One of the world’s most distinguished chamber music ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra and made up of principal players from that orchestra, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players include first-chair string and wind players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Founded in 1964 during Erich Leinsdorf’s tenure as BSO music director, the Chamber Players can perform virtually any work within the vast chamber music literature, expanding their range of repertoire by calling upon other BSO members or enlisting the services of such distinguished artists as pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, and André Previn.
The Chamber Players’ activities include an annual four-concert series in Boston’s Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, regular appearances at Tanglewood, and a busy touring schedule. In addition to their appearances throughout the United States, they have performed in Europe, Japan, South America, and the Soviet Union. In September 2008, sponsored by Cunard® Line, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players performed on the Queen Mary 2‘s transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton, England. Among their many recordings are the Brahms string quintets and works by John Harbison, Aaron Copland, and Leon Kirchner, all on Nonesuch; and the quintets for clarinet and strings by Mozart and Brahms with former BSO principal clarinet, the late Harold Wright, on Philips. Their recordings on BSO Classics include an album of Mozart chamber music for winds and strings (the Clarinet Quintet in A, the Horn Quintet in E-flat, the F major Oboe Quartet, and the Flute Quartet in A, K.298); an album of chamber music by American composers William Bolcom (Serenata Notturna), Lukas Foss (For Aaron), Michael Gandolfi (Plain Song, Fantastic Dances), and Osvaldo Golijov (Lullaby and Doina); and “Profanes et Sacrées,” a disc of 20th-century French chamber music by Ravel, Debussy, Tomasi, Françaix, and Dutilleux recently nominated for a Grammy Award in the category “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.”