After a couple of months spent buried in seating charts and order forms, Bradford is currently putting the finishing touches on the subscription process.  He has been hard at work all summer matching subscribers with their preferred seats, and you’ll see the fruits of his labors soon in the form of real tickets.  Look for them in your mailboxes during the first week of September.

I have spent the summer working with Jacob and Miles on all of our ads and publications — brochures, billboards, bus shelters, flyers and the like.  To the right you can check out a sneak preview of what one of the bus shelter designs will look like.  We’ve been working extra hard to streamline our “look” for our 25th Anniversary Season and hope you like the results.

Among my other summer projects, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve launched our new mobile applications for iPhone/iPad and Android.   Download them today via iTunes, and while you’re at it, check out our other snazzy online tools, including sound clips, photo galleries and newly-added preview notes for each and every PCMS program.   Even more improvements are on the way — including a renewed Facebook presence and the inaugural PCMS Podcast coming in October.

On the recreational side of things, we traveled up to the Marlboro Music Festival in July to see our co-workers and hear some of the artists appearing this year on our series. We were lucky enough to hear pianists Jonathan Biss and Ignat Solzhenitsyn (playing Ravel & Schumann, respectively), baritone John Moore (a bravura performance of Peter Lieberson’s The Coming of Light) and many top-notch string players (Ben Beilman, Peter Wiley, Hiroko Yajima, etc).  Bradford has been practicing the piano more than ever this year (ask him what he’s been playing).  And we’ve been exploring a lot of amazing music all summer long in the office — from new recordings by our favorite chamber artists to some of my more outré interests:  Saharan guitar music, Zambian psych-rock, blissed-out German soundtracks and obscure Southern blues.

I promise more frequent posts — including concert tips, artist interviews and some exciting new staff announcements — as we edge closer to our opening night concert on October 15.  We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone at the concerts and hope you can join us early and often during our 25th Anniversary Season.

There are a lot of things that we work very hard at, and if we do them right they don’t attract too much attention.  One of those is our weekly eNews, in which we share  thoughts about upcoming concerts and offer special discounts.  Normally our only feedback comes from eagle-eye readers who flag typos, wrong dates, and other (hopefully rare) errors.  However, today we were lucky enough to stumble upon a nice blog post by Mary Ann Devine, formerly marketing and PR guru at the Academy of Vocal Arts.   In it she praised some of our efforts, and we’re thankful for that – I think I even saw a small “high five” moment between Miles and Brian right before they brought out a birthday cake for Box Office Manager Bradford Kochel.  Good job guys!

As always, we welcome your feedback and look forward to seeing you at a concert soon.

If you’re a piano enthusiast, I highly recommend Jonathan Biss’s blog, which features practical tools (including links to podcasts) and wonderful insights into this young artist’s process.  By turns serious (opining on the challenge of program building, reflecting on Schubert and maturity) and hilarious (particularly a conversation with a piano-hating cab driver), Biss’s blog is a real treat (even if he acknowledges that sleep and practice often win out over blogging).  Biss appears with Richard Goode on February 4 at the Perelman Theater in a special recital for two pianos.

Among other keyboard masters, Emanuel Ax (appearing February 8 at the Perelman) maintains a blog that, while sparsely populated, offers a handful of choice posts, including a refreshing take on spontaneous applause (which Ax wholeheartedly encourages, even when it comes between movements).  Yefim Bronfman (performing April 9 at the Perelman) has an as-yet-unrealized blog, Fima’s Corner, that promises “musings from the road” alongside currently active links to the artist on YouTube, Flickr and Facebook.  And while not blogs per se, the young pianists Simone Dinnerstein (appearing March 7 at the Art Museum with the Chiara Quartet) and Andrius Zlabys (performing March 25 at APS) maintain richly informative sites offering a variety of audio and video clips.

Among the quartets upcoming on our series, the Orion Quartet’s site is the most engaging, offering restaurant reviews and a montage of Orion sightings alongside a solid array of info.   The Orions appear at the Perelman on February 12 with Ida Kavafian and Peter Wiley.  The Jupiter Quartet (appearing April 11 at Seaport) has a photo blog as well as audio samples on its site, and the Chiara Quartet (appearing March 7 at the Art Museum with Simone Dinnerstein) just launched a blog last month with a post full of winter travel tales.  The Miro and Belcea Quartets (appearing March 28 at APS and April 29 at Seaport, respectively) don’t yet blog, but the great audio/video material on their sites is a fine consolation.

