On Oct. 25, the Ulysses Quartet, together with clarinetist Oskar Espina Ruiz (not shown), will perform at the Smith Theatre at the Horowitz Center. The concert is one of eight in the 2024-25 season presented by Chamber Music Maryland, formerly the Candlelight Concert Society.

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After more than half a century as the Candlelight Concert Society, the Howard County-based arts organization has changed its name to Chamber Music Maryland.

The new name brings with it some artistic and organizational changes as well. The website and logo have a new look, and the organization is expanding its concert series and educational outreach.

“Next year, we have quite a few very famous international groups,” its artistic director, Irina Kaplan Lande, said of the upcoming season.

It opens on October 5 with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber ensemble from London. The Tallis Scholars vocal ensemble performs on December 8 at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellicott City.

“It’s a lot of expansion in every direction,” Kaplan Lande said.

Group has grown beyond Columbia

Founded in 1972, Candlelight Concert Society began shortly after the establishment of Columbia, Maryland. As the planned community grew, so did the music organization, deepening its ties there and bringing great music from all over the world to the county.

The 2024-2025 season will be the organization’s first as Chamber Music Maryland and its biggest to date. What remains the same, its leaders say, is the group’s commitment to bringing world-class chamber music concerts, children’s programs, community outreach programs, master classes and pre-concert lectures and discussions to the area’s music lovers.

The group announced its new name in May during the final concert of the 2023-2024 season, featuring Grammy Award-winning wind quintet Imani Winds.

However, the organization had been considering how best to accommodate its evolving identity for some time now.

“Over the years, we’ve been expanding the number of people in Maryland that we serve and the number of communities that we serve,” said Bryan Young, board president.

“And so today, we’re not just in Howard County. We also have a series in Baltimore County at Linehan Hall at UMBC,” referring to the organization’s popular piano concerts that take place there. In addition, the group launched a new series at Baltimore’s Peel Museum two seasons ago.

Another reason for the change was the confusion created by the frequent use of the name “candlelight” by other organizations. Some of these include an international concert presenter doing a lot of online advertising, a concert series at Baltimore’s First Unitarian Church, and even a Howard County funeral home.

While considering rebranding, the Chamber Music Maryland board received support and encouragement from the Howard County Arts Council, which helped them finalize the “bold decision and the big change” concerning the organization’s identity, said Kaplan Lande.

State budget cuts of concern

Despite its extensive programming expansion over the past several years, Chamber Music Maryland aims to maintain its close relationships with core audiences, patrons, public schools and institutions within Howard County.

At the same time, “We see places around the state that are either underserved or would just love to have more great music,” Young said.

“And since we’re in a position to share our artists out of Howard County into Baltimore City, Baltimore County and perhaps other places in the future, we’re looking forward to adding those as opportunities for people, especially for people who can’t get into Columbia.”

Young emphasized the need for increased access to chamber music for people across Maryland and to bring music closer to where people live.

The nonprofit organization started its first endowment fund in the last few years, before the rebranding, as part of its overall push for sustainability and accessibility. The group wants to take on the “mantle as one of Maryland’s leading music presenters,” Young said.

Speaking of Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s plan to cut nearly $150 million from the state’s budget for the current fiscal year, Young noted that “The governor has proposed some cuts to arts funding, and so we’re very interested in having people be aware of that…and of how important that funding is to organizations like ours.”

“We’re really deeply concerned about the future of classical music and classical contemporary, and, especially in our case, chamber music,” Kaplan Lande added.

“We’re very committed to nurturing a deep appreciation and love of this music, and that’s why we go into schools, to community centers, and [why we] work with the kids, do a lot of master classes, workshops,” she said. “We’re really trying to nurture it from the very, very early ages. It’s very important to us.”

You can explore Chamber Music Maryland’s 2024-2025 season in detail, buy a subscription package or tickets to individual concerts, and learn more about the rebranding at their new website, chambermusicmaryland.org or call (410) 997-2324.