On Friday, October 14, Colonie High School music students were treated to a special performance of the Musicians of Ma’alwyck. This performance was co-sponsored by the South Colonie Friends of Music.
The Musicians of Ma’alwyck is a chamber ensemble in residence at the Schuyler Mansion New York State Historic Site and Schenectady County Community College. Founded in 1999 by violinist and director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, the group specializes in music performed in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This performance included Amm-Marie Barker Schwartz on violin, Andre Laurent O’Neil on cello, and guest artists Max Caplan on piano along with mezzo-soprano and CCHS chorus teacher Tess McCarthy.
The ensemble performed a program titled Stranger in Your Own Land which included works by Price, Sibelius, Barber, and Ippolitov-Ivanov. The centerpiece of the concert was Roy Harris’s 1953 lamentation cantata Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.
The Musicians of Ma’alwyck were featured on WMHT radio later that same day, and presented a formal concert at the First Reformed Church in Schenectady on Saturday, October 15.
Members of the CCHS Chamber Singers and Symphonic Orchestra were given the opportunity to interact with the musicians and ask questions about the rehearsal process.
To hear the Musicians of Ma’alwyck feature on WMHT radio, click here: https://on.soundcloud.com/
For more information about the Musicians of Ma’alwyck, click here:
To become and member of the South Colonie Friends of Music, click here: