The Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival has hit a high note with a promotional poster designed by the famous graphic artist Milton Glaser.

The poster was created for CCMF, but extends to all of the local arts organization with a message printed across the bottom in capital letters: Cooperstown is a Summer Arts Celebration. The Smithy-Pioneer Gallery, Hyde Hall, The Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmers' Museum, The Leatherstocking Theatre Company, Glimmerglass Opera and the Cooperstown Art Association share space with the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival on the poster, which depicts tuxedo-clad cows holding violins beneath a dusky sky and foliage.

Glaser's intention, when he approached the project, was to capture the local summer arts scene and strip away the stuffy associations people might have with chamber music, he said. He struck that chord perfectly.

The "I (Love) N.Y." campaign is Glaser's best-known work, and this year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of that design. After September 11, Glaser said his feeling of helplessness was just like everyone else's, and this emotion spurred him to make changes to the logo. He smoked the heart and added three words to the famous statement. It became I Love N.Y. More Than Ever.

"Everyone took it personally," he said. "People wanted to change their lives. It's like when someone you know dies and you get a whole new appreciation for that person. When you have a feeling of impotency like that, you have to respond."

Linda Chesis, artistic director of CCMF, said Glaser is a genius for that quality, which enables him to interpret what kind of image is best suited to his purpose.

"When Milton and I met in October to begin the process, and I described the community to him, it was clear we both wanted something that promoted all of the arts in Cooperstown and increased awareness of the extraordinary breadth of cultural activity in an area which may not be always recognized in that way," she said.

Carl Fisherman, who lives in Cooperstown and has known Glaser since high school, said there was some talk of turning the O's in Cooperstown into baseballs on the poster, but the idea was shot down.

He has great admiration for the evolution of his friend's work over time, and said that Glaser graduated from straight graphic design years ago and has designed the layout of magazines and the look of some of New York City's most illustrious restaurants and hot spots, like The Four Seasons and The Rainbow Room.

He also had a hand in the design of Windows on the World, the restaurant with the famous wine cellar that fell with the World Trade Center.

"He does a lot of imaginative and important work," said Fisherman. "He has also written great books. He has artistic talent, honed to solve the problem, what's the message I'm trying to deliver and to whom? Here, it's chamber music. People think it's stuffy but how much more down to earth can you get than cows in tuxedos playing music? It's for everyone."

"I wanted the poster to be charming, instructive or didactic, not a photograph of the area with the typical foliage. I wanted it to be an idea that's slightly incongruous, to share a joke with the viewers," Glaser said.

One day was all Glaser needed after speaking with Chesis to nail the concept down.

"The festival is only in its fourth season, but musically is on the same level as other well-known regional

festivals - such as Santa Fe, Chamber Music Northwest, Maverick Concerts, Norfolk etc. Everyone knows that Cooperstown has a world class opera - I hope that the poster will spread the word that great chamber music can be heard here, as well," said Chesis.

She sums the festival up with a quote from Leonard Bernstein following the assassination of President Kennedy, "This will be our response to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."

Janet Erway, director of the Cooperstown Art Association, said that there's never been a cohesive presentation of all the local arts organizations like this before, especially one with such visual impact.

"We can all benefit from this poster," Erway said. "It's great to present such a unified force for the summer arts in Cooperstown."

Jane Duel, chief administrative officer of NYSHA and The Farmers' Museum, said "We're incredibly privileged to have Milton Glaser. His interest is exciting and really, this is a great poster."

Glaser intended the poster to be used as a fundraising effort for the CCMF, and donors of $100 or more will receive a poster. A limited edition of the signed collector's item will be available for donations of $350 or more.

The poster is being sold at the Cooperstown Art Association and at the museum shops at The Farmers' Museum and Fenimore Art Museum. People interested in displaying the poster can write to CoopMusicFest@hotmail.com.

The five CCMF summer evening concerts will be preceded by intimate pre-concert chats at 7:30. Concerts begin at 8. August 10 is Summer Romance; August 14, The Tokyo String Quartet; August 17, A Musical Feast, Schubert's "Trout" Quintet and Other Delights; August 21, American Spirit featuring Copland's Appalachian Spring and August 24, French Impressions, music of Debussy and Ravel.

August 15 at 11 a.m. and August 22 at the same time are the dates for the Family Fest concerts.

These events will be held at the Farmers' Museum.

For information on special outdoor concerts and artist information, visit the CCMF website at www.CooperstownMusicFest.org.

For more information on making donations or purchasing tickets call 1-888-547-1450.