Rather, we held to the elite but democratic model of the best chamber music festivals and societies, such as those at Aspen, Saratoga Springs and Lincoln Center. We were then, and remain now the only such professional chamber group in the Bay Area. After the Mainstage Theater was torn down, and while the Regional Center for the Arts was being built on its venerable ruins, the Civic Arts Classic Chamber Society enjoyed the warm, intimate atmosphere and lovely acoustics at Grace Presbyterian Church. We moved into the Regional Center for the Arts in its opening season, our fifth, in 1992 and became the Sierra Chamber Society. We enjoyed five years at the Regional Center, returning to Grace Presbyterian Church in 1997.
Musicians love to play chamber music.
The Sierra Chamber Society built on the reputation which the Civic Arts Classic Chamber Society had gained among Bay Area professional musicians for enticing programming, lively and serious rehearsals where player s views were welcome and respected, and for highly polished and spirited performances. Many of the Bay Area s finest musicians who found us then have long since become regulars and devoted friends of the Society. This stability in personnel has given our audience the delight of being performed for by familiar friends and musical intimates. The players have come to know and respect each other as musicians bringing to bring rehearsals the humor and frank discussion that make for musical insights, and providing a short cut to signature interpretations and musical discoveries. After thirteen seasons, a complete catalogue of works performed by the Sierra Chamber Society would occupy all the pages of these program notes.