Sure, the Seattle Chamber Music Society has a menu of the usual star composers — Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák — for its Summer Festival running July 1-26. But this year, the festival is boasting an actual menu that will be designed onstage by Seattle star chefs. On July 19, the Summer Festival will present “ Tasting Notes ,” a one-off special event (not part of any subscription package) that’s a new experiment in partnership with James Beard media award-winning cookbook author J.
Kenji López-Alt . The evening, inspired by SCMS Artistic Director James Ehnes’ conversations with López-Alt about his enthusiasm for chamber music, “will explore the similarities between cooking and making music,” Ehnes says. “Things like teamwork and balancing creativity with precision, and how the senses are so intertwined.
” As SCMS musicians present Schumann’s Piano Quintet, López-Alt and chefs from Canlis, Beast & Cleaver and Ltd Edition Sushi will discuss and demonstrate a culinary interpretation of its four movements as a meal in four courses. Though general ticket buyers will not be partaking of the meal, all audience members will be invited to take part in a tasting from Spinnaker Chocolate. “It’s a great way to introduce some of Kenji’s fans to a form of art that he loves very much and also to introduce our devoted fans to a different way of thinking about art and the way that we process it in our minds,” Ehnes said.
As for the musical fare on the Summer .