Chamber Music Corvallis History
Chamber Music Corvallis salutes the 192 ensembles who have brought us superb music for 58 years
Note - for those less familiar with the terms designating ensemble/instrument configurations:
Quartet = string (1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello) unless specified
Trio = piano (violin, cello, piano) unless specified
Woodwind quintet = flute, clarinet, oboe, horn, bassoon
Brass quintet = 2 trumpets, French horn, trombone, bass trombone or tuba
Reed quintet = oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, bassoon
Note - for those less familiar with the terms designating ensemble/instrument configurations:
Quartet = string (1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello) unless specified
Trio = piano (violin, cello, piano) unless specified
Woodwind quintet = flute, clarinet, oboe, horn, bassoon
Brass quintet = 2 trumpets, French horn, trombone, bass trombone or tuba
Reed quintet = oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, bassoon
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF ENSEMBLES (1959 - 2017)
Adaskin String Trio with Tom Gallant, oboe 15/16
Akropolis Reed Quintet 16/17 Allegri Quartet 68/69 Alliage Saxophone Quintet 11/12, 14/15 Alma Trio 63/64, 67/68, 69/70 Altenberg Trio 99/2000 Amadeus Trio 97/98, 03/04 Amadeus Quartet 59/60, 61/62, 73/74, 77/78 Amati Quartet 03/04 Amelia Piano Trio 03/04, 06/07, 09/10 American Brass Quintet 75/76, 80/81 American Chamber Players 93/4, 95/6, 99/00, 04/5 American Quartet 92/93, 98/99 Ames Piano Quartet 91/92, 94/95 Anonymus 4 (vocal) 94/95 Arden Trio 89/90 Arditti Quartet 01/02 Ariel Quartet 13/14 Arioso Wind Quintet w/ Rachelle McCabe 96/97 Aspen Soloists 81/82 Atos Trio 13/14 Audubon Quartet 99/2000 Auryn Quartet 10/11,14/15 Autos Ensemble 78/79, 80/81, 87/88 Axiom Brass Quintet 15/16 Aviv Quartet 09/10 Bartok Quartet 81/82, 85/86 Beaux Arts Trio 91/92, 93/94 Belcea Quartet 09/10 Berlin Octet 89/90 Borealis Quartet 08/09, 15/16 Borodin Trio 88/89 Borodin Quartet 72/73, 78/79 Brahms Quartet 65/66, 68/69 Brentano Quartet 96/97 Bulgarian Quartet 77/78 Calder Quartet 12/13 Calefax Reed Quintet 10/11 Cavani Quartet 91/92, 95/96 Chamber Orchestra Kremlin 01/02 Chester Quartet w/ Lydia Artymiw, piano 90/91 Chilingirian Quartet 88/89 Claremont Quartet 59/60, 62/62 Cleveland Colorado Quartet w/ Elizabeth Braden 91/92 Composers String Quartet 84/85 Concentus Musicus of Denmark 71/72 Concertante 04/05 Concord Quartet 81/82 Cuarteto Casals 06/07, 11/12 Cypress Quartet 06/07, 08/09 Czech Nonet 06/07 Da Capo Chamber Players 92/93 Daedalus Quartet 11/12 Danzi Woodwind Quintet 64/65, 68/69 Daurov & Myer, cello-piano, 13/14 David Finckel & Wu Han, cello-piano duo 02/03 David Golub & Gary Hoffman, piano-cello, 94/95 Debussy Quartet 65/06 Deller Consort (vocal) 69/70 Diotima Quartet 12/13 Dimlov Quartet 70/71 Dorian Wind Quintet w/ Jane Hawkins, piano 85/86 Dover Quartet 15/16 |
Dukson-Hitchcock Cello-Piano Duo 64/65
Emerson Quartet 89/90, 93/94, 95/96, 2000/01 Ensemble 415 10/11 Ensemble Wien 95/96 Enso Quartet 10/11 74/75, 87/88 Escher Quartet 14/15 Euclid Quartet 97/98 Falla Guitar Trio 09/10, 11/12 Feld Quartet 60/61 Fine Arts Quartet 60/61, 66/67, 76/77, 88/89 Florestan Trio 79/80 Folger Consort 82/83 Francesco Trio 80/81 Frans Bruggen/Alan Curtis, recorder/harpsichord 73/4 Franz Liszt Orchestra of Budapest 80/81 Gabor Rejto & Adolph Baller, cello-piano 72/73 Gabrieli Quartet 85/86 Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio 92/93 Gould Trio w/ Robert Plane, clarinet 10/11, 16/17 Guarneri Quartet 76/77, 79/80 Hagen Quartet 85/86 Hungarian Quartet 59/60, 60/61, 64/65 Icicle Creek Piano Trio 12/13 I Musici di Montreal 03/04 Janacek Quartet 70/71 Jasper Quartet 13/14 Juilliard