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FIVE BOROUGHS MUSIC FESTIVAL PRESENTS
HARLEM CHAMBER PLAYERS IN WORKS BY TANIA LEÓN
AND ANTONÍN DVORÁK, CONCLUDING 21-22 SEASON

Friday, June 3 at 7pm at Broadway Presbyterian Church
Saturday, June 4 at 3pm at Bronx House

www.5bmf.org

NEW YORK, NY (May 5, 2022) — Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF)’s 2021-2022 Season concludes with two performances by members of the Harlem Chamber Players at the Broadway Presbyterian Church on Friday, June 3, 2022 at 7:00pm and at Bronx House on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 3:00pm (the Bronx borough debut for the Harlem Chamber Players).

Violinists Ashley Horne and Claire Chan, violist William Frampton and cellist Wayne Smith are featured in Tania León’s Esencia, described by León as a reflection of some of the ways in which her “personal musical language has syncretized [her] cultural experiences” through a “myriad of syncopated gestures indigenous of: son, danzon, guajiras, montunos; […] a melody that hearkens the sound of the quena, the traditional flute of the Andes; [and] a crossover of Coplandesque harmonic overtones.” The program also includes Dvorák’s String Quartet No. 11, which has the feel and scale of a grand tone poem—a glorious and epic opening movement, a scherzo that adopts the classic Czech furiant dance rhythm, and one of the finest slow movements in the quartet repertory, a wistful hidden gem.

The Friday concert is hosted by historian and frequent Harlem Chamber Players guest Eric K. Washington, author of Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal.

Concert Information
Friday, June 3, 2022 at 7:00pm 
Broadway Presbyterian Church
601 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10025
Tickets: $20 General Admission
$15 Seniors
$15 Students with ID
Link: https://5bmf.org/events/harlem-chamber-players/

Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 3:00pm
Bronx House
990 Pelham Parkway South
Bronx, NY 10461
Tickets: $10 Suggested Donation
Link: https://5bmf.org/events/harlem-chamber-players/

Program:
TANIA LEÓN Esencia
     Agua de Florida
     Agua de Rosas
     Agua de Manantial

ANTONÍN DVORÁK String Quartet No. 11 in C major, Op. 61, B. 121 
     Allegro
     Poco adagio e molto cantabile
     Scherzo. Allegro vivo — Trio
     Finale. Vivace

Members of the Harlem Chamber Players 
     Ashley Horne, violin
     Claire Chan, violin
     William Frampton, viola
     Wayne Smith, cello
     Eric K. Washington, host

About Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF)
Since 2007, Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) has brought virtuosic chamber music performances of the highest caliber to every borough of NYC, cultivating new audiences for the genre and encouraging music lovers to look beyond Manhattan for outstanding performances. Lauded as “imaginative” by The New York Times, “enterprising” by The New Yorker, and “vital” by WQXR’s Operavore blog, 5BMF’s commitment to musical outreach and diverse programming has distinguished it as a standout presence in the New York City arts community from its earliest days.

5BMF’s artist roster of over 250 individual performers and ensembles is comprised of talented emerging artists and distinguished musicians alike, representing a diverse range of musical genres and styles. Its venues are just as eclectic, and have included performing arts spaces, cultural centers, and historic New York City landmarks such as Federal Hall, Pregones Theater, Flushing Town Hall, King Manor Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, the Alice Austen House, and the Staten Island Museum, to name merely a few.

As champions of new music, 5BMF has commissioned over 50 composers and presented world premieres of their works all across New York City, most notably the two borough-wide tours of its Five Borough Songbook Volumes I and II. 5BMF’s outreach initiatives continue to expand every year, and have included program-related interactive lectures and discussions, public masterclasses with world renowned performing artists, and free public programming. Learn more at www.5bmf.org.

About the Artists
The Harlem Chamber Players is an ethnically diverse collective of professional musicians dedicated to bringing high caliber, affordable, accessible live music to people in the Harlem community and beyond. Founded in 2008, The Harlem Chamber Players annually presents a rich season of formal live concerts, indoors, outdoors, and online. They also promote arts inclusion and equal access to the arts, bringing live music to underserved communities and promoting shared community arts and cultural engagement. The group was first inspired by the late Janet Wolfe, a long-time patron of minority musicians and founder of the NYC Housing Authority Symphony Orchestra. The Harlem Chamber Players have presented culturally relevant programs at numerous venues throughout the city and collaborated with many other arts organizations. The Harlem Chamber Players are also Artists-in-residence at the Harlem School for the Arts.

They have been featured on national radio at WQXR/WNYC at The Greene Space. The Harlem Chamber Players have also been mentioned in articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Musical America, and on NPR, NBC, and Here and Now on ABC.

To learn more about Harlem Chamber Players, please visit their website www.harlemchamberplayers.org.

Ashley Horne, violinist and native of Los Angeles, has performed professionally around the world. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Ashley is known for his “bright tone and fine overall sense of style” (Dennis Rooney of Strad Magazine.) His artistic integrity and flexibility have placed him in a diverse range of musical experiences, from recitalist at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall to performances with Portishead, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, and Oliver Lake.

