'The Music of Friends:' 75 Year History of the Chamber Music Conference

August 18, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East Releases
75^th Anniversary Commemorative Book, The Music of Friends

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding, the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East is proud to announce the publication of a new book that chronicles the history and culture of the beloved summer chamber music workshop and festival. The Music of Friends: 75 Years of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East by David W. Webber, new music advocate, researcher, and long-time cello participant at the Conference, will be released on August 25, 2020, and as an e-book in Fall 2020. The book is available for pre-order now.

For three-quarters of a century, dedicated amateur string players, wind players, and pianists have gathered every summer at the Chamber Music Conference for coaching in chamber music and concerts by a distinguished faculty of professional musicians. In addition, the Conference commissions resident composers to write pieces specifically for participants and faculty to rehearse and perform; over the decades, close to 500 acclaimed composers have been involved in the program, including Gabriela Lena Frank, Jennifer Higdon, Milton Babbitt,  Andrew Norman, Lisa Bielawa, Ted Hearne, Hannah Lash, Paul Moravec, and many others.

The Music of Friends is a comprehensive history of the Conference from its earliest years to the present day. In over 300 pages, richly illustrated with more than 80 photographs, it encompasses the full experience: the composers, performers, teachers, and leaders who have served the Conference; the participants whose devotion to making music together have defined it; the places it has called home (notably the site of its longest residency, Bennington College in Vermont); the challenges it has faced and overcome. While readers will find a wealth of archival information and invaluable personal narratives about the Conference from those who know it best, The Music of Friends is above all an insider’s view of those whirlwind summer weeks spent playing great music and building friendships, and what it is that brings participants and faculty back year after year. The Music of Friends includes a personal Prelude by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, Contributing Music Critic for the New York Times.

Webber’s book places the Chamber Music Conference within a larger context, depicting the tradition of amateur chamber music from its origins in eighteenth-century Europe through its recent growth in the United States. The Conference has nurtured this tradition of music making by those who play for the love of it, while supporting the creation of new chamber music by a wide range of eminent composers, throughout its 75 years.

For information on ordering The Music of Friends, please see the Conference website at  http://cmceast.org/75th-anniversary.php.

Media Contacts:

Hannah Goldshlack-Wolf, Senior PR Manager

WildKat PR – New York

hannah@wildkatpr.com

(517) 648-2339

Barbara Kipp, co-chair, 75^th Anniversary Committee

Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East

barbarakipp@cmceast.org

(781) 248-5340