Quartet 61/62, 66/67, 75/76, 78/79, 79/80, 88/89, 03/04 Jupiter Quartet 11/12 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio 83/84, 02/03 Keller Quartet 98/99 Kim / Basney Fortepiano / Violin Duo, 15/16 Koeckert Quartet 62/63, 65/66 Komitas Quartet 62/63 LA Chamber Orchestra Winds 90/91 Lafayette Quartet 89/90, 92/93 LaSalle Quartet 64/65 Leipzig Quartet 08/09 Leonardo Trio 94/95 Leontovych Quartet 96/97 London Baroque Ensemble 91/92, 97/98 London Chamber Orchestra 94/95 Los Angeles Piano Quartet 87/88 Lydian Quartet 84/85 Manasse & Nakamatsu, clarinet-piano 10/11, 12/13 Manderling Quartet w/ Robert Plane, clarinet 07/08 Melos Quartet 73/74, 76/77 Mendelssohn Quartet 86/87 Miami Quartet w/ Jon Nakamatsu 99/00 Morgenstern Trio 14/15 Moscow Quartet 12/13; w/ Mikola Suk, piano 14/15 Mozart Piano Quartet 01/02, 08/09 Muir Quartet 81/82 Musical Offering 81/82, 86/87 Musicians from Marlboro 83/84, 90/91 National Chamber Orchestra of Toulouse 96/97 New Danish Quartet 63/64 New London Soloists Ensemble 73/74 New York Chamber Soloists 76/77 New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble 99/00 New York String Sextet 65/66 New Zurich Quartet 82/83 Orion Quartet 94/95 Pacifica Quartet 2000/01, 05/06 Panocha Quartet 81/82 |
Paris Trio 04/05
Peabody Trio 05/06 Petersen Quartet 95/96, 97/98 Philharmonia Quartett Berlin 04/05 Piano Extravaganza 98/99 Portland Baroque Orchestra 95/6, 98/9, 02/3, 08/9 Prague Chamber Orchestra 82/83 Prazak Quartet 88/89 Prokofiev Quartet 69/70 Quartet Sine Nomine 92/93 Quartetto Beethoven di Roma 84/85, 89/90 Quartetto Gelato 05/06, 07/08 Quartetto Italiano 63/64 Quatuor Ebene 13/14 Quatuor Via Nova 87/88 Quintessence 03/04 Quintetto Boccherini 79/80 Raphael Ensemble 97/98 Raphael Trio 90/91, 92/93 Richards Quintet 71/72 Ridge Quartet 83/84, 87/88 Rogeri Trio 82/83, 84/85 Schubert Ensemble of London 93/94, 96/97, 98/99, 2000/01, 02/03, 04/05, 07/08 Secolo Barocco 72/73 Shanghai Quartet 88/89, 07/08 Sibelius Academy Quartet 90/91 Skampa Quartet 2000/01 Smetana Quartet 72/73 Soni Ventorun 2000/01 St Petersburg Quartet 02/03 Stamitz Quartet 91/92 Streicher Trio 01/02 Stuttgart Trio 77/78 Suk Trio 75/76 Syntagma Musicum 74/75 Szymanowski Quartet 05/06 Takacs Quartet 83/84, 86/87, 90/91, 98/99 Tashi / Clarinet & Strings 80/81/83/84 Tel Aviv Quartet 70/71 Telegraph Quartet 16/17 Tesla Quartet 16/17 Tokyo Quartet 74/75, 77/78, 78/79, 80/81, 82/83, 84/85, 86/87, 89/90, 01/02 Trio Apollon 2000/01 Trio con Brio Copenhagen 07/08 Trio Concertante 75/76, 79/80, 86/87 Trio di Milano 85/86, 93/94, 97/97 Trio Italiano D’Archi 66/67 Trio Solisti 09/10; w/ Amy Burton, soprano 12/13 Triple Helix Piano Trio 11/12 Turtle Island Quartet 06/07 Vaghy Quartet 71/72 Vega Quartet 02/03 Vegh Quartet 62/63 Vermeer Quartet 97/98 Vienna Octet 84/85 Vienna Piano Trio 98/99, 01/02, 05/06 Vilnius Quartet w/ Andrius Zlabys, piano 08/09 Warsaw Quintett 67/68, 71/72 WindSync 16/17 Ying Quartet 93/94, 04/05, 13/14; w/ Menahem Pressler 97/98 Ysaye Quartet and Friends 2000/01 Yuval Trio 74/75 Zagreb Quartet 67/68 Zemlinsky Quartet 09/10 |
CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF ENSEMBLES (1959 - 2017)
OSU Liberal Arts Programs Committee
