Overview
| Mission | Leadership | History
Overview
Artist Presentation Society encourages and promotes exceptional young musicians, giving them public performance opportunities during the early stages of their careers.
The Society holds annual auditions to select highly accomplished performers in Missouri and South-Central Illinois. Winners of the auditions are presented in concert in St. Louis and receive significant monetary awards.
Since the formation of the Society in 1947, more than 160 audition winners have delighted audiences with their performances. Some of the previous winners have achieved international fame. Others have established careers as music educators and as members of symphony orchestras and opera companies.
Artist
Presentation Society expands its reach to the community by partnering with local
cultural organizations to create additional performance opportunities for young
musicians
and to make classical music more accessible to a wider audience.
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Artist Presentation Society seeks to shine the spotlight on the musical stars of tomorrow and to develop audiences for classical music. The Society focuses on:
- Presenting outstanding
young musicians in concert
- Encouraging
the development of supportive, knowledgeable and enthusiastic
audiences for concerts presented by the Society.
- Collaborating
with selected regional cultural organizations to make classical
music more accessible to the community, particularly to the younger generation.
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Leadership
Board of Directors
Persis Mehta, President
Katja Georgieff, Vice President, Auditions
Minoo Mehta, Vice President, Community Outreach
Elizabeth Branstetter, Secretary
Ben Settle, Treasurer
Kathy Lawton Brown
George Bude
Mary Bude
Allison Felter
Pat Fogle
Miran Halen
Shirley Kronemer
Debra Larson
Mary Lieber
Noémi Neidorff
James Pierce
Joy Pierce
Marsha Rusnack
Virginia Settle
A. Dennis Sparger
Advisory Council
Allen C. Larson
Donna Wilkinson
Jeffrey R. Carter
Jim Connett
Joanne Kohn
Marjorie C. Eddy
Priscilla McDonnell
Timothy O'Leary
Ward Stare
Artist Presentation Society was established in 1947 by Irene and Stuart Chambers to provide performance opportunities for talented young musicians in the St. Louis area.
Originally called the Artist Presentation Committee, the members were music teachers who hoped to open doors for their most gifted students by presenting them in solo recital. In November 1948, Articles of Incorporation were legally adopted and the Artist Presentation Committee began operations as a not-for-profit organization. The Committee flourished under the leadership of Irene Chambers, its first president. The organization adopted the current name of Artist Presentation Society in 1953.
A music critic of one of St. Louis's newspapers at that time commented: "Now I have seen everything! Never had I expected to see a group of music teachers working together to give some young folks a break regardless of whose pupils they were."
Since
its early days, the Society has undergone several changes, but the core of the
founders' vision of encouraging outstanding young musicians remains unchanged.
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