As Betsey Puth describes her heartfelt relationship with the Music Institute of Chicago and her good friend, Barbara Schmitt, her lively eyes match the vivid blues in the china circling her living room.
Puth became increasingly interested in the Music Institute in the 1990s after attending the January Series. Schmitt, first introduced to the Music Institute through former president Frank Little, said she was looking for a small organization close to home where she felt her efforts could create a bigger impact.
Both women ended up joining the Board of the Music Institute, and both ended up chairing Gala in turn. Ultimately, both Puth and Schmitt wanted to make a difference and thought the Annual Fund particularly needed help.
Therefore, in 2003, Puth and Schmitt founded the Patron Society, whose $1,500 threshold entitles members to elegant soirees, garden parties, newsletters and at least three Patron Society sponsored performances at Nichols Concert Hall per year. The model harkens back to the genteel times when patrons more regularly sponsored musicians, ensuring artists the stability to pursue their dreams and showcase their talents.
The Patron Society’s rapid growth proves that members have indeed enjoyed the extended “family” of musicians and supporters of music that they joined. Since its inception, Patron Society membership has grown by nearly 75 percent! Schmitt and Puth developed the concept of the annual soiree, a special component of Patron Society membership, in 2004. Puth particularly loves these annual events, which feature MIC student performances, conversation and refreshments in an elegant home.
“These music-filled, magical evenings in spectacular private settings are so memorable,” she says, “that our only concern is that we will run out of houses that can accommodate us.”
Music has been a many-generation love affair in both the Puth and Schmitt families.
“I grew up playing the piano, as did my mother and grandmother,” Puth says. “My granddaughters in New York and Washington D.C. also play.”
Speaking of her granddaughters, she beams with pride.
“Two years ago, when my Washington granddaughter, Annika, was 8, and visiting here, we stopped by Nichols Hall. She played what she could of Beethoven’s Fifth on that spectacular Steinway. Annika pronounced that ‘this is going to be the best day in my book of memories!’”
Schmitt also grew up playing piano, as did her children and grandchildren. Her grandsons Parker and John both study at MIC. And, in fact, Parker expressed a strong desire to play the piano at the tender age of 3.
“At age seven his mother Allison signed him up for lessons with some trepidation,” Schmitt said, “but it turned out to be a great success. Parker is now a senior in high school and still studying music. It was a particular delight to hear my grandsons perform at Nichols Hall on the American Steinway donated by our family. We are so grateful to Parker and John’s teacher, Mrs. Harris, for her patience, perseverance and guidance.”
It has certainly been the Music Institute of Chicago’s splendid fortune to have these remarkable friends working together on its behalf. But don’t expect much acknowledgment of this by either of these other-centered women.
Both demur: “We have gotten so much from this, and don’t think it is worthy of an award. Everybody works hard.”