Home Economics Auditorium, 8:00 pm 1959 - 1960 10/19/59 Hungarian Quartet 11/09/59 Claremont Quartet 03/10/60 Amadeus Quartet 1960 - 1961 10/19/60 Hungarian Quartet 01/22/60 Fine Arts Quartet 04/05/61 Feld Quartet 1961 - 1962 11/02/61 Amadeus Quartet 01/31/62 Claremont Quartet 03/04/62 Juilliard Quartet 1962 - 1963 10/09/62 Vegh Quartet 02/27/63 Koeckert Quartet OSU / Friends of Music, under the auspices of Liberal Arts Program Committee 1963 - 1964 10/14/63 New Danish Quartet 03/02/64 Quartetto Italiano 04/01/64 Alma Piano Trio 1964 - 1965 11/13/64 Hungarian Quartet 01/06/65 Lasalle Quartet 02/25/65 A Sonata Recital (cello/piano) 04/12/65 Danzi Woodwind Quintet 1965 - 1966 11/10/65 Brahms Quartet 01/31/66 Koeckert Quartet 1966 - 1967 03/06/67 Trio Italiano D'Archi (String) OSU / Friends of Chamber Music 1967 - 1968 11/17/67 Warsaw Quintet (SQ+piano) 02/07/68 Zagreb Quartet 1968 - 1969 11/16/68 Allegri Quartet 01/10/69 Brahms Quartet 04/02/69 Danzi Wind Quintet 1969 - 1970 11/10/69 Deller Consort (4 voices, 2 violins, lute, harpsichord) 03/09/70 Prokofiev Quartet 04/06/70 Alma Piano Trio 1970 - 1971 11/09/70 Janacek Quartet 01/28/71 Dimoc Quartet 03/04/71 Tel Aviv Quartet 1971 - 1972 11/19/71 Vaghy Quartet 01/21/72 Richards Wind Quintet 02/29/72 Warsaw Quartet Bacewicz 04/28/72 Concentus Musicus of Denmark (2 voices, 8 instruments, 6 musicians) 1972 - 1973 10/28/72 Smetana Quartet 01/15/73 Rejto & Baller cello/piano 02/06/73 Secolo Barocco (flute, oboe, violin, bassoon, harpsichord) 05/02/73 Borodin Quartet 1973 - 1974 11/05/73 Melos Quartet Stuttgart 01/22/74 New London Soloists Ensemble (9 string instruments) 02/27/74 Brueggen & Curtis (recorder & baroque flute, harpsichord) 05/01/74 Amadeus Quartet 1974 - 1975 10/15/74 Yuval String Trio 01/14/75 Syntagama Musicum (2 voices, 11 instruments, 5 musicians) 02/12/75 Tokyo Quartet 04/23/75 Cleveland Quartet 1975 - 1976 10/21/75 Trio Concertante (piano/viola) 11/25/75 Suk Trio (string) 02/17/76 Juilliard Quartet 03/31/76 American Brass Quintet 1976 - 1977 10/29/76 Melos Quartet Stuttgart 02/11/77 Fine Arts Quartet 03/08/77 Guarneri Quartet 04/21/77 New York Chamber Soloists (string trio, oboe, piano) OSU / Friends of Chamber Music Milam Auditorium, 8:00 pm 1977 - 1978 11/03/77 Bulgarian Quartet 12/01/77 Stuttgart Trio 03/03/78 Tokyo Quartet 05/06/78 Amadeus Quartet 1978 - 1979 10/13/78 Tokyo Quartet 12/05/78 The Aulos Ensemble (baroque flute, cello, violin, oboe, harpsichord) 02/18/79 Juilliard Quartet 04/22/79 Borodin Quartet 1979 - 1980 10/28/79 Quintetto Boccherini (strings) 02/21/80 Guarneri Quartet 01/29/80 Juilliard Quartet 02/21/80 Guarneri Quartet 04/24/80 Florestan Trio April and May 1981 concerts held at Cultural & Conference Center 1980 - 1981 10/02/80 Tokyo Quartet 12/05/80 Francesco Trio 01/22/81 Franz Liszt Orchestra of Budapest 02/18/81 The Autos Ensemble 04/05/81 American Brass Quintet 05/03/81 Tashi (clarinet, 3 violin/viola, cell) OSU / Friends of Chamber Music OSU Foundation Center, 8:00 pm 1981 - 1982 10/18/81 Panocha Quartet 11/13/81 Muir Quartet 01/18/81 Concord Quartet 02/10/82 Musical Offering Chamber Ensemble (violin, oboe, bassoon, cello, harpsichord) 03/14/82 Bartok Quartet 04/12/82 The Aspen Soloists (piano trio) 1982 - 1983 11/27/82 Tokyo Quartet 12/01/82 Rogeri Trio 01/30/83 Prague Chamber Orchestra 02/23/83 New Zurich Quartet 04/26/83 The Folger Consort (voice, 3 musicians, 8 instruments, at LaSells Stewart Center) OSU / Friends of Chamber Music LaSells Stewart Center, 8:00 pm 1983 - 1984 10/30/83 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio 01/14/84 Ridge Quartet 02/04/84 Musicians from Marlboro (violin, violin/viola, cello, double-bass, piano) 03/10/84 Takacs Quartet 04/09/84 Tashi (clarinet + string quartet) 1984 - 1985 10/16/84 Composers Quartet 11/26/84 Quartetto Beethoven Di Roma 01/16/85 Lydian Quartet 02/08/85 Vienna Octet 03/31/85 Tokyo Quartet 05/01/85 Rogeri Trio 1985 - 1986 10/25/85 Trio di Milano 12/04/85 Dorian Wind Quintet & piano 01/29/86 Bartok Quartet 03/10/86 Hagen Quartet 04/09/86 Gabrieli Quartet 1986 - 1987 10/11/86 Tokyo Quartet 11/19/86 Musical Offering 01/09/87 Trio Concertante 02/06/87 Mendelssohn Quartet 05/01/87 Takacs Quartet 1987 - 1988 10/12/87 Quatuor di Nova 11/04/87 Cleveland Quartet 01/08/88 The Aulos Ensemble 02/05/88 Los Angeles Piano Quartet 03/11/88 Ridge Quartet 1988 - 1989 10/05/88 Fine Arts Quartet 11/16/88 Chilingirian Quartet 01/31/89 Juilliard Quartet 03/10/89 Shanghai Quartet 04/18/89 Borodin Trio 1989 - 1990 09/30/89 Tokyo Quartet 11/06/89 Quartetto Beethoven di Roma 01/10/90 Lafayette Quartet 02/10/90 Berlin Octet 04/13/90 Emerson Quartet 04/26/90 Arden Trio 07/02/90 Penderecki Quartet 1990 - 1991 10/13/90 Takacs Quartet 11/07/90 Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds & Piano (9 instruments) 01/09/91 Sibelius Academy (string quartet) 03/09/91 Chester Quartet 04/05/91 Raphael Trio 05/02/91 Musicians from Marlboro 1991 - 1992 10/09/91 Beaux Arts Trio 10/23/91 Stamic Quartet of Prague 11/20/91 Ames Piano Quartet 03/07/92 Cavani Quartet 04/04/92 London Baroque Ensemble (2 violins, cello, harpsichord) 04/29/92 Colorado Quartet & Elizabeth Braden, soprano 1992 - 1993 10/08/92 American Quartet 11/04/92 Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio 02/10/93 Quartet Sine Nomine 03/10/93 De Capo Chamber Players (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) 03/31/93 Raphael Duo (cello/piano) from Raphael Trio 04/29/93 Lafayette Quartet 1993 - 1994 10/13/93 Schubert Ensemble of London (violin, viola, cello, bass, piano) 11/18/93 American Chamber Players with Edward Newman, piano (violin, horn, viola, cello) 01/16/94 Emerson Quartet 02/20/94 Beaux Arts Trio 03/10/94 Ying Quartet 04/15/94 Trio di Milano |
1994 - 1995
10/21/94 London Chamber Orchestra (8 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double-bass) 11/19/94 Leonardo Trio 01/17/95 Orion Quartet 02/14/95 Anonymous 4 (vocal) 04/11/95 Ames Piano Quartet 05/02/95 Golub & Hoffman (cello/piano) 1995 - 1996 10/26/95 Portland Baroque Orchestra 11/10/95 Peterson Quartet 01/07/96 American Chamber Players 01/28/96 Glowacka & Gokcen (cello/piano) with Majestic Theater 02/12/96 Cavani Quartet 03/31/96 Emerson Quartet 04/29/96 Ensemble Wien (violin, 2 violas, & double-bass) 1996 - 1997 10/09/96 National Chamber Orchestra (6 violins, flute, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double-bass, harpsichord) 11/12/96 Brentano Quartet 01/06/97 Arioso Wind Quintet with Rachelle McCabe, piano 02/05/97 Trio di Milano 03/04/97 Schubert Ensemble of London 04/05/97 Leontovych Quartet Chamber Music Corvallis 1997 - 1998 10/16/97 The Raphael Ensemble (2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos) 11/20/97 Amadeus Trio 01/15/98 Ying String Quartet with Menahem Pressler, piano 02/11/98 Peterson Quartet 03/02/98 London Baroque Ensemble 04/06/98 Vermeer Quartet 1998 - 1999 10/14/98 Takacs Quartet 11/05/98 Portland Baroque Orchestra 11/20/98 Vienna Piano Trio 01/15/99 Schubert Ensemble of London 02/21/99 American Quartet 03/05/99 Cheifetz & McCabe, cello/piano 04/18/99 Keller Quartet CMC and the OSU Department of Music Piano Masters Series presented: 01/08/99 William Howard 02/26/99 Anne-Marie McDermott 04/25/99 Rachelle McCabe, William Ransom, Stephanie Leon Shames, Jonathan Shames LaSells Stewart Center, 7:30 pm 1999 - 2000 10/13/99 Audubon String Quartet with Ericka Eckert, viola, and Walter Gray, cello 11/10/99 New York Philomusica Ensemble (piano, 2 violins, 2 violas, cello) 02/02/00 Altenberg Trio 03/03/00 American Chamber Players 04/13/00 Skampa Quartet CMC & Corvallis-OSU Music Association: 01/14/00 Miami String Quartet with Jon Nakamatsu, piano CMC / Piano Masters Series: 11/16/99 Angela Hewitt, piano 02/25/00 Craig Sheppard, piano 04/21/00 Andrew Rangell, piano 2000 - 2001 10/16/00 Pacifica Quartet 11/15/00 Ysaye String Quartet with Resgis Pasquier, violin, & Jean-Claude Pennetier, piano 01/18/01 Schubert Ensemble of London 02/15/01 Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet 03/07/01 Emerson Quartet 04/18/01 Trio Apollon 2001 - 2002 10/10/01 Chamber Orchestra Kremlin (6 first violins, 4 second violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, double-bass) 11/15/01 Streicher Trio (forte-piano) 01/16/02 Tokyo Quartet 02/20/02 Vienna Piano Trio 03/14/02 Arditti Quartet 04/11/02 Mozart Quartet 2002 - 2003 10/07/02 Vega Quartet 11/01/02 Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio 01/21/03 Schubert Ensemble of London 02/24/03 David Finckel & Wu Han, cello/piano 03/12/03 St. Petersburg Quartet 04/28/03 Portland Baroque Orchestra 2003 - 2004 10/09/03 Amati Quartet 11/12/03 Amelia Piano Trio 01/07/04 I Musici de Montreal Chamber Orchestra (9 violins, 3 violas, 2 cells, double-bass) 02/04/04 Juilliard Quartet 03/09/04 Quintessence Chamber Ensemble (WQ) 04/26/04 Amadeus Trio 2004 - 2005 10/12/04 Schubert Ensemble of London 11/10/04 Ying Quartet 01/19/05 Philharmonia Quartet Berlin 02/16/05 Paris Trio 03/02/05 Concertante (2 violins, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, bassoon, horn) 04/05/05 American Chamber Players 2005 - 2006 10/10/05 Quartetto Gelato (tenor, eight instruments) 11/02/05 Vienna Piano Trio 01/10/06 Pacifica Quartet 02/21/06 Debussy Quartet 03/08/06 Szymanowski Quartet 04/05/06 Peabody Piano Trio 2006 - 2007 10/17/06 Turtle Island Quartet 11/08/06 Vertavo Quartet 01/17/07 Amelia Piano Trio 02/12/07 The Czech Nonet (SQ + WQ) 03/01/07 Cuarteto Casals & Tom Gallant, oboe 04/17/07 Cypress Quartet 2007 - 2008 10/09/07 Quartetto Gelato 11/14/07 Shanghai Quartet 01/30/08 Schubert Ensemble of London 02/27/08 Mandelring String Quartet & Robert Plane, clarinet 04/16/08 Trio con Brio Copenhagen 06/06/08 Euclid Quartet 2008 - 2009 10/14/08 Portland Baroque Orchestra 11/11/08 Borealis Quartet 01/20/09 Vilnius Quartet 02/11/09 Mozart Quartet 03/04/09 Leipzig Quartet 04/16/09 Cypress Quartet 2009 - 2010 10/22/09 Belcea Quartet 11/10/09 Zemlinsky Quartet 01/12/10 Falla Guitar Trio 02/20/10 Trio Solisti 04/14/10 Amelia Piano Trio 05/11/10 Aviv Quartet 2010 - 2011 10/14/10 Ensemble 415 (2 violins, violin/viola, viola, cello, harpsichord) 11/16/10 Manasse & Nakamatsu, clarinet / piano 01/20/11 Calefax Reed Quintet 02/09/11 Auryn Quartet 04/06/11 Enso Quartet 05/03/11 Gould Trio & Robert Plane, clarinet 2011 - 2012 10/06/11 Falla Guitar Trio 11/03/11 Cuarteto Casals 01/19/12 Jupiter Quartet 02/21/12 Alliage Saxophone Quintet 04/12/12 Daedalus Quartet 05/17/12 Triple Helix Piano Trio 2012 - 2013 10/09/12 Icicle Creek Piano Trio 11/13/12 Calder Quartet 01/25/13 Trio Solisti & Amy Burton, soprano 02/27/13 Moscow Quartet 03/14/13 Manasse & Nakamatsu, clarinet / piano 04/17/13 Diotima Quartet 2013 - 2014 10/02/13 Jasper Quartet 11/07/13 Daurov & Myer, cello/piano 02/12/14 Atos Piano Trio 03/06/14 Quatuor Ebene 04/08/14 Ying Quartet 05/06/14 Ariel Quartet 2014 - 2015 09/29/14 Moscow String Quartet & Mikola Suk, piano 10/29/14 Morgenstern Trio 01/23/15 Alliage Quintet (4 saxophones & piano) 02/27/15 Auryn Quartet 04/10/15 Escher Quartet First United Methodist Church, 7:30 pm 2015 - 2016 10/23/15 Dover Quartet 12/04/15 Axiom Brass Quintet 02/05/16 Kim / Basney fortepiano / violin duo 03/11/16 Borealis Wind Quintet 04/29/16 Adaskin String Trio with Tom Gallant, oboe 2016 - 2017 10/07/16 Akropolis Reed Quintet 11/04/16 Telegraph Quartet 01/27/17 WindSync (WQ) 02/24/17 Tesla Quartet 03/31/17 Gould Piano Trio with Robert Plane, clarinet |
Craig B. Leman
Annotator, Chamber Music Corvallis
September 2000
In 1958 Oregon State College was still in the A. and M. mode; her perceived mission was to educate farmers, foresters, engineers, and technicians to civilize the frontier, leaving to her sister institution in Eugene the task of pursuing cultural advances in the humanities and social sciences.
