Sounds of the Sublime
Kurt Grishman and The Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society
by Rob Schumer

On a recent fall evening, an eager assemblage of chamber music lovers convened at the Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck, the 107-year-old stone-clad Gothic church that graces the northern end of the village. Inside, under towering vaulted ceilings and impressive stained glass windows designed by the likes of Tiffany and La Forge, the audience listened in rapture as the serene and timeless strains of several of Beethoven's magnificent compositions for cello and piano graced the air. The performers, Annlynn Miller, piano, and Ulrich Schmid, cello, played with passion and insight. At the conclusion they were greeted with cheers and embracing applause. The players showed obvious delight at having performed in such a gracious and intimate setting for such an appreciative audience.

Such is a typical event put on by the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. More than ever the Society is a thriving part of the cultural life of Rhinebeck and the surrounding towns and villages. Founded in 1980 by Kurt Grishman, and still under his artistic direction, the Society brings world-class chamber players to Rhinebeck each season for an eclectic series of concerts that suit all tastes in chamber music, from the traditional works of Mozart and Haydn, to 20th century compositions by Ives, Carter, and Shostakovich, to music by such contemporary composers as fiddle master Mark O'Connor.

The Society is perhaps the more remarkable for being comprised of an all-volunteer cadre of music lovers who from year to year pass along the management responsibilities required to keep the Society alive and growing. Their labor is one borne obviously of love, as the programming, fundraising, and organization have become more and more finely honed with the passage of time. The one constant is Mr. Grishman, whose drive, vision, and passion are the fuel that for 25 years have powered the Society.

Grishman, who is 85, sat down recently and talked about his life and his work with the Society. A smallish and unassuming man, Grishman fixes his listener in the eye with a direct and open gaze. He speaks in a deep voice with the mild Germanic accent of his youth, using carefully measured and constructed sentences that seem more related to his profession as a tool and die maker, operating heavy machinery to build precision parts, than to the passion of his life, music.

He spoke of his arrival here in America as a refugee from Nazi Germany. When he and surviving family members arrived in 1939, they settled in Poughkeepsie at the suggestion of one of the organizations that had arranged his departure from Germany on the eve of war. He had never even heard of the town before. "Several weeks after I arrived, they had a gathering at the Jewish center, and in fact one of the people speaking was Eleanor Roosevelt, who I became acquainted with. Someone there . . . found out I had violin lessons and said 'Oh you must join our orchestra,' so I was introduced to the music director of the Dutchess County Philharmonic"—now the Hudson Valley Philharmonic—"and he looked around and said 'there's an empty chair, sit down and play.' I was twenty, and I never intended to use music for anything!" It was the beginning of an extraordinary relationship: Grishman has now been a violinist with the Philharmonic for sixty-four years, and has missed only a small number of performances in all that time!

In the 1970s, Grishman became friendly with another musician in the Philharmonic, a young oboist named Kathy Karlsen. She and two of her friends, flautist Melissa Sweet and harpsichordist Barbara Pickhardt, had a baroque chamber group called the Woodstock Chamber Players. Grishman became their manager. "I knew very little about managing, but we went all over New England. After a couple of years they said 'you know it would be nice if we had a residency somewhere,' a place where we could start out from. So I talked to Steve and Dede Leiber, and they said, you can use Upstate Films." That was 1978, and there were no movies then on Monday nights. The Leibers invited Grishman to use the film stage to host concerts locally and to supply his trio with a home venue.

"The next year, I thought, I can't keep this up because once you hear a concert, how many more can you do in the same way? So I added." Another group, the Springtown Chamber Players, from near New Paltz, played woodwinds. There were also colleagues from the Philharmonic. There were local composers like Richard Wilson and Meyer Kupferman. "Little by little I added to it, different kinds of programs. I added two or three more concerts, of different groups. I thought, what can I lose? I loved it, because I could convince people they've got to have this."

"We were at Upstate until 1984. We called it 'Concerts at the Upstate.' Then people came and said 'can we join your organization?' But there was no organization. "So we became incorporated, and said we have to have a better venue. We went across the street, to the church, and have been there ever since."

The Society now programs nine concerts in a season that runs from September to April. Long ago the pool of talent expanded beyond local musicians, and today most on the roster of performers have international reputations. Grishman still does the booking. He says he has established relationships and friendships with managers of chamber performance groups from everywhere. "The music schools put out one good quartet after another. I get them from all over. I started out with a lot of regional artists. Next season, we have a Czech nonet, a quartet from Paris, another from Germany."

Grishman clearly enjoys his stewardship of the Society. "I have a good ear for chamber music. I have definite ideas about performance. There are some people I don't like, and some people I love, and that's what I go by." Asked to speak about the appeal of chamber music, Grishman explained that chamber music is written to be performed in a small setting. It is not the same as symphonic music. "Chamber music is played in a room, not in a concert hall. It has to be intimate."

"Chamber music is something you don't get anywhere else," he added. "People don't realize they have musical taste within them. It's something you don't have to learn. What you have to do is listen to it. Everybody has an ear. The majority of people never give it a chance. In my case, it made my life."

Grishman is pleased with the role the Society has had in contributing to the cultural life of Rhinebeck. "The audience loves the concerts, they love the sound in that church, too. It's a fabulous sound. Its very fulfilling for me that I can present something that people actually like." Asked what he might say to someone who didn't know much about chamber music, but might be interested in hearing it, Grishman said, "I would say 'come'. If you like it, come back. If you don't like it, nothing is lost." And if you love chamber music, but you don't know about the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society, come, you're in for a treat.

Rob Schumer resides locally and practices ophthalmology, as a glaucoma specialist, in Kingston, Red Hook and New York City. With his wife Ruth, he recently produced and directed the documentary film Bluegrass Journey. He enjoys Coltrane, Schubert, The Stanley Brothers, Gershwin and the Grateful Dead more or less equally.

• December 12: The New York Woodwind Quintet playing works by Carter, Haas, Mozart and Beethoven

• January 16: Western Wind (an a cappella sextet) performing American music from Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rogers, Duke Ellington and many others

• February 13: The Adaskin String Trio with guest oboist Tom Gallant performing works of Beethoven, Mozart, Britten, and Rozsa.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for students, and children under 13 are admitted free. You can learn more about the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society and check their schedule online at www.rhinebeckmusic.org or by calling (845) 876-2870.