Soovin Kim’s photoblog has been dormant for a while, but he’s an excellent writer, and if you caught his 2008 appearance with Mitsuko Uchida and musicians from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, there’s some great material on that.  His return to the Perelman Theater happens on May 4.  Violinist Jennifer Koh‘s site features a couple of video clips with insight into her process (she appears at APS on February 23), and there’s some great stuff — including video and sound samples — on jazz drummer Brian Blade’s site too.  Blade, along with the Fellowship Band, tears up Gershman Hall on March 26.

But the best blog of all belongs to John Adams who, besides being America’s best contemporary composer, may also be its best composer-blogger.  His blog, Hell Mouth, provides great insight into the composer’s world, taking us not only backstage but also foraging through California forests and eavesdropping on conversations with a curiously-named neighbor/alter ego.   Delve into Adams’ online musings, and you’ll almost certainly be intrigued enough to want to see him conduct the Philadelphia premiere of his Son of Chamber Symphony on May 9 with Ensemble ACJW.

Burwasser put it nicely:

On the surface, the decision to present this music seemed daring, but the utter joy and excitement of the audience upon hearing it made it look like an easy choice. It certainly did not seem to faze the performers, who offered fearless and affectionate playing, not least the conductor, Leon Fleisher, one of the great men of contemporary American music, and at the age of 81, as eager for adventure as any college kid.

Concerts like this don’t get presented often enough, that’s for sure.  In this case we can thank a wonderful group of foundation and individual supporters who helped make possible some eleven concerts of rarely heard masterworks: the Philadelphia Music Project and the Presser Foundation deserve our special thanks.

In the four years since its inception, the Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music has grown to 187 members from the Greater Philadelphia region including two dedicated individuals from Baltimore. The Fans meet monthly—or more often—in members’ homes to discuss some of the works or composers in upcoming concerts or to share  a favorite CD with the group and to select  which concerts to attend in the coming months. The group often gets together after the concerts for coffee and conversation.

If you’re interested in classical music, the Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music would like you to check out their Meetup.  Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a musician or a musicologist or know how to read music to join this group.  One of the members describes it as “a friendly and varied group of people of different ages and backgrounds—musically, socially and ethnically.   A very nice mix.”  I can attest to that; I meet them at our concerts.

If you love a good pilsner as much as a great pizzicato, I have news for you.  We’ve teamed up with Bavarian Barbarian Brewing Company — one of Pennsylvania’s newest and best craft breweries — for a joint concert/beer tasting on Tuesday, February 23 at the Philosophical Society.  Come out and hear the outstanding Grammy-nominated violinist Jennifer Koh perform Mozart and Schubert, and enjoy a sampling of Bavarian Barbarian’s classic Euro-inspired ales at intermission!

If you can’t wait until February to try Bavarian Barbarian’s brews, Brahaus Schmitz on South Street is currently pouring their delicious brown ale, and you can always find them at Bavarian Barbarian headquarters in Williamsport.  Bottoms up!

This post focuses on Old City, which includes the American Philosophical Society and the Independence Seaport Museum.

Staff Picks

• Farmacia for classy locavore dishes
• Fork for bistro fare and a great wine list
• Eulogy for burgers, frites and Belgian beers

Audience Suggestions:

Jones, 700 Chestnut Street, and Buddakan, 325 Chestnut Street
These two jewels in the Stephen Starr empire basically bookend Franklin Hall.

Amada, 217 Chestnut Street
The tapas restaurant that made Jose Garces a household name in Philadelphia.  His newest enterprise, the Peruvian-Chinese hybrid Chifa, is also just down the street.

Pagoda Noodle Cafe, 125 Sansom Walk
Tucked away next to the Ritz East, this Asian restaurant is delicious, affordable and extremely convenient to the Seaport Museum (it’s literally just a stone’s throw from the pedestrian bridge).

This post focuses on South Philly, which includes the Fleisher Art Memorial and Settlement Music School.

Staff Picks

• Mezza Luna for Italian
• Little Fish for seafood
• Dmitri’s for Mediterranean
• Brauhaus Schmitz for German fare

Audience Suggestions:

Beau Monde, 6th and Bainbridge Streets
As subscriber Lionel Ruberg points out, a trip to this delicious creperie is the next best thing to a trip to Paris.

Sabrina’s Cafe, 9th and Christian Streets
The best brunch in the city makes this cozy-casual cafe a must before Sunday afternoon concerts.

Royal Tavern, 9th St. & Passyunk Ave.
Still the headliner on the ever-growing list of great restaurants on Passyunk, which also includes Cantina los Caballitos, Izumi, Karina’s Ristorante and the much-improved POPE

This post focuses on Center City West, which includes the Kimmel Center, the Curtis Institute, and St. Mark’s Church.

Staff Picks

• Ted’s Montana Grill for bison burgers
• La Viola for Italian
• Su Xing House for vegetarian Chinese
• Jose Pistola’s for craft beer and tacos

Audience Suggestions:

Kanella, 1001 Spruce Street
Unbelievably good Cypriot food. (I’ve been to Cyprus–trust me, this is way up there.) BYOB

Bellini Grill, 220 S 16th Street
Good Italian with top ingredients–not a lot of red sauce and mozzarella. Best escargot anywhere (Cyprus, Spain, Italy, France, Quebec, Le Bec Fin–beats them all). Well priced. BYOB

Mi Lah, 218 S 16th Street
Vegan. Innovative, delicious, seasonal changes of menu. Well priced. BYOB

Richard Goode, Anton Kuerti, András Schiff, Radu Lupu, Cynthia Raim, Mitsuko Uchida and Claude Frank are all great examples.  These are musicians whose vision goes well beyond mere pianism and reminds you of just what a profound experience great artistry can produce.  They are not necessarily the first pianists that would come to mind when discussing the great “virtuosos” of the instrument, but I think their playing embodies something much more important.  With all of these artists there is a sense of poise, introspection, grace and even wisdom that is ultimately what we are all looking for in art.  This philosophy can, of course, be seen in our other series as well, but I think it tends to be more often visible in the Piano Series, where a single person’s vision is more apparent.

As far as this season is concerned, I wouldn’t miss either of Richard Goode’s appearances (one solo recital and one two-piano recital with Jonathan Biss, an artist of similar temperament).  Peter Serkin is also an artist who plays with honesty and integrity and one capable of revelatory insights into new music, and to hear Garrick Ohlsson play an entire program of Chopin is exactly what you would ask for in a perfect world.  After all that, you still have Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman and Marc-Andre Hamelin to consider, making this one of our most exciting Piano Series in years.

Get an iPod Nano on October 23rd
That’s when violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos appears at the Kimmel Center for one of our most exciting concerts of the year.  Come to the concert, join our Young Friends and have a chance to walk out of the hall with a new Nano.  Simple as that!

To get your ticket, either shoot me an e-mail, give us a call in the Box Office (215-569-8080) or use your Unlimited Student Card at the door the night of the concert.

How to Get Unlimited Capogiro Gift Cards
We’ve teamed up with our favorite sweet spot in town, Capogiro Gelato, to make our new student offer even sweeter.  For the next two weeks, when you buy an Unlimited Student Pass you get a $5 gift card to Capogiro.  And as a bonus, if you refer a friend and they mention your name, you both get a $5 card.   This means you could rack up some serious gelato spending money, and get unlimited access to some of the best musical events in town all year for only $30.

Why Our Unlimited Pass Is the Best

If you’re a student and haven’t gotten an Unlimited Student Card yet, allow me to emphasize what an amazing program it is.  Here’s a recap of what you get, all for just $30:

• The ability to reserve a ticket for any concert in advance, the day of the concert or even at the door (subject to availability)
• Preferred seating.  We’ll always give you the best available seat.  No kicking you upstairs like all those other student rush programs.
• Special post-concert events throughout the season:  think craft beer tastings, locally roasted coffee, good stuff like that.
• Exciting giveaways at concerts throughout the year.
• Referral rewards, aka gelato on us!

To purchase your card today, reserve seats or get more information on any of our 65 concerts, simply call our Box Office or e-mail me directly at bpotter@pcmsconcerts.org.  I look forward to seeing you at a concert soon!

• European Quartets.  European quartets offer a wonderful contrast, in terms of sound and approach, to what we are accustomed to hearing from many American quartets, and can often change the way you listen to chamber music altogether.  Many of these quartets don’t travel to this country on a regular basis, and it can often be years before you have a chance to hear them again.   Some of the very best  are appearing this season, including the Artemis and Hagen Quartets, from Germany; Prague’s Pavel Haas Quartet; the Takács Quartet, of Hungarian origin; and the truly international Belcea Quartet.

• Younger quartets.  For those inspired by youthful energy or a musical perspective not overly burdened by the past, or even those who worry that the great chamber music tradition will disappear with the retirement of older groups, these younger quartets should really be heard:  the Brentano, St. Lawrence, Chiara, Belcea and Miró.

• Established Quartets. In contrast, it can be very rewarding listening to the subtle ways an established quartet changes its sound over the years.  As they live with repertoire over several decades, they gain insights into music that very often escape groups that have spent much less time with each other.  It can be one of the great joys of concert-going following the paths of musicians such as the Emerson, Juilliard and Tokyo Quartets.  It should also be noted that this season is the last chance to hear the Mendelssohn Quartet before they retire,  and that three members of the recently retired Guarneri Quartet (Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree and Peter Wiley) will appear again in various ensembles (on November 18, January 11, January 21, February 12 and April 11).

• Rarely heard repertoire.  Several concerts have to be mentioned simply because there aren’t that many chances to hear these important pieces played by great musicians:  Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet on January 11; the Brahms Horn Trio on March 12; the Barber Quartet on March 19; Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht on April 11; and Grieg’s Quartet in G Minor on April 28.

• New music. Quartet audiences will have a chance to hear five Philadelphia premieres this season, including new works by Stephen Hartke, John Adams, James MacMillan, David Dzubay and Mario Davidovsky.

Have a question about any of these groups or the works they’re performing?  Send me an e-mail or give us a call here in the Box Office.  I’ll write more about the Piano, String and Vocal Series soon.

The paterfamilias of the musician-blogger, pianist Jeremy Denk (appearing October 28 at the Perelman Theater) has been engaging online audiences for years with the witty, occasionally neurotic and always enjoyable Think Denk.  Subtitled “the glamorous life and thoughts of a concert pianist,” Denk’s blog unmasks the artist as a multi-faceted character — one who not only wrestles with his craft but also quotes Walt Whitman and, one overcaffeinated day in Seattle, eschews practice in favor of rubbing gelato all over himself.  Yes, this one is a must read.

Baritone Thomas Meglioranza not only blogs about his opera experiences and his fondness for Bell’s beer (now there’s a man with good taste), but also sends out frequent “baritweets” on everything from Winterreise scores to his favorite desserts.  Check out his recent posts here, then come hear him with pianist Reiko Uchida in a recital of World War I era songs on October 21 at the Philosophical Society.

Last seen performing at President Obama’s inauguration, clarinetist Anthony McGill launched a new blog just this month.  He’s already posted audio clips from his forthcoming CD and some reflections on rehearsing Mahler’s 5^th with James Levine.  You can also find him on Twitter.  McGill performs with Michael Tree and Anna Polonsky at the Philosophical Society on December 13.

Local flute virtuoso Mimi Stillman maintains a blog that, while infrequently updated, has the virtue of linking to a treasure trove of her concert videos.  You can watch this talented artist performing solo and with Yumi Kendall and Charles Abramovic, her collaborators in the Dolce Suono Trio, with whom she appears on January 31 at the Philosophical Society.  If you’re looking for a sneak preview, there’s even a clip of the group performing George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae, which promises to be a highlight of that program.

You might guess that The Fiddler’s Beat would be the brainchild of some young string virtuoso, but it actually contains the online musings of the venerable violinist Arnold Steinhardt.   The Guarneri Quartet’s beloved first violinist appears twice on our series this year — once with the Johannes Quartet and once as part of an all-star quintet — and if you ever wondered where Arnold went to celebrate the last Guarneri performance or what to say to him after a performance, you’ll find his blog both entertaining and informative.

I hope these links help you get to know our artists a little better.  Do you have a favorite artist blog or web site?  Tell us about it!

A good place place to stay in touch with “what’s going on” in the local arts economy is the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance website – they have a strong “Advocacy” section that pulls news from a variety of sources.

Also, see Peter Dobrin’s blog ArtsWatch for updates from the Philadelphia Inquirer, including this one.

Among the many developments in the Box Office this summer, we’ve unveiled a new Young Friends program that we’re really excited about, and we were thrilled to add Thomas Hampson’s recital to our already full fall schedule.  This special evening with America’s top baritone has quickly become a hot ticket (tip for blog readers:  as of this posting, only about 50 remain), so if you are a vocal enthusiast or a fan of American song, I recommend reserving your seats today.

Summer at PCMS is about more than selling tickets, though.  Here are a few personal highlights from our busy summer.

• Bradford spent a week in Canada in July, fly fishing, visiting family and otherwise exploring New Brunswick and the coast of Maine.  Earlier in June I got married in northern Vermont and honeymooned in Montreal.  Pictures upon request!
• In August Bradford, our head usher Guy, my wife Jamie and I took a road trip up to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, and man, was it great.  It was my first visit to Marlboro, and I was just blown away by the beautiful setting, the atmosphere, and of course, the music making.  We spent our mornings at swimming holes and farmers’ markets, listened in on some afternoon rehearsals, and were treated to brilliant music-making each evening in the concert hall.  Of the many memorable performances, I particularly enjoyed the baritone John Moore’s rendition of Dover Beach – hopefully we’ll get John to Philadelphia soon – and Marina Piccinini, Susan Babini and Amy Yang’s performance of George Crumb’s otherworldly Vox Balaenae.  With masked musicians, a blue-lit stage and a panoply of unusual sounds emanating from the flute, Crumb’s composition is at once avant-garde, sensory and strangely musical.  If your tastes run towards the adventurous, I recommend giving this piece a listen when Dolce Suono performs it in January as part of their program at the American Philosophical Society.
• I’m also happy to announce that as of September 1, I will be working in the office full-time, selling tickets, doing writing and design work, jump-starting our new Young Friends program and more.

Please stop in, say hello and tell us about your summer!

While I don’t like to bring politics into our Society, it’s important to let you know that without new action, both the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) will have zero funding allocated for the upcoming year.  That’s right: zero dollars for Arts and Culture at both the city and the state level.

PCMS, like cultural presenters nationwide, depend on grants and donations to supplement ticket sale income.   The PCA has been a consistent supporter since our founding in 1986, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund has recently increased its support – both of these factors make it difficult to visualize a season without their important support.

If you care about the arts in our City and State as much as I do, please take a moment to contact your representatives and stress to them the importance of this funding.  Without action in the coming week or two, both sources of funding will be lost for the entire upcoming year.

Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s Take Action Resource Page

I was pleased by the following quote, since we presented the Beaux Arts Trio for so many years:

Now I am suddenly debating, if only with myself, the relative merits of pianists Grimaud, Lang Lang and Pollini, as I had once weighed the merits of Clapton, Hendrix and Harrison. 

Goodbye Crosby, Stills and Nash — hello Beaux Arts Trio!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, and send it to any of your friends who have yet to discover classical music, Beethoven, or PCMS!

Roll Over, Beethoven: How An Old Rock ‘n Roll Editor Got Hooked on Classical Music

All of us at PCMS went into the holiday break on a real “high” – very excited for the start of the 2009 Season.   Not to disappoint, pianist Vladimir Feltsman kicked off January with a superb recital. Not only was the concert sold-out but the audience was attentive and engaged, concluding with a rare performance (on our series) of Schumann’s Carnaval.

What many in the audience were unaware of – was that all day and night Mr. Feltsman had been battling sever back pain. So bad that I was not sure the concert would continue after the first half. However, despite Mr. Feltsman’s struggles to stand, he summoned all his strength and went back out on stage. 

Earlier in the day I asked Mr. Feltsman if he could explain why he thought his performance of Schumann’s Carnaval was only the third time in 23 seasons that PCMS an artist perform this incredible piece – especially when all of the other large Schumann works (Fantasy in C Major, Kreisleriana, Davidsbündlertänze) had been performed at least twice as often. Mr. Feltsman shook his head a bit and explained how Carnaval used to be a very popular piece but may have fallen out of favor in modern times – possibly seen as a less mature work than his other larger-scale pieces. 

Backstage, after the concert, Mr. Feltsman took a deep breath and exhaled a sigh of relief – very happy to be back in Philadelphia in a hall he is quite fond of and with an audience with whom he feels a deep connection.

I came to work at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society after an interesting 5-6 years: I played professionally as a freelance bassoonist; I started and grew a web design business with my wife; I helped my brother as he managed an internet datacenter company…and yet I was thrilled to join PCMS because of its unique ability to do something unique and valuable: provide meaningful, personal interaction through the enjoyment of great live music.

