It’s not often that a chamber music group gets an auditorium built for the primary purpose of housing its concerts.

But that’s what happened in 1969, when Lincoln Center President William Schuman had a vision to build an auditorium that would be ideal for the performances of the esteemed Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Since Alice Tully Hall was built, the 20-member chamber group has climbed its way to the top of the chamber music ladder, earning a reputation as the premier repertory company for chamber music in America.

Tonight, five string players from the group will play an all-Mozart concert at the Ames City Auditorium hosted by the Ames Town and Gown Chamber Music Association.

“When I heard they were on tour doing all Mozart, I just jumped on it,” Town and Gown Artistic Director Paula Helmuth said. “It’s nice to have an opportunity to see a group that breaks down into different ensembles during the program.”

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center can definitely break down into quite a few ensembles.

Although only five string players from the Chamber Music Society will be playing in Ames, Helmuth said the current list of the Chamber Music Society musicians includes a variety of other instruments, such as a flute, oboe, bassoon and horn, among others.

From glancing at their list of instruments, it might seem possible for the group to play orchestral pieces instead of chamber music, but Helmuth said they never play all together.

“They never play as an orchestra,” Helmuth said. “They always play chamber music performances for their programming.”

Since the group only plays in small groups, whenever they get booked, all the members aren’t necessarily required to go along for the performance — only the ones who are needed for whatever repertory is planned.

Out of the five musicians playing in Ames (violinists Kavafian and Ida Levin; violist Toby Appel; cellist Ronald Thomas and pianist Lee Luvisi), only Kavafian and Luvisi are formal members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

The other three musicians are artists Helmuth said were simply “chosen to play on this tour.”

It takes good technique to be chosen to play on a tour, let alone be selected as a member of the formal group.

In most cases, artists have to establish themselves in the music community as solo performers before they are even considered as a candidate for membership in the society.

“The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is well-known as a group but also well-known individually,” Helmuth said.

And Helmuth can personally testify to the group’s excellence.

She has seen the group perform live many times in the past, both live and on the PBS series, “Live from Lincoln Center.”

In addition to performances and telecasts at their native Alice Tully Hall, members of the group can often be heard on National Public Radio broadcasts and their annual tours, which take them to over 40 cities in the United States and Canada.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform at the Ames City Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The concert is free for students and $15 for non-students.