EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Mad Cow disease broke out in Britain.

Dallas won the Super Bowl.

Colorado took home the Stanley Cup.

New York, unfortunately, claimed victory in another World Series.

Tupac died from four gunshot wounds. "The English Patient" wowed moviegoers. "Angela's Ashes" captured readers. Janet Jackson signed an $80 million deal with Virgin Records.

And the Andover Chamber Music Series was born. Julie Scolnik and her husband Michael Brower had recently moved to Andover and realized the town's mixture of geography and culture would make a perfect spot for a chamber music series.

"Almost immediately, I was reading a little thing in the Andover Townsman that the local cultural council had a deadline the next day for grants," said Scolnik. "I just had this little impulse that we would apply for a grant, and my husband and I put together a proposal and we got it, so then we were committed."

Scolnik, a flutist, used her connections to recruit world-class musicians for the series, which flourished over the years, moving from the West Parish Church in Andover to the Rogers Center for the Arts.

"We had about 200 people at our first concert, and by the next one, we were turning people away," said Scolnik, remembering one crowd at the church that was so big she had to seat people on the stage.

"The Rogers Center was being completed around that time, with about 600 (seats), and it was about perfect," she said.

These days, the series draws its audience from as far away as an hour from Andover in all directions. They've started an outreach program with the local Boys and Girls Club and have started releasing live performances on CD.

"Mostly I feel people are really proud of having this cultural jewel in their landscape," Scolnik said. "I never stop getting e-mails from people saying how lucky they are having world-class music at home."

What she and her husband started out of their home has blossomed into a very active board of directors and an army of local volunteers that Scolnik believes could sustain the program without her.

"We are trying to give it a life of its own, and it's getting more and more that way," she said.

For tomorrow night's opening event of the season "Sense and Sensibility," Scolnik will be playing with the Brentano String Quartet in a concert of works by Haydn, Reicha and Brahms.

"Originally I called it 'Sense and Sensibility II,' because we had another concert, based on the same concept, (bridging the Age of Reason and the Romantic Era), and I like catchy titles," Scolnik said. "But I figured for people who never came to the first one, they wouldn't know what I was talking about. Our audience has new people all the time."

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has been singled out for its technical brilliance, musical insight and stylistic elegance. The quartet-in-residence at Princeton University, New York University and Wigmore Hall in Great Britain, the group has received numerous honors, including the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award.

"I want to make sure people know I still bring in really exciting guests," Scolnik said. "We did three concerts with Mistral, our ensemble in residence, last year and I wanted to bring in more guest artists this year."

Scolnik knows all of the musicians in the quartet by reputation, and when she had the chance to rehearse with them, she knew she made the right decision.

"They are really fun to work with, they have a great sense of humor, great ideas and a lot of energy," she said.

If you go:

What: Andover Chamber Music Series

When: Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College in North Andover

How: Tickets are $25 to $30. Call 978-474-6222, go to www.andoverchambermusic.org or in person at the group's office at 91 Main St., Andover