CMA’s 2025 Conference in Houston Transforms into a Festival-Style Event

October 1, 2024—Chamber Music America (CMA), the premier national organization serving small ensemble music professionals, announced programming for its 2025 National Conference, taking place February 13 – 16 in Houston, Texas. Registration is now open for this signature event at the conference registration site, cmaconference.vfairs.com.

This is the first CMA conference in many decades that will be held outside of New York City—and the first time it is being held in Houston, Texas. The relocation allows greater access to CMA among its constituents across the country and reflects a growing commitment to communities beyond New York. “In moving the event to a new city, CMA is poised to reinvigorate the standard conference model,” says CMA Board Treasurer and Conference Committee Chair, Jennie Oh Brown. “The 2025 programming imbues the conference with a new musical spirit—and one that celebrates community, collaboration, and partnership.”

Says CMA CEO Kevin Kwan Loucks, “One of CMA’s primary functions is to serve as a national network between all sectors of the chamber music ecosystem, creating connections between our constituents and helping to further their connections within their respective communities. To this end, the idea of ‘partnership’ has been a lynchpin in conference planning: We looked to our own organizational partners, both national and Texas-based, to help craft and revolutionize this event so that it serves a wide range of interests and needs.”

A CMA conference unlike any before, the events, continues Loucks, “aim to focus national attention on the musical landscape of Houston, honoring the ensembles within this extremely rich region of music making. We are grateful to our host city and the many institutions there, such as our sponsoring partner The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, that are offering such a warm welcome.”

Many of the weekend’s performances will take place within the pristine performance halls at The Shepherd School of Music—including an all-day Festival on Friday, February 14, that features Texas- and Houston-based ensembles, area high school and conservatory students, as well as several ensembles appearing as part of CMA’s longstanding conference showcase program. The daytime festival will be open to, and free for, the public. Friday’s marathon of music culminates with a ticketed concert featuring ensembles from the Shepherd School as well as Seraph Brass, Del Sol Quartet, ETHEL (featuring Robert Mirabal), three of the conference’s six Ensembles-in-Residence that will participate throughout the weekend in various settings.

Ensemble-in-Residence Helen Sung Quartet headlines Thursday night’s jazz concert at the Eldorado Ballroom, a historic jazz club in Houston’s Third Ward dating back to the 1940s that has recently been restored. A homecoming concert of sorts for pianist/composer Sung—a Guggenheim fellow, CMA Board Member as well as a graduate of Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing & Visual Arts—she will be preceded onstage by two Texas-based showcase ensembles: Dave Meder’s “New American Hymnal” and the Alex Coke and Carl Michel Sextet.

Echoing the star-studded Cleveland Quartet Jubilee that crowned the 2024 conference, a dazzling gala event on Saturday, February 15, will celebrate the time-honored Fischoff competition and top-prize winners through the years. Slated to perform are Ensembles-in-Residence Miró Quartet and WindSync, as well as more recent honorees and conference showcase ensembles Balourdet Quartet, Aruna Quartet, and Trio Azura and Lotus Saxophone Quartet, medalists from 2024. A seated dinner (ticketed separately) in the foyer of the Shepherd School’s Stude Concert Hall will begin the evening.

With a focus on building community and an effort to increase opportunities for connection between attendees, CMA and partner organization Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) have teamed up to offer play-ins and daily group jams. Conference attendees are encouraged to pack their own instruments and join the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning “Bach Over Breakfast” jams, open and joyous group readings of the six Brandenburg Concertos. All are welcome to participate, regardless of instrumentation or style. On Thursday, ACMP is organizing an afternoon of play-ins at the Shepherd School of Music open to all conference registrants. And on Saturday February 15, a CMA Master Class Series will feature renowned artists and expert coaches in session with various ensembles from across the country. These master classes will be open to conference attendees for observation; a schedule will be announced closer to the conference.

More than 18 panel discussions taking place at the InterContinental Houston hotel tackle topics ranging from audience engagement and ensemble development to DEI and financial and fundraising strategies. Marquee sessions include the keynote address and Q&A by chef and amateur violinist J. Kenji López-Alt—a James Beard Award–winning and New York Times Bestselling author who has reached a cult-like following for his thorough and science-based approach to home-cooking. This summer, López-Alt joined violinist James Ehnes onstage at Seattle Chamber Music Society for a unique program pairing cuisine—onstage cooking demos—and chamber music. A true innovator, López-Alt embodies the conference’s celebration of new: new models, new ideas, and new work.

On Friday morning, flutist Emi Ferguson, bassoonist Clay Zeller-Townson of Ruckus, Metropolis Ensemble founder Andrew Cyr, saxophonist/composer Immanuel Wilkins, and Sarah Rothenberg of Houston’s presenting organization DACAMERA join for a session introducing Metropolis Trilogy, a new work by Roscoe Mitchell, commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble, DACAMERA, Ferguson, the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, and Ruckus. The session—taking place the morning of the premiere at DACAMERA on February 14—is moderated by Chamber Music editorial director Larry Blumenfeld and examines the genesis of the original project as well as the intersection and interplay of baroque, jazz, improvisation.

Additional partner-led sessions include American Composers Forum presentation of an interactive workshop, “Recomposing American Music,” that amplifies the historical impact of a colonized America through the lens of today’s composers and explores how to develop context for works programmed in this milestone year. During Saturday afternoon’s, “Chamber Music Shark Tank,” presented by Concert Artists Guild, three artists from CAG’s inaugural Community Impact Project Incubator pitch high-impact artistic projects to a group of “sharks”—members of the presenter community who are looking to “invest.”  And early in the conference, New Music USA organizes the ultimate networking session. Known as “Luck Circles,” based on the research of Stanford professor Mark Granovetter, participants from across sectors are arranged into small groups for communal advice, contact, and resource sharing.

The Chamber Music America Awards Luncheon takes place Saturday afternoon at the InterContinental Houston, beginning at 1:00pm. Highlighting outstanding achievements in the field, awards will recognize ensembles, individuals, and albums, and organizations in eight categories. CMA Members can submit nominations now through October 17 for the Ensemble, Album, Composition, Collaboration of the Year Awards, as well as the Advocacy and Community Impact Awards—details can be found at chambermusicamerica.org. Those award winners, as well as the 2025 Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award and the Michal Jaffee Visionary Award recipients will be announced in November.

A schedule of events can be found at cmaconference.vfairs.com. Additional speakers and sessions will be added as they are announced.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS: American Composers Forum, Apollo Chamber Players, Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP), Concert Artists Guild, DACAMERA, Early Music America, Discovery Green, Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, Kinder High School for the Performing & Visual Arts/American Festival for the Arts, New Music USA, ROCO, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, University of Houston Moores School of Music, University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music

 CMA extends its sincere appreciation to the following sponsors:

The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University; Clarion Associates, Inc. & Berkley Program Specialists

BMI; Plectrum Advisers; SENE

Chamber Music America, the national network of ensemble music professionals, was founded in 1977 to develop, strengthen, and support the chamber music community. With a membership including musicians, ensembles, presenters, artists’ managers, educators, music businesses, and advocates of ensemble music, CMA welcomes members representing a wide range of musical styles and traditions. In addition to its funding programs, CMA provides its members with consulting services, access to instrument and other insurances, conferences, seminars, and its quarterly publication, Chamber Music magazine.