CCP Residency with Children's Hospital

The Colorado Chamber Players has received a grant of $10,000 from Chamber Music America (CMA), the national service organization for the ensemble music profession, to conduct an extended residency at the Children’s Hospital in Aurora. Critically ill children, their families, staff and the public will be able to attend three noon-time lecture-demonstration concerts designed for children in the new Boettcher Atrium during the 2008-09 season. The CCP is dedicated to reaching many segments of society, especially audiences who cannot afford concerts or cannot travel to concerts.

The project, which will include music of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Ropartz, Beethoven, Maria Newman, Bruce Adolphe and Peter Schickele, has been organized in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital Office of Volunteer Services Director Kathleen McBride. Kathleen McBride commented that “We will be the richer at Children’s Hospital for the Colorado Chamber Players’residency”.

CCP members participating will be: Andrew Cooperstock, Piano; Nanette Shannon, piano; Paul Primus and David Waldman, violins, Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Jeffrey Watson, cello; Katharine Knight, cello; Paul Nagem, flute; Lynne Abbey-Lee, harp; and Lisa Martin, oboe.

In addition to the 1-hour lecture demonstration concerts, the CCP will work with amateur musicians who are also medical staff at the Children’s Hospital Fitzsimmons campus. Several amateur string and piano groups will rehearse and coach throughout the season in a side-by-side program, pairing medical staff with CCP members, with culminating performances at the Children’s Hospital and at Shalom Park/Beth Israel senior center facility.

Children who are patients at Children’s Hospital have limited access to cultural events. Many are from rural parts of Colorado. It is the hope of all participants in the project to spark an interest in classical chamber music, and to bring comfort to those families and children undergoing treatment for critical illness at the Hospital.

As a result of the grant, the Colorado Chamber Players will be featured with other recipients in a photo spread in Chamber Music, CMA’s monthly publication in 2008.

Chamber Music America, the national service organization for the ensemble music profession, was founded in 1977 to promote artistic excellence and the economics tability of the field, and to ensure that chamber music, in its broadest sense, is a vital part of American life. With a membership of over 8,000, including musicians, ensembles, presenters, artists’ managers, educators, music businesses and advocates of ensemble music, CMA welcomes and represents a wide range of musical styles and traditions. In addition to its funding programs, CMA provides its members with consulting services, access to health and instrument insurance, conferences, seminars and several publications including the bi-monthly magazine, Chamber Music, and Web site: www.chamber-music.org.

For more information about Children’s Hospital, go to
http://www.thechildrenshospital.org/.