Society for Chamber Music in Rochester

The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester [SCMR] was founded in 1977 and enables top flight Rochester area musicians to perform chamber music from all periods and styles. Each year SCMR offers our subscribers, donors, and single-ticket holders five excellent and varied musical performances. These concerts are enhanced by SCMR’s pre-concert educational, interpretative, and orientation activities: newsletters, pre-concert talks, a printed program with the history of works to be played, a season brochure, and press releases. We provide our community with the best in chamber music involving ten or fewer performers. In 2012, SCMR was one of two United States recipients of the CMAcclaim Award presented by Chamber Music America. This award was created to recognize chamber music presenters and performers who have contributed to their local communities in a significant way. Surveys of our audiences have also revealed strong enthusiasm for our concerts. We sponsor outreach events in schools, retirement communities, and non-profits to attract audiences to the beauty of chamber music. For example, we have provided concerts and master classes in area primary and secondary schools in greater Rochester. We know that live concerts are breathtaking, particularly for those who are already lovers of music. What distinguishes our outreach efforts? We introduce chamber music to primary and secondary school students and our students learn from outstanding musicians in master classes offered directly in their schools. Students participate in discussions led by the musicians of the music, its history, its composers, and the challenges posed by the music in performance. Students may also speak privately with these high caliber musicians about performance issues of their own. We continue to develop other outreach efforts such as the utilization of social media to attract people of all ages to our concerts. In thanking us for a visit, Donna S. Watts, Director of Music and Visual Arts, Rush-Henrietta Central Schools wrote “Please accept my most sincere gratitude for the collaboration in providing a wonderful learning experience for the music students at Sperry High School. I have rarely seen over one hundred students so enthralled with the performance at hand. However, the musicians were also highly personable and interacted with the students on a personal level, spending extra time after the period ended conversing with students and answering questions. Thank you so very much!” We also hold young composer competitions throughout New York State at both the high school and college levels. To encourage the composition of chamber music in New York State, the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester and the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music are sponsoring competitions for young composers. The college level competition awards $1000 and performance on a Society for Chamber Music in Rochester concert. This competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at a college or university located in New York State In 2016, we introduced a composition commissioning opportunity for composers residing in New York State. Your dollars can in so many ways inspire students of all ages to find enjoyment…and solace…in serious music.

We focus on: Arts and Culture, Education

Where we are: Genesee, Ontario, Seneca, Wyoming, Livingston, Orleans, Wayne, Yates, Monroe