Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes - Fern Hill, Dylan Thomas 

Dear Friends, 

When the calendar page turns to September, I often reach for one of my favorite Dylan Thomas poems to once again feel the bittersweet nostalgia that autumn evokes. In Fern Hill the poet recalls his youthful past, and as we enter our second decade this fall I can't help reminiscing about the beginning of The Andover Chamber Music Series and the ten gratifying years we've had since then.

I am writing today to personally ask you to consider subscribing to all five of our concerts this year in the Andover/Lowell area, or to the three concerts in Cambridge. 

Subscribe now by clicking here ACMS Tickets or please keep reading.

I know you're busy. I know that it feels safer to wait and see which concert dates work for you before committing to all of them. But I urge you to subscribe precisely because it will reserve time for music in your lives. I ask you to think of our concerts as a chance to share something lasting with those you love and with your community. 

If you cannot make a concert, you have the option of hearing it on a subsequent date (except for Sept), offering your tickets as a gift to a friend, or returning them to us in advance for a tax deduction. And once a year subscribers are invited to bring a friend for free. (September or April concerts)

We feel our concerts are special in many ways:

Engaging listeners on a personal level. You have come to expect the unexpected--from tango dancers to readings from Proust and letters of Brahms, to the popular onstage Q & A session, to my outlandish plea for a tissue between movements of a Mozart concerto when my nose wouldn't stop running due to the cold hall. And the memorable moments are endless. 

Internationally acclaimed artists. Our musicians perform in the greatest halls of the world, from Lincoln Center to Wigmore Hall, and yet here they are at your doorstep, playing for you. They're not just musicians of the highest caliber, but wonderful human beings, who love working with each other and love playing for you, and their rapport with the public is extraordinary. ACMS Biographies 

Thematic and unique programming. Whether it is a beloved masterpiece or a rarely heard gem, there is always a connection between the works, some theme to draw you in to allow you hear the music in a new way--from Marcel Proust's Salon, to The Gypsy Spirit, Romance in the Belle Époque, Legends and Tales, and Chopin in Love. This season is no exception, and the innovative programs will soar across centuries and transport you to new emotional heights!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 11th SEASON:
ACMS Concert Schedule ( for photos and dates) 

September: Songs America Loves to Sing
Includes a jazzy and infectiously fun tour de force by American composer John Musto for flute, clarinet, piano, viola, and a bevy of percussion instruments including marimba; Pulitzer-prize winning local treasure John Harbison's Songs America Loves to Sing, a bluesy and gospel-inspired take on the songs we sang gathered around the piano; Gershwin Preludes by the dynamic clarinetist Todd Palmer and Broadway tunes arranged for cello/piano played by favorite husband and wife team Eldredge and Levinson. 

November: Now and Then 
Mostly French music for the delicate combination of harp, flute and string trio in the intimate West Parish Church. Works by Ravel, St. Saens, Jongen, and the evocative "Now and Then" by Earl Kim. 

December: The Baroque Big Band
The most festive way to usher in the holidays! Dazzling solo concertos by Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi. Three performances (Lowell, Andover & Cambridge) by Mistral violinists Irina Muresanu and Juliette Kang (associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia orchestra), cellist Tom Kraines, BSO oboist Robert Sheena, and harpsichordist Ian Watson, former member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, English Chamber Orchestra. 

February: Valentine Concert: Red-Hot Rhapsodies!
A riveting program of hot-blooded music by Eastern European composers that evokes the folk tunes and dances of Bohemia. Two Romanian virtuosic instrumentalists and other dynamic artists will dazzle you with Rhapsodies and Dances from Romania and Hungary. Enescu, Dvorak and others. "A Taste of Music III " follows Andover concert.

April: Season Finale: Songs of Nature
Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. Wordsworth. 
Our season concludes with a varied program of works inspired by Nature: Songs by Grieg, Schubert, and Kraines plus Crumb's haunting and beautiful Voice of the Whale performed in the dark with blue light illuminating three masked players. Soprano Maria Jette, of Prairie Home Companion fame, makes her ACMS debut. 

There is a quality of excitement and immediacy of a live chamber music concert that no recording can match. Music can provide nourishment for a lifetime and can foster a sense of community among music lovers. Walt Whitman has said that "music is what awakens in us when reminded by the instruments." We invite you to let the ACMS awaken the music in you. 


PS I always love to hear from you. Warm wishes, and happy Fall, 

Julie