A Brief History of the Howland Chamber Music Circle
In the fall of 1992 Gwen and Bill Stevens attended an exhibit of historic photos at the Howland Center. They were immediately struck by the potential of that space for chamber music. Gwen had been arranging house concerts for several years and had been wondering how to expand them to a more general audience. The Howland Center soon agreed to produce a series of concerts under their auspices, but with separate funding. The 1993-94 premier season of three concerts included the Meridian Brass Ensemble, the St. Lawrence String Quartet and a string duo of Ayako Yoshida and Semyon Fridman. The success of this first season led to an expansion to four concerts in the next season, to a fund drive to rebuild the Center's piano, and then to six concerts in the 1996-97 season. With continuing success, it became evident that the Howland Chamber Music Circle should be more formally established to ensure its future. In April 1999 it was incorporated as a not-for-profit membership corporation, independent of the Howland Center
The popularity of piano recitals in the Chamber Music Series led to the establishment of a winter Piano Festival of three concerts in 1999. The fall of 2001 saw the scheduling of New York's Ensemble for Early Music. This was well accepted, and led to adding a Christmas program by the same group in December 2002. Mary's in the Highlands, in Cold Spring, until 2010. The 2003-04 season introduced an occasional "world music" offering and saw the expansion of the Chamber Music Series to a total of eight concerts. In 2004 the Circle decided that a better piano was needed to satisfy the outstanding pianists appearing in our series. Ed Loizides spearheaded a search that resulted in the purchase of a new Steinway Model B grand piano. A fund drive that fall quickly raised the money to pay for it, and it is now being enjoyed by our audiences and performers. In our support of music in our schools the Circle has supported and arranged for residencies by professional string quartets in the high school of the Arlington school district. Interest in good classical music grows and many of our concerts are sold out. From only three concerts in the first season, the Circle now presents twelve this year, not including a bonus concert or other entertainment for the members at the annual meeting. Our proximity to New York City and our wonderful hall have enabled us to obtain some of the finest musicians performing on the concert stage today.
