Gateways Chamber Orchestra – Past Concerts

The Gateways Chamber Players, an ensemble of the Gateways Music Festival, features some of the nation’s leading classical musicians in a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale Suite and Wynton Marsalis’s A Fiddler’s Tale. The ensemble makes its Kilbourn Hall (Rochester) and Carnegie Hall (New York City) debuts in October 2023, Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) debut in February 2024 and Pick-Staiger Concert Hall (Evanston/Chicago) debut in April 2024.

Featuring violinist and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Tai Murray, described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a musician of “exceptional assurance and style,” the all-star ensemble includes Monica Ellis (bassoon) of the Imani Winds, Weston Sprott (trombone) and Billy Hunter (trumpet) of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Jauvon Gilliam (timpani) of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC performance), Wesley Sumpter (percussion) formerly a Los Angeles Philharmonic fellow (Rochester, New York City, and Chicago performances), Patricia Weitzel (double bass) of the Columbus Symphony (GA), and Alexander Laing (clarinet) formerly of The Phoenix Symphony.

The Chamber Players is thrilled to welcome guest artist Phylicia Rashad, Tony Award-winning actress and dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman School of Fine Arts at Howard University as A Fiddler’s Tale narrator along with multi-genre award-winning pianist, vocalist, composer Damien Sneed as conductor.