As our society becomes more “digital” and many of us go to work only to plug into a computer and work with virtual teams, it’s refreshing and exciting to be a part of bringing people physically together for something vibrant and alive like chamber music.  When you come to hear the Quatuor Mosaiques in April (or any of our dozens of concerts this Winter and Spring), you’ll join a few hundred at the intimate Perelman Theater to see four talented performers bring Mozart, Schubert, and Hadyn to life!  To me, that’s a special and valuable product, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

As a Development Director who moonlights on his lunch-hour in the marketing department, I’m very aware of how the internet has helped solve some problems, but has created others.  For example: PCMS, which is well known for its close relationships with audience members and consistently friendly service, has had to adapt to an increasingly digital customer base.   This year alone, hundreds of our ticket buyers have found us through Google searches and purchased tickets online, never once speaking to our box office staff!  This presents a new challenges for us as we forge relationships via proactive email, follow-up phone calls, and even informal “meet and greets” at concerts.

One thing we want to ensure is that we’re serving you, our audience, as best we can.  If you have see room for improvement in how we’re communicating with you about our concerts or events, I for one would love to hear your feedback!  Please take the time to stop by the office, call, or email and let me know your thoughts!

What this picture shows you is three things:

1. All tickets top out at $23 per seat.  This is for any seat at any venue, including the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater.  Very few arts organizations can claim a more accessible ticket price.
2. Students can attend any concert, with a reserved seat, for only $10.
3. We offer two outstanding ways to purchase tickets and interact with our fantastic staff, via a new website and our own fully-staffed box office.

The first two items show an obvious way in which we encourage broad participation and drive accessibility to our events – low ticket prices encourage people from all walks of to attend our concerts frequently, including those on fixed incomes, families, and students.

The third item is a proud reference to the “over and above” mentatility that PCMS brings to interaction with our patrons.  We maintain our own box office at 1616 Walnut Street (16th Floor – come visit!) as opposed to outsourcing it, and put significant effort into making the online experience as rich and rewarding as possible.  In our box office Brad, Brian, and Miles (when he’s not picking up artists or organizing an educational event) provide an outstanding level of service and foster the “family” atmosphere for which PCMS is widely known.   Whether its free ticket exchanges, advice about concerts, help selecting a subscription series, or simply discussing the last evening’s performance, we are all willing to spend time serving and getting to know our patrons.

These three elements truly set PCMS apart and help to make attending our events easy, affordable, musically satisfying, and comfortable.  Of course, none of this would be possible without the generous support of our individual and institutional donors.  A special thanks goes to our long-time friends at Commerce Bank (soon TD Commerce) in support of our accessibility initiatives.

We hope to see you at a concert soon!

Many of our artists participate in talks, cd signings, and other events, but very few people get the chance to see what happens backstage directly before or after a performance.  In an effort to give our patrons a small taste of that experience, and to get to “know” a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes at PCMS, I’ll post regulary blog entries on this topic.  I hope you enjoy!

A Running Joke with the Emersons

I have a running joke with the Emerson Quartet that goes back to one fateful night in 2003.  It was a December evening, and the East Coast was under siege by one of those nasty ice/sleet storms that make driving a slow and arduous experience.   The Emersons were scheduled to perform a concert of Hadyn, Mendelssohn, and Debussy.  As you might expect, the members of the quartet were all having major trouble getting down to Philadelphia from NY, partly because of the weather and partly because they left too late in the afternoon (they admit it!). One by one they came straggling in, each arrival a little bit closer to our impending 8pm start time.  But Larry (Lawrence Dutton, viola) never quite made it. So Philip Maneval and I had to go on stage and tell our faithful audience that the ensemble would not be performing on that particular evening (after all – what can you do with 2 violins and a cello?!).

So naturally, as is our tradition since 2003, Larry called me yesterday to tell me he is stuck in a snow storm (hah!), despite the 75 degree weather.  Then the situation got retold and discussed backstage before the concert – we all laugh now, but I can assure you nobody was laughing that December evening!   We even kid that PCMS no longer invites the Emersons during winter months (just to be on the safe side).

Prior to last night’s concert the Emersons were (as always) a model of calm, cool, and collected.  They are so smooth and in-control backstage that it makes my job easy.  The only disappointment for us is that the Emerson Quartet members always drive home to New York after each concert, so there is little chance to chat or grab a late night meal in Chinatown.  However, luckily for PCMS patrons, they return again in the spring on April 1, 2009 at the Seaport Museum!

