To the Editor:
One one of the most distinguished chamber music series in the Washington, D.C. area is the least well known. The National Chamber Players, an ensemble made up of National Symphony Orchestra members and guests from the region and around the country, perform four superb concerts a year at Episcopal High School.
The National Chamber Players were created in 2004 when NSO cellist Jim Lee saw the newly-renovated Pendleton Hall at EHS. The hall, an intimate space that seats just over 500 people and has excellent acoustics, inspired him to bring together a group that included his wife Teri, an NSO violinist, and other friends and colleagues who welcomed an opportunity to collaborate on programming and to perform together.
Over the years an audience of devoted and adventurous music lovers has grown, mostly through word of mouth. Yet there are always empty seats! The concerts are free, and no tickets are required.
Highlights of past performances include: Four cellos playing a program that began with Bach and ended with Metallica; Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; Philip Glass accompanying a dance premiere by Dana Tae Soon Burgess & Co; Leonard Slatkin conducting a chamber adaptation of Mahler’s 4th symphony; Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition played by six cellos and four basses; etc. etc. Regular guests include Nurit Bar-Josef and many members of the NSO, Benny and Eric Kim, Kenneth Slowik and Rohan de Silva.
The next concert, the last of this year’s series, is on May 6: Benny and Eric Kim will be guest artists in a program that includes Arensky's Quartet in A minor (Op. 35) for violin, viola, and two cellos.
If you would like more information or to receive email notifications of concert dates and programs, please call 703-433-9135, or email Ginger Peabody at vdp@episcopalhighschool.org. You may also subscribe to email announcements of forthcoming concerts at www.episcopalhighschool.org/arts/ncp_ehs/.
Bruce Miller, Alexandria