The Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) is an American organization of musicians located in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and dedicated to the performance and promotion of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. The organization performs works from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era to the present day and is a member of

Chamber Music America Chamber Music America (CMA) is an American non-profit organization that provides small ensemble professionals with access to a variety of professional development, networking, and funding resources. CMA's regular initiatives include grants, awards, ...

and ArtsBoston. BCMS' website states that it is "

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

’s preeminent chamber music society and presents the most extensive and longest-running concert series in the region". BCMS currently offers 8 concerts throughout the year at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Sanders Theatre Memorial Hall, immediately north of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an imposing High Victorian Gothic building honoring Harvard men's sacrifices in defense of the Union during the American Civil War"a symbol of Boston's commitment ...

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music Music school, conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The ...

Jordan Hall Jordan Hall is a 1,051-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall. It is the only conservatory building in the United States to be de ...

and First Church in Cambridge, Congregational. Each spring BCMS also hosts an annual chamber music workshop for mixed ensembles at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. The organization is led by artistic director

Marcus Thompson Marcus Thompson (born 1946) is a violist and viola d'amore player known for his work as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. Thompson is a founding member and is currently artistic director of the Bost ...

and managing director Wen Huang.

History

BCMS was founded in 1982 by a group of music professionals in the Boston area. Originally called the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players, its founding members include such distinguished musicians as cellist and founding artistic director Ronald Thomas, cellist and founding executive director Bruce Coppock, violinists

Stephanie Chase Stephanie Ann Chase (born ) is an American classical violinist. Life and career Chase was born in Evanston, Illinois. She is the daughter of two musicians, the noted arranger and composer Bruce Chase and violinist Fannie (Paschell) Chase. She ...

and

Lynn Chang Lynn Chang () (born 1953) is a Chinese American violinist known for his work as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Chang is a founding member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and is currently a faculty member at MIT, Boston University, the ...

, violist Katherine Murdock, flutist

Fenwick Smith Fenwick Smith (1949 – July 19, 2017) was an American flutist. He studied under Joseph Mariano at the Eastman School of Music, graduating from there in 1972. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the New England Woodwind Quintet and began a ...

, clarinetist Thomas Hill, and pianist

Christopher O'Riley Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host. He was the host of the weekly National Public Radio program ''From the Top''. O'Riley is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative. Early life O ...

, among others. Current members of BCMS include: violist and artistic director

, oboist Peggy Pearson, clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, violinist

Jennifer Frautschi Jennifer Frautschi (; born 1973) is an American violinist. A recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, she is currently Artist-in-Residence at Stony Brook University. She plays a 1722 Antonio Stradivari violin known as the " ex-Cadiz," on loan ...

, violinist/violist Yura Lee, violist Dimitri Murrath, cellist Raman Ramakrishnan, double bassist Thomas Van Dyck, and pianist Max Levinson. BCMS also invites guest musicians to perform in their concerts. Past and current BCMS guests include violinists Steven Copes, Jonathan Crow, Arturo Delmoni, and

Ayano Ninomiya Ayano Ninomiya (born 1979) is a Japanese-American violinist and a winner of both the Naumburg International Violin Competition and Tibor Varga International Competitions. Early life Ninomiya was born in Takamatsu, Japan, and moved to the United ...

; violists

Cynthia Phelps Cynthia Phelps (born 1961 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York P ...

, Steven Ansell, Mark Holloway and

Nokuthula Ngwenyama Nokuthula Ngwenyama (born June 16, 1976) is an American solo violist and composer of Ndebele and Japanese descent. She is a recording artist under EDI Records, and has taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Background Si ...

; cellists Astrid Schween, Michael Reynolds, Michelle Djokic, Rhonda Rider and Wilhelmina Smith; double bassist Edwin Barker; sopranos

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempor ...

and

Amanda Forsythe Amanda Forsythe (born 1976) is an American light lyric soprano who is particularly admired for her interpretations of baroque music and the works of Rossini. Forsythe has received continued critical acclaim from many publications including '' ...

; baritone Chris Pedro Trakas; clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein and Jo-Ann Sternberg; French horn player William Purvis; harpist Jessica Li Zhou; and pianists Rieko Aizawa, Pedja Muzijevic and Benjamin Hochman; among many others. BCMS has toured Europe, Asia and throughout the United States. The ensemble has also performed at many of the world's leading music festivals and collaborated with some of the world's finest music organizations including

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in New York City. It is the largest organization of its kind in the country for chamber music. CMS's home is ...

, the Muir Quartet, the Borromeo Quartet, the

Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston is a musician-led American orchestra based in Newton, Massachusetts. It is one of only four co-operative orchestras in the US. It had a long-time association with composer and conductor Gunther Schuller, with I ...

, the Sanibel Music Festival, and the

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, ch ...

Awards and honors

* Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino named March 26 as "BCMS Day" as a tribute to the organization's 25th anniversary.

Recordings

To date BCMS has released six CDs. BCMS has also recorded music for compilation CDs on the Koch Int'l Classics label, Andante label, Music Little People label, Boston Centre label, and Pearl label. The first four of BCMS's CDs listed below were recorded under the Northeastern label, and the fifth and the sixth were under its own recording label. * Brahms:

Clarinet Trio A clarinet trio is a chamber ensemble that consists of a clarinet, a bowed string instrument and a piano, or a musical work for such an ensemble. The string instrument can be a cello, a viola, or a violin. Therefore, a clarinet trio can be ref ...

in A minor, Op. 114 /

Clarinet Quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to five B clarinets; four B clarinets and a ...

in B minor, Op. 115, recorded in 1990 * Brahms:

Piano Trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

in B major, Op. 8 /

Piano Quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

in C minor, Op. 60, recorded in 1990 * Shostakovich:

in E minor, Op. 67 /

Cello Sonata A cello sonata is usually a sonata written for solo cello with piano accompaniment. The most famous Romantic-era cello sonatas are those written by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were written in the 1 ...

in D minor, recorded in 1994 * Schoenberg: ''

Verklärte Nacht ''Verklärte Nacht'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's poe ...

'', Op. 4 / Tchaikovsky: ''

Souvenir de Florence The String Sextet in D minor "''Souvenir de Florence''", Op. 70, is a string sextet scored for 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos composed in the summer of 1890 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to the St. Petersburg Chamb ...

'', Op. 70, recorded in 1994 * Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 / Enescu: Octet in C major, Op. 7, recorded in 1998 * Mozart: Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 "Kegelstatt" / Schumann: '' Märchenerzählungen'', Op. 132 / Stravinsky: ''

L'Histoire du Soldat ' (''The Soldier's Tale'') is a theatrical work "to be read, played, and danced" () by three actors and one or several dancers, accompanied by a septet of instruments. Conceived by Igor Stravinsky and Swiss writer C. F. Ramuz, the piece was bas ...

'', Bartók: Contrasts, recorded in 1999

References

External links

The Boston Chamber Music Society official site

Boston Globe 2010 review

Boston Globe 2010 interview

Boston Globe 2009 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Chamber Music Society, The 1982 establishments in Massachusetts Chamber music groups Musical groups established in 1982