By Bill Zimmermann:
The essence of musical education and tapping Buffalo’s history — in the making!
What would you have been doing 113 years ago this Sunday afternoon? If you were in Buffalo, you likely might have been enjoying an afternoon performance by the Chromatic Club of Buffalo! And what are you doing this Sunday afternoon? Make plans to join us at the beautiful Montante Center at Canisius College to share and enjoy the living, historic Chromatic Club of Buffalo. You’ll enjoy history in the making.
Welcome to the Chromatic Club of Buffalo – It was a quaking entry of vital community force when it appeared 113 years ago, a year even before the birth of the Victrola, which first recorded voice, and the Chromatic Club of Buffalo is still a vital musical force now.
Imagine that… 113 years. What it means really is that it is veritably among the noteworthy roots of our community’s musical voice, our neighborhood input and committment for over a hundred years of discipline and enjoyment of education and music.
Stop a spell and think of 113 years ago:
Communities come together and grow as Buffalo miraculously did. And interest in musical education fosters a community as the Chromatic Club did. The Buffalo Chromatic Club was a forerunner of the new century amd it began to emerge and grow and is preciously still here.
A year after the Chromatic Club formed was the discovery of recorded sound.
With so many amazing discoveries between then and now, Buffalo has had its share of converging and emerging qualities, such as the quintessential Chromatic Choir. Chromatic Club is the oldest continuously-functioning musical club in WNY and is comprised of four performing groups – Active, Chromatic Connection, Collegiate (new last year) and Student. Auditions for new members are held 2-3 times each year.
Nonperformers may join as Associate Members without audition. In addition to the Sunday Concerts at the Montante Cultural Center and special Outreach Concerts, Student and Chromatic Connection members perform at various senior residences several times a year. In May the club holds auditions for the R. Leon Trick Scholarship, Marie Mohr-Miranda Currie and Eugene-Patricia Malinowski Vocal Scholarships and Laura Kelsey Camp Scholarship. Visit the Chromatic Club’s new Facebook page. Community Music School is proud to have been founded in 1924 by members of the Chromatic Club and Welcome Hall Social Settlement (operated by the First Presbyterian Church).
The school’s tag line is Music for Everyone… for a Lifetime. Last year CMS worked with 809 students from 6 months to 86 years old and beyond through instructional programs at sites in Buffalo, Snyder, Getzville, East Aurora, Lackawanna, Lancaster, South Buffalo and Lockport. (Instruction at Epiphany United Church of Christ in Clarence Center begins in November.)
The School also reached 2,450 audience members last year. CMS believes that anyone who has a genuine interest in music can benefit from study and deserves the opportunity to pursue it. For information about lessons, classes, ensembles and performances, please call 716-884-4887, visit the CMS website or “like” Community Music School of Buffalo on Facebook.
The Chromatic Club of Buffalo and Community Music School of Buffalo Presents:
Back to the Future
Featuring Chromatic Club Members and Community Music School Faculty
November 6, 2011, 3 p.m.
Montante Cultural Center
Photos (top left clockwise): Audrey Shafer is the Program Coordinator for this recital as well as a performer, Anne Moot will be a soloist, Soprano Emily Helenbrook (Student), pianist Hassan Al-Mufti will perform Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor.