In 1966, ten years after the Morrison Trust was formally established, the Rockefeller Foundation’s annual report described the Chamber Music Center at SF State as follows: “It is the only program which gives admission-free concerts of top calibre to the community and represents the largest private gift on record for promoting excellence in chamber music.”
The special nature of chamber music is that it can bring people together in perfect harmony. Contrary to the myth that it is esoteric and elitist, chamber music is truly an egalitarian medium. It touches people across all categories of culture and educational sophistication.
Interpreted by small ensembles whose members contribute their personal perspectives to a musical whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, and enjoyed in venues that are intimate enough to invite a feeling of listener participation, chamber music epitomizes the values of communication, collaboration and democracy. It has been called “the most perfect form of human behavior.” Sensing that San Francisco State was a “kindred spirit”—also egalitarian and collaborative—the executor of the May Treat Morrison Trust chose to fund the Morrison Chamber Music Center as a center for the study, preparation and dissemination of this important form.
The foundation of the Morrison Chamber Music Center is the vision of far-sighted, gifted and dedicated individuals. The center arrived on campus almost at the same moment that SF State moved to its new home at 19th and Holloway avenues. President J. Paul Leonard enthusiastically welcomed ideas that contributed to making the campus a vital part of the intellectual and cultural life of the community and provided the leadership essential to the success of the venture.
At the same time, San Franciscan Ferenc Molnar, pre-eminent violist, dreamed of establishing a Bay Area program for the teaching and performing of chamber music equal to the ones on the East Coast at institutions such as Juilliard, Curtis and the Eastman School of Music. Edward Hohfeld, a founder of the law firm Morrison and Foerster and longtime friend of the firm’s most prominent partner Alexander F. Morrison and his wife May Treat Morrison, was administrator of the Charitable Trust endowed by funds from the Morrison Estate.
Mr. Hohfeld believed that music should be taught in two ways: by providing students with the opportunity to learn their skills from master teachers and giving them the chance to hear chamber music performed by the finest practitioners. He believed, too, that attendance at concerts should not be the privilege of the few, but should be accessible to everyone, and he especially hoped that by endowing a series of concerts and presenting them to the public free of charge, parents would bring their children, introducing each new generation to classical music and to the dedicated musicians who perform it.
Providing exquisite chamber music performances and educational opportunities to students and the community has been the overriding goal of the Morrison Artists Series since its inception. We celebrate the harmonious partnership of visionary leaders, extraordinary performing artists, and a university that prizes the arts, creativity and music. The program has flourished over the years under the superb musical leadership of its artistic directors: Ferenc Molnar, Andor Toth, Laszlo Varga, Saul Gropman, Ronald Caltabiano, Richard Festinger and the Alexander String Quartet, as well as the guidance of its trustees, and thanks to the ongoing support of San Francisco State University.
