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CBA SYMPHONY & CHORUS OFFICIAL PROGRAM
It Was 20 Years Ago Today …
(How It All Began)
The CBA Chamber Orchestra’s debut concert at the 114 th Annual CBA Meeting on June 25, 1987 in the Gold Coast Room of the Drake Hotel
It all began at the old Medina Temple on
State Street at Christmas-Time in 1985. The
annual Do-It-Yourself Messiah conducted by
Margaret Hillis was being held there that year
instead of the usual Orchestra Hall venue, due to
construction, and two lawyer-cellists, Susan
Chernoff (now Susan Chernoff Huvard) and
Julia Nowicki, found themselves sharing a
stand. During a break, Nowicki said “Wouldn’t
this be fun to do more than once a year?” A
light bulb went off in their heads and the idea
for an all-lawyer orchestra was born.
Nowicki recalls, “Susan and I talked. Got the
hairbrained thing planned in our heads, took a
deep breath, and hoped no one would laugh at us
at the CBA. We were fairly young lawyers at the
time. Taking a large dose of Imodium before the
Board Meeting, we had no confidence at all that
anyone would like it. Well, Esther Rothstein was
on the Board. We barely got through our
presentation, and she was taking it on as her
cause. Of course, everyone in the room followed
40 | CBA SYMPHONY & CHORUS
This article is reprinted from the 20th Anniversary Program Book for the performance of the Beethoven 9th Symphony in 2006
her lead. She said something like: ‘this is the best
idea we have had presented to us in years---we
MUST give it our full support.’”
That board meeting took place early in 1986 and
by March 1986 an ad appeared in “The
Communicator” (the newsletter published by the
CBA at that time) that read:
Attention Music Lovers: Are you interested in
getting together with other CBA musicians to
play chamber music? We would like to start a
chamber orchestra. Possibilities are unlimited,
but include performing for Bar activities and
receptions and participating in smaller
ensembles (quartets, quintets, etc. – strings and
winds). One rehearsal per week will be held
beginning in the fall. If you are interested in
playing or conducting, please call Susan
Chernoff at 845-9249 by March 28.
By the summer of 1986, the CBA’s “Chamber
Music Committee” had been created. The