This ninth season of The Crescent City Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF), entitled “Brandenburg and Beyond,” the first complete presentation in New Orleans of Johann Sebastian Bach’s beloved and celebrated Brandenburg Concertos in recent memory. It is headlined by Ensembles-in-Residence the Manhattan Chamber Players and the Gryphon Trio and will feature some of Classical music’s most evocative and moving works of chamber music, the most inherently intimate and collaborative form of music making, from its earliest masterpieces to brilliant recently-penned compositions. The renowned Manhattan Chamber Players, a collective of New York-based musicians who have delivered compelling performances of the greatest chamber masterworks year-after-year at CCCMF, will be joined by locally based classical artists, many of whom are from the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, in different chamber music configurations. Festival Director and native New Orleanian Luke Fleming, who is also on the faculty of the University of New Orleans School of the Arts, says: “We are excited to present CCCMF’s ninth season of extraordinary chamber music making, with performances of many rarely heard masterworks in some of New Orleans’ most acoustically and aesthetically stellar venues, all free and open to the public.” Community outreach is an integral part of the festival’s mission. In addition to CCCMF 2024’s seven free public concerts, over the course of this season festival artists will give 30-35 outreach performances at schools, retirement communities, missions, and helping organizations throughout the Greater New Orleans area. Artists will also mentor and coach local student chamber music groups. CCCMF 2024 Free Public Concerts Please note - doors open 1 hour prior to the start of each performance. An informal pre-concert talk and Q&A will begin thirty minutes before each concert. (No pre-concert talk at the Urban South Brewery concert on October 16, 2024.) Concert #1 Opening Night Thursday, October 10, 2024 7:30 PM The Manhattan Chamber Players Members of the Louisiana Philharmonic, and Friends Trinity Episcopal Church – 1329 Jackson Avenue, NOLA 70130 “Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos – Part I” CCCMF 2024’s Opening Night Concert, set in the gorgeous sanctuary of Trinity Episcopal Church begins a two-part presentation of J.S. Bach’s brilliant and beloved Brandenburg Concertos. Ensemble-in-Residence the Manhattan Chamber Players joins forces with members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and other local musicians to bring you the first complete performance of this monumental work right here in New Orleans in recent memory! Concert #2 Friday, October 11, 2024 7:30 PM The Manhattan Chamber Players Members of the Louisiana Philharmonic, and Friends Trinity Episcopal Church – 1329 Jackson Avenue, NOLA 70130 “Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos – Part II” CCCMF concludes its historic presentation of J.S. Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos in the glorious acoustic of Trinity Episcopal Church. Ensemble-in-Residence the Manhattan Chamber Players joins forces with members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and other local musicians to bring you the first complete performance of this monumental work right here in New Orleans in decades! Concert #3 Sunday, October 13, 2024 5:30 PM The Manhattan Chamber Players Felicity Church – 1220 Felicity Street, 70130 “Mixed Mozarting” The strings of Ensemble-in-Residence the Manhattan Chamber Players is joined by some of the top wind and brass players in the country to present an all-Mozart chamber music program, set against the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset (and hopefully after a Saints win!) in the historic Felicity Church. Concert #4 Monday, October 14, 2024 7:30 PM The Manhattan Chamber Players Members of the Louisiana Philharmonic, and Friends Dixon Concert Hall, Tulane University “Full Circle” CCCMF Ensemble-in-Residence the Manhattan Chamber Players joins forces with members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as well as other local musicians, led by acclaimed conductor Joshua Gersen, to present late-Romantic and modern works for chamber ensembles by Camille Saint-Saëns, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Seth Grosshandler. Concert #5 Wednesday, October 16, 2024 7 PM Members of the Gryphon Trio and the Manhattan Chamber Players Urban South Brewery, 1645 Tchoupitoulas St, NOLA 70130 This informal, fan-favorite concert has been on CCCMF’s lineup since our very first season. Special, one-evening only beer flights (available for purchase) from one of New Orleans’ finest breweries are paired with great Classical music in the festive atmosphere of Urban South Brewery‘s tasting room while CCCMF Festival Artists perform selections you won’t hear on any of our other programs! Stick around for some tasty brews with the artists after the concert. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. Concert #6 Friday, October 18, 2024 7:30 PM Gryphon Trio (New Orleans Debut) Saint Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church Corner of State St. and St. Charles Ave., 70118 1545 State St, New Orleans, LA 70118 “Revolution and Reverence” The Juno Award-winning Gryphon Trio makes their New Orleans debut in the stunning acoustic of Saint Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, performing Beethoven’s brilliantly innovative and fiendishly virtuosic “Archduke” Trio alongside Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Trio, an often-overlooked masterpiece that ingeniously blends brazen Romanticism and liturgical reverence. Season Finale Concert #7 Sunday, October 20, 2024 4 PM Gryphon Trio and Luke Fleming Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church 3900 St Charles Ave, NOLA 70115 ‘Worlds Apart” In CCCMF 2024’s Season Finale Concert, the Gryphon Trio is joined by CCCMF founding Artistic Director Luke Fleming for a fascinating juxtaposition of Franz Schubert’s subtle, sweet, and beguiling “Arpeggione” Sonata and Johannes Brahms’ emotional, brilliant, and bombastic Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor (concluding with its famous Hungarian Rondo). Join us in the historic sanctuary of Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, and meet the artists at the reception that follows!