Every once in a while, my friends and I gather with our instruments, a few choice drinks, and the parts to several different readable works to have a "chamber music party". We read and have fun in the music without any concern of critique from an audience. Chamber music is sometimes called "music for friends" and originally (pre 1800s) was intended for a private household gathering with friends and family - a lot like the parties many young musicians have today (though perhaps slightly more dignified... we don't wear powdered wigs or petticoats). It seems with the passing of a few centuries and the categorization of chamber music as "serious" performance music, a lot of visual musician to musician interaction has been lost. Instead of watching what looks like friends in intimate conversation, most times I feel like I'm watching a group of acquaintances who may not even like each other. If the music that comes out is good, does it matter? I think so.

Lowell Liebermann is in Chicago as the featured guest composer with The Chicago Chamber Musicians' Composer Perspectives concert on Wednesday evening, December 7 in Ganz Hall.  Composer Perspectives concerts feature a pre-concert talk, performance with the composer presenting the program and post-concert reception with the composer and artists.

Here are Chicago Classical Music's five questions for Lowell, and his responses:

CCM:  What do you listen to on your iPod?

LL: I'm not even sure where it is right now! The only thing on it is actually my own complete works: I only use it when travelling to do a residency at whichever university so that I don't have to lug a suitcase of cds. Otherwise, since I spend my working days either composing or practicing for performances, I tend not to listen to a lot of music in my down time. And when I do, I prefer it live.

One of the things that is particularly exciting to me about Chicago is learning about the classical music and cultural history here.  Many of the organizations have been established for decades, and it is so interesting to learn about how each has grown, changed, and make their mark in the community.

This week, I caught up with a co-artistic director and trumpeter of Chicago Chamber Musicians, Charlie Geyer, to chat about the organization’s twenty-fifth anniversary and what audiences can look forward to during the remainder of the 2011-2012 season and in the future.  The Chamber will be performing several pieces in the “Memories of Vienna” concert scheduled for November 6-7. For details visit www.chicagochambermusic.org.


How is Chicago Chamber Musicians celebrating its 25 anniversary?

We really tied our season around this idea of “collaboration”.  We thought about collaboration as a vision for the future of our organization also.

Summer chamber music means the Vermont Marlboro Music Festival, the spiritual home of thousands of musicians from several generations. Founded by pianist Rudolf Serkin, Marlboro is now a world renowned institution that has had substantial impact on music’s evolving landscape. It’s an idyllic place where artists eminent and emerging are invited to explore and discover side by side in a dynamic learning environment – and a place where several Chicago Chamber Musicians ensemble artists have had formative artistic experiences. This summer the festival celebrates its 60th anniversary season. Here’s our own Larry Combs leading a group two summers ago: Summer chamber music means the Vermont Marlboro Music Festival, the spiritual home of thousands of musicians from several generations.

For many the name Mahler conjures (among other) images, one of sprawling orchestras. The Rembrandt Chamber Players’ Mahler Project, which culminates in a fast-approaching concert at the Merit School of Music’s Gottlieb Hall, has served to emend such associations via its annual performances of, you guessed it, “chamber” versions of Mahler masterworks. Rembrandt promises to show again that Mahler’s music does not necessarily call for 100+ performers on a stage the size of a small island nation in its March 23rd performance of Das Lied von der Erde, conducted by Jane Glover.