About Us
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Mission
The Harlem Chamber Players is an ethnically diverse collective of professional musicians dedicated to bringing high caliber, affordable and accessible live classical music to people in the Harlem community and beyond. In addition, The Harlem Chamber Players seek to build an audience for classical music in general through community and educational outreach, as well as through collaborations with Harlem's other arts organizations, schools and cultural institutions. The Harlem Chamber Players not only bring live chamber music to underserved neighborhoods in the Harlem community, but also create opportunities for classically trained minority musicians.
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History
Music at St. Mary's
Harlem’s highly acclaimed chamber music series Music at St. Mary's began in 2008 as a partnership between clarinetist Liz Player and violist Charles Dalton, who met while performing at a Black History Month gala concert at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Encouraged by Janet Wolfe, founder of the New York City Housing Authority Orchestra and long-time patron of minority classical musicians, Ms. Player and Mr. Dalton created a summer music festival in the neighborhood of Manhattanville/West Harlem that provided dynamic chamber music concerts. Following the enthusiastic reception of the festival, the Rev. Dr. Earl Kooperkamp of the historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church welcomed and supported the creation of an ongoing series.
Music at St. Mary’s has been called a series “of which we can be proud” by The New York Amsterdam News, which also singled out the artistry of Liz Player, Charles Dalton and pianist Evelyn Golz as “lovely” and “breathtaking.” The 2010 – 2011 season marks the third year of Music at St. Mary’s regular concert series, one that is accessible and affordable to people right here in the community.
The Harlem Chamber Players
Our core group of musicians has actually been giving performances well before the creation of Harlem's regular concert series Music at St. Mary's. In 2004 clarinetist Liz Player founded West Harlem Winds. This wind quintet performed at St. Mary's Episcopal Church as well as in colleges, public schools, private functions and various other venues. With the addition of strings and the creation of the Music at St. Mary's series in 2008, the group became St. Mary's Chamber Players.
With the departure of Mr. Dalton in 2010, we reorganized, expanded our vision, increased our roster of musicians and changed our name to The Harlem Chamber Players. As of the 2010 – 2011 season, the name of the entire cast of musicians who perform regularly in the Music at St. Mary's series is The Harlem Chamber Players.
(Photo by Chris Marolf)
Our Home - St. Mary's Episcopal Church
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Established in 1823, St. Mary's Episcopal Church - Manhattanville is among the oldest churches in Harlem. For over 180 years, St. Mary's Church has been an important part of the West Harlem community, inspiring and responding to the needs of its people. St. Mary's Church calls itself the "Do not be afraid" church, standing up as a community of faith to pursue justice and peace for the poor and oppressed, to pray for those at risk and to put into practice the message of the Gospel. Among the services the church provides are the St. Mary's Food Pantry, the Homeless Hunger Outreach, the Prison Ministry Outreach Program and an internship for young theological students. Under the dynamic leadership of Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, St. Mary's Church continues to be a vital hub in the West Harlem community. St. Mary's Church burned to the ground at the turn of the 20th century but was quickly replaced with the present Neo-Gothic structure built in 1909. In 1998, the New York City Landmarks Commission designated the church a New York State landmark. The Harlem Chamber Players are proud to to call St. Mary's Church its home.
For more information on St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Manhattanville and Rev. Kooperkamp, check out this video:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x85vqq_st-mary-s-manhattanville_news.
You may also visit the website: http://stmarysharlem.org.