The 2026 Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival in Annapolis is entitled "The Quality of Mercy" and celebrates our shared humanity through the musical depiction of experiences of conflict resolution and compassion. Featuring 17th and 18th-century chamber music performed by period instrument specialists from around the country and Canada, the festival’s three programs will present Italian music from Shakespeare’s time and works from 18th-century France and Germany by Marais, Corelli, j.S. Bach, Lully and others.
The festival opens with "These Distracted Times" on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM at St. Anne's in Annapolis with viola da gambist Susie Napper from Montreal, harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright from Indiana and baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan.
Suites entitled "La Paix" (Peace) and "La Guerre" (War) by Monteclair and "A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Times" by Thomas Tomkins all reflect the 18th-century composer's proficiency in providing perspective and solace in the face of discord and suffering and are to be included among other works by Couperin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and Louis Couperin.