Sam Coleman At the Helm of the Chamber Music Festival

— by Margie Doyle —

Sam Coleman, President of the Orcas Island Chamber Festival Board

Sam Coleman has been a familiar face for over a decade on the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Board and in the audiences, and, in 2013, he assumed the duties of President of the Board.

He and his wife Cynthia have had a home on Orcas Island for the last 26 years; they were introduced to the island when their children attended Camp Four Winds.

Coleman’s family started out generations ago as whalers in New England; then became publishers in the Midwest, and for the last four generations, they’ve lived in Pasadena, Calif.

The Coleman family have long been musical supporters of the first rank: two great-aunts graduated from Juilliard and performed as duo pianists. In 1904 the Coleman Chamber Music Association, one of the oldest organizations in the United States dedicated to the presentation, understanding, and enjoyment of chamber music, was founded. Under its auspices, the Coleman Chamber Competition started; each year the first prize is a two-year scholarship to Juilliard.

Though a younger Sam played the piano, his primary musical passion was singing. He sang throughout high school and college, in barbershop quartets and in musical shows. He’s long had a “great love of classical music and the choral side of it.” But his orientation was toward business.

His career in business started at Colorado College where he was in the Marine ROTC until a football shoulder injury foreshortened his military career. He did graduate work at Columbia University. He started his career on Wall Street with Payne Webber and currently leads the Coleman Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley from his offices in Pasadena and on his property in Deer Harbor.

Sam has served on many corporate and charitable boards including the Los Angeles Master Chorale; originally the Fred Waring Chorale before becoming the resident choir of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Enter the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (OICMF): knowing of the Coleman Chamber Music Association, Aloysia Friedmann contacted Coleman in the early formative days of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. He was too busy and involved with other boards and his Wall Street career but she warned him she would be persistent and chase him down with the help of Board Chair Valerie Anders. After a couple of years of courtship Sam did join the board and hasn’t looked back since.

He says that his main contribution to the board was to”bring an administrative perspective to the originating founders of OICMF.” He helped organize and nurture the non-profit from a growth-oriented organization to a mature one now. He succeeds Valerie Anders as President of the OICMF Board.

Sam takes great pride in the fact that the OICMF not only brings top-quality musicians to the natural beauty of Orcas; but involves its artists in the island culture. Now Aloysia is overwhelmed with many world-renowned artists who want to experience our very unique festival. “And they love our food!” he laughs.

Now the celebrated summer Festival is in its first year under the Executive Directorship of Anita Orne, with Linda Slone as Festival Manager. Coleman makes the point that both Victoria Parker and Anita Orne served first as Board Members before assuming the Executive Director role. He praises Victoria Parker’s leadership, saying, “Victoria was a vital part of the early days of the festival and helped in so many ways complementing Aloysia’s dream of starting a Chamber Music Festival on Orcas Island.”

Sam first met Anita at Camp Four Winds 30 years ago when she was the newly-hired Music Director. “She’s a multi-faceted woman – she’s done everything and now Anita is in a wonderful spot to complement our festivals growing popularity.” “It’s so wonderful to have yet another islander who understands what we’re about on the island and has a continuing passion toward the success of our Chamber Music Festival,” he says..

“One of the Festival’s great gifts, something of a surprise to me, is the additional educational component we’ve been able to do give to the community, especially its children. The community been fabulous in recognizing that, and in being supportive in return of the festival.”

With Pre-concert talks, Musicians in Residence in the schools, the Young Musician’s Award, Master Classes and Tune-Ups and the Pied Pipers program at the island pre-schools, the Chamber Music Festival has steadily “grown” the audience of music lovers into familiarity with the repertoire of classical and chamber music.

Coleman also notes that Bob Henigson’s major gift to the OICMF “put us in a position where we could take a breath financially. We have a responsibility to invest properly.”

He is especially pleased that OICMF has “grown the musical tastes of people whose familiarity with classical music and chamber music in particular, has grown with the Festival.” Now in its 19th year, plans are already brewing for the 20th year celebration. A highlight is sure to be a reprise of the Concert on the Green, which has taken place twice before, first in 2007 with Jackie Parker playing “Rhapsody in Blue,” (and Anita Orne playing banjo accompaniment).

He sees the future challenges of the organization in maintaining the excellence its established and in continuing to complement the musical education component. “Aloysia started the festival to have the very best in performing arts and the children’s educational component developed,” he says.

“We’re so fortunate to have had Aloysia bring her talent, passions and goals to Orcas..We now have the responsibility of continuing her gift to us through thoughtful investing in what has become part of our island fabric.”