Oakwood Chamber Players

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Nicole Peaslee

Oakwood Chamber Players and instruments.

Oakwood Chamber Players

media release: The Oakwood Chamber Players continue their 40th anniversary season, “Fun and Games,” with a weekend of music inspired by Mother Earth. Concerts will take place at Oakwood Village Prairie Ridge on Friday, April 4, at 7 pm; Oakwood Village University Woods (6205 Mineral Point Road, Madison) on Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m.; and at Arts + Literature Laboratory (111 S. Livingston Street, Madison) on Sunday, April 6, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for seniors, and $5 for students. Advance ticket sales are available at oakwoodchamberplayers.com.

Characterized by their colorful and playful combinations of wind and string instruments, the Oakwood Chamber Players serve as the professional resident ensemble for the Oakwood Village senior living community. Marilyn Chohaney (flute/alto flute), Valree Casey (oboe/English horn), Nancy Mackenzie (clarinet), Amanda Szczys (bassoon), Marie Pauls (viola), and Maggie Townsend (cello) comprise Oakwood’s team of core performers. These vibrant individual artists can be seen performing with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, LunART Festival, Capitol City Band, and the Madison Opera.

Oakwood will be joined by a robust lineup of guest artists: Eric Anderson (conductor), Buzz Kemper (narrator), Sahada Buckley (violin), Bethany Schultz (clarinet), Sarah Gillespie (horn), and Matthew Boothe (double bass).

A program highlight will be Scenes from Sand County, by Madison composer Doug Hill (b. 1946), a work commissioned for and by the Oakwood Chamber Players in 1999. Hill, a former horn professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, scored this piece for nine instruments and narrator, breathing musical life into text from A Sand County Almanac (1949) by the celebrated Wisconsin ecologist Aldo Leopold. Audiences will enjoy in-person commentary by the composer himself.

The connection to our earth grows deeper with Jenni Brandon’s (b. 1977) contemplative Sequoia Trio, another work with narration. Adrienne Albert’s (b. 1941) Americana, a melting pot of quintessentially American musical styles, takes listeners “from Appalachia to Brooklyn and back.”

Throughout the 2024/25 season, audiences are being treated to revival performances of music commissioned by and for the Oakwood Chamber Players over the past 25 years, capped off with a one-of-a-kind event to commemorate the group’s 40th anniversary season. In collaboration with Madison Circus Space, Oakwood will present a final celebratory concert at Madison Youth Arts Center (1055 East Mifflin Street, Madison) on Saturday, June 14, 2025, with shows at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. This family-friendly event will include the premiere of a brand new work by Madison composer Mark Wurzelbacher and entertaining activities for all ages.

View the 2024/25 Concert Season.