CSO Chamber Players to Perform 2016-2017 Season Christ Church Cathedral

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announces a new location for its 2016- 2017 CSO Chamber Players series. The four-concert series will take place at Christ Church Cathedral, Fourth and Sycamore, downtown Cincinnati. Seating will be configured in the venue to allow for up-close intimate chamber concert experiences. The CSO Chamber Players series offers a more intimate space for audiences to experience the individual and collaborative artistry of CSO musicians up-close. This season the CSO Chamber Players will present concerts on Nov. 11, 2016, Jan. 6, 2017, Feb. 3, 2017, and May 12, 2017.

The series kicks off on Friday, Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.), with an inventive program that features works ranging from Beethoven to avant-garde. The program begins with Khachaturian's folk-infused Trio for Clarinet (Ronald Aufmann), Violin (Rebecca Kruger Fryxell) and Piano (Dror Biran). Then violinists Sylvia Mitchell and Paul Patterson and violist Paul Frankenfeld take on a Serenade from Austrian classical and film composer Ernst Toch. Kevin Puts' powerful work And Legions Will Rise follows, performed by Rachel Charbel (violin), Ronald Aufmann (clarinet), and Michael Culligan (marimba). The program closes with Beethoven's Piano Trio in D Major, nicknamed "Ghost" for its haunting Largo movement derived from the composer's sketches of an opera based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Violinist Rebecca Culnan, cellist Daniel Culnan and pianist Julia Siciliano perform the Trio.

The series continues Friday, Jan. 6 (7:30 p.m.) with a program that is part of the CSO's ongoing Brahms Festival. The program opens with Verdi's operatic String Quartet in E Minor with Cheryl Benedict (violin), Rebecca Kruger Fryxell (violin), Rebecca Barnes (viola), and Susan Marshall Petersen (cello).

The second half of the program brings together many of the CSO's principal players for Brahms' Serenade No. 1 in D Major. ConcertMaster Timothy Lees, violinist Gabriel Pegis, violist Christian Colberg, cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, bassist Owen Lee, flutist Randolph Bowman, oboist Dwight Parry, clarinetist Benjamin Freimuth, bassoonist Martin Garcia and French hornist Elizabeth Freimuth infuse this pastoral work with joy and beauty. The Friday, Feb. 3 (7:30 p.m.) program is marked by dance music of varied genres. Henrik Heide (flute), Lon Bussell (oboe), Ixi Chen (clarinet), Martin Garcia (bassoon), Lisa Conway (French horn), and Julie Spangler (piano) start the concert with Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet, a work reminiscent of French cabaret.

The program continues with Damase's Sonata No. 1 for Flute and Harp, performed by Randolph Bowman (flute) and Gillian Benet Sella (harp). Then Christopher Philpotts (oboe), Matthew Lad (cello) and Julie Spangler (piano) perform the delightful Kinderszenen ("Children's Scenes") by Brazilian composer João Guilherme Ripper. The program closes with Dvo?ák's Dumky Piano Trio, performed by Minyoung Baik (violin), Ilya Finkelshteyn (cello) and Sandra Rivers (piano). The series concludes Fri. May 12 (7:30 p.m.) in a program that begins with Russian composer Anton Arensky's Cello Quartet No. 2 with violinist Stefani Collins, violist Gerald Itzkoff, and cellists Hiro Matsuo and Matthew Lad. A Theme and Variations by Amy Beach, America's first truly successful female composer of large-scale works, follows, performed by Amy Taylor (flute), Eric Bates (violin), Emma Sutton (violin), Christian Colberg (viola) and Daniel Culnan (cello). The program and series closes with an exquisite work by Brahms.

The Clarinet Quintet in B Minor will be performed by Ixi Chen (clarinet), Anna Reider (violin), Mauricio Aguiar (violin), Gerald Itzkoff (viola), and Theodore Nelson (cello). About the CSO Chamber Players Series Founded by CSO Music Director Emeritus Jesús López-Cobos in 1988, the CSO Chamber Players series features members of the Cincinnati Symphony performing new works and classic masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. All artistic and programming decisions for the series are determined by the CSO Chamber Players Committee, a board of musicians performing in the current Chamber Players series.

Subscriptions for these concerts are now on sale. Single tickets go on sale September 26, and concerts frequently sell out. All seating is General Admission. Tickets are available by calling the CSO Box Office at 513.381.3300. More information can be found at www.cincinnatisymphony.org/chamber.