Dallas Chamber Music Society

INTRODUCTION

The Dallas Chamber Music Society (DCMS) was founded by Dorothea & Bartram Kelly in 1944 with a mission to cultivate a diverse, sustainable audience for great chamber music. Bringing the world’s most esteemed chamber music ensembles to the city of Dallas, the DCMS continues the tradition of making North Texas an international center for chamber music.

OVERVIEW 

With this project, the DCMS continues to fulfill its mission of cultivating a diverse, sustainable audience for great chamber music by expanding its community experiences & educational initiatives for music lovers of all ages. In addition to our season's primary performance series, including the renown clarinetist Anthony McGill, soprano Susanna Philips and the legendary Orion String Quartet in their the final season as an ensemble, this project further develops the DCMS's community outreach initiative by engaging the high caliber artistry of local musicians. Furthermore, this year will host the first of our Next Gen artists, the award-winning Merz Trio, engaging in extensive interactive performances and educational workshops for students of local middle & high schools, universities and after school programs that will reach an anticipated 200+ students.

OBJECTIVE:

This initiative tackles the current challenges of audience diminishment and diversification in classical music by expanding the DCMS's community outreach programs, presenting chamber music performance workshops to local schools, community centers, retirement communities, hospitals and residential treatment facilities. Through our Community Artists and Mentorship Program, local musicians as well as world renowned artists from our season’s roster will mentor participating student ensembles on artistic performance, presentation techniques, relevant career skills and instructional resourcefulness.

These opportunities aim to showcase the fundamental values of chamber music - diversity, collaboration, communication and inclusion through a democratic working process, in return inspiring participating ensembles to be active participants in the local community. Consequently, this enhancement of our educational & artistic offerings expands the DCMS’s chamber music activities, highlighting the aforementioned values and notably intimate nature of the medium while also growing our organizations audience and network.

In tandem with our featured performance series, our organization continually presents pre-concert lectures before each of our subscription-series concerts. Designed for the musically curious and lifelong learners, these educational opportunities are presented by local experts such as Dr. Peter Kupfer (Southern Methodist University) as well as other esteemed musicologists, performers and budding graduate students. 

GOALS

Building on the six featured performances this 23/24 season, we intend to incorporate 5-6 interactive community performances and/or additional educational workshops in tandem with our main performance series, expanding our event offerings by at least 60%. Through our Community Artists and Mentorship Program, we strive for university student participation in the educational workshops to 3-5 groups per performance, totaling in 25-30 student chamber music ensembles throughout the academic year. Furthermore, we anticipate 4-6 of those ensembles to continue through the entirety of the season, serving as our community musical ambassadors in between our featured artist series. Overall, this project expands our meaningful community impact, allows for a more broader community connection and helps to cultivate a new culture of arts appreciation.

OUR VISION

to make North Texas an international center for chamber music through superb performances, creative programming, and community engagement.