Chamber Music Detroit, formerly the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, was founded in 1944 and is the tenth oldest chamber music series in the United States as recognized by Chamber Music America. It is widely respected as metropolitan Detroit's anchor organization for chamber music.
Chamber Music Detroit's offerings include its flagship eight-concert Signature Series at Seligman Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, Michigan as well as concerts in Detroit, Grosse Pointe and at Oakland University in Rochester.
History
Founded in 1944 by pianist, educator and internationally syndicated radio host Dr. Karl Haas, Chamber Music Detroit began as an informal association of people brought together for the purpose of listening to chamber music. Dr. Haas instituted lectures (the forerunners to his popular syndicated radio program "Adventures in Good Music") at the Detroit Public Library to inform the public about upcoming concerts. During its first ten seasons, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit (known in its earliest years as the Chamber Music Festival) presented its concerts at the Detroit Institute of Arts Lecture Hall. Until the late 1960s, Chamber Music Society of Detroit ensembles often comprised the first chair musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, including such artists as Josef Gingold and Mischa Mischakoff, as well as Dr. Haas himself as pianist.
In 1969, the leadership of the Chamber Music Society passed from Karl Haas to Dr. Zalman “Tiny” Konikow; from this point forward, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit invited touring artists and ensembles from around the globe to perform on its series. During his 25-year tenure as president, Tiny Konikow showcased the talents of many up-and-coming musicians. Most notable are the Chamber Music Society of Detroit's early presentations of Emanuel Ax, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Perahia and the Tokyo String Quartet, as well as near-annual performances by the Guarneri Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio. Under Tiny Konikow's leadership, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit played a crucial role in the preservation and renovation of Detroit's Orchestra Hall by becoming, in 1978, its first permanent tenant since the Detroit Symphony had left the hall decades before.
In 1995, Lois R. Beznos became President of Chamber Music Detroit, after serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees since 1987. Under Lois Beznos' tenure as president, the organization more than tripled its subscriber base and its budget while developing community collaborations, adding professional staff and instituting comprehensive education programs. She established a collaboration with the Wayne State University Department of Music in 1995, introducing master classes by Chamber Music Detroit series artists. Gradually increasing its scope over the years, the education program evolved into an intensive Two-Week Ensemble Residency Program encompassing school and community collaborations throughout metropolitan Detroit.
In 1996, Chamber Music Detroit along with seven other chamber music presenters in the United States, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution, was selected to present in perpetuity the winner of the Cleveland Quartet Award.
In the late 1990's the Detroit Symphony merged with Orchestra Hall and moved its concerts from Ford Auditorium in Detroit to Orchestra Hall, making fewer dates available to outside presenters like Chamber Music Detroit. At the same time, Detroit Country Day School opened its newly-built concert facility, Seligman Performing Arts Center. Chamber Music Detroit presented the inaugural concert at Seligman featuring Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and moved its entire series to the new hall in the fall of 2000.
In 2001, Lois Beznos worked with the members of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and nineteen other U.S. presenters to launch an award to recognize and provide performance and recording opportunities to a gifted early-career piano trio. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award was run by Chamber Music Detroit for four biennial cycles and brought wider recognition to four winning piano trios: the Claremont Trio, Trio Con Trio Copenhagen, the Atos Trio and the Morgenstern Trio.
In December 2010, Lois R. Beznos stepped down from the presidency of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. After a national search, she was succeeded by Dr. Stephen Wogaman, a pianist and former student of Beaux Arts Trio pianist Menahem Pressler.