About
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Mission
The mission of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra is to bring the area’s finest musicians out of the downtown arts center and into the community to share classical music as engaging and relatable to all.
Vision
Through world-class performances, live and in recordings, the musicians of Eclipse Chamber Orchestra share their celebration of classical music with music lovers everywhere. Members of major symphony orchestras, the virtuoso professional ensemble embraces a vision to reach diverse audiences who would otherwise encounter the typical barriers of attending classical performances. Informative pre-concert talks, a close setting of musicians to the audience, engaging performances which feature Eclipse members as soloists, and community performances along with school events, all help make Eclipse an accessible ensemble.
Eclipse has embraced the dual mission of providing the highest artistic classical performances presented in a meaningful way along with a long-term goal of venturing further into the community to enable all to attend.
History
In 1992, conductor and horn player Sylvia Alimena, together with several of her National Symphony Orchestra colleagues, founded Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. Now one of the nation’s premier chamber ensembles, the group presents exceptional performances of diverse repertoire. Throughout its history, ECO has proudly premiered works by Mark Adamo, Thomas Myron, David Teie, and Truman Harris. The group’s enthusiastically reviewed recordings include a collaboration with organist William Neil and two CDs on Naxos: Late Victorians, featuring the music of Mark Adamo, and a collection of Florian Gassmann’s opera overtures, featured regularly on WETA-FM. Reviews in the Washington Post and Fanfare magazine praise the group for its “extraordinary precision and cohesion,” calling its performances “top-notch,” “exemplary,” “superlative,” and “beautifully nuanced.”
ECO takes great pride in spotlighting its members as soloists on every concert; our audiences enjoy hearing up close the artists they see only from afar at venues like the Kennedy Center. The orchestra also showcases its musicians in a series of intimate chamber music concerts at The Lyceum in Alexandria.
Conductor Leonard Slatkin and violinist Joseph Silverstein (former Boston Symphony concertmaster) have each made guest appearances with ECO. Our second music director, David Teie (2013-2016), premiered his own orchestration of Brahms’ C minor piano quartet, as well as his flute concerto and a musical setting of Walt Whitman poems.
At the start of our 25th season, we welcomed Abel Pereira (like our founder, a horn player) as ECO’s third music director.
Officers and Board
Abel Pereira, Music Director
Theresa Cigan, President
Carole Bean, Vice-President and Treasurer
Priscilla Linn, Secretary
Kate Brandenburg
Dr. William P. Brose
Alice Kogan Weinreb
Sylvia Alimena, Music Director Emerita
Grant Supporters
Community Engagement
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra has enthusiastically realized the value and responsibility of bringing classical music into the community since its founding in 1992. Through programs such as Brass of Peace, Adopt a School and Community Concerts, the orchestra has engaged thousands of students and people of all ages.
Brass of Peace, formerly an arm of Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and still managed by former Eclipse Music Director Sylvia Alimena, brings scholarship high school brass students into schools throughout the DC area. The elite student ensemble performs concerts and is a peer role model for students.
Begun in 2010, Adopt a School brings the orchestra to the Alexandria City Schools, allowing them to attend a working rehearsal in the school’s auditorium. Throughout the rehearsal, students observe the orchestra’s unique collaborative working environment during which all members engage to solve performance problems along with the conductor. During breaks, musicians and students interact, heightening the collegiality of the musical experience. This season, Eclipse adds a new component of engagement performing side by side with students.
Major objectives of the Adopt a School Program include:
Fostering the appreciation of classical music
Inspiring young people to play a musical instrument
Providing role models for music students
Demonstrating the value of teamwork and discipline (in all fields and endeavors)
Providing mentorship and coaching by ECO members
Community Engagement performances further expand our audience by playing at community centers in the Alexandria area. Low key rehearsals and performances of upcoming concert programs give more people an opportunity to hear an orchestra, some for the first time. Informal talks, instrument demos and up close, casual interaction with the audience all contribute to creating a new experience of classical music for the community.