The faculty in the Lower Division Liberal Arts in particular felt deprived and out of it with no majors in their fields and no graduate students. Some who had come from metropolitan areas sorely missed live performances of concerts, plays, and operas by world class artists. KOAC-FM, the classical music station then based in Corvallis, helped fill the gap; its classical music programming at that time was excellent, rivaling Eugene's present-day KWAX-FM classical music station. The Corvallis Music Association, active since the end of World War II, brought outstanding soloists and occasional major orchestras to Gill Coliseum. But there was little for chamber music aficionados except the long drive to and from Portland for the occasional chamber music concert there.
Thomas Kranidas, a young Oregon State English instructor from the University of Washington in Seattle, conceived the idea of persuading the College to sponsor a concert series that would bring world-class chamber music ensembles to Corvallis. He mentioned this to his English department colleagues, Faith Norris and Bernard Malamud, who immediately sparked on the idea. Malamud came from New York, and Norris from Berkeley. Although neither were musicians, they appreciated chamber music. Other key players were Ernst Dornfeld and John Decius. Dornfeld, Professor of Zoology, was a superb amateur pianist and profound scholar of music. Decius, Professor of Chemistry, was an enthusiastic amateur cellist.
Kranidas, an amateur violist, joined Decius, Dornfeld, and other local players in sessions to play through the masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. The results only whetted their appetites for professional performances. They approached the Chairman of the Music Department, Robert Walls, whose primary interest was voice; he was supportive, as were the Dean of Liberal Arts, Ralph Colby, and the College President, A. L. Strand, an entomologist.
Colby was Principal Violist in the OSC Symphony, where Kranidas also played the viola. Colby appointed Kranidas, Malamud, Norris, John OConnor of the Music Department, Robert Wayne Smith of the History Department, and Walls to the Liberal Arts Program Committee to organize the concert series.
Walls and his staff negotiated with the artists management. The committee publicized the venture, raised funds from music lovers in the community, and staged the first concert at the Home Economics Auditorium on the O.S.C. campus at 8 P.M. on October 19, 1959, featuring the Hungarian Quartet. This was a distinguished group trained in Budapest, as good as any quartet in the world. The program: Haydn's Lark Quartet, Beethoven's Opus 132, and Smetana's From My Life. In November, the Claremont Quartet played Mozart, Bloch, and Schubert. Bloch, who lived at Agate Beach near Newport, had died in Portland four months earlier. The final concert of the first season in March 1960 presented the Amadeus Quartet, a group from England that stayed together for thirty years and dissolved with the death of their beloved violist. They played late works by Mozart, Bartok, and Brahms.
All three concerts were well received. From the outset, the Committee favored selling season tickets, to seek financial stability. Initial charge for a season ticket for all three concerts was $7.50; $3 for students. Patrons were asked to give $25; nearly thirty responded. Overhead was minimal, absorbed by the College. Budget for the first year was $1500. There were 290 subscribers.
Over the next few years the founders worked to keep the series afloat. Kranidas and Malamud moved on to other institutions. Other campus music lovers agreed to serve on the Committee. In 1963 Jack Decius asked me to serve on the board, explaining that it was desirable to have some non-OSU people in the act to avoid town-gown divisiveness and to encourage more participation by other townies. Starting as a token townie I have been on the board ever since.
Always we faced budget constraints. I remember a crisis in the sixties when we failed to meet budget. Our Chairman, John OConnor, a Professor in the Music Department, went to the new President of Oregon State University James Jensen to describe our predicament and ask for assistance. He told me that President Jensen sympathetically heard him out and politely agreed to find money to make up the deficit. Jensen then fixed him with a steely blue eye and explained it would be the last time we could count on this, and we would have to sink or swim without another bail-out.
Since then, the Associated Students of Oregon State University (ASOSU) have generously given us funds in return for student body card admission privileges, and our group has always given all students a break on ticket fees. We appealed to women in the community to raise money with a yearly drive to sell tickets, coax donations from music lovers, and solicit business patrons. The Gazette-Times assisted us with news stories about these fund-raising efforts, biographies and photographs of the artists, and criticisms of our concerts.
We shopped carefully for quality groups at bargain prices, since we were a classic example of champagne-tastes-but-beer-money. Our leadership established cordial but wary relations with agents for the various groups, working with similar chamber-music series in Eugene and Ashland to cut costs by block-booking ensembles who could cut their own transportation expenses by playing consecutive engagements on tours in our area, passing along these savings to us by cutting their performance fees. We tried to achieve balance between expensive, high-rolling, established stars and less costly, unheralded newcomers of top quality.
We went along in this mode with three concerts a year, mostly string quartets with an occasional piano trio, piano quartet, sonata recital, or wind ensemble, gradually acquiring more patrons and business patrons. In 1970 I suggested to the Board that Program Notes would enhance audience appreciation of our concerts. I recalled the extensive commentary in programs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by a local musician named Felix Borowski (called The Fourth B by the Chicago Tribune). The Board agreed. Since no one else volunteered, I started writing notes, relying initially on the OSU Library, record jackets, and borrowed books as sources.
