By 
Thank you so much for an absolutely wonderful first go at a Play-in at MCMC today! MCMC’s play-in was part of the ACMP global celebration of chamber music — check out what other groups were doing here…: https://www.facebook.com/events/1057463350955054/?active_tab=postsToday, we were twenty musicians and we played Mozart, Pleyel, Schumann, Haydn, Bach, and more in various formations. I wish I’d been able to be more than one person and able to listen in on all the discoveries happening in each of the rooms of MCMC. But I was playing! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. Highlights for me include reading a movement of a Mendelssohn quartet and discovering the father of one my students is a magnificent violist and that two 2nd violins on Mendelssohn quartets is better than one, so hmmm, perhaps I need to play out more next time I read them! And the reading of the Bach Brandenburg felt simply blissful. We gelled as an ensemble in the first movement — we were steady and we were using dynamics and listening to each other — I could hear all the cool tricky parts we each had a chance to play and we were calm and collected. We were musical above our egos and strengths and weaknesses. I thought, this is it, this is why I do this and this is community. I am so grateful for you all for playing together. Thank you!
If you would like to have another go at the Bach Brandenburg, let me know as we will be having a barbecue and reading again on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 5:30 at Twig Farm in Cornwall, VT as part of a Chamber Music Workshop MCMC is offering. The workshop is full, but we would love more players for the string orchestra reading orchestra segment. We will read the Bach Brandenburg as well as a few other sight readable pieces. The reading orchestra will be led by Jonathan Weber who will be part of the chamber music faculty visiting from New York and D.C. to serve as coaches for the workshop. Read Jonathan Weber’s bio here: http://www.mcmcvt.org/memorial-weekend-chamber-music-workshop.html
A few of you inquired about when we’ll do this next. We will definitely have another play-in next December to play some Carols. Maybe we need to make this happen more frequently though! I saw a few of you exchanging digits, and hope that means some connections were made. Everyone attending today wants to play chamber music, so please reach out to one another and make some play dates!
If any of you were moved by today’s event and want to make sure more things like this continue to happen, please consider making a donation to MCMC to support our programming!: http://www.mcmcvt.org/ways-to-give.html
Emily Sunderman 