Season Finale: 9th Street Chamber Players and Friends- Music for Piano, Winds, Brass, & Strings
Please note that for those who received their tickets by mail before August 18th, there is an error on some of the tickets:
The October 12 date should be OCTOBER 11.
The November 16 date should be NOVEMBER 8.
The May 24 date should be MAY 16.
We regret the printing error-please correct your calendars if you were looking at the dates on the tickets and marking your calendars based on those incorrect dates.
John Williams: Simple Air & Simple Gifts
Rebecca Clarke: Prelude, Allegro, & Pastorale for Clarinet & Viola
W.A. Mozart: Quintet in E-flat major for Oboe, Clarinet,Bassoon,Horn, & Piano, K. 452
Alexander Glazunov: Idyll for Horn, Violin, Flute, Viola, & Cello, Op. 14
Henri Bertini: Nonet in D for Piano, Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, French Horn, Trumpet. Viola, Cello, & Double Bass, Op. 107
The Musicians
Elizabeth Hill, pianist
Michael Hall, horn
Melissa Lander, Clarinet
Matthew Richardson, Violin
Liz O’Hara, Viola
Andrew Rammon, Cello
Fatma Daglar, Oboe
Bryan Young, Bassoon
Kevin Gebo, Trumpet
Kim Valerio, Flute
Greg Watkins, Bass
Elizabeth Hill
A recognized leader in chamber music and contemporary music advocacy, pianist Elizabeth G. Hill has performed across the US and Europe in service of her life’s work: joining cultures together through music. Elizabeth is a co-founder of the chamber duo Meraki, dedicated to awakening cultural compassion through music. She is also pianist for Balance Campaign, a chamber ensemble whose focus lies exclusively on commissioning and performing works by marginalized composers. She is the pianist and organist for the National Philharmonic. An active pedagogue, Elizabeth is a private piano teacher in the DC area, and a member of the Collaborative Piano Faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute. Raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Elizabeth holds degrees from Mary Baldwin College (B.A.), James Madison University (M.M.), and The Catholic University of America (D.M.A. with a specialization in Chamber Music). Visit lizhillpiano.com or follow @lizhillpiano for more.
Michael Hall
Michael Hall is a freelance horn player in the Baltimore-Washington area and is principal horn of the National Philharmonic and Mid Atlantic Symphony. He has performed with many of the local and regional orchestras, including the National, Baltimore and Richmond Symphonies, and has played in orchestras at Wolf Trap, National, Warner, Shakespeare, Lyric, Mechanic, and others.
Michael has shared the stage with greats such as Wynton Marsalis, Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, and Stephen Curtis Chapman, and has toured with groups that include the China National Symphony, and The Four Phantoms. He also teaches horn and serves as a collaborative piano accompanist for the vocal studio at Duke Ellington High School for the Arts. Michael earned his bachelor’s in horn performance from Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, and hismaster’s from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music.
Melissa Lander
Equally accomplished in large ensembles and intimate chamber groups, clarinetist Melissa Johnson Lander is a versatile artist recognized for her ability to emotionally captivate audiences. She has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center, as well as unique locations such as Barrow, Alaska, the castle ruins in Heidelberg, and the Royal Norwegian Palace.
Melissa’s musical career began with a solo recital debut at the age of 21, which was broadcast live on NPR after winning the Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition. She then went on to serve as Co-Principal Clarinetist of the United States Army Field Band, performing in more than 800 concerts across 49 states. During her 8 years with the band, she was a frequent concerto soloist and member of the Pentagon Winds woodwind quintet, presenting recitals and educational masterclasses to colleges and universities nationwide.
Ms. Lander has since committed herself to a thriving career in chamber music, serving as a clarinetist and founding member of the National Chamber Winds in Washington D.C. Recent collaborations include a recording project featuring works by women composers with the clarinet quartet, Voix des Femmes, a 2023 tour in Turkey with a woodwind quintet and piano, premiering a clarinet duet by well-known Turkish composer Fazil Say and a guest appearance with Ensemble ATL in Atlanta. Melissa also enjoys mentoring young musicians as a chamber music coach at Csehy Summer School of Music in Philadelphia.
Matthew Richardson
Matt Richardson is a Freelance violinist/violist and teacher in the DC Metro area. He frequently performs with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, The National Philharmonic, the New Orchestra of Washington, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, The Williamsburg Symphony, Maryland Lyric Opera, and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. Other performance experience includes the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the Virginia Opera, Opera on the James, the Mark Morris Dance Company, the International Chamber Orchestra of Washington, the Castleton Festival, the Cathedral Choral Society Orchestra, the Apollo Orchestra, and the American Festival Pops Orchestra.
A frequent chamber musician, Matt is a founding member of the 9th Street Quartet, the faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the Crescendo Chamber Music Program. He can also be found performing in DC venues including, The Kennedy Center Concert Hall and Millennium Stage, The Washington National Cathedral, The Music Center at Strathmore, The Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria, The Washington Masonic Memorial, The Church of the Holy City (DC), as well as others.
Additionally, Matt maintains a private violin/viola studio in Centreville, VA. His students have gone on to rank highly in all levels of the American Youth Philharmonic orchestras, the Mclean Youth Orchestra, and the Arlington Philharmonic’s “Crescendo” chamber music program, as well as leading sections in the Northern Virginia and North Central Virginia Senior Regional Orchestras, and the Virginia All-State Orchestra. He has also served on the faculty of the Corcoran Chamber Music Institute at George Washington University since 2014, and the GMU Ovations Summer Strings Academy since 2009. Matt’s primary teachers include Peter Haase, Zino Bogachek, Karen Johnson, Weigang Li, and Joseph Wargo.
Liz O’Hara
Elizabeth O’Hara is a free-lance violist in Northern Virginia. A native of Hershey, PA, Elizabeth graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Music in viola performance, where in her senior year she served as assistant principal of the Temple University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Luis Biava of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She received her Master of Music degree in viola performance from The Catholic University of America, where she performed with the CUA Symphony Orchestra as both principal and section violist. Elizabeth has also performed in several premier ensembles as both principal and section violist throughout the DC Metro, Philadelphia, and south-central PA areas. These ensembles include the Amadeus Orchestra of Northern VA, American Festival Pops Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Apollo Orchestra, Arlington Philharmonic, Chambersburg Ballet, Festival of the Youth Orchestras of America in San Juan, PR, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Haddonfield Symphony (now Symphony in C), Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Shippensburg Festival Orchestra, and York Symphony Orchestra, and others.
She has had the privilege of studying viola at CUA with Ms. Tsuna Sakamoto, violist of the National Symphony Orchestra, and continues to take lessons from her. At Temple, Elizabeth studied under Ms. Evelyn Luise, principal violist of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She also studied with Ms. Alice Bish of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Her skills as a chamber musician were developed with the help of coaches, including Helen Kwalwasser, Philadelphia Orchestra violist Sidney Curtiss, and cellists Orlando Cole, Jeffrey Solow, and Michael Mermagen.
Kim Valerio
Flutist Kimberly Valerio holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Mark Sparks. Her principal teachers have included Mary Louise Poor, Bonnie Lake, Donald Peck, and Walfrid Kujala. In addition, she has performed in master classes with Carol Wincenc, Robert Willoughby, Donald Peck, and was a featured performer in the James Galway Masterclass at the National Flute Association 1997 Chicago convention.
She has been playing Principal Flute with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra since 1998 and held the Principal Flute position with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2021. In addition to her appointments with both orchestras, she has performed with the Saint Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Washington National Opera, Post Classical Ensemble, National Philharmonic, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Spoleto Festival Orchestra U.S.A., Mid Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, and Chesapeake Chamber Orchestra.
Kimberly Valerio’s playing has been described as having “sparkle and verve” by the Baltimore Sun, “gorgeous sound” and “sweet purity” by the Capital Gazette, and “graceful elegance” by the Severna Park Voice.
Return to the 2026-2027 Concert list.