New players and long time favorite artists opened the Concordia Chamber Players tenth season in New Hope recently. Woodwinds dominated the performance featuring Mozart, Bliss and Francaix.
Oboist, Rich Dallesio, Associate Musician with the Metropolitan Opera Company and formerly Principal Oboe for the Honolulu Symphony and the Virginia Symphony, a new addition to the Concordia players led the ensemble in a powerful presentation of Mozart’s Quartet, K.370 for oboe, violin, viola and cello. Joining him were other Concordia new comers, James Wilson, a cellist renowned for this “soulful” approach to music and Sunghae Anna Lim, who, as violinist of the new Millennium Ensemble, won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. Daniel Panner, Principal Violist for the New York City Opera and a Concordia regular completed the quartet.
An exceptionally spirited version of Jean Francaix’s Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon. A late addition to the program featured Dallesio. Marc Goldberg, Associate Principal Bassoon for the New York Philharmonic and Clarinetist, Todd Palmer, whose CD entitled Yiddishbuk was one of the top-selling recordings in 2002 and received two Grammy Award nominations.
In the Clarinet Quintet by Arthur Bliss the Concordia Chamber Players clearly demonstrated why musicologists have compared Bliss to Mozart and Brahms when discussing this particular genre. Violinist, Carmit Zori, a musical director for Bargemusic in New York City and a favorite of Concordia audiences, joined Palmer, Wilson, Lim and Panner in this composition that employs the full dynamism of each musical instrument for nearly its entire duration.
Concordia Players Rich Dallessio,
Marc Goldberg and Todd Palmer
Photo by Brian Keyes
The Concordia Chamber Players tenth season continues on January 21, 2007 at 3 PM in the Stephen Buck Theater at the New Hope-Solebury High School. Jeffrey Khaner, Principal Flutist for the Philadelphia Orchestra will join Michelle Djokic, cellist and Artistic Director of Concordia in works by Hector Villa Lobos and Peter Tchaikovsky. Tickets for the concert are $25 and can be purchased by calling 215-297-5972 or at www.Concordiaplayers.org. Children under twelve years of age are admitted free to Concordia concerts when accompanied by paying adult.
By Roy Ziegler