Twenty-four years ago, Close Encounters' artistic director and cellist Yehuda Hanani began presenting thematic concerts of chamber music with commentary—at the time a novel and innovative format that has since become ubiquitous in the concert hall. In addition to tours that have taken the series to cities such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Omaha, Calgary, and Kansas City, Scottsdale, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Close Encounters presents concerts each season in the Berkshires.

To date, over 100 themes have been explored in the series' programs. A core group of leading artists appears regularly as guests at Close Encounters concerts: pianists Lydia Artymiw, Adam Neiman, Walter Ponce, Vassily Primakov, Roman Rabinovich, Jeffrey Swann, and James Tocco; volinists Shmuel Ashkenasi, Yehonatan Berick, Miriam Fried, Vadim Gluzman, Erin Keefe Itamar Zorman; clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein and Charles Neidich; vocalists Mischa Bouvier, Jennifer Rivera, Jennifer Zetlan, and William Sharp; the Avalon, Amernet, Muir, Manhattan, and Hugo Wolf quartets, and Cuarteto Latinoamericano; and guitarist Eliot Fisk among others. Choreographer David Parsons and actors Richard Chamberlain, Jane Alexander, and Sigourney Weaver have also appeared as guests, weaving narration and dance into the fabric of the programs.