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Music spanning three centuries featuring works by Beethoven, Ernst Von Dohnanyi and Paul Moravec (b. 1957) will be performed at the Trinity Church by the Concordia Chamber Players on March 22. Beethoven’s Serenade in D major, Opus 8, for String Trio will open the program with Concordia regulars, Carmit Zori on violin, Robert Rinehart on viola and artistic director Michelle Djokic on cello. Beethoven’s musical genius and his creative abilities virtually transformed every aspect of music that he touched. He died in 1827, however, his genius inspired composers in the later part of the 19th century and beyond. His music, in many ways considered revolutionary, was both an inspiration for the conservative and radical composers to follow. Following the Serenade will be the New Hope premiere of Sonata for Violin and Piano by American composer, Paul Moravec, recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music and one of the most sought after composers of our time. Concordia is proud to present the world renown Bachmann – Klibonoff Duo in this performance. Their world premiere recording of Moravec’s Sonata can be heard on their BMG/RCA Red Seal recording. Moravec has composed music for film, orchestras, chamber and choral groups. His music …

Concordia Chamber Players Presents Bachmann – Klibonoff Duo in Concert READ MORE »

Concordia Chamber Players Gala and Musicale January 9 Concert January 11  Ken Cooper Plays Fortepiano Madrigals arranged for String Quartet Oh Gesualdo, Divine Tormentor  by Carlo Gesualdo Viola da Gamba Sonata in G minor #3 by Johann Sebastian Bach Piano Quartet K478 by Wolfgang Mozart Kenneth Cooper – fortepiano Carmit Zori, Yoon Kwon – violin Robert Rinehart – viola, Michelle Djokic – cello 3:00 Sunday, January 11 Trinity Church Solebury 6587 Upper York Road at Sugan Road Solebury, PA 18963 Gala Dinner and Musicale January 9, 2009 7:00pm Cradle Valley Farm 6454 Meetinghouse Road, Solebury, PA Join us Friday evening before our January concert for a remarkable performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat narrated by WWFM host Glenn Smith and played by Todd Palmer – clarinet, Marc Goldberg – bassoon Carl Albach – trumpet, Yoon Kwon – violin, Tim Cobb – bass John Rojak – trombone, Daniel Druckman – percussion Conducted by Princeton Festival Artistic Director Richard Tang Yuk The setting is the elegant concert barn at Cradle Valley Farm, one of Bucks County’s most beautiful homes. The evening will begin with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails followed by music, and then a gourmet dinner. Tickets for this very special event are $150 and help support …

Concordia Chamber Players Gala and Musicale READ MORE »

Concordia Players rehearse the Taylor Clarinet Quintet Frank Huang, Carmit Zori, Anthony McGill Michelle Djokic and David Cerutti at Concordia Chamber Players concert November 16 Anthony McGill, who has played with Concordia Chamber Players several times, most recently November 16, 2008, will play with several classical music stars at the inauguration January 20. The following are quotes from the New York Times article about the inauguration. John Williams, the composer whose music was heard at Mr. Obama’s victory party on election night in Grant Park, will compose a new piece to be played for the incoming president. His new piece will be played by Mr. Perlman on violin, Mr. Ma on cello, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet. (Usually at this juncture in previous inaugurations an operatic soloist performs.) Here are brief biographies of those who will be participating in the inaugural program, provided by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Anthony McGill is the principal clarinetist of the New York Metropolitan Orchestra, a member of the Peabody Conservatory faculty in clarinet, and a much sought after soloist and chamber musician. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, he is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher …

Anthony McGill will play at the Inauguration, January 20 READ MORE »

