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Second City Chamber Series
Tacoma’s award-winning Second City Chamber Series
brings together the Northwest's finest musicians to perform challenging and entertaining chamber music for a diverse audience. This year,
Second City Chamber Series
is pleased to produce concerts featuring some of the southern
Puget Sound’s most esteemed ensembles in a season to honor the fine musicianship in residence in the Puget Sound’s “second city.”
The
Second City Chamber Series is dedicated to the performance of
chamber music masterworks, both old and new.
Founded by pianists Willa and William Doppmann in Tacoma, Washington in 1977, the Series is now in its
thirty-first season of outstanding music making.
Each year, the Series brings together many of the
Northwest's finest musicians to perform interesting, challenging and
entertaining chamber music in an artfully assembled series of programs
for an ever-expanding Puget Sound audience. Through the music,
thoughtful program notes, and gracious and intimate settings, Second
City Chamber Series seeks both to enrich and delight music lovers of all ages.
Led by Artistic Director
Svend
Rønning,
Second City Chamber Series concerts often combine well-known works
of the classical masters with the lesser-known works of modern
composers. This deliberate, artistic combination of the old and the
new creates a unique and stimulating musical experience.
What is Chamber Music?
The history and tradition of chamber music reaches back
over 300 years, beginning with early Baroque composers such as Rameau,
Telemann and Bach. It flourished in the 18th-19th centuries, while the
20th century brought growing experimentation with more unusual
combinations of instruments.
The usual definition of chamber music is music
performed in an intimate setting and written for a small instrumental
ensemble, one player per part. Chamber music stresses personal
expression and conversation among players, rather than virtuosic
display or leadership by a conductor. Each member is responsible for a
close musical dialogue with the rest of the ensemble. It is the
ultimate in collaboration.
Chamber music is frequently the last musical genre to
be "discovered" by performers and listeners alike. However, with
experience, players and audience members begin to revel in the
subtleties and refinements of chamber music, finding joy in its very
smallness and intimacy, and in its unique powers of expression. Some
of history’s greatest composers chose chamber music as the medium in
which to express their most profound and intimate musical thoughts.
Our Concerts
Each year, Second City Chamber Series presents
three varied concert series. Our four-concert
Masterpiece Series is the original
offering of Second City, and the series'
music,
thoughtful program notes, and the gracious setting of The
Great Hall at Annie Wright School combine for a wonderful experience.
Our
Concerts at the Gardens
take the Second City
Chamber Series to its summer home at the beautiful Lakewold
Gardens in Lakewood, where the music continues on two starlit and
magical evenings.
The
Spotlight Concerts
bring solo recital programs to the acoustically superb First Lutheran
Church in Tacoma for
an even more personal glimpse of selected
Second City Chamber Series
artists.
In
addition, we have an annual concert by our
Young Chamber Players;
talented young high school musicians who are selected and coached by
Second City Chamber Series
artists.
Special events include an annual Second City Chamber
Series Fundraiser, where the chamber music is always experienced
in unique settings.
By promoting
awareness and appreciation of chamber music for its listeners and
providing a convenient and ready forum for its performers, Second City
has truly become first
for chamber music in Tacoma.
Welcome to the Second City Chamber Series and to this website.
We hope you will enjoy exploring the exciting offerings within.
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