They Could Have Had Their Own Show

(The following was submitted by Bill Doescher)
Dr. John T. King, Artistic Director and Conductor of the New Choral Society (NCS), keeps bringing the pros’ pros to Scarsdale.
And why not. Each and every one of them could have had their own show, and sometimes they do. But instead for this particular evening, they happily shared the stage with King and other fellow pros.

King pulled off his magic again on Saturday evening, Feb. 10, in the Sanctuary of the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church on Greenacres Avenue. As members of the New Choral Society Orchestra, the 10 already well-established, highly recognized musicians with plenty of their own credits to boost about, provided a bevy of elegant and soothing orchestral music while adding a brief history lesson of classical and chamber music from Mozart’s Horn Quintet in 1782 to Leonard Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano published in 1942 to Beethoven’s Duet for Viola and Cello in E-flat Major, WoO32.

Bridge and Tunnel, a duet for viola and clarinet with piano accompaniment with Jessica Meyer performing her own work on the viola, and Ben Fingland, her husband on the clarinet, as well as Margaret “Peggy” Kampmeier, on the piano, absolutely caused the audience to sit-up and pay strict attention. Meyer said of her piece, “The private piece is to be shared rather than a work intended for publication—a real piece of chamber music.”

Other pro musicians performing in the show included Eliot Bailen, on the cello, Donna Elaine, on the flute, Michael Green, on the bassoon, Patrick Milando, on the French horn, Ani Gregorian Resnick, on the violin, Una Tone, also on the violin, and Peter Weitzner, on the bass. But it was Kampmeier, who from my vantage point, stole the show with her eight appearances and delicious hand movements on the piano. And as is seemingly planned every year, it was to be her only live performance for NCS in 2024.

According to the “Program Notes,” “Kampmeier enjoys a varied career as a soloist, collaborative artist, and an educator. Equally fluent in classical and contemporary repertoire, she has concertized and recorded extensively. She has performed with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, Kronos Quartet, and Mirror Vision Ensemble. Peggy teaches piano and chamber music at Princeton University and is also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

In summary and humbling speaking, it was indeed a most relaxing and pleasing evening. If I didn’t know better, I might have been back in the day in one of my classical music courses at Colgate University in the late 1950s. The New Choral Society orchestral pros were once again that good and, as you would expect, nobody seemed to miss a beat.

They all deserved an A. Maybe an A+.
Honest!
Thank you, Dr. King.

Bill Doescher

(Pictured at top: Margaret "Peggy" Kampmeier, piano, Una Tone, violin, Jessica Meyer, viola, Eliot Bailen, cello, Peter Weitzner, bass)