Tharald Borgir, an accomplished pianist and scholar devoted to the baroque era, joined the board in the late sixties, bringing an enthusiasm for diverse instrumental groups and for baroque music. As chairman of the OSU Department of Music, he assisted the chamber music series in many ways. By 1971 we were up to four concerts a year and were including small chamber orchestras and vocal ensembles on our programs.
Violinist Marlan Carlson, later successor to Borgir as Chairman of the Music Department, replaced Borgir on our board, bringing with him a devotion to classic instrumental combinations and a drive to bring to our series groups of the highest quality. In 1980 within one month we heard the Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets, at that time the two leading quartets in the world. Carlson served as Chairman from 1977 to 1982, and again for the 1984-85 season when for the first time we presented six concerts. Along the way the group incorporated to confirm its status as a nonprofit educational entity eligible for tax-deductible gifts, established its independence from Oregon State University while retaining a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship, changed the location of the concerts from Home Economics Auditorium (Milam) to LaSells Stewart Center in 1981, and renamed ourselves as Chamber Music Corvallis in 1997.
Ze'ev Orzech and Joann Anselone each served as Chairman for years. Many people have served on the Board, generously sharing such tasks as booking, ticketing, ushering, hosting and assisting artists, group and program selection, publicity, and fund-raising. It seems unfair to mention individuals as I have done above, without also recognizing Sue Dornfeld, John Morris, Dorothy Miller, Kenneth Hedberg, Shirley Byrne, Fred Horne, and others who have contributed countless hours and efforts to keep superb music ensembles coming to Corvallis. Since 1990 Carole Orloff has been Chairman. With her leadership CMC has extended outreach activities to include workshops by our artists for young students. CMC has cooperated with the Corvallis-OSU Music Association in presenting programs sponsored jointly. For the last two years, CMC sponsored the splendid Piano Music Series begun by Rachelle McCabe. This stretched our resources too far. We hope that this outstanding keyboard series will resume soon. John Morris and Carole Orloff have been extraordinarily ingenious and productive in finding grants, getting contributions from businesses, and finding other sources of funds. A series of astute and industrious treasurers--Stefan Bloomfield, Robert Clark, and Steven Esbensen--have handled our accounting and disbursing. So far we have got by without paid administrative personnel. As this is written, we commence our 42nd season, anticipating six concerts.
Annotator, Chamber Music Corvallis
September 2000
In 1958 Oregon State College was still in the A. and M. mode; her perceived mission was to educate farmers, foresters, engineers, and technicians to civilize the frontier, leaving to her sister institution in Eugene the task of pursuing cultural advances in the humanities and social sciences.
The faculty in the Lower Division Liberal Arts in particular felt deprived and out of it with no majors in their fields and no graduate students. Some who had come from metropolitan areas sorely missed live performances of concerts, plays, and operas by world class artists. KOAC-FM, the classical music station then based in Corvallis, helped fill the gap; its classical music programming at that time was excellent, rivaling Eugene's present-day KWAX-FM classical music station. The Corvallis Music Association, active since the end of World War II, brought outstanding soloists and occasional major orchestras to Gill Coliseum. But there was little for chamber music aficionados except the long drive to and from Portland for the occasional chamber music concert there.
Thomas Kranidas, a young Oregon State English instructor from the University of Washington in Seattle, conceived the idea of persuading the College to sponsor a concert series that would bring world-class chamber music ensembles to Corvallis. He mentioned this to his English department colleagues, Faith Norris and Bernard Malamud, who immediately sparked on the idea. Malamud came from New York, and Norris from Berkeley. Although neither were musicians, they appreciated chamber music. Other key players were Ernst Dornfeld and John Decius. Dornfeld, Professor of Zoology, was a superb amateur pianist and profound scholar of music. Decius, Professor of Chemistry, was an enthusiastic amateur cellist.
Kranidas, an amateur violist, joined Decius, Dornfeld, and other local players in sessions to play through the masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. The results only whetted their appetites for professional performances. They approached the Chairman of the Music Department, Robert Walls, whose primary interest was voice; he was supportive, as were the Dean of Liberal Arts, Ralph Colby, and the College President, A. L. Strand, an entomologist.
Colby was Principal Violist in the OSC Symphony, where Kranidas also played the viola. Colby appointed Kranidas, Malamud, Norris, John OConnor of the Music Department, Robert Wayne Smith of the History Department, and Walls to the Liberal Arts Program Committee to organize the concert series.
Walls and his staff negotiated with the artists management. The committee publicized the venture, raised funds from music lovers in the community, and staged the first concert at the Home Economics Auditorium on the O.S.C. campus at 8 P.M. on October 19, 1959, featuring the Hungarian Quartet. This was a distinguished group trained in Budapest, as good as any quartet in the world. The program: Haydn's Lark Quartet, Beethoven's Opus 132, and Smetana's From My Life. In November, the Claremont Quartet played Mozart, Bloch, and Schubert. Bloch, who lived at Agate Beach near Newport, had died in Portland four months earlier. The final concert of the first season in March 1960 presented the Amadeus Quartet, a group from England that stayed together for thirty years and dissolved with the death of their beloved violist. They played late works by Mozart, Bartok, and Brahms.
