‘Musical Chairs’ Group Uses the Home as Concert Hall

Ruth Armentrout was filled with a new sense of conviction as she soaked up the sunshine one recent Sunday afternoon in Sherman Oaks.

“We’re not the cultural wasteland people have been saying,” she pronounced.

Armentrout and about 40 others had just gathered in a designer home tucked in the hills south of Ventura Boulevard to hear the Shostakovich Trio in E Minor, opus 57.

After the performance, the audience lounged by an impressive spread of wine and hors d’oeuvres to critique another in a series of “home concert events” staged by an organization called Musical Chairs, named for the changing locale of its monthly performances.

Armentrout learned of the concerts through a music appreciation class she takes from Greg Hettmansberger at his Woodland Hills home. Hettmansberger is an associate of Musical Chairs and concert reviewer for the Los Angeles Times.

“I just wanted to try the intimacy of listening and having the performers right there,” Armentrout said. “Now, I’ll come back for more. I think it’s really a good thing. We’re finally getting more performances and interest and music in the Valley.”

Musical Chairs is the brainchild of Beverly Gladstone, who began organizing the chamber music concerts under the auspices of the Valley Arts Council three years ago.

Hettmansberger was teaching “classes in the classics” at the time, and recommended that his students attend the home concerts to hear live performances of the music they studied.

“What he was doing and what I was doing fit like a hand to a glove,” Gladstone said.

Last year, Gladstone decided to leave the Valley Arts Council and joined forces with Hettmansberger. In January, the two presented their first independent concert, keeping the name Musical Chairs, which Gladstone’s husband had coined years before.

The concerts are intended to give musicians a forum in which to play and listeners a place to hear chamber music performed by professionals.

“When Mozart and Bach wrote chamber music, it was not with the idea that it would be performed in concert halls,” said violinist Alan Grunfeld, who performs with the Long Beach Symphony and was featured at the March home concert. “Their music was performed in rooms in palaces or mansions where the elite would gather. In that sense, Musical Chairs is carrying on an age-old tradition.”

He added, “And it is nice to play for a smaller audience in an intimate setting.”

Admission to the concerts is $10 for listeners. Musicians attend free. Performers split 50% of the proceeds; the rest covers the cost of printing and mailing Musical Chairs newsletters.

The concert usually lasts about 45 minutes and is preceded by introductory remarks and commentary by Hettmansberger. He discusses composers and the circumstances in which they lived, the history of the music about to be played and the circumstances under which it was written. The performance is followed by refreshments, potluck style.

Then members of the audience--many of whom are amateurs--are encouraged to bring along their instruments, break into small groups to improvise with each other, and in some cases, with the professional performers.

“A lot of musicians are not associated with any formal musical group,” said Cheryl Leah, a musician who attended last month’s concert. “They love to play, but they’re not in an orchestra. This gives them a chance.”

Yvonne Hseuh, who has been playing violin for 16 of her 22 years, said the concerts, which she regularly attends, are just plain fun--”sort of a relaxed, Sunday musical thing to do.”

“It’s not like going to an evening concert and going home afterward, and that’s it,” Hseuh said. “Here you get to meet people.”

In fact, two of the musicians who performed at the March event, Grunfeld and pianist Ronna Binn, met at a previous home concert.

In addition to socializing with fellow musicians, Hseuh said, home concerts lead to other work, since listeners are occasionally interested in hiring musicians to play at private events.

“Musicians need more opportunity to be involved with the public, for people to listen to them and meet them,” said flutist Anna Lawrence. “This is a nice way to do it.”

Organizers pride themselves on being elegant but not elite.

“It’s just as easy to bring a nice wedge of cheese and crackers as Ding Dongs,” Gladstone said. “We want people to walk away saying they’ve had a full experience.”

Most members of the audience conform to the savory standards, although a sampling of Mounds bars made their way beside the pastries and other finger foods at one recent event.

Every concert is taped, then later broadcast on Cal State Northridge’s campus radio station, KCSN 88.5 FM, from 6 to 7 p.m. the first Sunday of each month.

Most concerts are held at San Fernando Valley homes, and the next performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. April 23 in Encino. The concert will feature music from around the world, including “Spanish Suite” by DeFalla, “Csardas” by V. Monti, works by Chopin and Bartok and a contemporary piece by the Yugoslav composer Boris Panandopulo.

Reservations can be made by calling Gladstone at (818) 784-8105.