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OUR HISTORY

The city's first resident chamber music ensemble, the Chamber Soloists of Austin has been generating interest in chamber music among local musicians and audiences since 1987 and creating an international reputation for itself. It was one of only two chamber ensembles chosen to perform at the Kennedy Center's Texas Festival.  For that occasion, the Chamber Soloists commissioned and premiered a work by Texas composer Dan Welcher called Zephyrus, for flute, violin, viola and cello, and also performed the Faure Piano Quartet. Of that concert the Washington Post wrote, "And if the connection between chamber music and Texas is perhaps not automatic, these strong players and Texas composer Dan Welcher's superb Zephyrus make a fine case for a thriving musical scene there... (the ensemble is) highly musical and brought clarity and intelligence to an exceptional program."

The Chamber Soloists of Austin's outstanding performance at the Kennedy Center attracted the attention of the U.S. Information Agency and the group was invited to serve as artistic ambassadors to South America and played sold-out concerts from Buenos Aires to Santiago. In addition to concerts, master classes were arranged with students at universities and music schools in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. The group coached students as well as faculty chamber music groups, and had a chance to meet with professional orchestra musicians in these countries.

The Chamber Soloists of Austin perform with guest artists from across the country each year in their Austin concert series and annual chamber orchestra concert without conductor. The annual orchestra concert has included evenings of all six Bach Brandenburg Concertos in Bates Recital Hall at UT, as well as Mozart Birthday Celebrations and concerts of the music of Vivaldi. The ensemble has received funds from the City of Austin in order to produce the Austin concert series. Since the 1991-1992 season, the group has been on the roster of the Texas Commission on the Arts' Touring Program and has performed in many towns throughout Texas. The Chamber Soloists have also been participants in the Mid-America Arts Alliance touring program.

Their first CD focused on Austin composers Kent Kennan, Donald Grantham and Dan Welcher. A new recording of Mozart works arranged by Hoffmeister is in production.

OUR FOUNDING MEMBERS

GREGORY ALLEN won the Grand Prize in the 1980 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, and the second prizes at the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Washington International Competition. He has performed with the orchestras of Los Angeles, Baltimore, Israel, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco and Austin. Mr Allen is an ardent chamber musician and is a frequent guest on the Chamber Music International Series in Dallas. His research led him to record three volumes of music written for and dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein on the Musical Heritage label. He has also recorded the first complete collection of Joaquin Rodrigo’s piano music for Bridge Records.  Mr. Allen is Professor of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.    

JOAN KALISCH, a sought-after orchestral and chamber musician while living in New York for twenty seasons, was a member of the American Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Hampshire String Quartet. She has been an active participant in contemporary music concerts in Rome, Darmstadt, Berlin, Puerto Rico, and Caracas, and has recorded with Alice Coltrane and Don Cherry. Ms. Kalisch is a longstanding member of the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra. She performs in the company’s spring and fall seasons in New York City. She also plays in the Austin Symphony and the Austin Lyric Opera. In August, she enjoys the Oregon “High Desert” where she participates in the Sunriver Music Festival.

KARL KRABER has performed on five continents as a soloist and a chamber musician with the Dorian Wind Quintet for 19 seasons, and with the Aeolian Chamber Players and the New York Chamber Soloists.  He has been a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and the Berkshire, Cavani and Galimir String Quartets. He has performed widely in Europe, including Paris and Rome TV, the BBC, and German, Italian and Swiss Radios. Recordings include chamber works for Vox, Turnabout, Desto, and CRI labels. Mr. Kraber was awarded a Solo Recitalist Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts and played several flute recitals in Carnegie Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall as well as solos with the Boston Pops, the Mexico City Filarmonica and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome. His recordings include Music by Italian Composers and Sonatas from the Italian Baroque. Mr. Kraber has recently joined the New York chamber music group, NY Philomusica.