Orpheus Chamber Players: Night Revels at Morris Museum

Join us for a night of woodwind virtuosity with a stellar quintet from the celebrated Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Travel from the 15th-century courts of Provence to the jazz-steeped banks of the Mississippi in a concert that blends serenades and dances of Darius Milhaud, Antonin Dvoák and Ludwig van Beethoven, with the fiery music of American phenoms Valerie Coleman and Jim Parker, and the Afro-Cuban pulses of Paquito d’Rivera. It’s a celebration of dance and storytelling under the stars at the Morris Museum.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a radical experiment in musical democracy, proving for over fifty years what happens when exceptional artists gather with total trust in each other and faith in the creative process. Orpheus began in 1972 when cellist Julian Fifer assembled a group of New York freelancers in their early twenties to play orchestral repertoire as if it were chamber music. In that age of co-ops and communes, the idealistic Orpheans snubbed the “corporate” path of symphony orchestras and learned how to play, plan, and promote concerts as a true collective, with leadership roles rotating from the very first performance. It’s one thing for the four players of a string quartet to lean into the group sound and react spontaneously, but with 20 to 30 musicians together, the complexities and payoffs are magnified exponentially. Within its first decade, Orpheus made Carnegie Hall their home and became a global sensation through tours of Europe and Asia.

Program

• Darius Milhaud, La Cheminée du Roi René, Op.205
• Valerie Coleman, Tzigane
• Antonin Dvoák, Slavonic Dancesfrom Op.46 /72
• Jim Parker, Mississippi Five
• Paquito d’Rivera, Aires Tropicales

Back Deck Visitor Information and Guidelines

Attendees must bring their own chairs and are welcome to bring refreshments. Guests are encouraged to bring standard-height outdoor chairs for the most comfortable seating experience. Tickets are $63 for an 8’x8’ block that accommodates up to two patrons or $33 for a block that accommodates one. There is a $3 handling fee per block included in the price. Concerts begin at 7:30 PM. Patrons are welcome to arrive as early as 6:30 PM to enjoy their picnics. In the event of inclement weather, outdoor performances will be held in the Museum’s Bickford Theatre, general admission. For assistance and to make purchases by phone, call the box office at 973-971-3706. All programs subject to change.