In the early 1920's, as Prohibition agents broke up stills and Warren G. Harding sat in the White House, Mrs. Chauncey (Emily Gray) Hamlin, Mrs. Evelyn Choate and Mrs. Carlos Alden gathered to hear classical music in the basement of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. The performers were just a few off-duty theater musicians, but the three women were inspired. They formed a Society with the goal of putting on first-class concerts of symphonic and chamber music.
A prospectus named "The Buffalo Plan" was announced: five orchestra concerts with six rehearsals, open to students who wanted to study the works performed and held at Elmwood Music Hall, plus a series of five chamber music recitals presented at the Hotel Statler Ballroom. Subscribers were asked to pay $15 for which they received two reserved seats for the orchestral concerts and two admissions to the chamber music series.
The symphonic concerts were quickly dropped, but the Buffalo Chamber Music Society performances continue today and are the second oldest chamber music series in the United States.
The Society has weathered some rough times, especially in 1933 when it almost "folded" and was able to present only one concert. Today the Buffalo Chamber Music Society enjoys a ever burgeoning subscriber base and most concerts are performed for sold-out houses.
From bringing in the young Budapest String Quartet in 1931 to commissioning a new work by Lukas Foss in 1998, the Society continues to be one of Buffalo's most vigorous cultural institutions.
TRUSTEES
Ansie Baird, president
Paul R. Homer, vice president
Morton Abramson, treasurer
Duane Andersen
Katka Hammond
Robert Hausmann
George R. Levine
Dr. Alan H. Lockwood, M.D.
Robin Magavern
Stephen Manes
Robert North Jr.
HONORARY TRUSTEES
Peter Goldsmith
MUSIC COMMITTEE
Mort Abramson
Peter Goldsmith
Jonathan Golove
Robert Hausmann
Paul R. Homer
Stephen Manes
Steven Thomas
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Clementina Fleshler