KYLE BARTLETT is a composer, performer, and teaching artist living in Philadelphia. She is also a founding member of the NY-based new music collective counter)induction. On Sunday, May 16, we will present counter)induction performing the world premiere of  Kyle’s sextet “Present” (alongside works by Xenakis, Dusapin, Crumb, and c)i member Douglas Boyce). In a recent [...]

It’s always great to get feedback about how we’re doing and what we could do better.  We take the word “Society” in our name very seriously, and attempt to base how we approach our concerts (and especially the marketing of those concerts) on the feedback we get from our audience members and the community at [...]

This season has been one of wonderful reviews, and we’re very proud that Philadelphia audiences and critics alike appreciate our continued commitment to presenting truly outstanding concerts.   However, we completely missed Peter Burwasser’s review of our Leon Fleisher/Network for New Music concert in the City Paper last month – probably because it was published [...]

What does a classical music enthusiast do when he moves to Philly and wants to make new friends who share his interests?  If you’re Gary King, you start a Meetup online. In the four years since its inception, the Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music has grown to 187 members from the Greater Philadelphia region including [...]

Each year about this time the hustle and bustle of the summer months transitions to an excitement that reminds all of us why we do what we do.  During the summer we work tirelessly preparing for our upcoming season – finalizing artist contracts, arranging concert hall details, renting pianos, booking hotel rooms, writing grants, collecting [...]

For a limited time, you can get both for free through our new Student and Young Friends Program.  Pretty sweet, right?   Here’s how: 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, [...]

It’s been a busy summer and even busier fall, and one of the things we’ve been working hard at is building new relationships.  This includes new ticket buyers, new subscribers, and new donors, but we’re also happy to introduce a new corporate partner: One Village Coffee. We’re happy to have One Village as a partner [...]

Thought some of you might be interested to see how our optimized blog looks on touch screen devices, such as the iPhone or Blackberry Storm.  Here you go – nice and easy to read or comment, exactly how we like it!

We’re happy to start posting some really great videos that Sacha and Cassia (our absolutely fabulous summer interns) helped us with this year. The idea is to help all of you enjoy your concert experience as much as possible. Even you’ve never been to a venue, such as the Fleisher Art Memorial, you may not [...]

PCMS is always looking for new and effective ways to engage under-served audiences and help build interest and future fans of outstanding live chamber music. Our low ticket prices have always helped to break down one of the main barriers to participation.  Our helpful and welcoming staff, convenient community venues, and outstanding artists all help [...]

While much of our staff spends the summer at the Marlboro Music Festival, Bradford and I have been holding down the fort here in Philadelphia, placing subscribers in seats and laying the groundwork for the upcoming season.  We’ll be mailing out tickets during the first week of September, which means that concert season is right [...]

I wanted to post a quick note regarding the impact of ongoing debate of our state and city budgets. 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 [...]

I was forwarded this article by a friend, Kerry Candaele – he’s a filmmaker out in Los Angeles who did a documentary about Beethoven’s 9th around the world – and I loved it.  The title gives most of it away: Greg Mitchell, former rock n’ roll magazine editor, chronicles his recent discovery of classical music. [...]

PCMS staff were excited to see Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and a frequently collaborator on our series, in performance with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman at the inaguaration of President Barack Obama. McGill performed on our series last season and will be back during 2009/2010.  We’re looking forward to it! [...]

As each of you well knows, PCMS maintains its high standards and commitment to low ticket pricing through the generous support of a wide variety of donors.  Ticket revenue only covers a portion of our expenses each year, and we depend upon the many foundation and corporate, and especially the countless individual donors who contribute [...]

The PCMS Concert Card: New, Convenient and Versatile At a meeting last year, one of our PCMS directors said, “I would love to be able to buy PCMS tickets for some students I know, but to allow them to attend whatever concerts they want, whatever fits into their schedules.” That seemed like a good idea [...]

Living and Breathing Our Mission: Part One of a Series 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 [...]

I thought it might be helpful to all of our patrons if I took the occasion of this initial blog posting to offer suggestions as to how our Box Office might make your concert going experience a more pleasurable one. Important services (and ones rarely taken advantage of by our patrons) include our “ticket upgrade” [...]

Welcome to the new pcmsconcerts.org! Launching a new website is a bit like premiering a new piece of music – you work hard for months in relative solitude, only to place your efforts on public display and hope for a positive response.  We hope you like what we’ve done! As one of Philadelphia’s largest music [...]