My thanks go out to the PCMS patrons in attendance last night who gave me such a warm welcome and helped make our opening night a huge success – both onstage and backstage!

Today’s posting featured PCMS, offering some fine comments about our bus shelter advertisements, new website, and season.

See you all at opening night or a concert soon!

PCMS was founded to fill a void in the cultural life of our city: for decades eminent recital and chamber music musicians visited New York, Boston, and Washington but had no performance outlet in Philadelphia.  When Anthony Checchia and his colleagues founded PCMS in 1986, it was in the spirit of giving something back to the City and to the field.  It also came out of the strong “family” spirit found at the famous Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where many of the country’s eminent chamber music groups were founded – and where Checchia and later Philip Maneval were administrators.

PCMS has grown from a small series started 1986 at the Port of History Museum (now the Independence Seaport Museum, where we will present about a dozen concerts this season) to one of the largest presenters of chamber and recital music in the country.  Each year PCMS presents some 60+ concerts, comprising the best of chamber music, string/vocal/piano recitals, mixed ensembles, jazz, wind virtuosos, and special event performances.  And it does so with an outstanding level of customer service that retains the tenets of its founding:

• to make music broadly accessible through a policy of affordable ticket pricing
• to present performers of outstanding quality, featuring compelling repertoire
• to enrich the community through a varied education program
• to support the future of chamber music through promotion of “rising stars” – the next generation of musical leaders

Obviously, these goals are reached through sound fiscal policy (PCMS has not had a deficit since its founding), steady leadership, and a committed staff – not to mention a wonderful audience and supporter base.  After serving the organization for nearly a year – I celebrate my first PCMS birthday this October – I think I’ve learned a few things about why PCMS has been successful in “living its mission” and believe it’s important to share these thoughts with you:

Defining Its Mission
PCMS does a wonderful job of keeping it mission simple and straightforward – great music, convenient venues, affordable pricing.  It’s so simple that it is often difficult, as Development Director, to fill up pages of an application explaining what we do: present great artists, make the concerts broadly accessible, and support these programs with education programs and outstanding customer service.

Sharing Its Mission Within the Organization
PCMS is a lean organization and information and values spread quickly.  However, it gets pretty hectic booking, funding, and presenting 110 events each year!  It’s easy to get sucked into the general hum of a busy office and to let things slip a bit.  However, PCMS seems to have the capacity – from its staff and leadership, to board and funding partners – to view its challenges within the context of its mission.  Suffice it to say that this could fill an entire blog post, and will be featured more soon!

Living and Breathing Its Mission
Finally, its important to live and breathe your mission.  PCMS staff – Brad, Sonya, Miles, Phil, Sue, Brian, Gayle, and Tony – as well its volunteers (hi Gussie!) and ushers (led by Guy) truly embody the family atmosphere that pervades our office and events.

In summary, over the next few months I’ll continue to give you my thoughts about what distinguishes PCMS (and where it could do better).  I hope you enjoy and look forward to your comments, especially as audience members!

The Quartet will end its 45-year run after that May concert, one in which founding cellist David Soyer, now 85, will rejoin the ensemble in a symbolic farewell, Schubert’s Quintet in C, featuring the only five members who have shaped the ensemble..

A PCMS season without the Guarneri is all but impossible to imagine, for the ensemble played in the series’ opening in 1986, and more than 30 times since then. Its repertoire has embraced Beethoven, Dvorak and Schubert, Lutoslawski, Bartok and Berg.  With guest artists, its reach has extended even farther.

Any future without the Guarneri is equally impossible to picture. This is the seminal American quartet, not the oldest, but the one that helped to change the ambitions of a generation of string players, expanded horizons in conservatories and refigured the listening habits of the country.  Before the four players joined hands in 1964 and committed to a life as quartet members, chamber music in America was almost a private matter. True, the Juilliard Quartet, at home in New York City, played mainly in university series; the Budapest Quartet was moving into its final years; the LaSalle Quartet made Cincinnati a place to study for European quartets.