Concordia Players rehearse the Taylor Clarinet Quintet Frank Huang, Carmit Zori, Anthony McGill Michelle Djokic and David Cerutti By Roy Ziegler Photo Ray Kinlock The rapt audience at the Concordia Chamber Players concert on Sunday, November 16, owed a great debt to one of their own members who had suggested Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet to Concordia’s Artistic Director, Michelle Djokic, for the performance. It is a work written by Taylor about a hundred years ago while he was a student at the Royal College of Music. Rarely heard, this composition was brought to life by Concordia’s ensemble. The Metropolitan Opera’s principal clarinetist, Anthony McGill’s brilliantly bubbling clarinet in the first movement stirred the strings to a profound contemplative state before ending in a kind of Halleluiah chorus in the scherzo. Frank Huang and Carmit Zori, violinists and Michelle Djokic, cellist with David Cerutti, violist, presented a triumphant finale that was a prime example of how music can stir the deepest feelings of expression. In the Gideon Trio, Djokic, Zori and Robert Rinehart, violist with the New York Philharmonic, began with a frenzied, almost aimless rush that suddenly lost energy ending in a deep, pensive state. Then, the second movement …

Concordia Presents Taylor Quintet With An Intriguing Sense Of Contemplation READ MORE »

[column col=”1/2″] Clarinetist Anthony McGill[/column] [column col=”1/2″] Violin Virtuoso Frank Huang [/column] By Roy Ziegler One generally thinks immediately of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when discussing composers whose great careers ended far too soon by their tragic early deaths. But, unfortunately, there were many other gifted classical composers whose great talents were silenced in the midst of promising careers. On Sunday, November 16 at 3:00 PM at the Trinity Church in Solebury, the Concordia Chamber Players will pay homage to three such composers whose early exits from this life undoubtedly deprived the world of countless musical treasures. Samuel Coleridge Taylor, an African-British composer and a fellow student of Vaughn Williams, wrote his famous Clarinet Quintet after being challenged by Williams to compose a work that would match Brahms. Some music critics believe that Taylor succeeded with this beautifully expressive, heartfelt charming quintet. Pneumonia claimed Taylor’s life when he was just thirty-seven years old. The Metropolitan Opera’s brilliant young principal clarinetist, Anthony McGill, will be featured in this performance just two months after the composition was presented at the BBC Proms 2008. Gideon Klein’s String Trio is a celebration of the human spirit’s undying drive to express its soul to the world regardless …

Brilliant, Life-Affirming Works Of Three Composers Who Met Early Deaths To Be Featured By Concordia Chamber Players READ MORE »

Frank Huang By Roy Ziegler Frank Huang, the exciting Chinese-born American violinist, will headline the Concordia Chamber Players concert on Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 PM at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury. Huang, who debuted with the Houston Symphony Orchestra at the age of eleven, has gone on to win many of the top prizes music competition. Michelle Djokic, Artistic Director for Concordia, was enthusiastic as she spoke about Huang’s impending performance with her ensemble. “Frank is one of the most exciting and sought-after violin virtuosos in the world right now, and we are so fortunate to have him join our program for this inspiring concert,” said Djokic. The influence of folk music on composers can be seen in most great composers of classical music. Bela Bartok conducted extensive research to help him understand the music of his homeland and surrounding areas. The works have continued to inspire compositions in their rich, rhythmic and tonal fabric. His Duos for Violin keenly exemplify this deep understanding of melodies that have been passed down from generation to generation in his native Hungary. Huang will be joined by Carmit Zori, popular violinist who has performed with Concordia in many concerts over the …

Concordia Concert to Explore Folk Music Influence on Eastern European Composers READ MORE »

By Roy Ziegler Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premiered the first trio for violin, viola and Cello ever written for classic chamber music about 220 years ago treating the instruments as absolute equals. Eric Ewazen first presented his Trio for Trumpet, Cello and piano about 220 days ago. So, the stage is set for a remarkable afternoon of wonderful contrasts in musical composition at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury on Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 PM. Mozart’s Divertimento for String Trio, K563 is an intensive, yet intimate journey through one of the great composer’s masterpieces. It exemplifies his unique ability for treating a simple melody with such freedom in the variations that completely different melodies seem to be heard. The great Mozart gift for flawless counterpoint is another great treat which this work offers the listener. Ewazen’s work is one of the only works for trumpet, cello and piano. The Ukrainian composer premiered the work in Zagreb, Croatia earlier this year. “I’m delighted to be presenting my Trio here in New Hope,” he said. “The U.S. premier of my work featured Chris Gekker, who will perform with Concordia,” he noted .The masterful trumpet playing of Chris Gekker, in a performance of …

