Colburn Chamber Players

Beloved Colburn faculty, brilliant students, celebrated guest performers, and alumni come together in performances that blend youthful discovery with seasoned artistry. New this season, the Colburn Chamber Players concert series offers an exploration of chamber music in all its forms, from the warm resonance of strings to the bright energy of winds and percussion. Each performance is a unique meeting of generations, where the insight of experienced performers elevates the fresh perspective of emerging talent.   

 

From Fugue to Fantasia: Debussy, Mozart, and More, with Blake Pouliot, Violin  

Featuring Jonathan Brown, Viola, and Matthew Howard, Percussion

Sunday, February 8 at 4 pm   
Thayer Hall 

This colorful program highlighting a variety of music styles features the work of two influential French composers. César Franck’s expressive and fiery piano quintet will be performed alongside Claude Debussy’s only string quartet, an avant-garde tapestry of textures infused with the compositional stylings of Franck. Special guest Blake Pouliot, a Colburn alumnus beloved for his “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned” playing (ArtsATL), joins Colburn students for both works. Rounding out the program is a fugal masterwork by Mozart showcasing the bass and an innovative contemporary work by Tōru Takemitsu that blends Eastern and Western sounds. 

Program Information
MOZART  Adagio and Fugue for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass
FRANCK  Piano Quintet in F Minor  
TAKEMITSU  Bryce for Flute, Harp, Marimba, and Percussion  
DEBUSSY  String Quartet in G Minor  

This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues and Season Sampler. 

Get tickets

Purchase a package

 

Quintet Conversations: From Mozart to Modern, with Jeremy Denk, Piano

Featuring Andrew Bain, Horn 

Sunday, April 26 at 4 pm 
Thayer Hall 

Jeremy Denk, a MacArthur Genius Grant-winning pianist that “you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times), joins Colburn faculty and students in this program of electric quintets. Opening the concert is Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, a work that masterfully balances the piano against oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon in what the composer described as “the best thing I have written in my life.” Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet, composed in 1918 in the shadow of World War I, starts on an eerie tone before modulating towards a brighter, more symphonic end. In between these masterworks is Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane, a “passionate journey through woodwind virtuosity” inspired by Ravel’s similarly named Hungarian rhapsody for violin.  

Program Information
MOZART  Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds  
VALERIE COLEMAN  Tzigane for Wind Quintet  
ELGAR  Quintet in A Minor for Piano and String Quartet  

This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues, A Weekend with Jeremy Denk, Mozart’s Enduring Influence, Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic, and Season Sampler. 

Get tickets

Purchase a package

 

Chamber Music Dialogues Season Package: $120

See some of the world’s most distinguished chamber musicians perform with talented Conservatory of Music students and faculty, in the intimate setting of Thayer Hall. This package includes premium or aisle tickets to all of this season’s Colburn Chamber Players performances. 

Purchase a package

 


Previous Performances

Orion Weiss

Tatjana Masurenko

Tine Thing Helseth

Andrew Bain