The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (AFCM) was founded in 1948. We are a private nonprofit organization run by a volunteer board. We bring to Tucson a yearly Evening Series of six concerts by the world's finest chamber musicians. We make every attempt to include a contemporary piece on every program. All of the financial support for our Evening Series comes from audience contributions. In spite of our commitment to the utmost excellence in our presentations, we traditionally keep our ticket prices as low as possible in order to make our concerts available to all.
Since 1994, we have organized the world-class Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival. This week long festival is held in March . The festival offers an exciting week of concentrated musical activity with opportunities to present unusual chamber music repertoire and to have audience and musicians interact more than is ordinarily possible. Introductory talks precede the concerts. There are numerous channels of community outreach: low ticket prices for students, a free Youth Concert to which students from outlying communities are also invited, four open dress rehearsals, Master Classes open to the community and a magnificent Gala Dinner. The Artistic Director is renowned cellist Peter Rejto,.
In 1995, the AFCM started Piano and Friends, a series of 3 Sunday afternoon concerts: one piano recital and two duos (piano and another instrument), genres that have been undeservedly neglected nationwide. Outstanding young musicians are recruited for this series, with the goal to help them launch their performing careers and to let our audience hear them at this exciting early stage. These same brilliant young musicians give free Master Classes on the day preceding the concert.
We make considerable efforts to expand our audience among young people through our extensive Educational Outreach Program by hiring young local musicians to play up to 15 chamber music concerts each year in local public schools. In addition, we give free tickets to all our concerts to 10 members of the Tucson Junior Strings and the Tucson Music Teachers' Association, as well as 10 students from Tucson, Pueblo and Cholla High Schools . We started a cooperative program with the Education Dept. of the Tohono O'Odham Tribe.
In 1997, the AFCM also started a Commissioning Program. We emphasize the commissioning of new chamber music works, that are tonal, melodic, and generally audience-friendly, although decidedly contemporary. By 2010, the AFCM will have commissioned and premiered 40 new works, all sponsored financially by individual members of our audience. This program and its online presence are unique in the world.
Arizona Friends of Chamber Music is also a proud supporter of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (KLRITA), a biennial piano trio award managed by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. KLRITA derives its impetus from the desire to honor the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (Joseph Kalichstein, piano, Jaime Laredo, violin, Sharon Robinson, cello) in perpetuity by giving recognition to this prestigious trio's 30-year contribution to chamber music worldwide. In addition, the award was created to encourage and enhance the careers of accomplished and extraordinarily promising young and "rising" piano trios which will be chosen every other year in perpetuity.
AFCM's volunteer webmaster is Bob Foster.
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