Manhattan Chamber Players

Sanibel Music Festival Dr. Richard E. Rodda Program Notes for the
March 5, Manhattan Chamber Players Concert

The Manhattan Chamber Players is a chamber music collective of New York-based musicians who share the common aim of performing the greatest works in the chamber repertoire at the highest level. Formed in 2015 by Artistic Director and violist Luke Fleming, MCP comprises an impressive roster of musicians who all come from the traditions of great music-making at the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Institute at Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, and Perlman Music Program, and are former students of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, Colburn School, and New England Conservatory.

At the core of MCP’s inspiration is its members’ joy in playing their richly varied repertoire with longtime friends and colleagues with whom they have been performing since they were students. Its roster allows for the programming of the entire core string, wind, and piano chamber music repertoire — from piano duos to clarinet quintets to string octets. While all its members have independent careers as soloists and chamber musicians, they strive for every opportunity to come together and again share in this special collaboration.

Members of MCP are current and former members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble Connect, the Aizuri, Attacca, Dover, Escher, Vega, and Ying Quartets, the Aletheia, Appassionata, and Lysander Piano Trios, and Imani Winds. They are top prizewinners in the Banff, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, Melbourne, Naumburg, Osaka, Primrose, Queen Elisabeth, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Tertis, and Young Concert Artists Competitions, and are some of the most sought-after solo and chamber performers of their generation.

The Manhattan Chamber Players have been featured multiple times on NPR’s Performance Today and are Ensemble-in-Residence at both the Festival de Febrero in Mexico and Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans. In addition to its numerous concerts across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, MCP regularly tours in Asia and the Middle East and has led chamber music residency programs at institutions throughout the country and abroad. manhattanchamberplayers.com

© Dr. Richard E. Rodda 2023

Manhattan Chamber Players Reviews

“An intensely wrought and burnished performance…Overall, I wished I could put them on repeat.”
– Strings Magazine

“MCP’s musicianship was stunning, their energy was palpable, and the sheer joy they brought to the stage was truly special. It is not overstating it to say that this ensemble represents some of the best in chamber music playing today.”
– Minnesota Beethoven Festival

“The Manhattan Chamber Players have been consistently delivering some of the most refined and intelligently programmed chamber music performances around.”
– The Strad

“This ensemble’s nature and practices constitute proof against complacency and stagnation. They achieved as precise ensemble as you’d ever want to hear.”
– The Boston Music Intelligencer

“Energetic, expressive and assertive, the MCP players pointed up contrasts and shadings in a mellifluous blend of vigorous intensity and dramatic import…[they] performed with enthusiasm, technical facility, and impressive balance, relishing distinctions, as part of a winning performance.”
– Classical Source

“Manhattan Chamber Players offer their audience the best of all possible worlds: top musicianship, diverse repertoire, and a flexible lineup that allows for just about any combination of instruments. We value our relationship with MCP and eagerly await their next return to our stage!”
– Red Bank Chamber Music Society

“The Manhattan Chamber Players transport audiences. Superb artists all, their desire to inform people about the music they play takes audiences to exciting new places. Their joy in performance easily floods a hall, and the music they make together, as artists and as friends, is simply thrilling.”
– Chappaquiddick Music Festival

“A fascinating program concept…It felt refreshingly like an auditory version of a vertical wine tasting.”
– Strings Magazine

“…insane precision …flawless …deep well of joy…”
The Berkshire Edge

“…the eloquent melodies sang nobly forth, and the rippling notes rippled with spring-like friskiness.”
Calgary Herald

More at https://www.facebook.com/manhatttanchamberplayers/reviews