The Benicia Chamber Players are playing a show at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park this Mother’s Day.
The Chamber Players were formed 15 years ago by Clif Foster with a little help from Stan Houston of ABC Music– now Mozart, Einstein & Me. The Chamber Players’ first gig was at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, followed by various venues before settling at the Capitol building, which Foster says is a wonderful place to play because of the acoustics.
Players vary from concert to concert depending the arrangement, but the musicians Foster is playing with are extremely good to him. Some are of the quartet perform with ballets and operas as well. Foster says he is surprised how well the shows turn out because professional quartets will have months for rehearsals, but this group will have a short time to master their music.
The show on Sunday is one of four concerts this year. Foster says the reason why he puts on these shows is because they are like Shakespeare plays.
“Chamber music is just the best music,” he said.
At the the Sunday concert, the Benicia Chamber Players perform a quartet and a sextet piece, as the Chamber Players have noticed Benicia audiences like larger groups and try to play such pieces. Foster arranges the music. For this concert, the group will be performing which will be Claude Debussy’s Quarter in G Minor opus 10 and Johannes Brahms’ Sextet in G Major opus 36. Foster says both arrangements are wonderful pieces.
“It is really cool how in the Capitol building people get absorb in what’s going on,” Foster said. “The audience and the players get kind of merged into one thing. It really works well there, and I will keep the series going to my dying days.”
The concert will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 13 at the Capitol, located at 115 West G St.. Tickets are $20 for general admission or $5 for students. They can be purchased at the door or at Mozart, Einstein & Me, located at 620 First St.
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