Chamber Music Society of Lexington Lexington, Virginia
The mission the Chamber Music Society of Lexington is to bring quality chamber music to the areas of Lexington, Rockbridge County, and Southwestern Virginia. Plans for future performances are being finalized to feature international, national, and local artists in a variety of chamber music settings and encompassing a several musicals and genres. CMSL is also planning an educational component to teach and feature student musicians through a series of camps, masterclasses, and performances.
2023 - 2024 Season
Saturday, October 28th, 7:00 p.m.
Music of Latin-America
Saturday, November 4th, 7:00 p.m.
Deutsch-Amerikanishes Klarinettentrio
Monday, February 12th, 7:00 p.m.
A Celebration of American Composer Gerald Cohen
Saturday, April 13th, 7:00 p.m.
Music of Scandinavia
Past Performances
Music of Olivier Messiaen
Friday, March 24, 2023
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church
Concert is free and open to the public - reception to follow
Le Banquet céleste
Martha Burford, organ
Quartet for the End of Time
Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Jakob Hofer, violin
Lauren Posey, cello
James DeWire, piano
Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Jakob Hofer, violin
Lauren Posey, cello
James DeWire, piano
O Sacrum Convivium!
Grace Episcopal Choir and Friends
Martha Burford, director
Artist's Biographies |
Martha Jones Burford
Martha Jone Burford graduated from Duke University where she studied with Fenner Douglass, Robert Ward, Peter Marshall, and Rodney Wynkoop. Her interests led her to graduate studies at Duke Divinity School, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and Virginia Theological Seminary. She is founding director of Richmond based a cappella ensemble, “Impromptu,” and selected participant in Raising the Song Symposium led by Alice Parker, Ysaye Barnwell, and Marilyn Haskel.
Martha believes when we become conduits for music, we participate in “the love that moves the sun and other stars.” (Dante) Martha has been a Music Minister in Episcopal Churches for over 30 years and has served on The Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. She is also the Co-Founder and Editor of Church Music Forward and a Presenter with Music That Makes Community. She is Minister of Music at Grace Episcopal Church, Lexington, Virginia, where she works with an amazing choir and staff open to all sorts of musical, mission aligned exploration, and where she is blessed to lead Community Singalongs, share in the work of MMC, organize Drum Circles, Monthly Evensongs, and even to play with “The Rockbridge Queenagers!” a new girl band!
Mark Gallagher
Clarinetist, Mark Gallagher, is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance and studied with Lawrence McDonald. He also holds a Masters of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music having studied with D. Stanley Hasty and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other major teachers included Robert Marcellus and Alfred Zezter, both of the Cleveland Orchestra and Dr. Linda Bartley who is the clarinet professor at University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gallagher has performed with the Washington Contemporary Music Forum, New York's Symphony Space, United States Navy Band, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Washington Opera, Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Bronx Symphony, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Skylight Opera Theatre Orchestra.
He made his New York recital debut performing with violinist Sylvia Rosenberg at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and is also a winner of the Artist International Competition in New York City, being award a solo recital in Weill Hall. An active chamber musician and co-founder of I Venti Semplice, Dr. Gallagher has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including a recent concert tour of the Netherlands and a live national radio broadcast from the Concertgebouw. Other performances include appearances in Washington, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Portland (OR), Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as concert tours of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and China. Dr. Gallagher has recorded with the Albany Records label and can be heard on the Eastman “American Music” Series and The United States Navy Band.
In addition to a busy performance schedule, Dr. Gallagher is an active teacher and clinician. He lectures on occupational health issues for musicians and the Alexander Technique. He has done lectures and masterclasses at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carroll College, Cardinal Stritch University, and Frostburg State University. During the summers Dr. Gallagher has served as director of faculty at the Semplice Harbor Music Settlement on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and director of the Savage Mountain Summer Arts Academy in Maryland.
Jakob Hofer
Jakob Hofer is an Assistant Professor of Music and the violin instructor and orchestra director at Southern Virginia University. As a founding member of the Rosco String Quartet in Salt Lake City he has won several competitions including First Place in MTNA’s National Chamber Music Competition and Finalist in the American Prize Competition. He has received instruction from the world’s most renowned chamber musicians including members of the Takacs, Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir String Quartets, and studied many years with the acclaimed chamber musician Violaine Melançon. Most recently, Dr. Hofer was invited as a participant to the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak to work with world-renowned conductor Kenneth Kiesler.
As an orchestral musician, Dr. Hofer has performed as concertmaster of the Loudoun Symphony, the Utah Philharmonia, and the Peabody Concert Orchestra. He has also performed with the York Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake, Ballet West Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony. He has performed in venues ranging from Lincoln Center in New York to the Mendelssohn Haus in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Hofer has performed and premiered many new compositions, and also has specialized training in Baroque performance practice.
