News from the Noteworthy from Fenimore Chamber Orchestra

FCO Increasing Audience, Education, Exposure

Fenimore Chamber Orchestra continues its commitment to Cooperstown and the surrounding area in two most important ways. An anonymous donor presented Fenimore Chamber Orchestra with a gift to make certain that children and up to two accompanying adults, high school and university students should all be able to attend our concerts for free. This is an exceedingly timely gift, as it enables us to expand our mission of providing extraordinary performances at the highest level of artistic achievement. This gift will ensure that young people are exposed to the symphonic arts and can help shape their taste for classical music.

Artistic Director Maciej Żołtowski is also presenting pre-concert talks at Fenimore Art Museum that are free to the public to attend. These talks add to the education of concertgoers, informing them about the composers as well as the music, and explaining that the music is not there simply for its own sake; many times it is, but that is another discussion entirely. The talks will also cover musical eras, from the Baroque to the modern, so that those attending the pre-concert talks can gain the insight they need to help them enjoy their concertgoing. The attendance at concerts and the learning about the music go hand-in-hand toward a complete education in all things musical. As the talks continue, the greater the depth of learning about one of the greatest of the arts.

Fenimore Chamber Orchestra also recently finished its first and historic Young Person’s Concerto Competition. The clear winner, out of 22 entrants from some of the world’s most important music schools and conservatories, was Isabel Chen, a student at Eastman School of Music in Rochester. This was completely in tandem with our vision that now, more than ever, the world needs resilient and inclusive cultural resources to enrich and connect. Nothing could be more enriching, and connecting, than the discovery of new, superbly gifted young artists. Ms. Chen is certainly representative of the generation of exceedingly talented and gifted youth who will, in turn, be the next generation of musical artists gracing the concert stages of the world. We are beginning work for the next competition in 2027.

Thomas Wolf is the chair of the Governing Board of Directors of the Fenimore Chamber Orchestra.