When you first set foot on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York, you can understand why Arlene Hajinlian and Sonya Sutton get a certain lift in their voice when they talk about their summer homes.

Hajinlian, a Juilliard-trained pianist now retired from her second career as a pharmaceutical executive, and Sutton, a retired music director in the Episcopal Church, have been seasonal residents at Chautauqua for years. They first met in 2023, when Sutton posted in the Chautauqua Grapevine that she was looking for musicians to play chamber music with in the summers. The two pianists have been fast friends ever since. Every summer, they take in all the intellectual and spiritual experiences that Chautauqua has to offer.

But they also give back. So this year, they had an idea: Why not invite their music friends to Chautauqua for an extended weekend of chamber music? 

Music, of course, has always played an important part in the Chautauqua experience, which was founded in the 1870s as a summer school for Sunday-school teachers. In the following decades, it grew into a movement that focused on philosophy, religion, literature and the arts. President Theodore Roosevelt once called it “America at its best.” 

Over the Labor Day weekend, Hajinlian and Sutton did just that; 24 musicians made the trip to this hamlet in the southwest corner of New York State. The musicians came from across the Northeast and Canada, including Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, upstate New York and Toronto. 

The weekend kicked off on Wednesday with an evening of J.S. Bach featuring Sonya Sutton as the piano soloist in his Concerto No. 3 in D major, BWV 1054; and Arlene Hajinlian (piano), Frank Song (violin) and Mike Jacobs (flute) as soloists on Brandenburg Concerto no. 5. In the following days, players gathered for sessions of varying combinations — trios, quartets, quintets, octets. 

Hajinlian, a professional pianist by training, will be the first to talk about the benefits of playing a string instrument and all that it offers in the way of chamber music. It was with that in mind that she took up the viola around a decade ago.

“I wanted to play chamber music,” she said. She still plays piano at a high level—her Brandenburg No. 5 run-through on Wednesday can attest to that—but knowing the viola expands her playing opportunities, she said.

The whole weekend, in fact, was about expanding playing opportunities. There was such a diversity of instruments and players that people could try new combinations and pieces that are out of their usual mix.

“We don’t often get the chance to play with a pianist,” Ruth Sklarsky, a violinist, told Sutton during a reading of Frank Bridge’s piano quintet. Sklarsky is from Rochester, N.Y., and arrived at Chautauqua with the three other members of her regular string quartet.

Then there was the married couple of Emily Toll, a cellist, and Steve Pershing, a violinist and violist, from Washington, D.C. On Thursday night, they helped lead a rousing run-through of the Mendelssohn octet, with Emily setting a spirited tempo in the final movement, the presto.

On the final evening, Sonya Sutton hosted a casual sharing session at her house. Various combinations of players shared movements from some of the new repertoire they discovered, from Renaissance songs for soprano and string quartet to a lush piano quintet by Louise Farrenc. The multi-talented flutist and clarinetist Mike Jacobs surprised everyone with his jazz expertise, closing the evening with “Autumn Leaves” with professional jazz bassist Hilliard Greene.

Mike (flute) and Hill on (double bass) and fireworks from the wedding

Chautauqua is a popular wedding destination over the Labor Day weekend. One wedding party had organized fireworks on the lake that evening (or was it for us?) We all walked to the lake to watch. Mike and his friend Kathy crashed one of the wedding parties, dancing to the next generation of pop music they had never heard.

The weekend was funded in part by a grant from ACMP, which helped defray the cost of food and incidentals. 

“This is exactly what these grants are for,” said Stephanie Griffin, ACMP’s executive director. “They are to foster chamber music among players of all ages and abilities.”

When people weren’t playing quartets or quintets, they took in the local architecture and landscape. Griffin managed to work in a swim in Chautauqua Lake.

But in the end, the weekend was about music and making new connections. As people departed, they looked forward to renewing the weekend in the future. Once again, Chautauqua lived up to its mission.