Boston Symphony Chamber Players Make First-Ever Visit to Casals Festival in Puerto Rico

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced that the Boston Symphony Chamber Players (BSCP), an ensemble comprised of the BSO's first-chair string and wind players, will perform at the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, May 31 at 4 p.m.  

Named for the great cellist, composer, and conductor, the Casals Festival celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, which also marks the 150th anniversary of Pablo Casals' birth. The two-week Festival (May 23–June 6), an annual highlight of classical music in Puerto Rico, features the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, which performed for the first time in Boston's Symphony Hall last November in a co-presentation with Boston-based Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) that was part of the BSO's yearlong E Pluribus Unum celebration of American music.  Founded in 1964, the BSCP has toured extensively worldwide, and the ongoing IBA-BSO collaboration inspired the plan for what will be the ensemble's first visit to Puerto Rico. 

The BSCP program, which will take place in Pablo Casals Symphony Hall, features Samuel Barber's Summer Music for wind quintet, Carlos Simon's Gardner Suite, and Anton Dvořák's String Quartet No. 2 in G. The BSCP performed the world premiere of Simon's work in January at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston. Simon, who was appointed to a three-year term as BSO Composer Chair in 2024, wrote the piece after visiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. 

Three of the BSCP players, concertmaster and principal violin Nathan Cole, principal flute Lorna McGhee, and principal horn Richard (Gus) Sebring, will also give master classes with local music students as part of their visit. The other BSO principals in the ensemble are: Steven Ansell (viola), Blaise Déjardin (cello), John Ferrillo (oboe), William R. Hudgins (clarinet), Haldan Martinson (second violin), Caleb Quillen (double bass), and Richard Svoboda (bassoon). 

Statement from Nathan Cole, BSCP artistic director and BSO concertmaster: 

"It is a great honor for us to take part in this year's Casals Festival, marking the festival's 70th year and the 150th anniversary of Casals' birth. The Boston Symphony Chamber Players has toured widely all over the world since its founding in 1966 but has never before had the opportunity to perform in Puerto Rico, so this will be an exciting first for the ensemble. Our May 31 concert program includes a new work by Carlos Simon, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Composer Chair, as well as chamber works by Dvořák and Barber. We also are excited to be able to work with students at Escuelas Libres de Música and the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico during our visit." 

Tickets

Tickets to attend the May 31 BSCP concert and other performances at the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico are available here.