From the President’s Desk — September 2026
Hello, everyone! Would you believe it is fall? How fast time flies! Have you renewed your membership? If you have, great — you can continue playing at recitals, attending educational events and reading our newsletter, Keynotes. If you did not, this newsletter is your...
Member Spotlight on Matthew Gamser
Matthew Gamser was born in New York City, where he grew up with his parents and his sister. The family relocated to the DC area when his father secured a job with the Kennedy administration in 1961 when Matthew was six years old. Although his sister sang, the family...
AMSF Annual Party & Meeting
This year’s Annual Party was a resounding success! We had a good turnout. We also heard an update on the State of AMSF, music to celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, and music from important but lesser-known composers. The program aligned with the theme of our...
4th Annual AMSF Conference: Important but Lesser-Known Composers
Our 4th AMSF Conference on Important but Lesser-Known Composers was inspiring! DUO MUNDI, composed of George Lopez and Gulimina Mahamuti, were our guest speakers and performers. They are superb teachers and pianists, and they always give us more than we expect. This...
August Community Outreach at Chevy Chase House
Almost all the homes at which we perform have Grand pianos, including Chevy Chase House where, over the years, we had grown accustomed to playing their Baldwin Grand piano, which was in fairly decent shape. Recently however, they replaced that Grand piano with an...
Allegro Master Class with Audrey Andrist
AMSF’s Allegro Master Class took place on July 5th under the guidance of renowned pianist Audrey Andrist, returning to lead the session once again. The afternoon combined outstanding performances with the warm, collegial atmosphere that defines the Allegro Master...
July Community Outreach at Grace House
Despite the ominous grey clouds, all the participants showed up on Saturday, July 18th for our Outreach recital at Grace House Assisted Living in Silver Spring. There were four pianists, a violinist, and a singalong on the program. After a brief introduction about the...
July Cadenza Recital
Our July Cadenza recital offered a wonderful afternoon of music, with a program that moved from the contrapuntal complexity of Bach to the lush textures of Rachmaninoff, the lyricism of Chopin, Brahms and Bonis, and the jazz-inflected sounds of Leo Smit and Andre...
June Community Outreach at Sunrise Senior Living
Never a dull moment at Community Outreach! On Saturday June 20th, we arrived at Sunrise Senior Living in Virginia to find that our 3:30 p.m. slot had been double-booked! There were no residents seated and waiting around the piano in the performance room as is usually...
June Salon Recital
The Salon recital on June 6th was held at the home of Tom and Raye Haug in Bethesda. Ten members performed a varied selection of chamber music — from “American miniatures” for clarinet and flute to Mozart’s clarinet quintet in A — and piano works by composers spanning...