Manhattan Chamber Players
Friday, April 17, 2026
Broadway Presbyterian Church
6:30 PM: Doors Open
7 PM: Pre-Concert Talk
7:30 PM: Concert

Program:

Mary Bianco (b. 1938)
Trio for Violin, Viola, and Piano (2026) – World Premiere Performance

Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941)
Phantasy Piano Quartet in F# minor, H. 94 (1910)

Seth Grosshandler (b. 1958)
Miniatures for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (2025)

Intermission

Ernest Chausson (1855 – 1899)
Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 30 (1897)

I. Animé
II. Très calme
III. Simple et sans hâte
IV. Animé

Manhattan Chamber Players

David Fung, Piano
Siwoo Kim, Violin
Luke Fleming, Viola
Brook Speltz, Cello
Alec Manasse, Clarinet

 

The Manhattan Chamber Players are a chamber music collective of New York-based musicians who share the common aim of performing the greatest works in the chamber repertoire at the highest level.  Formed in 2015 by Artistic Director and violist Luke Fleming, MCP is comprised of an impressive roster of musicians who all come from the tradition of great music making at the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Institute at Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival and Perlman Music Program, and are former students of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, Colburn School, and the New England Conservatory.

MCP has been praised in Strings Magazine for “A fascinating program concept…It felt refreshingly like an auditory version of a vertical wine tasting.” The article went on to applaud MCP for “an intensely wrought and burnished performance…Overall, I wished I could put them on repeat.” At the core of MCP’s inspiration is its members’ joy in playing this richly varied repertoire with longtime friends and colleagues, with whom they have been performing since they were students.  As stated by The Boston Music Intelligencer: “This ensemble’s nature and practices constitute proof against complacency and stagnation. They achieved as precise ensemble as you’d ever want to hear.”

Its roster allows for the programming of the entire core string, wind, and piano chamber music repertoire—from piano duos to clarinet quintets to string octets.  While all its members have independent careers as soloists and chamber musicians, they strive for every opportunity to come together and again share in this special collaboration, creating “a mellifluous blend of vigorous intensity and dramatic import, performed with enthusiasm, technical facility and impressive balance, relishing distinctions…a winning performance.” (Classical Source)

Members of MCP are current and former members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble Connect, and the Aizuri, Attacca, Dover, Escher, Vega, and Ying Quartets, the Aletheia, Appassionata, and Lysander Piano Trios, and Imani Winds.  They are top prizewinners in the Banff, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, Melbourne, Naumburg, Osaka, Primrose, Queen Elisabeth, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Tertis, and Young Concert Artists Competitions, and are some of the most sought after solo and chamber performers of their generation.  The Manhattan Chamber Players have been featured multiple times on NPR’s Performance Today, and is the Ensemble-in-Residence at both the Festival de Febrero in Mexico and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans. In addition to its numerous concerts across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, MCP regularly tours in Asia and the Middle East, and has led chamber music residency programs at institutions throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Manhattan Chamber Players is represented by Arts Management Group.

Manhattan Chamber Players is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

 

To donate to MCP online via PayPal, please click on the icon below:

The Manhattan Chamber Players engages in numerous concerts and outreach performances for traditional and non-traditional audiences across the world.  Specifically, we operate our self-presented NYC Series on a shoestring budget of only $20,000 a season, which pays for venue rentals, artist fees, publicity, program printing, and recording costs. No donation is too small, and as we are a 501(c)3 organization, it’s 100% tax-deductible.

Please make MCP part of your 2026 charitable giving – it makes all the difference for us!

To donate to MCP online via PayPal, please click on the icon below:

**N.B. Paypal takes 2.89% + $0.49 of the donation amount that MCP actually receives as a processing fee.  If you wish to avoid this, you can simply mail your contribution in a check to the address below.***

To donate by mail, please mail a check made out to “Manhattan Chamber Players” to:

Manhattan Chamber Players
330 Wagner St.
New Orleans, LA 70114

Support is encouraged at the following levels,
and will be noted in our concert programs:

Philanthropists of the Arts:  $10,000 and above
Ambassadors of Chamber Music: $1,000 – $9,999
Artists Circle: $500 – $999
Composers Circle: $250 – $499
Patron: $100 – $249
Friend: $50 – $99
Supporter: $25 – $49

 

2025 – 2026 Season MCP Supporters

Philanthropists of the Arts ($5,000 and above)

Mary Bianco
Robin Shoemaker

 

Ambassadors of Chamber Music ($1,000 and above)

Luke Fleming
Susan Plum and Jim Applegate

 

Artists Circle ($500 – $999)

Anthony Scialli
Cynthia Wang
Marian Weaver
Anonymous

 

Composers Circle ($250 – $499)

Anonymous

 

Patron ($100 – $249)

John David
Walter and Irene Rose
David Starr

 

Friend ($50 – $99)

Marilyn Ferber
Jill Horowitz
Warren Mikulka

 

Supporter ($20 – $49)

Anonymous

 

To donate to MCP online via PayPal, please click on the icon below: