The Dalí String Quartet will perform Friday, Nov. 16, at the Maxwell Theatre. (Photo by Vanessa Briceño-Scherzer/www.daliquartet.com)
Trio con Brio Copenhagen will perform Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, at the Maxwell Theatre. (Photo by Nikolaj Lund/
trioconbrio.dk)
As he was retiring from the Augusta
Symphony, Jacobs and fellow music-lovers
organized a chamber music society that came
to bear his name. The Harry Jacobs Chamber
Music Society (HJCMS) offered its first concert
series in 1990. The mission of this non-profit
organization is to bring world-class chamber
musicians to Augusta. Jacobs directed the series
until his death in 2001, but the music lived on, as
first Dr. Alan Drake and then later Dr. Quentin
Kuyper and Dr. Linda Banister continued
Harry’s legacy.
In April 2018, the Society entered into a new
partnership with the Pamplin College of Arts,
Humanities, and Social Sciences. Dean Elna
Green believes that the impact that the HJCMS
had and will continue to have on students is
what strengthens this new relationship.
“The Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society
and Pamplin College are stronger together than
apart,” Green says.
Kate Jenkins, the director of AU’s Music
Conservatory, is also the managing director of
HJCMS. Her goal is to help AU students gain
exposure to the performers the Society brings
in.
“The fact that these world-class musicians
come here to campus, rather than students
having to travel to Columbia or Atlanta, is
incredible,” Jenkins says. “Students will get
a close one-on-one interaction with these
performers.”
AU students get free admission to all HJCMS
concerts.
Memberships to the Harry Jacobs Chamber
Music Society are offered to anyone interested
in seeing highly sought-after musicians perform
at the Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre. Basic
memberships are $150 and include tickets to all
concerts, along with opportunities to meet the
musicians as well as an invitation to Hausmusik
concerts.
“The final concert of the season this year is
the Silk Road Ensemble, a group founded by
Yo-Yo Ma,” Jenkins says. “To be able to bring
performers of that caliber to campus is pretty
special.”
“We are limited only by our imaginations!”
Green states. “I firmly believe that we – Pamplin
and the HJCMS – feed each other and grow
together.”
More information and ticket purchases can be
found at augusta.edu/harryjacobs.
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