Getting to Know Friends of Chamber Music
In this week’s “Getting to Know You” blog post, we are featuring Friends of Chamber Music, which is an organization based in Portland, Oregon. Live Music Project’s Alexi Caruso conducted an interview with FOCM’s Jessica Reynolds Gordon.
FOCM’s website can be found at https://focm.org/
By: Alexi Caruso in conjunction with Anna Smith
To begin the interview, we talked about FOCM’s past accomplishments and future goals and how these characterize the organization.
Being the sixth longest running chamber music society in the country is quite an achievement! How would you describe what has made FOCM successful over this whole time?
“It’s incredible to think about how long this organization has been around. The first chamber music concert FOCM presented was on January 20, 1939 with the Curtis String Quartet of Philadelphia. FOCM survived many historical events that happened in the last 84 years including wars and a global pandemic. There are several factors that make FOCM successful, but I think this highly functional organization will always be around as long as it continues to bring the highest quality chamber ensembles to a community that wants and supports chamber music. Plus, our education and community engagement activities are an essential part of our mission to help keep chamber music alive and flourishing.”
If you could describe chamber music that is presented at FOCM in one word, what would it be and why?
“‘Intimate’ comes to my mind when I think of chamber music, which happens to be one of the words of FOCM’s tag line “Live. Intimate. Inspired.” Attending a chamber music performance is such an intimate experience, especially compared to going to a bigger production like the symphony for example. With chamber music, you get a much better glimpse of the musicians’ expressiveness by being able to focus in on their facial expressions and body movements. Also, you can listen to each voice individually as well as hearing them blend with everyone else in the ensemble. Because there are no conductors leading chamber music ensembles, there is more of an energy exchange between the musicians and the audience. All those things contribute to what makes chamber music intimate.”
What is one of FOCM’s longest standing goals?
“The mission of Friends of Chamber Music is to bring a broad range of the highest quality chamber music ensembles and artists from around the world to our community. With that being said, one of FOCM’s longest standing goals is also to create an environment that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.”
What do you think listeners can expect when they come to hear chamber music?
“I think a lot of people who have never been to a chamber music concert before have a lot of assumptions that this is music only meant to be consumed by those who are highly educated or “musically enlightened.” If a listener shows up to the concert hall with an open mind, I think they can expect to be inspired and surprised. Chamber music is not limited to what most people think of as “classical” music — it can be any music genre! FOCM offers three different series — Classic, Not So Classic, and Vocal Arts — which gives audiences an opportunity to experience many diverse kinds of music.”
We then transitioned to talking about FOCM’s future goals.
FOCM has clearly developed such a loyal following for their concerts over the past 80 years. In which ways are you excited to see their work grow this year?
“This season is filled with exciting performances by groups from Germany, England and the U.S., including some audience favorites and some ensembles new to Portland. I think one of the things we are most excited about is presenting the iconic Kronos Quartet in their 50th (and last touring) season. We are also really excited that we are co-commissioning several pieces of music this year (for Kronos Quartet and Takacs Quartet), which is one way FOCM helps keep chamber music vibrant and growing.”
What are the benefits in having a calendar, similar to LMP’s Concert Calendar, that covers the Portland and Willamette Valley area?
“Obviously, the best benefit is that anyone can check out what kind of live music is going on in the area. It’s also a great way for people to learn about organizations like FOCM and what it has to offer. We love that LMP is a free, live-music-centered calendar that can accessed by anyone.”
Access to LMP’s Concert Calendar for the Portland area can be reached at this link: https://www.livemusicproject.org/events/?include=&near=portland-or
