North Country Chamber Players,
White Mountains Music Festival
Recognized as one of New England’s finest musical ensembles for four decades, the North Country Chamber Players combines the talents of principal players from internationally renowned orchestras and chamber groups. Their world-class performances of old and new classics in relaxed and comfortable settings have made the Chamber Players a fixture of northern New Hampshire’s cultural scene.
“One of the outstanding cultural resources
in the state of New Hampshire”
– NH State Council on the Arts
“A sophisticated group of experienced, passionate,
focused, and obviously talented musicians”
– Boston Musical Intelligencer
Artist Members: Ronnie Bauch and Miki-Sophia Cloud, violins; Ah Ling Neu, viola; Chris Finckel, ’cello; Donald Palma, double bass; Susan Palma-Nidel, flute; Allen Blustine, clarinet; Bernard Rose, piano; Joel Timm, lecturer.
WEEK ONE - 40TH ANNIVERSARY BASH
SPECIAL GUESTS: Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
A special family-friendly event featuring 22 fabulous musicians and ice cream legends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who will narrate Prokofiev’s beloved masterpiece, Peter and the Wolf. The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Serenade for Strings and will be followed by a FREE ICE CREAM SOCIAL.
July 14, 2018 July 15, 2018
7:00 pm 4:00 pm
Medallion Opera House Maplewood Casino
Gorham, NH Bethlehem, NH
WEEK TWO - REVERIE & EXULTATION
A festive program featuring tuneful, passionate works with an eastern European flair, including Antonin Dvořák’s cherished Piano Quintet in A Major and Alexander Glazunov’s exotic Oriental Reverie for clarinet and strings.
July 19, 2018 July 21, 2018 July 22, 2018
2:00 pm 7:30 pm 4:00 pm
(Rehearsal) Sugar Hill Meetinghouse Mountain View Grand Resort
Littleton Opera House Sugar Hill, NH Whitefield, NH
Littleton, NH
* Free rehearsal
open to the public
WEEK THREE - WEST SIDE STORY: BERNSTEIN AT 100!
Metropolitan Opera soprano, Sara Heaton headlines a song-filled tribute to ‘America’s Maestro’ featuring chamber music versions of some of his greatest hits, including America, I Feel Pretty, and Somewhere, along with fabled works by his extraordinary friends, Stephen Sondheim and Aaron Copland.
July 28, 2018 July 29, 2018
7:30 pm 4:00 pm
Sugar Hill Meetinghouse Mountain View Grand Resort
Sugar Hill, NH Whitefield, NH
WEEK FOUR - VIENNA!
Known as the “City of Music,” Vienna has produced and attracted some of the greatest composers in history. Beethoven’s extraordinary String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95, ‘Serioso’, anchors a dramatic program that also includes important works by Haydn, Mahler, and a rare performance of Franz Schreker’s beautifully evocative pantomime, The Wind
August 4, 2018 August 5, 2018
7:30 pm 4:00 pm
Sugar Hill Meetinghouse Mountain View Grand Resort
Sugar Hill, NH Whitefield, NH
GALA AUCTION, CONCERT & FEAST
An evening of rollicking bluegrass music featuring the White Mountain Boys and Girl, with a special appearance by the legendary Doty Duo, great food by the Littleton Co-op, and must-have auction items to benefit the outreach and artistic programs of the North Country Chamber Players, all in the spectacular setting of the Inn at Sunset Hill.
August 8, 2018
6:00 pm – Silent auction, dinner & music
7:30 pm – Live auction
Inn at Sunset Hill
Sugar Hill, NH
WEEK FIVE - THE GLORY OF VERSAILLES
GUEST ARTIST: Aya Hamada, harpsichord
A musical journey that will transport listeners to a time and place of courtly opulence and unprecedented magnificence. Works by Lully, Rameau, Marais and Couperin will represent the splendor and brilliance of French Baroque culture.
August 11, 2018 August 12, 2018
7:30 pm 4:00 pm
Sugar Hill Meetinghouse Mountain View Grand Resort
Sugar Hill, NH Whitefield, NH
WEEK SIX - 40TH ANNIVERSARY FINALE
In 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed a Divertimento for 2 horns and strings to commemorate the name date of Salzburg’s Countess Maria Antonia Lodron. This remarkable work, filled with symphonic, dramatic and romantic elements, along with the NH premiere of Avner Dorman’s dynamic Piano Concerto in A, will provide a fitting end to the Chamber Players’ historic season.
August 18, 2018 August 19, 2018
7:30 pm 4:00 pm
Sugar Hill Meetinghouse Mountain View Grand Resort
Sugar Hill, NH Whitefield, NH
SUPPORT NCCP
Your support has continued to allow us to offer music lessons, public school residency programs, and so much more.
FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
No matter how many concerts I have been involved in over the years, I continue to be inspired by the extraordinary power of music to transport us, seemingly instantaneously, through centuries, across oceans and continents, and to emotional places and imaginary fantasies that are difficult, if not impossible, to reach by any other means.
I am happy to report that this Summer’s programs read like a ‘bucket list’ of desirable destinations. On any given weekend, our listeners will find themselves enjoying the sunny cafes of Lisbon and Madrid, visiting a Venetian Palace in the Piazza San Marco, attending a musical at the Mendelssohn family’s parlor in Leipzig, reveling at a dance festival in a rustic Carpathian Mountains village, or marveling at the astonishing imaginings of geniuses like William Shakespeare, Walt Disney, or Alfred Hitchcock.
As musicians, we are constantly trying to improve our abilities to illuminate and facilitate these adventures, often calling upon colleagues, near and far away, to help us with this process. This summer, we also remember and celebrate one such colleague, Kendall Betts, with whom we shared so many past journeys, familiar and exotic, physical and spiritual, whose passion for music and life were nothing short of extraordinary.
– Ronnie Bauch