Nancy Hirsch makes sure to get “de-stressed” once a month.
The La Grange Park resident doesn’t go to a spa or masseuse. She simply sits in a local church and hears local professionals perform during meetings of the Western Springs Music Club.
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“I will come here all frazzled with everything going on around me but the music provides stress relief,” Hirsch said. “It is like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.”
Club President Sophia Folley feels the same way, noting that the club has been a home for musical performers and music aficionados for 95 years.
“It is the continuation of something fascinating,” Folley, of Hinsdale, said the ongoing performances.
The club will celebrate its 95th anniversary with a free concert at 2 p.m. Jan. 24 at First Congregational Church, 1106 Chestnut St., Western Springs. Performances during The Gift of Music concert will cover a range of musical style and periods. Performances will be by Jason Deroche (guitar), Margaret Hilgendorf (piano), Jennifer Petkus (clarinet), Steve Sigurdson (cello), Victor Sotelo (cello), Karin Ursin (flute), James Winfield (organ) and the Western Springs Music Club Chorale.
Longtime club member Kathryn Price said the club is the oldest continuous organization in the village other than women’s societies and church groups.
Price said that the group restricted its membership to geographic boundaries when it used to meet in members’ home, noting that no one’s home could handle more than 40 people showing up for a meeting and performance. The club opened its enrollment, including allowing men as of 2011, once meetings were moved to local churches.
“In the 1980s, I brought up the idea of allowing men in,” Price said.
Eight men are now members of the club.
“They are extremely talented,” Folley said of the male performers.
Folley played piano for 14 years while growing up and was invited to a club meeting when she and her husband moved to the area.
Price said the club’s gatherings are meetings in name only. They meet at 12:45 p.m. and the program begins at 1 p.m. the Western Springs resident said.
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month from September through May in Western Springs, Hinsdale and La Grange churches on a rotating basis.
Monthly meetings conclude with tea on silver service and homemade cookies, Hirsch said.
Hirsch admits to being one of the least musically tenured members of the club, having only played the piano as a child and dating a guy whose parents were both musicians who held concerts in their home. When Hirsch joined the club, meetings still included home performances, which got her attention.
“I love classical music,” she said.
In February, the club presents its annual Piano Festival Repertoire, which provides two scholarships to young performers. Entries are still being accepted for the festival. Information can be obtained from Nola Gustafson at 708-246-6839.
Price, who joined the club in the 1960s, had been a music teacher in La Grange Park, After she left the position when having her first child, she was asked to start up a choir at her church. She was then invited to a music club meeting and has been part of the group ever since.
About one-third of the 90 club members are professional musicians who live in the area. Professionals in the club include cellists, violinists, harpists and vocalists. Some members are substitutes for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Some have performed at Ravinia.
The rest of the club members are sustaining members, individuals with a music background or simply a love of music.
Members include Lilly Schaber, who is more than 100 years old and did a violin performance at age 98.
Price hopes First Congregational Church is packed for the Jan. 24 concert.
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“The Gift of Music is our gift to the community,” she said.
For information on the concert or the club, contact Sophia Folley at 630-205-5083.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.