Babies born around the time the National Chamber Ensemble got its start are just about primed to graduate from high school.
And like parents of those children, the founder of the Arlington-based performing-arts organization can’t believe the future arrived with such amazing speed.
“This is our 17th season – the time has gone very quickly,” said Leo Sushansky, artistic director of the musical organization, speaking at a Dec. 21 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of South Arlington.
While the National Chamber Ensemble presents concerts at three Arlington locations, its mission also focuses on outreach and education.
“We want to create opportunities for young people – educational opportunities and performance opportunities,” said Sushansky, who typically plays violin during performances held at Gunston Arts Center, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington and at Marymount University’s Ballston campus, where the National Chamber Ensemble musically inaugurated the auditorium (“it has wonderful acoustics” is Sushansky’s verdict).
While many non-profit arts organizations didn’t survive COVID, a nimbleness helped to keep the National Chamber Ensemble not just afloat, but thriving – albeit in different formats.
“I could see the shutdown coming,” Sushansky said of the impact of COVID’s local arrival in March 2020. “We pivoted in a way that kept us going.”
With no performance venues open, the organization shifted to performing via livestream, with ticket-buyers also able to access concerts after the fact. There were even online wine-and-cheese/meet-the-artists receptions.
With COVID now a part of everyday life, “audiences are coming back” to live performances, Sushansky said. His organization opened 2022-23 in October with “Divas Night Out” featuring works by Schubert in early November, and on Dec. 16 hosted a full house for its holiday concert. A Valentine’s-theme concert featuring passionate Argentinean music and a dance performance choreographed by Lucy Bowen is slated for Saturday, Feb. 10 at Gunston Arts Center.
The goal is not just to enjoy the music, but allow audiences to get to know the performers as well, and young people are always welcomed.
“It’s important to expose kids to music early,” said Sushansky, who as a soloist has appeared around the country and who at age 15 was invited by Zubin Mehta to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
His dream of founding a locally based arts organization might have foundered but for the help of the Arlington County government’s cultural-affairs division, which “laid out the steps” to build a sustainable organization, Sushansky said.
“I wanted to do something close to home and in my own community, and make concerts accessible and affordable,” he said.
For information on the organization, see the Website at www.nationalchamberensemble.org.
