Concert 1

Singing is Being: Music for Vocal Quartet and Piano

Saturday, October 17, 7:30 PM & Sunday, October 18, 3:00 PM

The Santa Cruz Chamber Players present:

Ivan Rosenblum, concert director & piano • Daniel Goldsmith, piano • Jordan Best, soprano • Elizabeth Neff, mezzo-soprano • Jorge Torrez, tenor • Joshua Porter, baritone

Inspired by the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, this program reflects on the idea that singing can reveal something deeper than ordinary—when inner life suddenly becomes audible. Music by Robert Schumann, Ivan Rosenblum, and Leonard Bernstein highlights the voice not simply as an instrument, but as a direct expression of what it means to be human. As Rilke understood, some things are too essential to be spoken. They must be sung.

Concert 2

Cosmic Connections: Unfolding Earth’s Ancient Wisdom

Saturday, November 21, 7:30 PM & Sunday, November 22, 3:00 PM

The Santa Cruz Chamber Players present:

Earhart Trio

Kumiko Uyeda, concert director & piano • Kate Stenberg, violin • Mary Artmann, cello

For centuries, composers have looked outward—to the stars, the natural world, and humanity’s place within something much larger. This program brings together music by Charles Ives, Lera Auerbach, Joseph Haydn, and Ben Dorfan, each shaped in different ways by questions of nature, spirituality, and our connection to the wider universe. Across centuries and styles, these works remind us that wonder itself has always been a source of artistic inspiration.

Concert 3

Inspirations: Echoes Across Time

Saturday, February 20, 7:30 PM & Sunday, February 21, 3:00 PM

The Santa Cruz Chamber Players present:

Marea Ensemble

Rebecca Dulatre-Corbin, concert director & viola • Lori Schulman, soprano • Shannon D’Antonio, violin • Samantha Bounkeua, violin • Kristin Garbeff, cello

No composer works in isolation. Every piece of music carries traces of what came before it: ideas borrowed, transformed, challenged, or rediscovered. This program places contemporary composers alongside the artists who inspired them, creating unexpected conversations across generations. Music by Caroline Shaw, Claude Debussy, Jake Heggie, Beethoven, Clara Schumann, Béla Bartók, and Jessie Montgomery shows us that musical creativity is rarely solitary. Composers are always listening to one another—even across centuries.