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The Walden
Chamber Players is the visiting ensemble-in-residence at Trinity University, Austin, TX

Walden is also the ensemble-in-residence
at the Massachusetts Academy of Math
and Science, Worcester, MA



The Walden
Chamber Players is the ensemble-in-residence at Concord Academy, Concord, MA

Since its founding in 1997, the Walden Chamber Players has considered education an essential component of its mission. The ensemble seeks to serve as a resource for the community at large and to make high quality chamber music accessible and available to audiences outside the concert hall. By working side-by-side with educators and community leaders they have developed many highly successful, unique and award-winning programs.

Outreach: Bringing Chamber Music to the Community
Every year the Walden Chamber Players presents concerts and lectures at schools across the country for children of all ages. They consider these events fundamental to building the next generation of music lovers and inspiring the next generation of classical musicians. The Walden Chamber Players also works to bring chamber music to other underserved communities including nursing homes, centers for disabled adults and correctional facilities.

Cross-Disciplinary Programs: Arts Integration
The Walden Chamber Players has developed several educational curricula that are designed to explore music’s role throughout history - as a forum for social dialogue and exchange and as a tool in the struggle for greater civil and human rights. Many of these programs are focused on a specific era of history and are designed to paint a vivid picture of the period through the exploration and juxtaposition of its music, art, and literature. Programs often culminate in a collaborative, multi-media performance by the ensemble and the students.

Mentorship: The Next Generation
The Walden Chamber Players know how important chamber music experience can be for young aspiring musicians. To encourage and challenge instrumentalists dedicated to the performance and study of chamber music, the ensemble founded the Walden Chamber Players Young Artist Competition in 2007. All competitors are evaluated on their ability to listen, adapt, and collaborate within an ensemble and the winner is invited to play a major work with the Walden Chamber Players on a public concert. Since it is rare for a young musician to have the opportunity to collaborate with a professional chamber ensemble, the Walden Chamber Players tries to create opportunities for collaboration with young artists whenever possible and often incorporates these performances in their residencies.

Residencies: Fostering A Culture of Chamber Music
The Walden Chamber Players have created several extensive and highly successful Residency Programs at both the college and high school level. These programs run over several months or years and include intensive coaching, masterclasses, collaborative performances and outreach events. The goal of these programs is to foster a culture of chamber music within the school, encourage individual student growth and enhance visibility of the school’s music program within the community. The Walden Chamber Players hold the title of Ensemble-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science (Worcester, MA), Concord Academy (Concord, MA) and Visiting Ensemble-in-Residence at Trinity University (San Antonio, TX).

For more information on any of our Educational Programs please contact us at info@waldenchamberplayers.org or 617 744 0452.

To watch “Walden Chamber Players: Beyond the Stage”, an informative video about the Walden Chamber Players educational initiatives click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/WaldenChamberPlayers

The Walden Chamber Players would like to thank our educational partners:
Chamber Music America
The Crowther Foundation
MusicWorks
Johnson String Instrument
Trinity University
Concord Academy
Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science
Nyack High School
Jason and Dorothea Tilroe
Christine Gero
Carl Leafstadt
Rob Traver
Amy Spencer

Representative Programs

Music and the Social Conscience
This multi-media presentation is designed to call students' attention to the social undercurrent intrinsic in music and in the process of musical composition. Throughout history music has been used as a forum of social dialogue and exchange-sometimes overtly to promote a political platform, sometimes covertly as a subterfuge for protest. Music and the Social Conscience (MaSC) seeks to show students specific moments in history during which music has played a large role in informing and unifying people for a common cause-in essence, catalyzing social change. This presentation is made not only for the purpose of educating students about history and music, but also so that students can draw a parallel between that history and their own story.

Depending on the demographics of the student population, the course affords great flexibility by adjusting the content to respond to the cultures, heritages and societal backgrounds of the class, to best address each particular classroom situation. Music and the Social Conscience aims to teach students what kinds of positive resources may be drawn upon to effect change in their lifetime.

MaSC is about 1 and 1/2 hours in length and can be followed with a live performance by the Walden Chamber Players of the 8th string quartet by Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the composers and works prominently featured in Music and the Social Conscience. The length of the presentation can be varied slightly by adjusting it's content. MaSC has been presented at colleges and high-schools across the United States to enthusiastic reception.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council recently awarded Music and the Social Conscience it's Gold Star Award.

"Thou art all my art . . ."
The Elizabethan age in music, poetry and image
Thou art all my art is a multi-media presentation which explores the music, literary and visual arts in England during the Elizabethan period. The presentation is centered on sonnets by William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth 1st, poetry of both, great passion and contemplation. Readings from the literature are framed with music by Gibbons, Morley, Dowland and others whose music we know to have been introduced by Shakespeare, an artist shrouded in mystery, into his plays and by slides of paintings of some of the most important painters of the age such as Nicholas Hilliard. Through the juxtaposition of music, image and word Thou art all my art dramatically recreates the mood of an age full of passion, secrets, unrequited love and mystery.

Boccherini in Madrid
Boccherini in Madrid is a multi-media presentation, combining music, literature and the visual arts.Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) was an Italian composer who spent most of his creative life in Madrid, Spain. Although a composer of the highest distinction he is today somewhat neglected. Boccherini in Madrid explores the artistic environment in Madrid in the late 18th century, drawing connections between Boccherini and contemporary artists of his, such as Goya and Tiepolo, two of the most important painters active in Madrid at the time. Indeed, there are examples where Boccherini and Goya used the same subject-matter as the inspiration for their respective artistic output. Slides of paintings by Goya, Tiepolo and Mengs are projected during the performance of music by Boccherini in order to highlight that connection.

The presentation is framed by readings from contemporary accounts of life in Madrid during the late 18th century. These readings serve to provide the listener with a picture of life in Madrid during the period described and help to connect the artists portrayed in Boccherini in Madrid to the social environment and it's influences on them.

Vienna's Coffee House at the Fin-de-Siecle
Vienna’s coffee-houses were not only famous for its desserts and delicious coffee but also as a place were artists of all stripes gathered and busily exchanged ideas. Painters, composers, musicians, writers and scultpors all converged on the coffee-house as a place for stimulation, peer-review and to keep abreast on the latest artistic developments.

Our presentation aims to recreate this unique environment of a by-gone era by presenting music by some of the foremost Viennese composers of the day, interspersed by readings from correspondence by Gustav Klimt, Alma Mahler, Schoenberg, Egon Schiele and Alexander Zemlinsky, among others. The presentation is framed by a slide-projection of paintings by Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka and other prominent painters of the period.

This program can be followed (or preceeded) by a serving of coffee and Viennese pastries. The conclusion of this presentation can be a dancing of Viennese Waltzes to live performances of music by the Strauß family by the Walden Chamber Players.