For 28 summers (1997-2024) CMIsc offered musicians several intensive coaching sessions over a period of a few weeks followed by a performance at a fine venue. Director Kay Pech carefully grouped musicians by ability into string quartets or other ensembles and matched them with appropriately challenging music. Musicians were exposed to the standard repertoire–Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven et al.–as well as a broader range of music by women and African-American composers such as Fanny Mendelssohn, William Grant Still, Rhiannon Giddens, and many more.
CMIsc grew out of Kay Pech’s lifetime of teaching and continued learning, and in many ways its administration was a one-woman operation, a labor of love. It was never about making money (she never paid herself) and always about spreading the love and enjoyment of chamber music to students of all ages. When she unexpectedly passed away in October 2024 (please see her tribute), she left behind a gaping hole not easily filled; therefore, CMIsc has since closed its “doors.” This website will remain as a repository of memories for all those touched by Kay, all the other coaches who furthered her vision, and all the fellow musicians who celebrate her life of music.
Remembering
Kay Pech
Founder and Director of Chamber Music Institute/So Cal (1997-2024)
born June 27, 1940 – died October 5, 2024
“Ms. Pech was extraordinary. She was a brilliant musician and teacher, but also a mentor and friend….”
Thank you to everyone who helped to make the 2024 concert such a success! We didn’t know it would be the last one.
Please go to our GALLERY to see videos and pictures from the event.
Our CMIsc History
The first few years (1997-2002) of the Chamber Music Institute of Southern California were split between Cerritos and homes in Mission Viejo that hosted our rehearsals held once a week for four weeks. Our concerts were our participation in the MTAC Long Beach Summer Chamber Music Festival at a church in Long Beach at the end of July, chaired by Kay Pech.
In 2002 with the addition of Dr. Charles Baker to our faculty, we also began holding rehearsals in Fullerton. In 2004 we held our Concerts in Roselle Hall, Fullerton, hosted by Dr. Charles Baker and Joanne Ausmus-Baker. Our rehearsal schedule changed to twice-a-week for two weeks for a more concentrated preparation, feeling that in once-a-week rehearsals our players often forgot the material we had prepared.
We continued the twice-a-week format each July beginning in 2004, performing concerts in the auditorium at Cerritos Park East until COVID-19 forced us outdoors in 2020 and 2021 to Tri-City Park in Placentia. For the summers of 2022, 2023, and 2024 we performed at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda.
FEATURING WOMEN COMPOSERS
Have you ever played a quartet written by a Florence, Laura, Sarah or Fanny?
Groups had an opportunity to learn a movement by a woman composer as well as the standard repertoire.
CMIsc was made possible, in part, with support from Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) as well as a very generous grant from the Hennings Fischer Foundation.
Chamber Music Institute 