The Friends of Chamber Music has announced a new season of five concerts and a new venue, the Massry Center’s Picotte Recital Hall at College of Saint Rose in Albany. It was two years ago that the organization left the Emma Willard School in Troy after 72 years and decamped to Albany’s Page Hall on the downtown campus of UAlbany. The inaugural year in Albany was followed by a peripatetic second season, with two events each at Page and the Massry, plus appearances at a couple of unexpected locales, the Center for Independent Media in Troy and The Linda in Albany.
Things should feel more settled and comfortable at the Massry and most concertgoers won’t require any explanation for the change. Page is an aging auditorium appropriate for lectures and films while the Massry is a concert hall that opened in 2008, with good acoustics, comfortable seating and parking close by. Though I’m not aware of how the college is making use of the hall these days, it’s safe to say the place is being under-utilized since the college decimated the music and arts programs two years ago.
The Friends is a trustee-run nonprofit, and its programming duties have been handled by Jennifer Laursen who joined the board in 2018 and became president two years ago. Earlier this year, Laursen and her husband, Todd A. Laursen, the former provost of SUNY, relocated to Nigeria where they will be leaders in the formation of a new university and school of the arts. Prior to coming to Albany in 2018, they were based in Abu Dabi where Todd was a university president and Jennifer was founding director of a chamber music series.
According to board member Charles J. Kruzansky, there is no immediate plan to elect a new president. “We haven’t really crossed that bridge,” said Kruzansky, who praised Laursen’s knowledge of the international music scene and also her shepherding of the organization through some…
Read the full article here