MISSION STATEMENT AND OVERVIEW

Now in its 27^th season, Market Square Concerts is dedicated to the presentation of a wide repertoire of chamber music performed by distinguished professional artists, both established and emerging, and to the education of the general public in the chamber music art form. Market Square Concerts presents an average of ten public performances a season many of which include premiers of new music and all of which bring artists of national and international repute to central Pennsylvania. MSC’s long list of artists over the past seasons includes such distinguished ensembles as the Juilliard Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Emerson Quartet, the Tokyo Quartet, the Cleveland Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Of equal importance is the number of young careers the series has encouraged by presenting emerging ensembles and recitalists in the same arena as artists of great acclaim.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

MSC has presented many of its artists to students of CASA (Capital Area School for the Arts) In the 2007-08 season, MSC presented the Lark Chamber Artists in “Anatomy of a Concert,” a program for students and their families at Whitaker Center. Other educational presentations include “Bach to School,” the educational program of the acclaimed Bethlehem Bach Choir and Festival Orchestra for over 300 students. The series also maintains Young Artist Performances (YAP), a program offering performance opportunities to gifted students both in and out of the local area.

Pre-concert lectures have been given by such distinguished members of the field as Truman Bullard, Emeritus Professor of Music at Dickinson College, Bruce Adolphe of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Robert Sirota Director of the Peabody Institute, and composer and author Jan Swafford. MSC has also presented three educational sessions examining the roots of Classicism, Romanticism, and Modernism. Market Square Concerts also joined with the Harrisburg Symphony in the presentation of a five-part music appreciation course directed by Market Square board member Truman Bullard who was joined by guest lecturers Stuart Malina, conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony and Jeremy Gill, Resident Composer and Assistant Conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony. In the 2008-09 season, MSC will present Lincoln Center’s Artistic and Education Advisor, Bruce Adolphe, in an analysis of Beethoven’s Op. 95 Quartet and a pre-concert discussion with conductor Robert Freeman and composer Ronald Vigue of Philadelphia’s Orchestra 2001. Composer George Crumb will also present comments on his works performed by Orchestra 2001.

Our latest educational venture is Soundscape, a curriculum-based collaboration with the Capital Area School for the Arts and other schools. Aided by Dickinson Professor Emeritus Dr. Truman Bullard, students from middle and high school are invited to an hour-long program featuring Market Square Concerts artists in advance of their performance. In the 2008-2009 season, programs are scheduled for October 31 (Antares), January 23, (Matthew Bengtson) and February 27 (Maria Bachmann and Jon Klibonoff).

GOVERNANCE

Market Square Concerts is governed by a twenty-member board of directors. The general duty of the board is to make policy in light of the organization's mission and to ensure the fiscal stability of the series. Specific board committees function in the areas of finance, corporate sponsorships, artistic programming, publicity, and special events. Members of an advisory council composed of distinguished national and international professionals in the field of chamber music regularly offer advice to the executive/artistic director particularly in matters of programming. Market Square also maintains a 30-member community resource panel which offers assistance in specific projects related to the expertise of individual members.

STAFF

Market Square Concerts currently maintains the following staff:

Director - responsible for artistic programming and overseeing all functions of the organization including financial support, administrative affairs, and board management.

Executive Assistant - responsible for general administrative duties including financial records, bill-paying, preparation of tax information.

Development Director - responsible for grant applications.

SUPPORT

The broad support offered to Market Square Concerts is evident in the many sources of contributed funds, including foundations, government grants, and corporate sponsorships. Earned income, comprising 30% of MSC’s support, includes ticket sales, program advertising, and special events.

Partnerships with WITF, the local NPR affiliate, have greatly widened the public awareness of the series and have allowed us to present programs of a scale that might otherwise be impossible. Collaborations with other community organizations have encouraged audience development and diversity.

Through a major contribution of the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Market Square Concerts is a participant in the Chamber Music America/Cleveland Quartet Endowment that enables the series, every other year, to present the current winner of the distinguished Cleveland Quartet Award. Market Square Concerts is one of eleven presenters nationwide to participate in this program.

Market Square Concerts has established an endowment with the Greater Harrisburg Foundation and a Fund for Future in support of operating expenses through a successful 25th anniversary fundraising campaign.

RECENT AND CURRENT PRESENTATIONS

The 25^th anniversary season, 2006-07, opened with SUMMERMUSIC 2006 with The Fry Street Quartet, pianist Maestro Stuart Malina, cellist Daniel Gaisford, violist Odin Rathnam, and oboist Gerard Reuter. The main season continued with the Juilliard String Quartet, clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist and Andre Michel-Schub, the Raphael Trio with guest violist Rachel Shapiro, the Parker String Quartet, the Peabody Trio, and pianist Peter Orth.

The 2007-08 season once again brought SUMMERMUSIC with the Fry Street Quartet and guest artists Gerard Reuter (oboe), Odin Rathnam (viola), and Stuart Malina (piano). The main season, October through April includes the Fine Arts Quartet, the Bard Festival Quartet with baritone Randall Scarlata, pianist Tanya Bannister, the Jupiter Quartet, the Lark Chamber Artists, and the Emerson Quartet, winners of eight Grammy awards.

The 2008-09 season continues SUMMERMUSIC 2008 with the Fry Street Quartet and guest artists. The main season, October through April presents the Daedalus Quartet with commentary by Bruce Adolphe; Antares with guest artist Eric Riley (organ); Orchestra 2001 with Ann Crumb (soprano) and Randall Scarlata (baritone); Maria Bachmann (violin) and Simon Mulligan (piano); the Dorian Wind Quintet with Stuart Malina (piano); and the Guarneri Quartet.