Begun with missionary zeal as an informal gathering in a defunct Albuquerque gas station back in 2002, the Chatter chamber music collective — a unique network of classical and neo-modern musicians and composers — is expanding their latest ChatterPDX offering in Portland, Oregon, and their East Coast affiliated GatherNYC. The New York chapter is announcing this week that after five years at the Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle, they are moving to a new venue, Jazzcultural, a jazz joint on W46th St in Manhattan.

GatherNYC concerts take place every Sunday at 11am and include a spoken word performance plus a two-minute celebration of silence in the middle of the show, a format pioneered by Chatter in Albuquerque. GatherNYC founder and cellist Laura Metcalf has been performing with Chatter for some 16 years, and her co-founder, husband and classical guitarist Rupert Boyd first performed there in 2013, which marked the debut of their cello + guitar duo Boyd Meets Girl. They have since performed as a duo around the world, released two albums and a third to be released in 2027.

Metcalf & Boyd, NYC (Photo by Harold Levine)

“The vibe, acoustics and intimate nature of the club make it the ideal venue for our upcoming season,” said Boyd. “Jazz and classical music are two vital art forms. So different, yet at their core, so similar, and we love the idea of each helping the other to thrive in New York City.”

Meanwhile, back at the mothership in New Mexico, Chatter launched a new series of casual evening performances on 6 September at Unit B, a popular jazz, blues and rock dinner club in Santa Fe. Called B-Sides (as in “besides our other shows”), the series is in addition to the group’s weekly morning events every Saturday in Santa Fe and Sunday in Albuquerque, their once a month Late Works performances of experimental, post-classical music on first Fridays every month and their dinner theatre classical Cabaret events on occasional Sundays at the Albuquerque Museum.

B-Sides Chatter at Unit B

David Felberg, violin, and Judith Gordon, piano played Christopher Cerrone’s Violin Sonata

The sold-out maiden voyage of B-Sides featured Metcalf and her Overlook Quartet performing chamber works by young contemporary composers Gabriella Smith and Kim Osberg. They were joined by ChatterPDX founder James Shields on clarinet for a brilliant Kenji Bunch composition. Shields also played his own solo jazz-infused work Duo No. 7 accompanied by Chatter founder and violinist David Felberg. Pianist extraordinaire Judith Gordon closed out the event with Felberg on works by Thomas Ades and Christopher Cerrone. Flutist Jesse Tatum made a surprising cameo performing a breathless, extraordinary recitation of the first part of Kurt Schwitters’ 1932 Dadaist sound poem Ursonate. The audience and the Unit B staff were spellbound during the entire show.

Overlook Quartet played Gabriella Smith’s “Carrot Revolution”

“When we heard we were having a classical show tonight, we didn’t expect this at all,” said Eli O’Brien, who was waiting tables and listening intently. “It was so totally different. Amazing.” His reaction was seconded by Unit B owner Dharm Skotting-Segal. “Absolutely brilliant,” he gushed. “An incredible new experience.”

I caught up with Shields on his long road trip back to Portland with his wife, violinist Emily Cole, a frequent cross-country journey for the couple. A former Principal Clarinet with the Oregon Symphony, Shields founded ChatterPDX in 2024 as an offshoot of the New Mexico operation and it is flourishing, attracting overflow audiences. In keeping with Chatter’s underground punk rock-like ethos, performances are held on Sunday mornings in a former men’s clothing warehouse in downtown Portland with occasional evening shows at the Gordon House, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed gem outside of town. ChatterPDX recently unveiled an ambitious composers in residence program in which select artists are commissioned to create new works that are premiered by Chatter in Portland, New Mexico and NYC, and are subsequently recorded, releasing an album every year.

Shields, Metcalf & Felberg

James Shields, clarinet, and David Felberg, violin, performed James Shields’ “Duo no. 7”

“We have multiple commissions that are three-year fellowships,” said Shields. “We’re giving them a brand new commission each year for three years, and we’re also playing their pre-existing works. We have three fellows at a time and they are on staggered entry, with one following after another.” Two current fellows, both born in the ’90s, are Kim Osberg and Akshaya Tucker, the latter’s cello and wind octet “That Amber Glow” premiered in New Mexico in August. Spoiler alert, pianist and popular young Chatter regular Luke Gullickson will be number three, official announcement forthcoming.

Shields is an exuberant, robust musician with an outgoing personality. He bravely bailed from his cushy symphony orchestra career because as he says, it was a better fit for him to be performing and managing on a more DIY level. “I came out of the pandemic, hit a wall, had performance anxiety and got a wake-up call that I needed to take a chance and see if Chatter would work in Portland. It became established so quickly, it was surprising.” The Portland organization now mounts almost 60 performances a year, often with 150 people or more in attendance.

Shields is an eloquent champion not only of classical music, but also its neo-modern or post classical subsets. Contrary to recent headlines in the popular press that bemoan an aging audience and slumping attendance at major venues like the Hollywood Bowl and the New York Philharmonic, he doesn’t believe classical music is “in crisis.” He’s optimistic that the culture is blossoming at a grassroots regional level as local chamber music outfits attract young musicians, composers and enthusiasts across the country, very much like Chatter.

“We’re now starting to have more impact and are more essential,” he said. “With larger institutions there is such a separation between everything, and specialization, which cuts off the people who are performing the music from the people who are deciding what’s going to be programmed and marketed. Chatter changes the paradigm. Our process is undertaken by a smaller group of people and there’s more overlap between the different roles. Audiences really resonate with that.”

Are there more Chatter chapters on the horizon?

“Occasionally, people will approach us and ask about it. Someone in Seattle was asking and someone in Detroit, but so far we have two offshoots that are working really well.”

Richard Linnett is a journalist, author and amateur horn player. He writes music reviews for The Strad and is the author of the non-fiction books The Eagle Mutiny and In the Godfather Garden: The Long Life and Times of Richie the Boot Boiardo. He lives in New Mexico.

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