Boston Chamber Music Society
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The Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, MA that is dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present day and is a member of Chamber Music America.[1] BCMS' website states that it is "New England’s preeminent chamber music society and presents the most extensive and longest-running concert series in the region". BCMS offers 12 concerts during an annual season and also presents an annual summer festival of music during the month of August. BCMS is currently led by executive director Alan Mann and Artistic Director Ronald Thomas (cellist).[2]
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[edit] History
BCMS was founded in 1982 by a group of music professionals in the Boston, MA area. Founding members include such distinguished musicians as cellist and Artistic Director of BCMS Ronald Thomas (cellist), violinist Lynn Chang, and violist Marcus Thompson among others. Other current members of BCMS include: violinist Ida Levin, flautist Fenwick Smith, pianist Randall Hodgkinson, pianist Mihae Lee, and clarinetist Thomas Hill.
BCMS also frequently invites guest musicians to perform in their concerts. Past BCMS guests have included violinists Steven Copes, Jennifer Frautschi, Stephanie Chase, and Arturo Delmoni, double bassist Edwin Barker, violists Cynthia Phelps, Steven Ansell, Mark Holloway, and Katherine Murdock, cellist Michelle Djokic, baritone Chris Pedro Trakas, clarinetist Jo-Ann Sternberg, french horn player William Purvis, cellists Rhonda Rider and Wilhelmina Smith, soprano Amanda Forsythe, harpist Jessica Li Zhou, and pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Benjamin Hochman among many others.
BCMS concerts are held in several different venues including Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, Pickman Hall at the Longy School Of Music, and the First Church in Cambridge.
In addition, BCMS is frequently invited to perform all over the world. The ensemble has toured Europe, Asia and throughout the United States. They have also performed at many of the worlds leading music festivals and colaborated with some of the world's finest music organizations including The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Muir Quartet, the Borromeo Quartet, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Sanibel Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival among others.[3]
[edit] Awards and Honors
- Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino named March 26 as "BCMS Day" as a tribute to the organizations 25th anniversary.
[edit] Selective Discography
To date BCMS has released 7 CDs of music featuring just the member ensemble. 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. BCMS records all of their own CDs on the Northeastern label.
- BCMS: Brahms Clarinet Trio , Op.114/ Clarinet Quintet, Op.115, recorded in 1990
- BCMS: Brahms: Piano Trio, Op. 8 / Piano Quartet, Op. 60 , recorded in 1990
- BCMS: Shostakovich: Trio No.2/Cello Sonata In D Minor, recorded in 1994
- BCMS: Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht Op4; Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence in D Op70, recorded in 1994
- BCMS: Mozart: Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 "Kegelstart"; Schumann: Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales), Opus 132; Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale), Bartók: Contrasts, recorded in 1999
