Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has proclaimed April 2011 Chicago Chamber Musicians Month in Chicago, in recognition of CCM’s 25 years of service to Chicago’s artistic community. The ensemble celebrated the proclamation on April 4 with a free First Monday Concert featuring Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 1 at the Chicago Cultural Center, and will hold a concert and dinner on April 26 benefitting CCM’s education and community engagement programs. Among CCM’s community initiatives are a concert series for audiences otherwise unable to attend concerts due to physical or financial constraints; a school residency program for public-school students in grades 4 to 6; and a professional development program with schools throughout the Chicago area featuring live interactive chamber music. As part of its mission to make chamber music more accessible, CCM also offers free monthly music downloads of selected performances at its website. Chicago Chamber Musicians was founded in 1986; its fourteen resident ensemble members comprise pianists and wind, brass, and string players, made up of Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians as well as music faculty at Northwestern, DePaul, and Roosevelt universities.
Posted April 15, 2011