In the 1960’s, conservatory students learned the big concertos and set off to play in major halls as soloists or orchestral players. Once settled, they sometimes played chamber music. Philadelphians with long memories recall that chamber music was proscribed for Philadelphia Orchestra members in the same year the Guarneri was founded. Small ensembles diverted orchestra musicians’ attention from their true profession for which they were being paid year-round.

And, Philadelphia played its role in the Quartet’s founding – rather like the nation’s. Three of the four players had studied at the Curtis Institute; all attended the summer festival at Marlboro, Vermont, where Rudolf Serkin, Adolf Busch, Felix Galimir, Marcel Moyse and Pablo Casals combined to bring the largely European tradition of chamber music into the center of a generation of American instrumentalists’ consciousness.

At Curtis, director Efrem Zimbalist, part of the tidal wave of Russian and Ukrainian violinists who defined the instrument at the time, said chamber music was something you did in retirement, and implied that great violinists played concertos; the lesser talents?  Maybe chamber music.

But in this antagonistic atmosphere, violinists Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley and Michael Tree, and cellist David Soyer declared their dream achievable and plunged in. Quartet life is often and sometimes tiresomely compared with marriage, but like marriage nobody knows for sure how it works until you do it. Their first hurdle was in deciding who would play viola and how the violinists would sit.

These players had to learn how to balance profession with home life, how to mediate differences in the tight and sometimes explosive world of intimate music making.  They needed to find managerial support to convince concert promoters that a quartet could actually find an audience. And they had to support themselves, wives and families.

They were lucky early on to find a berth at Harpur College in Binghamton. There they had practice space and a schedule that encouraged their own development through discoveries while planning repertoire and touring schedules.  Soon, the ensemble was on its own, a true American quartet playing for audiences just getting used to the idea that quartet repertoire may be the most sublime in the Western heritage.

Their very existence caught the fancy of the media. This must be the most documented quartet in history. Films, interviews, books, TV documentaries traced their growth, revealed bits of their lives inside and outside the quartet, showed squabbles in rehearsal and on planes. The Guarneri seemed larger than life, but wondrously accessible, quixotic, even lovable.

Not beginning with a firm image of themselves, the Quartet defined itself as it went along. Fired with the love of the core repertoire, the players took on Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Haydn.  Where European quartets could bring repertoire from their own countries, the very American Guarneri had to show themselves musical polyglots, capable of enunciating Ravel and Debussy, Shostakovich, Arriaga and Britten with the same aplomb as native speakers.

Other fledgling ensembles – crowding down the road cut by the Guarneri – called them the “imperial” quartet, explorers of what everyone knew as the great masterpieces. Yet those critics forgot that the Guarneri was among the first to record all six Bartok quartets, music that had seemed thorny and impenetrable only a few years before the Guarneri recorded.

The Guarneri has had a special gift for the big pieces. They have won recording honors for the three Beethoven Op. 59, and all the other Beethoven quartets, plus Mozart, Schubert and Dvorak works.  Their approach has always been exploratory rather than didactic. Listeners have come away from concerts wondering if they had heard right. Was that the Op. 132 we remembered from only three years ago?

The answer was “no,” for the classics were always under re-examination, tempos adjusted or junked, details re-imagined. Intriguingly, the new works – by Bolcom, Rorem, Derek Bermel, among others, in first performance – seemed settled, authoritative and even final.

So much a timeless part of the musical scene, signs of change were hard to digest. When founding cellist David Soyer left, it sent a shudder through the chamber music world.  The Amadeus Quartet in England had stopped playing after the death of their violist. The Guarneri suddenly seemed finite and mortal.  Yet the ensemble found Peter Wiley, who had been a student of Soyer’s and who knew the other players well – and musically well.

The decision to stop playing after this season cannot have been easy, yet the tradition of quartet has to be recognized.  Orchestras can annually regenerate themselves and play for decades and decades. A quartet is much more personal. It is the sum of the four players’ thinking, musical beliefs and backgrounds. Personnel changes may add to longevity (a managerial function), but take away from personality (the founding musical urge).

The players have been notably withheld about their thoughts on ending such an emblazoning career.  Learning how to stop may be as difficult as it was learning how to start on an unmapped route.  For listeners, the Guarneri’s work remains on recordings. For quartet members, their work stands in the newspapers, where concerts by string quartets directly descended from their decision – 45 years ago – are scheduled everywhere. What courage! What standards! What a gift to music!  What a gift to us!

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society expresses its thanks and appreciation to Daniel Webster for this special tribute.