A Brief History of the
Howland Chamber Music Circle
In the fall of 1992 Gwen and Bill
Stevens attended an exhibit of historic photos at the Howland Center.
They were immediately struck by the potential of that space for chamber
music. Gwen had been arranging house concerts for several years and
had been wondering how to expand them to a more general audience.
The Howland Center soon agreed to
produce a series of concerts under their auspices, but with separate
funding. The 1993-94 premier season of three concerts included the Meridian
Brass Ensemble, the St. Lawrence String Quartet and a string duo of
Ayako Yoshida and Semyon Fridman.
The success of this first season
led to an expansion to four concerts in the next season, to a fund drive
to rebuild the Center's piano, and then to six concerts in the 1996-97
season. With continuing success, it became evident that the Howland
Chamber Music Circle should be more formally established to ensure its
future. In April 1999 it was incorporated as a not-for-profit membership
corporation, independent of the Howland Center
The popularity of piano recitals
in the Chamber Music Series led to the establishment of a winter Piano
Festival of three concerts in 1999. The fall of 2001 saw the scheduling
of New York's Ensemble for Early Music. This was well accepted, and
led to adding a Christmas program by the same group in December 2002.
These Christmas programs have continued, but in the Church of St. Mary's
in the Highlands, in Cold Spring, which provides a larger space. The
2003-04 season introduced an occasional "world music" offering
and saw the expansion of the Chamber Music Series to a total of eight
concerts.
In 2004 the Circle decided that a
better piano was needed to satisfy the outstanding pianists appearing
in our series. Ed Loizides spearheaded a search that resulted in the
purchase of a new Steinway Model B grand piano. A fund drive that fall
quickly raised the money to pay for it, and it is now being enjoyed
by our audiences and performers.
Classics for Kids brings classical
music into the lives of younger people in the Hudson Valley. This series
began in 1995 and was later expanded to include performances in Rhinebeck
and Poughkeepsie. When the Circle was incorporated, this series was
given to the Howland Center to administer, but it is still guided by
the Chamber Music Circle, and is now limited again to the Beacon performance.
An outgrowth of this interest in music education has been a Monday morning
concert series for the South Avenue School, a magnet school in Beacon
devoted to the arts. On some occasions, musicians performing in the
Howland Chamber Music series have remained here to perform in this and
other area schools. In a further expansion of our educational efforts,
the Circle has arranged for residencies by professional string quartets
in the high schools of the Wappingers Central School District.
Interest in good classical music
grows and many of our concerts are sold out. From only three concerts
in the first season, the Circle now presents twelve each year, not including
a bonus concert for the members at the annual meeting. Our proximity
to New York City and our wonderful hall have enabled us to obtain some
of the finest musicians performing on the concert stage today.
Gwen and Bill Stevens