Dr. Hofer holds performance degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Utah. He has participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, the Robert Mann Quartet Institute, the Round Top Music Festival, the Garth Newel Music Festival, and the Juilliard Summer Music Academy.
Previous faculty appointments for Dr. Hofer include Utah Valley University and the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City. Several of his students have won competitions and have been accepted as performance majors in prestigious university music programs around the country. Jakob Hofer currently resides in Lexington, Virginia with his wife Laurel Elizabeth Hofer, who is an accomplished vocalist and teacher, and their 3-year-old daughter.
Amy Blake
Cory Black
James DeWire
Jay DeWire, a frequent solo performer and member of the West Shore Trio, has appeared up and down the eastern seaboard and is becoming known for both his dynamic interpretations of 20th Century works and his "old world flair". Recent concerts include solo recitals in Pealer Recital Hall at Frostburg State University; Guildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland in furtherance of a Doctoral Degree, which was completed in 2007; performances of the West Shore Trio across the country including Boston, Los Angeles, New Mexico, and Texas; a collaborative performance in Auer Hall of Indiana University with John Tafoya, then principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra; featured soloist at the First National Convention of the MusicLink Organization (Washington, DC), a solo performance for the National Society of Arts and Letter at the Jefferson Library (University of Virginia), and performances at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory (Boston, MA). Dr. DeWire has also performed in Deer Isle, ME; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Aspen, CO; Kalamazoo, MI; and Washington, DC. Recent highlights include concertos by Brahms and Rachmanioff with Charles Ellis and the Prince George's Philharmonic, The Kirchner Project, a tribute to Leon Kirchner and his music, the National Orchestral Institute, the Maryland Percussion Ensemble under the direction of John Tafoya, and the Aspen Music Festival. Dr. DeWire has recorded three live performance solo CD's, including an all 20th Century concert that includes works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Rzewski, and Messiaen. In April 2008, he recorded an all Brahms concert featuring the recently discovered Gavottes, which he arranged and completed for concert performance.
Dr. DeWire began playing piano at the age of four and gave his first solo recital at age 12. He received a B.A. with High Distinction and a Master of Arts in piano performance from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. In December of 2007 he received a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland School of Music (College Park). He has studied with such distinguished pianists as Joanne Haroutounian, Mimi Tung, Gabriel Chodos, Bradford Gowen, Steve Drury, John Moriarty, and Larissa Dedova. He has performed in master classes for Claude Frank, Andre Watts, Ruth Laredo, and Tigran Alikhanov, the Director of the Moscow Conservatory, and appeared in several competitions including: The National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, National Symphony Orchestra Competition, Baldwin Competition, Washington, DC Beethoven Competition (Honorable Mention), and was a finalist in the American Musicological Society (Mid-Atlantic Chapter) Writing Competition. Dr. DeWire has also received numerous prizes including the Brander Wyatt Morrison Prize, and a Dean of Faculty Fellowship (UVa), as well as scholarships at the University of Maryland, New England Conservatory and University of Virginia. He currently is on the Faculty at Frostburg State University and maintains his own private studio in Washington, DC area.
Martha Jone Burford graduated from Duke University where she studied with Fenner Douglass, Robert Ward, Peter Marshall, and Rodney Wynkoop. Her interests led her to graduate studies at Duke Divinity School, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and Virginia Theological Seminary. She is founding director of Richmond based a cappella ensemble, “Impromptu,” and selected participant in Raising the Song Symposium led by Alice Parker, Ysaye Barnwell, and Marilyn Haskel.
Martha believes when we become conduits for music, we participate in “the love that moves the sun and other stars.” (Dante) Martha has been a Music Minister in Episcopal Churches for over 30 years and has served on The Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. She is also the Co-Founder and Editor of Church Music Forward and a Presenter with Music That Makes Community. She is Minister of Music at Grace Episcopal Church, Lexington, Virginia, where she works with an amazing choir and staff open to all sorts of musical, mission aligned exploration, and where she is blessed to lead Community Singalongs, share in the work of MMC, organize Drum Circles, Monthly Evensongs, and even to play with “The Rockbridge Queenagers!” a new girl band!
Mark Gallagher
Clarinetist, Mark Gallagher, is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance and studied with Lawrence McDonald. He also holds a Masters of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music having studied with D. Stanley Hasty and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other major teachers included Robert Marcellus and Alfred Zezter, both of the Cleveland Orchestra and Dr. Linda Bartley who is the clarinet professor at University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gallagher has performed with the Washington Contemporary Music Forum, New York's Symphony Space, United States Navy Band, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Washington Opera, Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Bronx Symphony, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Skylight Opera Theatre Orchestra.
