The Chamber Players of the Greenwich Symphony continue their fifty-fourth season next weekend with concerts on November 9 and 10 at Round Hill Community Church and the Greenwich Historical Society. The program moves from Baroque precision to modern invention, tracing how music has reflected changing ideas of sound and expression.
The ensemble—drawn from principal musicians of the Greenwich Symphony—has built its identity on proximity. Formed in 1971 by members of what was then the Greenwich Philharmonia, it began as a way to play together in smaller rooms and share music more directly with the community. More than fifty years later, that closeness remains the point. Their concerts take place in churches and civic spaces where audiences sit only a few feet away, hearing every breath and bow stroke.
This second program of the season opens with Johann David Heinichen’s Concerto for Flute and Oboe in G minor, a dialogue of balance and clarity. Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 follows—a compact, stormtossed experiment written as his hearing failed. Britten’s Phantasy Quartet, composed when he was nineteen, brings youthful intensity and lyric unease. The concert ends with Amy Beach’s Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, a 1916 work that combines lyricism and resolve, asserting an American voice within a European tradition.
Together these works show what chamber music does best: reveal the structure of cooperation. With no conductor and nowhere to hide, each musician listens, adjusts, and responds. The result is not grand spectacle but direct exchange—music as conversation rather than display.
That sense of exchange extends to the audience. Under Artistic Director Daniel Miller, The Chamber Players pair canonical works with those less often heard, keeping their programming both imaginative and familiar.
Heinichen’s polished counterpoint, Beethoven’s compressed force, Britten’s restless imagination, and Beach’s lyrical conviction form a program that honors tradition while reaching forward. For the musicians, it’s a study in balance; for the audience, a reminder that live music still carries the power to create focus and quiet.
The Chamber Players perform Sunday, November 9 at 3 p.m. at Round Hill Community Church, 395 Round Hill Road, and Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Greenwich Historical Society, 47 Strickland Road, Cos Cob.
Tickets and information: https://www.chamberplayersofthegso.org/
