Twenty-five years of chamber music

It isn’t often that an independent Atlanta performing arts group survives to celebrate its 25th anniversary, but the Atlanta Chamber Players mark this epic milestone Oct. 29 with a program highlighting their trademark diversity.
Included in the aptly-named “Winner’s Circle” concert is the Beethoven Clarinet Trio, the Brahms Horn Trio and a Franz Schubert-inspired work by John Harbison, “November 19, 1828,” commissioned and premiered by the Players in 1988.
So how has this chamber-music group continued to buck the current trends of pop culture? “For 25 years we have weathered every kind of arts crisis in the rough seas of nonprofit organization,” says artistic director and founder Paula Peace. “But we’ve learned to make an opportunity out of every problem.”
Their upcoming season attests to this hard-won success, with two new albums due and a tour of France. The Players’ most impressive achievement, however, is the way they’ve survived and prospered by sheer musical virtuosity and imaginative programming. No pink-dyed hair here, no album covers with sexual overtones — just a lot of musical integrity that seeks to explore rather than pander. This unified vision, together with the high-caliber playing of musicians who also perform solo and as part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, combines to give the Players a musical perspective unique among Atlanta performing groups.
“We’ve reached a new musical maturity, a real high-point,” says Peace, “and it feels great to keep up with it.”
The Atlanta Chamber Players perform at the Rialto Center, Sun., Oct. 29 at 3 p.m.