Bay Chamber Founding and History
Andrew Wolf, pianist, and flutist Thomas Wolf founded Bay Chamber Concerts as a summer chamber music festival in 1961. The teenage brothers with the inspiration and financial assistance of Mrs. Mary Louise Curtis Zimbalist Bok, their grandmother (the violinist Lea Luboshutz) and their uncle (the opera impresario, Boris Goldovsky) established Bay Chamber in an effort to revive a musical tradition begun by the great philanthropist Mary Louise Curtis in 1930.
From 1930 to 1945 Mary Louise Curtis hosted a summer music program at the Curtis Institute of Music. Illustrious musicians from all over the world came to Rockport, Maine to teach and to give concerts in a boat barn. Despite the summer music program's discontinuation in 1945, many musicians continued to come to the Rockport area with their students. As summer residents of Rockport, Maine since early childhood and alumni of the Curtis Institute, Thomas and Andrew Wolf viewed founding Bay Chamber Concerts as a means of continuing Curtis's musical legacy.
The early concerts, under the artistic direction of Thomas Wolf, were held in an Episcopal Church in Camden. At the same time, the Wolf brothers were instrumental in establishing the Fox Island Concerts on Vinalhaven, an island off the mid-coast of Maine. In 1970, Bay Chamber Concerts assisted in the founding of Machias Bay Chamber Concerts in a town 30 miles from the Canadian border. Under Bay Chamber Concerts' auspices each summer, both locations continue to present numerous concerts.
Andrew Wolf became Bay Chamber Concert's artistic director in 1963. During his tenure, the concerts were moved to the newly renovated Rockport Opera House effectively doubling the seating capacity to 400 and securing a venue with marvelous acoustics. In 1974, Bay Chamber Concerts became a year-round organization, started by Minnie Kent Biggs, presenting a mix-genre musical series in the Rockport Opera House during the fall, winter and spring. Dance was added to this series in 2003, and Bay Chamber Concerts also assists in the production of a lecture series in conjunction with the Camden Public Library.
Following the death of Andrew Wolf in December 1985, Thomas Wolf took over once again as Artistic Director and an endowment was created to underwrite a national music award in Andrew Wolf's memory.
In 1993, Bay Chamber Concerts, along with the Town of Rockport and private contributors, raised $1,000,000 to restore the Rockport Opera House, improving the auditorium, adding meeting rooms and its hospitality facilities. The Rockport Opera House remains an important venue for Bay Chamber Concerts. It now also uses the recently renovated (2005) 350-seat Strand Theatre in Rockland, the 500-seat Camden Opera House, and the 800-seat Strom Auditorium in Rockport.
Bay Chamber Concerts annually hosts several chamber music ensembles and specific musicians. These ensembles and musicians include: the Vermeer Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the First Chair All Stars (an ensemble of First Chair musicians from some of the United States’ top orchestras assembled by Bay Chamber concerts), Muir Quartet, Stephen Prutsman (piano and composer), James Campbell (clarinet), Menahem Pressler (piano), Joseph Silverstein (violin), Roy Malan (violin), Nicole Johnson (cello), Kirsten Johnson (viola), James Dunham (viola), Deborah Dunham (bass), Michael Bahmann (harpsichord), Harold Robinson (bass), Lauren Kitt (clarinet), Lynn Chang (violin), Peter Zazofsky (violin), Harumi Rhodes (violin), Max Levinson (piano), Paul Stewart (piano), and Roberto Diaz (viola).
Along with these recurring musicians and ensembles Bay Chamber Concerts has also recently presented the following performance groups and/or performers: Midori (Summer ’07), Marvin Hamlisch (Fall ’06), Sean Curran Company (Winter ’06), Cherish the Ladies (Winter ’06), Ragamala Music and Dance Theater (Winter ’07), The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (Winter ’07), Kit Armstrong (Spring ’07), Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Spring ’07), Wynton Marsalis (Fall ’05), Dave Bruebeck and Sons (Fall ’04), and Judy Collins (Fall ’03). Past performers at Bay Chamber Concerts included: Hidetaro Suzuki (violin), Takaoki Sugitani (violin), Jay Humeston (cello), David Kadarauch (cello), and Zeyda Ruga Suzuki (piano).
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