When the Palm Beach Chamber Music Society hosts its first concert of the season Nov. 20 at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, a familiar face will be at the helm.
Boca Raton-based French-born violinist and Juilliard School graduate Arnaud Sussmann has guided the organization as its artistic director for the past seven years.
Entering the organization’s 13th season, Sussmann says he is eager to continue presenting the significant works and traditions of chamber music, a style of classical music written for a few instruments and intended for a more personal setting than a full orchestra.
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach presents intimate classical performances, usually with small ensembles of two to ten musicians, one player per part. This season, audiences can experience the company’s chamber performances at three smaller, prestigious venues – the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, the Norton Museum of Art and the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse.
“Our mission is really to showcase the incredible repertoire and culture of chamber music around the world, which is an art form that I’m absolutely passionate about,” Sussmann told the Daily News. “And it’s an old art form that goes back to the 18th century, and the repertoire written for it is just incredible to me. These are masterpieces that we come back to day in and day out. As musicians, we’re lucky to study these works and we’re always discovering new things, like someone would in a great painting.”
French-born violinist and Juilliard School graduate Arnaud Sussmann has served as artistic director of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Association for the past seven years.
In addition to his work as an artistic director, Sussmann performs as a violinist in the ensembles of the Chamber Music Society.
This season, he will perform at five of the club’s seven concerts, as well as its annual gala, scheduled for February 4 at the Kravis Center.
“Luckily for me and in my position, I’m a very active performer myself and fortunately at a very high level,” he said. “So I get to play and share the stage with some great artists in this country and all over the world.”
Arnaud Sussmann, artistic director of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Association, speaks to students at UB Kinsey/ Palmview Elementary School of the Arts in West Palm Beach.
Performing has long been one of Sussmann’s passions. He grew up in Nice, southern France, started piano studies at the age of 5, and took up the violin two years later.
Eventually, he decided to focus exclusively on the violin, studying at conservatories around the country before earning what he called the “opportunity of a lifetime” in 2001 to work with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman at the prestigious Perlman Music Program in New York.
He continued his studies at Juilliard, earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree before embarking on a performing career.
Early in his career, he joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, where he has performed for the past 20 years.
“I was fortunate to be part of the great mothership, as I call it, of the chamber music organization in the United States and the world,” he said.
In 2019, Sussmann was hired as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach.
Since then, he has worked to bring chamber music to the community both in and out of the concert hall.
In addition to its concert series, the Chamber Music Society engages students and audiences in Palm Beach County through educational and outreach programs.
These efforts include school partnerships that bring world-class musicians into classrooms, community programs that make music accessible, and live performances and master classes.
“Every time an artist comes to town, we arrange visits to different schools so we can do observational work as part of the organization,” Sussmann said.
The coming season of the Chamber Music Society promises to be inspiring, Sussmann said. Each of its seven concerts features works by well-known composers, including Beethoven, Bach, Haydn and Mozart. They also present newer works written by contemporary composers such as pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown.
All pieces are performed by distinguished chamber musicians, including violinists such as Sussmann, as well as cellists, pianists, flutists, guitarists and clarinetists.
The Chamber Music Society is also hosting three special events, including a Rising Artists concert on Jan. 10 at the Norton Museum, showcasing talented young chamber musicians.
“My goal is to have a mixed season,” Sussmann said. “There’s no overarching theme from concert to concert throughout the season. But my goal is to never compromise on quality, so we have the best artists. And then I want to promote some of my favorite chamber works, whether they’re old masterpieces or newly written.”
Three of the concerts will be hosted by Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which Sussmann describes as one of his favorites.
“You have to go inside to see the magnificence of this place,” he said. “What I love about this space is its very warm, beautiful sound. It’s not the washed-out sound you’d expect from such a big church. Very often in a big church like this, there’s a lot of reverberation, and it makes it difficult to get the clarity of the music you’re playing. But in this church, it’s not like that at all. It has a great sound, the light and the lights are so beautiful and beautiful. stained glass, we love performing there.”
For more information about the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.cmspb.org/.
Jodie Wagner is a reporter for the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Order today.
This article originally appeared in the Palm Beach Daily News: Chamber Music Society director Sussmann dedicated to classical works