When Chamber Music Chicago executive director Susan Lipman took over its administrative helm in 1982, she knew she had a challenge on her hands. “The organization, quite frankly, was dying,” she says. Today the subscriber base is close to 1,000, and there are 11 concerts in the group’s 30th-anniversary series this year.
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But though Lipman had excellent organizational skills and had been involved with arts planning in one way or another for most of her life, she had little experience in the business end. “I said no when the job was first offered, precisely because at that time I was the kind of person who didn’t even balance my own checkbook. I figured, ‘Let the bank worry about that, that’s what I’m paying them for.’” But with the help of a friend, who spent an entire summer teaching her how to balance books and read financial statements, and some later courses at Northwestern’s business school, Lipman was on her way.
“Sometimes I think that as long as we keep our name, there’s only so far we can go, simply because there are too many barriers in what the name suggests to fully broaden our horizons. But then again, the other side is that chamber music is such an exquisite art form with such a rich history; do we retreat over semantics, or do we work to rescue its label and image?”
One such performer is American flutist Carol Wincenc, who will present a CMC recital this week, accompanied on piano by composers Lukas Foss, David Del Tredici, Paul Schoenfield, and Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach). “The program is called ‘The American Flute Project,’” says Lipman, “because it consists entirely of American works, including seven Chicago premieres. Most of the pieces were either written or arranged for Wincenc, and audience members will have the unique opportunity to hear four of the composers accompany Wincenc in their own music.” Another risky CMC venture, but then again, observes Lipman, “if we’re not generous enough to permit these new experiences, and instead maintain preordained or artificial barriers, chamber music will remain a small art form understood and enjoyed by few.”
