A Brief History of the SACMS

The Society was founded in 1943 by Dr. Eric Sorantin, an accomplished Viennese musician who arrived in San Antonio in the early 1930s. Holding PhD degrees from the University of Vienna and Vanderbilt University, he toured Europe and South America as well as the U.S. as both violin virtuoso and conductor. He became active with several local performing groups, began to teach at universities, and founded the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra.

Perhaps Sorantin’s greatest accomplishment was the establishment of the San Antonio Chamber Music Society in 1943. He gathered together a nucleus of prominent music lovers to launch the Society. The first concerts were held in the West Wing of the Municipal Auditorium. Founding members provided oriental rugs and other furnishings to create the proper setting for the programs. Guest artists quickly grew from local to regional to national and international in prominence.

Over the past eighty-plus years the Society has presented the premier ensembles of the 20th century. Legendary names such as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Paganini, Borodin, Amadeus, Juilliard,  Guarneri, Takacs, Emerson, and St. Lawrence String Quartets appear across more than a half-century of programs. Very often, the Society introduced rising young ensembles early in their careers, such as the  Pacifica String Quartet, Danish String Quartet, Ebène Quartet,  Jupiter String Quartet, Dover String Quartet, Parker String Quartet and, most recently, the Merz Trio and the Isidore String Quartet. The Society also embraces diversity in our programming – some of our most welcome guests include the Imani Winds, Guitarist Sharon Isbin, Chanticleer, Apollo’s Fire, Kenari Saxophone Quartet, Voces8,  Akropolis Reed Quintet,  American Brass Quintet, Les Amies Trio, New York Woodwind Quintet, Red Priest, Assad Guitar Duo, Sandbox Percussion, and Viva Tango!

Our mission of bringing world-class Chamber Music to San Antonio and the surrounding area continues. All our concerts are recorded for later broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on our local Texas Public Radio all-classical station KPAC.

An equally important continuing commitment for the SACMS is that of community outreach and education. Our guest ensembles extend their stay in San Antonio for an additional day to help us in this endeavor. They give interactive performances to school children of all ages and in all districts from San Antonio to Pleasanton and beyond. Master classes are conducted with students at local colleges and universities. These world-class ensembles also perform outreach events in juvenile detention centers, homeless shelters, substance-abuse recovery centers, schools for special needs children,  and in hospitals. These free outreach events are all made possible by SACMS with generous support from our members and charitable foundations. In addition students and active duty military personnel are always admitted free of charge to all our concerts.