt and Sellen Construction, the venue will be threshold-free so every visitor can experience performances comfortably, and the U-shaped design will allow visitors to feel close to the musicians.
The new center also creates opportunities for SCMS to expand its virtual content, including streaming of performances. Additionally, SCMS’ brand-new recording label, SCMS Records, will be based at the new space.
Holloway said Tuesday that the nonprofit signed a 15-year lease with two five-year renewal options. Leadership plans to launch a formal capital campaign this year, with a likely fundraising goal of $25 million.
(The current Center for Chamber Music lease runs through 2030; the new center is expected to become the group’s full operational hub.)
Why invest so much in a space the nonprofit won’t own?
Holloway said leasing made more sense: Office space is affordable right now, and it gives the nonprofit access to shared amenities like parking, valet, maintenance and other building management perks. It also allows for certainty in financial planning.
Still, it’s a notable — and long-term — investment in downtown Seattle recovery amid a slew of stories about “zombie towers” and “fire sales” of major office towers, including the U.S. Bank building, which is facing vacancies.
“Actually, we see a lot of positive things,” Holloway said: the renovation of Westlake Park, the revamped waterfront. New restaurants. Expanded public transit.
“You know, looking at our numbers and success, people are coming downtown, a lot of them,” Holloway said. “We just had three concerts last week, they were all three completely full, sold-out … in Benaroya Hall. So we’re optimistic.”
“When good things happen in a city, people come,” Holloway added. “And good things happened in the last few weeks with the World Cup. So much activity and people came. And I don’t think any of us are surprised by that.
“And when we build this hall, we’re going to help bring people back downtown, the ones that haven’t come,” he said. “It’s the culture that’s going to bring people.”
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