
Buffalo Chamber Music Society
About Us
History
The second-oldest chamber music organization in the United States began modestly in the basement of the
Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. Three women attended an informal concert at the church by a quartet of
off-duty theater musicians and came away impressed with the quality of the music-making. Emily Gray Hamlin,
Evelyn Choate and Mrs. Carlos Alden resolved to create an organization devoted to symphonic and chamber concerts.
They formed the Buffalo Symphony Society, drew up a plan, raised funds and began organizing concerts.
The first chamber performance took place March 12, 1924 in the ballroom of the newly built Hotel Statler. First-
chair players from the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra performed quartets by Mozart and Schubert. A soprano and
contralto sang duets of Schumann and Brahms. Although the first concerts presented local musicians, the new
chamber organization soon brought in its first world-class group, the famous Flonzaley Quartet, an ensemble that
dramatically raised the level of professionalism of the string quartet, serving as a forerunner of today's full-time
chamber ensembles.


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2023
- Ansie Baird, president
- Paul Homer, vice-president
- Morton Abramson, treasurer
- Jill Buerk
- Peter Curtis
- Jonathan Golove
- Richard Gordon
- Katka Hammond
- Robert Hausmann
- Marjorie Lord
- Rebecca Torres
- Robert Prokes