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Sam Reider & The Human Hands were a hit at our first ever Concordia SummerFest on Friday, June 10, 2022. Sam was joined by Eddie Barbash on saxophone and Roy Williams on guitar. We were entertained with their unique style of modern folk music which got a few toes tapping, heads were bopping, and smiles all around.  Graced with perfect early summer weather, we were greeted with refreshing wine and beer along with nibbles. This was followed by a lively performance by Sam Reider & The Human Hands and, finally, a fabulous dinner feast. As always, the tranquil setting of Cradle Valley Farm made the night indeed magical. https://concordiaplayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SummerFest-2022-IMG_6555.mov And for anyone who just couldn’t bear to leave quite yet and wanted the evening linger on just a little longer… there was this special night cap courtesy of Sam and Eddie! https://concordiaplayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SummerFest-2022-IMG_8997.mov

from the Bucks County Herald Concordia Chamber Players closes out the season by presenting “Seven Pillars” by Andy Akiho, which has been nominated for two Grammy awards – Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Best Contemporary Classical Composition. The concert, performed by Brooklyn, N.Y.,-based Sandbox Percussion Ensemble, will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at The Solebury School Performing Arts Center, 6832 Phillips Mill Road, New Hope (Solebury Township). “Seven Pillars” is a “boldly genre-defying” audio and video collaboration for percussion quartet. The work consists of seven ensemble movements and one solo movement for each member of Sandbox. The evening-length work is the largest-scale chamber music work that Akiho has written and that Sandbox has commissioned. Akiho and Sandbox’s ongoing collaboration for “Seven Pillars” has continued on and off for eight years. It has been a labor of love between friends and toward the end of the project, Akiho and Sandbox expanded the collaborative circle. The form of “Seven Pillars” mirrors the ambitious nature of this multimedia work. The seven main movements function as a palindrome, with the music and their corresponding films highlighting the relationships between the various movements. Akiho composed “Pillar II” while staying at Cradle …

Concordia presents Grammy award nominated “Seven Pillars” READ MORE »

Featured Article by Lori Goldstein from the Bucks County Herald The Concordia Chamber Players will be as excited as their loyal audience to return to Trinity Church in Solebury at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 6. The concert, conceived by cellist and Artistic Director Michelle Djokic, includes compositions by four female living composers. Long before the 2020 presidential elections, Djokic was assembling the program. “When Kamala Harris was nominated and then elected, I was so empowered. … I thought that this was the right time for this to happen … and when I saw International Women’s Day was on the calendar, it just worked beautifully. Somehow maybe it was meant to be this way.”International Women’s Day is March 8.Grammy-nominated Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte will open the program. Shaw is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. “When I’m playing her music and I’ve read what she’s shared on her blog and webpage, that’s exactly her,” says Djokic. “Much of her music relates to older music. It’s not that she’s copying anybody, but she has a unique way of embracing the older sound in a completely new fashion, making it her own.” Entr’acte was originally written for and performed by the …

A concert for March: Concordia Players highlight women READ MORE »

On WDVR’s Creative Conversations, Mandee Hammerstein interviews Grammy-nominated cellist and Artistic Director of the Concordia Chamber Players, Michelle Djokic. Together, Mandee and Michelle discuss Djokic’s lifelong passion for chamber music, art, the inspiring beauty of New Hope, as well as the collaborative process when commissioning world-premieres from CP’s roster of Grammy Award-winning & nominated talent. The Concordia Chamber players is a nonprofit organization in Solebury, PA and additionally offers complimentary, public rehearsal performances prior to each performance. Upcoming in-person and digital stage concerts are set for March 6th and April 24th, 2022. More at www.concordiaplayers.org Listen in at https://wdvrfm.org/creative-conversations

Here at Concordia Chamber Players we believe in presenting treasures of the chamber music repertoire while also presenting performers and composers that speak to the times. The 2022 Grammy Awards have recognized two of our featured composers Andy Akiho (April 24), and Caroline Shaw (March 6), with a nomination for Best Contemporary Composition. Clarice Assad who created Concordia’s first commission Obrigado is also a 2022 nominee for Best Contemporary Composition.  The NY Times recently featured the collaboration of SandBox Percussion and composer Andy Akiho’s Seven Pillars.  “Akiho has an uncanny gift for intricate rhythmic counterpoint, though the mathematical precision of the final product emerged through epic stretches of stream-of-consciousness play.” — New York Times Sandbox Percussion’s recording of Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho is a 2022 Grammy nominee for Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance. The praise and recognition just keeps coming with the most recent inclusion of Pillar III in the NY Times 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2021.  Concordia is thrilled to present the award-winning Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho performed by Sandbox Percussion on our April 24th subscription concert. What they failed to mention in all the articles is that Andy Akiho composed Pillar IIIright here at Cradle Valley Farm after performing at our 2020 WinterFest celebration!  We are very proud of the …

Award Winning Composers from Concordia’s Past Performances READ MORE »