He made his New York recital debut performing with violinist Sylvia Rosenberg at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and is also a winner of the Artist International Competition in New York City, being award a solo recital in Weill Hall. An active chamber musician and co-founder of I Venti Semplice, Dr. Gallagher has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including a recent concert tour of the Netherlands and a live national radio broadcast from the Concertgebouw. Other performances include appearances in Washington, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Portland (OR), Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as concert tours of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and China. Dr. Gallagher has recorded with the Albany Records label and can be heard on the Eastman “American Music” Series and The United States Navy Band.
In addition to a busy performance schedule, Dr. Gallagher is an active teacher and clinician. He lectures on occupational health issues for musicians and the Alexander Technique. He has done lectures and masterclasses at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carroll College, Cardinal Stritch University, and Frostburg State University. During the summers Dr. Gallagher has served as director of faculty at the Semplice Harbor Music Settlement on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and director of the Savage Mountain Summer Arts Academy in Maryland.
Jakob Hofer
Jakob Hofer is an Assistant Professor of Music and the violin instructor and orchestra director at Southern Virginia University. As a founding member of the Rosco String Quartet in Salt Lake City he has won several competitions including First Place in MTNA’s National Chamber Music Competition and Finalist in the American Prize Competition. He has received instruction from the world’s most renowned chamber musicians including members of the Takacs, Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir String Quartets, and studied many years with the acclaimed chamber musician Violaine Melançon. Most recently, Dr. Hofer was invited as a participant to the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak to work with world-renowned conductor Kenneth Kiesler.
As an orchestral musician, Dr. Hofer has performed as concertmaster of the Loudoun Symphony, the Utah Philharmonia, and the Peabody Concert Orchestra. He has also performed with the York Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake, Ballet West Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony. He has performed in venues ranging from Lincoln Center in New York to the Mendelssohn Haus in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Hofer has performed and premiered many new compositions, and also has specialized training in Baroque performance practice.
Dr. Hofer holds performance degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Utah. He has participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, the Robert Mann Quartet Institute, the Round Top Music Festival, the Garth Newel Music Festival, and the Juilliard Summer Music Academy.
Previous faculty appointments for Dr. Hofer include Utah Valley University and the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City. Several of his students have won competitions and have been accepted as performance majors in prestigious university music programs around the country. Jakob Hofer currently resides in Lexington, Virginia with his wife Laurel Elizabeth Hofer, who is an accomplished vocalist and teacher, and their 3-year-old daughter.
Amy Blake
Cory Black
James DeWire
Jay DeWire, a frequent solo performer and member of the West Shore Trio, has appeared up and down the eastern seaboard and is becoming known for both his dynamic interpretations of 20th Century works and his "old world flair". Recent concerts include solo recitals in Pealer Recital Hall at Frostburg State University; Guildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland in furtherance of a Doctoral Degree, which was completed in 2007; performances of the West Shore Trio across the country including Boston, Los Angeles, New Mexico, and Texas; a collaborative performance in Auer Hall of Indiana University with John Tafoya, then principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra; featured soloist at the First National Convention of the MusicLink Organization (Washington, DC), a solo performance for the National Society of Arts and Letter at the Jefferson Library (University of Virginia), and performances at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory (Boston, MA). Dr. DeWire has also performed in Deer Isle, ME; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Aspen, CO; Kalamazoo, MI; and Washington, DC. Recent highlights include concertos by Brahms and Rachmanioff with Charles Ellis and the Prince George's Philharmonic, The Kirchner Project, a tribute to Leon Kirchner and his music, the National Orchestral Institute, the Maryland Percussion Ensemble under the direction of John Tafoya, and the Aspen Music Festival. Dr. DeWire has recorded three live performance solo CD's, including an all 20th Century concert that includes works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Rzewski, and Messiaen. In April 2008, he recorded an all Brahms concert featuring the recently discovered Gavottes, which he arranged and completed for concert performance.
Dr. DeWire began playing piano at the age of four and gave his first solo recital at age 12. He received a B.A. with High Distinction and a Master of Arts in piano performance from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. In December of 2007 he received a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland School of Music (College Park). He has studied with such distinguished pianists as Joanne Haroutounian, Mimi Tung, Gabriel Chodos, Bradford Gowen, Steve Drury, John Moriarty, and Larissa Dedova. He has performed in master classes for Claude Frank, Andre Watts, Ruth Laredo, and Tigran Alikhanov, the Director of the Moscow Conservatory, and appeared in several competitions including: The National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, National Symphony Orchestra Competition, Baldwin Competition, Washington, DC Beethoven Competition (Honorable Mention), and was a finalist in the American Musicological Society (Mid-Atlantic Chapter) Writing Competition. Dr. DeWire has also received numerous prizes including the Brander Wyatt Morrison Prize, and a Dean of Faculty Fellowship (UVa), as well as scholarships at the University of Maryland, New England Conservatory and University of Virginia. He currently is on the Faculty at Frostburg State University and maintains his own private studio in Washington, DC area.