ACMP is celebrating the sesquicentennial of groundbreaking American composer Charles Ives (born in Connecticut on October 20, 1874.)

Join violinist and Ives scholar Gregory Fulkerson on Sunday, December 8 at 2pm Eastern for an in-depth discussion of Charles Ives’ life, background and music, with a special focus on his String Quartet no. 1 (1896- 1902). This early work already bears the stamp of his originality, while also being accessible to the uninitiated listener, and also to daring adult amateur players.

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This is a free online event, but donations are gratefully accepted, through Eventbrite or directly to ACMP.

Of special interest to ACMP’s amateur music community: Charles Ives managed to change the landscape of the American music scene while maintaining a successful career in the insurance business! At 14, he was also the youngest salaried church organist in Connecticut history, and all four movements of his first quartet originated as keyboard pieces he wrote for revival meetings.

Gregory will discuss Ives’ musical influences, what he learned from his teachers and from his father George Ives, how he viewed the relationship between being a composer and a businessman, and how his style developed from wild-eyed revolutionary to jagged modernist to, finally, a romantic composer of rigor, sweetness, and mystic beauty.

If you’ve heard of Ives, know of his importance and have always wanted to understand him better – this session is for you.

We hope you will come away whistling turn-of-the-century American hymns and folk songs, and inspired to put some Ives in your own repertoire!