All three concerts were well received. From the outset, the Committee favored selling season tickets, to seek financial stability. Initial charge for a season ticket for all three concerts was $7.50; $3 for students. Patrons were asked to give $25; nearly thirty responded. Overhead was minimal, absorbed by the College. Budget for the first year was $1500. There were 290 subscribers.
Over the next few years the founders worked to keep the series afloat. Kranidas and Malamud moved on to other institutions. Other campus music lovers agreed to serve on the Committee. In 1963 Jack Decius asked me to serve on the board, explaining that it was desirable to have some non-OSU people in the act to avoid town-gown divisiveness and to encourage more participation by other townies. Starting as a token townie I have been on the board ever since.
Always we faced budget constraints. I remember a crisis in the sixties when we failed to meet budget. Our Chairman, John OConnor, a Professor in the Music Department, went to the new President of Oregon State University James Jensen to describe our predicament and ask for assistance. He told me that President Jensen sympathetically heard him out and politely agreed to find money to make up the deficit. Jensen then fixed him with a steely blue eye and explained it would be the last time we could count on this, and we would have to sink or swim without another bail-out.
Since then, the Associated Students of Oregon State University (ASOSU) have generously given us funds in return for student body card admission privileges, and our group has always given all students a break on ticket fees. We appealed to women in the community to raise money with a yearly drive to sell tickets, coax donations from music lovers, and solicit business patrons. The Gazette-Times assisted us with news stories about these fund-raising efforts, biographies and photographs of the artists, and criticisms of our concerts.
We shopped carefully for quality groups at bargain prices, since we were a classic example of champagne-tastes-but-beer-money. Our leadership established cordial but wary relations with agents for the various groups, working with similar chamber-music series in Eugene and Ashland to cut costs by block-booking ensembles who could cut their own transportation expenses by playing consecutive engagements on tours in our area, passing along these savings to us by cutting their performance fees. We tried to achieve balance between expensive, high-rolling, established stars and less costly, unheralded newcomers of top quality.
We went along in this mode with three concerts a year, mostly string quartets with an occasional piano trio, piano quartet, sonata recital, or wind ensemble, gradually acquiring more patrons and business patrons. In 1970 I suggested to the Board that Program Notes would enhance audience appreciation of our concerts. I recalled the extensive commentary in programs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by a local musician named Felix Borowski (called The Fourth B by the Chicago Tribune). The Board agreed. Since no one else volunteered, I started writing notes, relying initially on the OSU Library, record jackets, and borrowed books as sources.
Tharald Borgir, an accomplished pianist and scholar devoted to the baroque era, joined the board in the late sixties, bringing an enthusiasm for diverse instrumental groups and for baroque music. As chairman of the OSU Department of Music, he assisted the chamber music series in many ways. By 1971 we were up to four concerts a year and were including small chamber orchestras and vocal ensembles on our programs.
Violinist Marlan Carlson, later successor to Borgir as Chairman of the Music Department, replaced Borgir on our board, bringing with him a devotion to classic instrumental combinations and a drive to bring to our series groups of the highest quality. In 1980 within one month we heard the Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets, at that time the two leading quartets in the world. Carlson served as Chairman from 1977 to 1982, and again for the 1984-85 season when for the first time we presented six concerts. Along the way the group incorporated to confirm its status as a nonprofit educational entity eligible for tax-deductible gifts, established its independence from Oregon State University while retaining a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship, changed the location of the concerts from Home Economics Auditorium (Milam) to LaSells Stewart Center in 1981, and renamed ourselves as Chamber Music Corvallis in 1997.
Ze'ev Orzech and Joann Anselone each served as Chairman for years. Many people have served on the Board, generously sharing such tasks as booking, ticketing, ushering, hosting and assisting artists, group and program selection, publicity, and fund-raising. It seems unfair to mention individuals as I have done above, without also recognizing Sue Dornfeld, John Morris, Dorothy Miller, Kenneth Hedberg, Shirley Byrne, Fred Horne, and others who have contributed countless hours and efforts to keep superb music ensembles coming to Corvallis. Since 1990 Carole Orloff has been Chairman. With her leadership CMC has extended outreach activities to include workshops by our artists for young students. CMC has cooperated with the Corvallis-OSU Music Association in presenting programs sponsored jointly. For the last two years, CMC sponsored the splendid Piano Music Series begun by Rachelle McCabe. This stretched our resources too far. We hope that this outstanding keyboard series will resume soon. John Morris and Carole Orloff have been extraordinarily ingenious and productive in finding grants, getting contributions from businesses, and finding other sources of funds. A series of astute and industrious treasurers--Stefan Bloomfield, Robert Clark, and Steven Esbensen--have handled our accounting and disbursing. So far we have got by without paid administrative personnel. As this is written, we commence our 42nd season, anticipating six concerts.