Featured Member: San Marco Chamber Music Society

Just off its premiere concert, the newly-formed San Marco Chamber Music Society has no shortage of talent and enthusiasm for bringing world-class chamber music to the Jacksonville, Florida, area. In this week’s Featured Member profile, violist and society co-founder Ellen Olson describes the group’s early successes and challenges.

Ellen, please tell us about the San Marco Chamber Music Society’s origins and your mission.

My husband Eric and I have both been members of the Jacksonville Symphony for more than 20 years. Eric is principal oboe and I play the viola. About six or seven years ago we discovered St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, which has marvelous acoustics and a harpsichord. We, along with some symphony friends, began having concerts there to benefit diabetes research. For these benefit concerts the church generously paid the musicians modest honorariums. Last year, the music director of St. Mark’s asked Eric and me if we would be interested in starting a regular chamber series. Our answer was an immediate “yes!”. That was when we did our research, discovered Fractured Atlas and its fiscal sponsorship program, and began our fund raising! Our mission is to present the best chamber music we can to the biggest audience we can, and make every concert free to the public.

What were your hopes and expectations going in to your premiere concert? Were they met?

I hoped, first of all, that we’d attract a good audience. There is nothing worse than working very hard at your music and then playing to a tiny audience. I wanted the musicians involved in the concert to enjoy being a part of it. And of course, I hoped that all the pieces would be performed well and the audience would enjoy them.

I was extremely pleased with the turnout for our first concert. We ran out of programs! I was a bit disappointed that almost no children attended — we were performing “Little Red Riding Hood” and I tried to market it as a concert for the whole family — but we had a very receptive audience that seemed to enjoy it.

Your concerts are all free, is that correct? How are you able to do this?

Most of the funds we raise go to pay the musicians. We keep our other administrative costs, like copying and mailings, as low as possible by doing them by ourselves on our home computer and copier. St. Mark’s Church generously allows us to use their church for free. I want this music to be available to anyone who would like to listen.

What challenges have you faced, or do you foresee, if any?

Scheduling rehearsals is always a challenge, because our musicians are all in the Jacksonville Symphony, which has an incredibly demanding schedule. Some of us also have students to teach on our days without symphony rehearsals, plus there are often extra gigs in town going on.

I expect it may be a bit harder to fund-raise for our next season, since the economy is in the doldrums right now. However, that is not going to stop our desire to present these free concerts. What could be better for bad economic times than a free night out listening to chamber music? We are always glad to have large and excited audiences and donors who are enthusiastic to support us!


How did you find out about Fractured Atlas and what motivated you to become a member?

When we started planning for the chamber society, I felt it was important that donations be tax-deductible for our contributors. But, when I researched how to become a non-profit organization, I felt that the process was way too complicated for our fledgling group. While searching on the internet, I learned about fiscal sponsorship and Fractured Atlas came up in a number of my searches. I decided that it would be a good way for our group to get started.

How do you use your Fractured Atlas membership?

I am always emailing FA for advice. It has been very good for me, being very new at this, to be able to ask questions about various fund raising ideas, etc. FA has always been very receptive to my questions. And we are always on the FA website checking our fiscal sponsorship balance, checking our donor list, etc. It is so nice to have these records online.

What’s next on the horizon for the SMCMS?

So far our concerts have highlighted the oboe and violin in concertos with a small orchestra. For next season, we plan to perform a cello and viola concerto: our group has wonderfully talented musicians that will be given the opportunity to share their talents in a solo situation. We have applied for a grant to fund a composers competition in North Florida for a new chamber music work for oboe and strings (with an optional keyboard part). We are hoping to do a recording within the next few years, and further in the future we are considering a possible collaboration with dancers.

How can we learn more about your upcoming events and hear some of your music?

Our website, sanmarcochambermusic.org, has information about our upcoming concerts, bios of our musicians, and information about how to donate. There is also a link to our Instant Encore page, where you can listen to selected pieces from previous concerts.