As principal violinist and soloist of The Harlem Chamber Players, performance highlights have included the Sibelius Violin Concerto at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, the Bernstein Serenade at Merkin Hall, a Harlem walking tour video memoir of Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson, and performances at WQXR’s The Greene Space. He is also a founding member of the newly-formed Harlem Chamber Players String Quartet, which recently performed during the reading of names at the World Trade Center’s Ground Zero 20th year memorial tribute.

Mr. Horne is known for championing works by Black composers, such as Noel DaCosta, George Walker, Nkeiru Okoye, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. In 2019, he was a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall’s sold-out event, Two Wings: The Music of Black America in Migration. He appeared in Le Mozart Noir, the PBS documentary about the life of violinist and composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and his recordings of Perkinson’s Louisiana Blues Strut (A Cakewalk), Henry Cowell’s Fiddler’s Jig and William Grant Still’s Mother and Child with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra (Koch International) can be heard on WQXR. Mr. Horne is a member of the American Symphony, and has performed with Brooklyn Philharmonic, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and New York City Opera. He was recently appointed the new Music Director of the Antara Ensemble. Broadway credits include Carousel, Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Follies, Chicago, On the Town, and The Producers. Filmgoers can also see Mr. Horne in Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America. 

Claire Chan, born in Detroit, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, where she earned musical honors and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience. Changing course, she continued her studies on the violin at The Juilliard School. As a scholarship student of Joseph Fuchs, she completed both her master’s and doctoral degrees. She taught at the Juilliard School as an assistant to both Professor Fuchs and the Juilliard String Quartet and later served on the faculty in Beijing at the Central Conservatory and the Capital Normal University. Currently, she teaches at Third Street Music School Settlement and at the Chamber Music Center of New York and performs at Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and with the Harlem Chamber Players Quartet.

As an avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with several award-winning groups such as the Essex Quartet, the Beijing Quartet and Chamber Players and the Kneisel Trio. She also performed as a member of New York City Opera and with such varied artists as Sam Smith, 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Hall and Oates, Andrea Bocelli and Placido Domingo. She can be heard on labels of RCA Victor, Centaur, Convivium, Annsam, ESS.A.Y, and Death of Classical.

Violist William Frampton has been praised by critics for his “impressive” performances (The New York Times) and “a glowing amber tone” (The Boston Globe). Since his New York recital debut in 2009 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, William has enjoyed a career of performances around the world as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player, and teacher. Recent highlights include over 100 performances with a string quartet led by Midori Goto in tours of Asia and North America, numerous appearances as principal viola with the American Symphony Orchestra, appearances as guest artist with the Johannes Quartet, and world premieres of chamber music by J. Mark Stambaugh and a concerto by Peter Homans. He can be heard frequently in the Broadway orchestras of Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King, and on film scores including The Joker, The Greatest Showman, West Side Story, and many others.

William is Artistic Director of Music at Bunker Hill, a chamber music series in Southern New Jersey he co-founded in 2008 that brings five professional chamber music performances to Gloucester County, New Jersey every year. The community built as a result of Music Bunker Hill has brought regular collaborations with schools, libraries, orchestras, and civic organizations, contributing to the cultural life of Southern New Jersey. William has performed at festivals including Bard Summerscape, Bravo! Vail, Verbier, and IMS Prussia Cove, as soloist with conductors Joseph Silverstein and David Hoose, and as an orchestral player with New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and Philadelphia Orchestra. He holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and studied with Kim Kashkashian, Samuel Rhodes, Choong-Jin Chang, and Byrnina Socolofsky. William teaches viola and chamber music at The College of New Jersey and Queens College, CUNY.

Cellist Wayne Smith gave his recital debut at the Kennedy Center in 1996 to critical acclaim. As soloist and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the United States, Italy, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, and China. He is a member of the Wistaria String Quartet, the Portland Piano Trio and 1200 Horsehairs, a contemporary cello quartet, and is a frequent performer at Bargemusic. He has also appeared with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Manhattan Chamber Players and the National Chamber Orchestra.

Wayne enjoys an active teaching career, currently serving on the faculty of Amherst College. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music and graduate studies at UMass Amherst. His principal teachers include Ardyth Alton, Steven Doane and Astrid Schween.

Eric K. Washington, a longtime regular season host for The Harlem Chamber Players, is an independent historian and author. His book, Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal, published by Liveright in 2019 — the biography of a once influential Black railway labor figure and his Harlem-based workforce — won the New York Academy of History’s Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in New York History, the Guides Association of New York City’s GANYC Apple Award, and received special recognition as a finalist for the Municipal Art Society’s Brendan Gill Prize. Last summer Eric scripted and narrated On Site Opera’s The Road We Came, a suite of virtual, self-guided walking tours featuring baritone Kenneth Overton, that explored African Americans and Black music history in New York City. His various fellowships include being an A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholar (Columbia University); a Leon Levy Center for Biography Fellow (CUNY Graduate Center) and a Dora Maar House Residency (France). A board member of the Biographers International Organization (BIO), Eric spearheaded the Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship, which annually awards an African American biography in progress.

Image at top of release by Helane Blumfeld

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