Worldwide Play-In 2017 Press Release

Participants in the 2016 Worldwide Play-In

Worldwide Play-In Weekend 2017

Circling the Globe with Chamber Music
March 4 & 5, 2017

Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) presents its fifth annual Worldwide Play-In Weekend on March 4 and 5, 2017. Musicians around the globe are planning events that bring together chamber music players to experience the joy of playing chamber music. For more information, visit: http://www.acmp.net/wpiw.

WORLDWIDE PLAY-IN BACKGROUND

A play-in is an event where musicians gather to play and share music composed for small ensembles. Play-ins can be large or small, public or private. Play-ins are not performances, but a chance to bring musicians together, often meeting for the first time, to share in the mutual love of chamber music playing. Connections are made, friendships are formed, and players who meet at play-in events often go on to play music together throughout the year.

In the 1960s, an ACMP tradition emerged. Early in March, members came together to play Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, in part as an organized homage to ACMP’s founder Helen Rice. In the decades since, ACMP members have hosted innumerable play-ins – structured events for 20 to 100 participants, duos in apartment living rooms, and everything in between. In 2013, ACMP organized the first worldwide coordinated Play-In, with ACMP members hosting more than 50 play-ins around the globe that year. Each year since, more than 100 play-ins have taken place, involving thousands of chamber music players of all ages. In 2016, a launch event was held at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City, where music flowed from the instruments of three different ensembles. Groups also assembled at the Hard Rock Café in Podgorica, Montenegro; at a maritime museum in Bratevik, a small village in Sweden; and in storefronts, office lobbies, libraries, and living rooms throughout the U.S. and the world, celebrating the joy of chamber music making.

ASSOCIATED CHAMBER MUSIC PLAYERS

The mission of ACMP is to stimulate and expand the playing of chamber music for pleasure among musicians of all ages and skill levels, worldwide, by connecting people and supporting chamber music activities for individuals, groups and institutions.

Since publishing its first member directory in 1950, ACMP has brought together thousands of musicians, fostering life-long friendships and connecting a global community. In addition, ACMP’s affiliated Foundation has provided grants and awards totaling more than four million dollars to support educational activities of amateur chamber music players.

###

More Articles

Drab, Inconspicuous, and Quiet No More

Washington, D.C.area pianist and choral conductor Sonya Subbayya Sutton is a passionate advocate of the work of women composers. Read about some of her favorite women composers and discover new chamber repertoire from her list.

Read More ↗

Andrew Brush: An amateur cellist with a global reach

After ACMP’s modest beginnings nearly 80 years ago, ACMP has grown to have a global membership, and perhaps nobody embodies this boundary crossing more than Andrew Brush. With his cello in tow, he splits his time between his home in Columbus, Ohio, and Buenos Aires, with visits to Europe and Istanbul, where his wife is from. Along the way, he has developed diverse musical interests, with influences ranging from Argentina to Mali. We caught up with Andrew recently after he had returned to Columbus, where he serves as a member of the ACMP North American Outreach Council.

Read More ↗

Befriending Performance Anxiety: simple tips for success

Performance anxiety is a universal experience, a survival mechanism that is hard-wired. Many of us react with shaky hands, lack of focus, shallow and fast breathing, rapid heart rate, and even feeling queasy. This is all perfectly natural - our protective sympathetic nervous system comes online to save us from danger, real or imaginary! Join Dr. Xenia Pestova Bennett for a free online webinar about managing performance anxiety on Thursday, October 30th at 6pm UK/Ireland time.

Read More ↗

The Great American Play-In: ACMP and ACO

On Saturday, September 13 ACMP embarked on its first collaboration with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO). Together we organized a Play-In focused entirely on music by twentieth and twenty-first century American composers. Over the course of three hours, forty-five musicians discovered sixteen pieces or sets of pieces by a wide range of American composers, spanning from 1896 through 2025.

Read More ↗

Just Play Concert: Exploring New Voices and Old Masters with the Tarka String Quartet

Thanks to a “Just Play” grant from ACMP, the Tarka String Quartet—Sue Soong and Julie Park on violin, Kevin Jim on viola, and Angus Davol on cello—recently shared a program in San Diego that reflected their passions: exploring new voices by women composers alongside the great works of the quartet tradition.

Read More ↗

ACMP Members of the Month – October 2025

Playing in a regular string quartet is kind of like having a regular foursome in golf – everyone needs to be of roughly similar ability, and they also need to get along. When those two dynamics come together, the result can be a lasting chamber group that brings enduring friendships. Such is the case with our Members of the Month for October – Ruth Sklarsky, Barbara McIver, Ellen Henry and Kathy Lewis, residents of the Rochester, N.Y., area who have played in a string quartet for more than a decade. They got together and collectively answered a few questions about their musical journey.

Read More ↗

ACMP Event: Meet Harumi Rhodes

Join ACMP’s Executive Director Stephanie Griffin on Saturday, November 1 at 2pm Eastern time for a lively discussion and Q and A with violinist Harumi Rhodes. Harumi is the daughter of two famous chamber musicians: Stephanie’s former viola teacher, Samuel Rhodes (Juilliard Quartet) and violinist Hiroko Yajima (Mannes Trio.) Find out more about Harumi’s early life in that celebrated chamber music milieu, and about her journey as she established her own career as the second violinist of the world-renowned Takács Quartet.

Read More ↗

New guidelines for ACMP’s Workshop and Community Music Grant, deadline: October 24, 2025

ACMP's annual Chamber Music Workshop and Community Music grant cycle is open! Deadline: Friday, October 17. Read about the new guidelines and sign up for the Grant Information Session.

Read More ↗

A weekend of music and renewal at Chautauqua

When you first set foot on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York, it’s easy to understand the lift in Arlene Hajinlian and Sonya Sutton’s voices when they speak about their summer homes, and why they would welcome a group of ACMP members for a weekend of music-making.

Read More ↗

Optometrist by vocation, flutist by avocation

For someone who does not pay the rent as a musician, Pat Brown leads a full musical life with her flute. An optometrist by profession and a dedicated flutist, she has been a member of the Texas Medical Center Orchestra for more than 20 years, serving on the board and helping the group win national awards.

Read More ↗

The Great American Play-In: Saturday, September 13 at Opera America

On Saturday, September 13 from 2 to 6pm, the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and ACMP are hosting a fun and festive chamber music Play-In at Opera America (NYC), focused entirely on chamber music by twentieth-century and living American composers. 

Read More ↗

A professional pianist charts new musical paths with chamber music

When it comes to chamber music, ACMP pitches a big tent, from players just starting out to those rediscovering a passion for the music they played on their younger days. But ACMP’s membership also includes a thriving community of professionals — highly trained musicians who discover a community in ACMP that is hard to find elsewhere. Grace Shepard is one such professional living in South Florida and serving on ACMP’s North American Outreach Council.

Read More ↗

How a cellist learned to love the viola, her way

Chicago-area cellist Ruth Rozen recounts her adventures with a vertical viola, opening the door to playing the inner voices in chamber music.

Read More ↗

Tremendous Trivia Tunes: A Fundraiser for ACMP

Four members from DeKalb, Illinois tried a new method of fundraising for ACMP. They felt so grateful for ACMP's Home Coaching program and the wonderful teachers in our Coach Directory, that they came up with an innovative idea to give back to our community. They raised a little over $200.00, but the greatest part was how much fun they had doing it.

Read More ↗

And the Play-Ins continued in June!

With ACMP's rapidly growing community of chamber musicians, Play-In season is never over! Read about two recent Play-Ins in June.

Read More ↗

2025 News of Note Puzzle Contest Winner and Answers

Congratulations to bassoonist Jessi Vandagriff for winning this year's News of Note puzzle contest. And read more for the great puzzle answer reveal!

Read More ↗

Member of the Month, July 2025: Cheryl Hite

The ranks of ACMP members are filled with professionals who began their college careers with the intent of pursuing music for a living, then for whatever reason moved into another career. Colorado-based violist Cheryl Hite is one of those musicians. A native of Detroit, she enrolled at Indiana University in the 1970s as a double major – biology and viola performance. Read her interview with ACMP Board Chair Bob Goetz.

Read More ↗

The day my quartet played out of tune and almost got our host evicted

Chamber music can be a high stakes activity - play a bit out of tune, and your host could end up on the street. Read about one such close call in New York City.

Read More ↗

News of Note 2025

It’s that time of year again! The web version of the 2025 News of Note is live, featuring updates from the past year—and some fun extras, including everyone’s favorite: a new puzzle. (Submit your answers by July 1!)

Read More ↗

Member of the Month, June 2025: Frank Song

Frank Song, 28, may work remotely as a software engineer, but when it comes to music and the arts, he is all about being there, in person. With the flexibility to travel in his work, he seeks out concerts or museum exhibits in cities far beyond his home in Toronto. And while he’s at it, he takes along his violin to play chamber music. We caught up with Frank on a recent visit to New York, where he played chamber music with people he found through ACMP.

Read More ↗

Load More

 

All Articles By