ECCO kicks of the new year with Chamber Series performance

Publication Date

The East Coast Chamber Orchestra will return to Memorial

ECCO

Artists from ECCO

Chapel as part of the Union College Concert Series Sunday, Jan. 8, 2011 at 3 p.m.

The ECCO’s musicians have regular gigs with other high profile ensembles and orchestras, managing to sync their schedules only rarely for the fun of playing in this more democratic, conductorless format. The organic group, which rotates leadership duties among its members, will play a program of Schoenberg’s neo-baroque Suite in G major for string orchestra, Beethoven’s "Grosse Fuge Op. 133," Britten’s "Prelude and Fugue for 18 Strings, Op. 29" and Dvořák's "Serenade for Strings in E major Op. 22."

The group is made up of musicians who have trained at the finest conservatories, are members and principals of major symphony orchestras and are alumni of the famed Marlboro Music Festival. ECCO combines the strength and power of a great orchestral ensemble with the personal touch of superb chamber music. Formed in 2001, the group has performed at New York’s Town Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center and in conjunction with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Peoples’ Symphony Concerts and Schneider Concerts at the New School.

This season, the group will release its first commercial recording and mark debuts at the Skaneateles Festival, Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, Hartt College of Music Concert Series, Wolf Trap and Chamber Music Northwest.