The Bard Center Presents The Da Capo Chamber Players in "Philadelphia Story"

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Da Capo Chamber Players present a program entitled “Philadelphia Story” on Wednesday, October 28, at 8 p.m. The performance takes place in Olin Hall on the Bard College campus, and is free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary.

“Philadelphia Story” is an acoustic tour through the city of musical independence and brotherly love. The program includes Jacob Druckman’s Come Round, Cynthia Folio’s Developing Hues, Matthew Greenbaum’s Dance Moments, Jennifer Higdon’s wissahickon poeTrees, and James Primosch’s Dancepiece. The members of Da Capo are: André Emelianoff, cello; Curtis Macomber, violin; Blair McMillen, piano; Patricia Spencer, flute; and Meighan Stoops, clarinet. Guest artists for this performance are Matthew Gold, percussion, and James Baker, conductor.

The Naumburg Award–winning, internationally acclaimed Da Capo Chamber Players embody an exciting legacy of musical directions: openness to a wide spectrum of styles of new music and a special dedication to working with composers. The group’s annual Merkin Concert Hall series has been called “superb” and “gripping” in the New York Times. Da Capo has played a major role in building a strong repertoire of present-day American chamber music, pointing with pride to well over 100 chamber music works written especially for the group. Dynamic interaction with composers has been part of Da Capo’s artistic identity from the beginning, when composer Joan Tower was pianist and a founding member of the group. Da Capo has been in residence at Bard College for more than two decades, and since 2006 has been ensemble in residence with the Composition Program of The Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Guest Artists

Matthew Gold is a principal player in the multimedia chamber group Sequitur, Glass Farm Ensemble, IFCP ensemble, and a codirector of the TimeTable percussion trio. An advocate of new music, he has commissioned and premiered numerous new works. He has performed frequently with the Da Capo Chamber Players, New York New Music Ensemble, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Washington Square Ensemble, ISCM Chamber Players, Ahn Trio, SEM Ensemble, and New Juilliard Ensemble, and has been a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. He appears regularly with the Mark Morris Dance Group and New York City Ballet, and was the percussionist for the Lincoln Center Theater production The Light in the Piazza. Mr. Gold is also an instructor of percussion at Williams College, where he directs the Williams Percussion Ensemble, codirects the in-residence new music ensemble, and serves as principal percussionist in the Berkshire Symphony. 

James Baker is principal percussionist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. He is music director and conductor of the Composers’ Conference at Wellesley College, and director of the percussion ensemble at Mannes College The New School for Music. Mr. Baker is guest conductor of the Slee Sinfonietta at the Institute for 21st Century Music in Buffalo. He regularly conducts both the New York New Music Ensemble and Speculum Musicae. This past season, he led the Cygnus Ensemble in concerts in New York and California, and Ensemble 21 in a Composers’ Portraits concert at Miller Theater. He has conducted concerts at the Transit New Music festival in Leuven, Belgium; at the Beijing Modern Music Festival; at the Monday Night concerts in Los Angeles; and at concerts around the United States, Asia, and Europe.

The concerts of the Da Capo Chamber Players are made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. They are also made possible with private funds from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Amphion Foundation, ASCAP, BMI Foundation, Hulbert Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer’s Cary New Music Performance Fund, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and generous individuals.

All programs are subject to change. For additional information, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425, or go to www.dacapochamberplayers.org.

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October 9, 2009

This event was last updated on 10-14-2009

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