Chamber Music 2000 is a project initiated by the Schubert Ensemble of London to commission a large number of works for piano and strings from leading composers, suitable for playing by young and amateur musicians. The aims of the project are to encourage chamber music playing, especially among students, and also to give young musicians and amateur players the opportunity to experience at first hand the works of living composers. Composers are invited to write short pieces for piano and strings, pitched at the easiest technical level for which they feel able to write, while still preserving the integrity and individuality of their own musical language. Since the start of the project in 1998, several hundred students have worked on and performed these pieces, and several thousand more have heard them in performance.