Our History
The mission of the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City is to provide the Salt Lake County citizens with the finest chamber music artists, both nationally and internationally known, for the enlightenment, enjoyment and education of chamber music lovers.
According to lore, written in runes, the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City originated from discussions at a Halloween Party in 1966. Partygoers lamented the paucity of chamber music in an otherwise lively musical city. Among the activists were recent arrivals to SLC, Gale Dick, Professor of Physics, and Bernadette Velick, wife of the Chair of Biochemistry. They quickly assembled a Board of Directors that included University faculty and spouses, local musicians, and community leaders. With no money in hand at the outset and no ticket holders, the group applied for and received a grant from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation of the Library of Congress that allowed them to launch the first season.
The first concert was performed by the Juilliard String Quartet, one of the premier groups of that time. On February 7, 1967, just over 3 months from the initial discussions, the Juilliard played the Beethoven Quartet, Op. 130, Schubert’s Quartet in D minor, and Bartok’s Quartet No. 6, to great acclaim. Their fee? $650. Two more concerts filled out that first season. There was Beethoven in those programs as well, plus quartets by Haydn, Carter, Ives, and Debussy.
The earliest concerts we held at the old Salt Lake City Public Library auditorium. For the fifth season (1970-71) we moved to the old University of Utah Museum of Fine Arts auditorium, which I remember as acoustically somewhat wanting with a low ceiling and modest visibility. Nonetheless, we enjoyed remarkable playing at that location until moving to Libby Gardner Concert Hall for the 35 th season in 2000. This marvelous venue is as much admired by the musicians for its acoustics as by the audience.
One of the remarkable and consistent features of the concerts exceptional quality of the groups that have played, from our first season to this, our 59th. The Juilliard Quartet graced us 7 times, the final one in 1991. The Guarneri Quartet was our most loyal group, playing for us 20 times between 1970 and 2008. We had the Emerson Quartet here 12 times from 1979 to 2010. More recently, the Pacifica Quartet is on a continuing streak of 9 concerts that started in 2006.
In addition, we have made a point of bringing emerging younger groups to Salt Lake City before their excellence became widely known. This season features two concerts given by the Viano and Isidore Quartets which impressed our talent scouts by winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2019 and 2022 respectively. We also began to branch out beyond string quartets early in our history, going beyond piano trios to vocalists, a small orchestra, and even a reed quintet.
The Chamber Music Society has been essentially an all-volunteer organization since its founding. We have benefited from the dedication and expertise of many individuals who have maintained the high standards set by the first board and continued to provide the highest quality of chamber music to Utah audiences.
— Written by Dana Caroll, Board Member