General Info

Chamber Music Monterey Bay preserves the tradition of live classical chamber music performance and creatively explores the evolution of this art form. Chamber music is often defined as music performed by one person per part, with two or more players and usually without a conductor. CMMB focuses on the European-based tradition of chamber music composed over the past four centuries and its contemporary international expressions.Chamber Music Monterey Bay ( CMMB ) is a non-profit organization that has enriched the cultural life of the community by bringing world-renowned music ensembles to the Monterey Peninsula since 1966. Officers of the Founding Board were Gilbert Boyer, Angie Machado, H.M.M. Nicholas and Michael MacKay. Today, CMMB is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and administered by a small paid staff. Through our programming, CMMB strives to preserve the cultural tradition of live chamber music and to explore the evolution of this dynamic art form.Many members of our community, young and old, lack the opportunity or means to attend chamber music concerts or speak to professional musicians. Chamber Music Monterey Bay is committed to offering important outreach and education programs to the community. Through our Visiting Artists Outreach ( VAO ) program, world-class artists visit with and perform for students in local schools and senior citizens in local assisted-living facilities. CMMB began its first Residency program in September, 2008, with the nationally-acclaimed Cypress String Quartet. As a result, CMMB will more than triple its annual number of VAO activities, and students in local public schools will benefit from multiple visits from this award-winning Quartet, the members of which will work closely with teachers to augment their music curricula.As adults, we have come to appreciate the unique joy that's available to us when we experience chamber music. In order to plant the seeds of sharing this joy, we welcome the next generation of classical music lovers to all of our concerts. We believe that tomorrow's classical music lovers are today's young, bright, mature and inquisitive kids. Through a program called Kids Up Front & Free!, Chamber Music Monterey Bay reserves the first three rows of the center section of Sunset Center as free seating for schoolchildren in grades 4-12 and their paid adult companions. Kids' tickets are free!Chamber Music Monterey Bay is one of only twenty organizations nationwide to participate in the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award ( KLRITA ). The biennial KLRITA is the first piano trio award in the world of classical music and was created to encourage and enhance the careers of accomplished and extraordinarily promising young piano trios ( piano-violin-cello ). The winning trio is chosen every other year in perpetuity and will appear on each of the concert series of the twenty presenting organizations. CMMB is proud and delighted to be among this select number, and to welcome the award's namesake - The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio - to our 2008/09 concert series. In 2007, CMMB achieved a major artistic milestone: the World Premiere of a work for string quartet by internationally acclaimed composer Kevin Puts, commissioned by Chamber Music Monterey Bay. In September, 2008, Chamber Music Monterey Bay began its first residency program with the nationally-acclaimed Cypress String Quartet - another significant artistic milestone.