Queens University of Charlotte - About Friends of Music

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 26th season of concerts presented by the Friends of Music of Queens University of Charlotte. In these challenging economic times, we are proud that we can continue to present performances by musicians of the highest caliber without running deficits or placing the future of our organization in peril. At a time when many people are struggling, it would be easy to say that music or the arts are expendable. However, music lovers understand that music is not a luxury but a necessity. Without it, our lives would have less meaning. This is especially the case with chamber music which is the most intimate form of music. There are simply no words that can express the feelings we experience when listening to a Mozart String Quartet or a Schubert Piano Trio.

The Friends of Music have three main goals for the 2009-2010 season:

1. Continue to offer great chamber music at affordable prices to the Charlotte area
The performers this year are simply spectacular. While some may be unfamiliar to our audiences, all of them are among the finest musicians in the country. We will provide a mix of familiar and new repertoire and continue our recent practice of presenting the finest in jazz chamber music. In addition, we are proud to have kicked off a new series of Summer Serenades and now look forward to providing chamber music programs throughout the year. Also new this year is our pre-concert dinner/lecture series presenting some of the most influential people in the current arts scene in a relaxed and intimate atmosphere.

2. Expand our educational outreach activities
Through our affiliation with Queens University of Charlotte, it has been our pleasure to sponsor educational programs for student musicians through the Fun with Chamber Music program and the Chamber Music for Teens summer camp. In addition, we have expanded our educational outreach programs, sending visiting artists to local schools, libraries, retirement homes and places of worship. We also provide limited scholarships for music students and support special programs and projects of the Queens music department.

3. Be an advocate for the arts in Charlotte
Finally, we recognize the many of our fellow arts organizations are struggling and we have made a special effort to promote their concerts on our website and in our patron communications. In addition, we want to work with other organizations to help develop new audiences for the benefit of all music presenters in the Charlotte area.

The Friends of Music recognizes chamber music as a medium of artistic expression that embraces an intimacy of expression. At its best, chamber music is what one may describe as “the ideal democracy.” In fact, chamber music is defined as music which is written for two to approximately ten performers, with the stipulation that only one player performs each part, normally without a conductor. (This is different than an orchestra, where there are several players per part, normally with a conductor who makes all the musical decisions.)

This allows each performer an equal say in the production of all aspects of the performance. The “ideal” quality extends to the ultimate moment, The Performance! This is when each participant, regardless of how well or not agreeable the inter-relationships between the personalities may be, must be equally responsible for the finest presentation of the product possible at every moment. The result must be at the highest level, regardless. Egos must be completely abandoned to the performance.

And so, chamber music may be seen to reflect the human being at its highest potential - politically, personally, artistically. As the Friends of Music Chamber Music Series at Queens embraces all genres of music which is presented without conductor, one player to a part, including the “classical” composers, Bluegrass, the Blues, Jazz genres and beyond, it is these ideals as well as the wonderful concerts, the educational programs and the assistance to the Music Department at Queens, that the Friends of Music aspires to bring to the quality of life in the greater Charlotte community. ~ Dr. Paul Nitsch, Artist-in-Residence

The Friends of Music at Queens was established in 1983 with a mission to support a chamber music concert series at Queens and to provide financial assistance for special needs of the Queens Department of Music. The initial idea to form the Friends of Music came from then Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Cynthia H. Tyson. Dr. George Stegner, then Chair of the Music Department, gathered a group of interested local people to form the first Board of Directors, with Kathryn Preyer serving as President.

The first season of performances was fall, 1983, to spring, 1984. The newly formed Garth Newel Piano Trio, the in-residence performing ensemble for the Garth Newel Music Center in Hot Springs, Virginia, performed all four concerts without compensation. The reasons are that the pianist, Paul Nitsch, still a member of the Queens piano faculty, had become Pianist for the Garth Newel Trio, along with the other members, Arlene and Luca DiCecco, who had lived in Charlotte for many years and served as faculty members in the music department at the University of North Carolina/Charlotte. They had been sponsored by local businessman Oliver Rowe to form the Rowe String Quartet, which had had a successful career of national fame, and were delighted at an opportunity to return to Charlotte to “give back” some of the generosity they felt they had received.

The Garth Newel Trio performed subsequently each season for the next three, each year one fewer concerts, as the series began to develop funding to expand the configuration of the concert events into more varied ensemble presentations, with increasing numbers of nationally and internationally-recognized touring chamber ensembles being presented at Queens to the chamber music loving community. In all, the Garth Newel Trio performed ten “gratis” concerts in an effort to help stabilize the Friends of Music. The series continues into its 25^th season, usually with the original plan of four concert presentations per season.