Concordia Concert Will Present Contrasting Trios by Mozart and Ewazen READ MORE »

Anthony McGill, ClarinetistBy Roy Ziegler The Concordia Chamber Players returns for its eleventh season on Sunday, November 11 at 3:00 PM at its new concert venue in the Trinity Church on Upper York and Sugan Roads featuring one of the nation’s bright, young and dynamic concert virtuosos. Anthony McGill, the Principal Clarinetist for the Metropolitan Opera Company, received the Avery Fisher Career Grant and has gone on to become one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians in the country. Mr. McGill has recently appeared at the Music @ Menlo and Marlboro Music Festivals. He has described his position with the Metropolitan Opera Company as a dream come true that inspires him every day. The Sunday afternoon program will portray a journey through the great romantic tradition of Viennese chamber music of the late 19th century. It opens with the Trio in d minor by Alexander Zemlinsky for piano, clarinet and cello in what Mr. McGill described as work, “…with it’s sweeping melodies and wonderful lines takes you away to a different world. It’s one of the great pieces for this combination of instruments.” The work was not only inspired by Brahms’ well loved clarinet trio, but was greatly …

Metropolitan Opera Clarinetist Joins Concordia Chamber Players In Opening Concert READ MORE »

May, 2007 Jim McClelland The Concordia Chamber Players, New Hope’s premier chamber ensemble, has announced the election of several new members of its Board of Directors and a new President, Candace Jones. Jones has been a member of the Board and is a resident of Solebury for thirty years and is a life-long student of the piano. She also serves on the Boards of The Riverside Symphonia and The Buckingham Friends School. She is a partner at The Princeton Family Center . New board members include Linda Kenyon, who moved from Washington, D.C. in 2003 and lives in a converted barn in Solebury. As an actress, she has developed a one-woman show, A Life of My Own – Meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, which she has performed locally. She has done voice-overs for specials on The Discovery Channel and her voice is heard as narrator at The U.S. Holocaust Museum; The Postal Museum; The Civil Rights Museum and The Gettysburg Visitor’s Center. She sings in The Trinity Episcopal Church Choir. Jim McClelland is a free-lance Bucks County writer, whose whole career has been in Arts administration, including The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and The Curtis Institute of Music. He is the author …

Concordia Players Announce New Board Members, New President READ MORE »

FIRESIDE GALA  Friday Evening, January 19, 2007 7:00pm CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF FINE MUSICAL PROGRAMMING Music for Flute, Piano & Cello Jeffrey Khaner, flute Michelle Djokic, cello Charles Abramovic, piano   COCKTAILS MUSIC DINNER In the Intimate Setting of one of Solebury’s Quintessential Bucks County Homes Details are on the back of this page. And check out the exciting programs there for our coming season, including our next season concert January 21. You can order tickets for all using the form below, or by calling 215-297-5972. Fireside Gala 2007  The home of Linda Kenyon 3015 North Sugan Road, Solebury, PA 2nd house on the left just North of Sugan Road Park in the Trinity Church Parking Lot on Sugan Road Friday, January 19, 2007, 7:00pm Join us for this magical afternoon of music and friendship by fireside in one of Bucks County’s remarkable homes. The evening begins with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, then a little night music for flute, cello and piano, topped off by a gourmet dinner. Concordia Season 2006-2007  Sundays at 3:00pm Stephen Buck Theater, 180 West Bridge Street, New Hope, PA   January 21, 2007  Jet Whistle for Cello and Flute Heitor Villa Lobos Sonata for Flute and …

Join us for a Special Fireside Gala Cocktails, Music, Dinner Friday, January 19, 2007 READ MORE »