It all began at Lucy Miller Murray’s kitchen table in 1982.
That’s where and when she conceived of Market Square Concerts, which has since grown up into a nationally recognized arts organization, now on the cusp of middle age.
“People have nicknamed it my ‘love child,“ she laughed. “It was born out of passion and indiscretion.”
The reference is musical: the founder has a passion for chamber music and has been a “serious amateur” piano player for years.
In the early 1980s, “there was no chamber music in town,” Miller Murray explained. “I saw a great need in the community.”
She drew together an informal board and managed, to her surprise, to attain funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. “I was crying when I wrote the application,” she admitted.
The first artist presented by the fledgling organization was pianist Peter Orth.
Market Square Concerts is now headed by professional musicians Peter Sirotin and Ya-Ting Chang, his wife. Both studied at the Peabody Conservatory and came to Harrisburg in 1996. They have co-directed Market Square Concerts since July 2011.
Violinist Sirotin teaches at Messiah College and performs with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra; he is its acting concertmaster this year. He and Chang, a pianist, are members of the Mendelssohn Piano Trio.
“We believe professional musicians have an obligation to devote part of their time to advocacy and education … especially at a time when government support is limited,” said the Ukrainian-born Sirotin.
What is chamber music, and what draws people to it? The dictionary definition is music written for two to 10 instruments without a conductor and with one instrument per part. Miller prefers to call it “the best music written by the best composers, such as Beethoven’s ‘Quartets.’”
Orchestral music is a feast for the senses—like a large party with many different kinds of people “you spend 10 minutes with,” Sirotin elaborated. “Chamber music is like a dinner with two or three close friends, when you speak of issues near and dear to your heart. It is a highly personal medium that allows for more freedom, experimentation and exploration of one’s deepest emotions.”
One of the goals of the 30-something co-directors is to instill an interest in chamber music in young people who may not have been exposed to it. “Indie bands have a lot in common with chamber music,” Sirotin noted.
Market Square reaches out to young audiences through Soundscape, a series of educational programs featuring world-class artists. Then-executive director Ellen Hughes established Soundscape for the 2008 to 2009 concert season.
Hughes took over the helm after Miller Murray’s retirement and held it from 2008 to 2011. She focused on bringing in big-city performers and noted string groups, such as the Juilliard String Quartet, and is particularly proud of the concert featuring the Bach Choir of Bethlehem (Pa).
The position of executive director is challenging—encompassing artistic decisions, marketing and fundraising, said Hughes, current arts columnist for the Patriot-News and former WITF program host. “But I loved it, and think I provided good continuity between the founder and new directors. I’m glad young people have taken over.”
Market Square Concerts offers an opportunity for local music lovers to hear chamber music on the level of artistry they’d otherwise have to travel to big cities for. The Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet, for example, is offering the same program in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
The organization is committed to commissioning new works. This year, it will present music written from 1680 to 2012.
Financing an arts group is always tough. Market Square Concerts is fortunate to have Capital Blue Cross as its season sponsor; PinnacleHealth sponsored the Summermusic 2013 program.
In addition to Market Square Presbyterian, its original venue, the organization holds concerts at Whitaker Center, where it is a resident company, Temple Ohev Sholom and Rose Lehrman Arts Center at HACC.
Hughes, who still serves on the board, said she is “in awe” of the organization and assured of its bright future. Miller Murray, who is also on the board, recalled fondly the time a patron unfamiliar with the music at a particular concert said he “knew it had to be good” because it was Market Square.
“What makes chamber music concerts special is finding the unexpected in well-known pieces, when a listener says he or she had no idea this was in the music,” Sirotin concluded. “Spontaneity is the name of the game.”
For information on concerts, educational programs for young people and other events, visit: www.marketsquareconcerts.org.
Market Square Concerts’ 2013-2014 season:
Sept. 21—Market Square Church. Jasper String Quartet, with HSO’s Stuart Malina at the piano. Shostakovich’s “Piano Quintet” and string quartets by Haydn and Dvorak.
Nov. 16—Ohev Sholom. The Parker Quartet, playing quartets by Schubert and Mendelssohn and the recently commissioned string quartet, “Capriccio,” by Harrisburg native Jeremy Gill.
Jan. 23—Ohev Sholom. Calefax Reed Quintet from the Netherlands, in a program of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin.”
Feb. 26—Whitaker Center. Violinist Ray Chen presenting sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven and short works by Pablo Sarasate. Pianist is Julio Elizalde.
March 29—Whitaker Center. Pianist Ann Schein in a program of Beethoven, Ravel, Debussy, Liszt and Chopin.
April 29—Market Square Church. Celebration of centennial of composer Benjamin Britten, with English tenor Rufus Muller and award-winning Daedalus Quartet.
