THE AMERICAN CHAMBER PLAYERS, among today’s most exciting and innovative chamber music ensembles, began in 1985 as a core group of artists of the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival. The ensemble performs repertoire ranging from familiar masterpieces to neglected gems and newly commissioned American works, and their programs with varied instrumental combinations have been as enthusiastically praised. They have toured throughout North America and to Paris for a series of special gala concerts at the Paris Opera and Bibliothèque Nationale. For many years, the ACP was Visiting Artists in Residence at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach and the Resident Ensemble of the Kreeger Museum June Chamber Festival in Washington, D.C. They have also been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and on radio stations throughout the United States. The ACP first performed for the Sanibel Music Festival in 2001.
MILES HOFFMAN is Founder and Artistic Director of The American Chamber Players, and as a violist won prizes in the National Arts Club and Washington International Competitions, made his New York recital debut in 1979 at the 92nd Street Y, and has since appeared frequently around the country in recital, as a chamber musician, and as soloist with many orchestras. In 1982 he founded the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival, which he directed for nine years, leading to the formation of the American Chamber Players. His musical commentary, Coming to Terms, was heard weekly throughout the United States for thirteen years (1989-2002) on NPR’s Performance Today; he is now Music Commentator for National Public Radio’s flagship news program, Morning Edition, where he is regularly heard by a national audience of nearly 14 million people. Mr. Hoffman is the author of The NPR Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z, now in its tenth printing from the Houghton Mifflin Company. Miles Hoffman is a graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School, and in 2003 was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Centenary College of Louisiana in recognition of his achievements as a performer and educator.
Cellist STEPHEN BALDERSTON performs internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Professor of Cello at DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, Mr. Balderston was Assistant Principal Cello of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for ten years, a member of the Saint Louis Symphony for a decade, and Artist-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He has appeared as a featured artist/teacher at many prestigious American festivals, as well as the Affinis Music Festival in Japan and International Music Festival in Shanghai, China. Mr. Balderston began his cello studies with Gabor Rejto in his native southern California and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, where he studied with Lynn Harrell. Stephen Balderston joined the American Chamber Players in 2010.
Colorado native violinist JOANNA MAURER has performed as orchestral soloist and recitalist throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. After initial studies with her parents, she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann. She has won first prizes in a number of competitions, including the E. Nakamichi Violin Competition, Denver Young Artist Orchestra Competition, Young Musicians Foundation Competition, and National MTNA Selmer Competition. A resident of New York City, Ms. Maurer is an Associate 1st Violinist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and performs as concertmaster on numerous film scores, television scores, and pop albums. In addition to her performing career, Ms. Maurer serves as the Co-Chair of the Associate Musicians of the Metropolitan Opera and serves on the trial board of the NYC musicians union, Local 802. Joanna Maurer joined the American Chamber Players in 2002.
Flutist SARA STERN leads an active and varied career as a recitalist and chamber musician. As solo flutist of the 21st Century Consort, in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., she has premiered countless important new works and made many recordings. She has presented solo recitals in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Recital Hall, and at many other concert halls around the country, and appeared as a guest artist with the Emerson String Quartet and other distinguished chamber ensembles. Ms. Stern has also toured here and abroad as one half of the duo Stern and Levalier with harpist Dotian Levalier. She is also a founding member of the woodwind ensemble Eastwind Consort. Sara Stern joined the American Chamber Players in 1998.
Since winning the prestigious Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competition in Milan at age seventeen, Bulgarian pianist ANNA STOYTCHEVA has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. She has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras in America and abroad, and been the subject of several documentaries on Bulgarian National Radio and Television. In New York City, where she now makes her home, she has graced the stages of all the major concert halls, and her extensive chamber music experience includes performances across the country. She has recorded two solo albums on the GEGA NEW label. Ms. Stoytcheva was a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami for three years and is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the executive board of the “Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York” concert series, which takes place at the Bulgarian Consulate in New York and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Stoytcheva holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, where her honors included the Vladimir Horowitz and William Petschek Scholarships, Rockefeller Award, Peter Jay Sharp Award, and Helen Fay Prize. Anna Stoytcheva maintains a private teaching studio in New York City. She joined the American Chamber Players in 2006.
