"They have established standards of chamber music performance equal to any in the world," in the words of The Washington Post.  And The New York Times said, "They appealed to the heart and the head, offering a warm, seductively luxurious sound and an impressive precision and unity of purpose."  Among today's most exciting and innovative chamber music ensembles, The American Chamber Players were formed in 1985 by Miles Hoff-man from a core group of artists of The Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival.  The six members of the ensemble perform repertoire ranging from familiar masterpieces to neglected gems to newly commissioned American works, and their fascinating and delightful programs with varied instrumental combinations have been as enthusiastically praised as their extraordinary, dynamic performances.  They have toured throughout North America, engaged and re-engaged by prestigious concert series from Florida to British Columbia, and they have traveled to Paris for a series of special gala concerts at the Paris Opera and the Bibliothèque Nationale.  They have also been heard countless times on National Public Radio's Performance Today, and on local radio stations throughout the U.S.  In June of 2004, the American Chamber Players inaugurated their new summer festival at the Kreeger Museum, in Washington, DC.

      The American Chamber Players have recorded music of Mozart, Bruch, Bloch, Stravinsky, Harbison, and Rochberg for a series of compact discs and cassettes distributed internationally on the Koch International Classics label.

Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Piano

     Pianist Jean-Louis Haguenauer is Associate Professor of Piano at the School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, and formerly Professor of Piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory in France.  He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in countless cities throughout Europe and the United States, and he recently toured China, performing and teaching at the invitation of the Chinese government.  He has appeared on virtually every important concert series in his native France, and has performed often on Radio France and French national television.  He has also participated in various summer festivals in Europe and the U.S., including the Festival of Les Arcs and the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival. Mr. Haguenauer graduated from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and the Geneva Conservatory, and in addition to his piano studies he studied composition and musical analysis with such luminaries as Nadia Boulanger and Henri Dutilleux.  His recordings of the complete piano music of Debussy are in progress, and he has recorded solo repertoire by Liszt (transcriptions of the first two Beethoven symphonies) and chamber repertoire by Weber, Bloch, Ropartz, and many others.  In 2000, he was the subject of a feature film called La Spirale du Pianiste, which continues to be shown in theatres throughout France.

Miles Hoffman, viola

      Violist Miles Hoffman is founder and artistic director of The American Chamber Players.  Winner of prizes in the National Arts Club and Washington International Competitions, he made his New York recital debut in 1979 at the 92nd Street Y and has since appeared frequently around the country in recital, as chamber musician, and as soloist with many orchestras.  In 1982, he founded the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival, which he directed for nine years, and which led to the formation of the American Chamber Players. His musical commentary, “Coming to Terms,” was heard weekly throughout the United States for thirteen years – from 1989 to 2002 – on NPR’s Performance Today, and now, as Music Commentator for NPR’s flagship news program, Morning Edition, he is regularly heard by a national audience of nearly 14 million people.  Mr. Hoffman is the author of The NPR Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z, now in its seventh printing from the Houghton Mifflin Company.  He is a graduate of Yale University and The Juilliard School, and in 2003 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Centenary College of Louisiana in recognition of his achievements as a performer and educator.

Joanna Maurer, violin

      Born and raised in Colorado, violinist Joanna Maurer has performed as orchestral soloist and recitalist throughout the U.S., as well as in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  After initial studies with her parents, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann.  She has won first prizes in a number of competitions, including the E. Nakamichi Violin Competition, the Denver Young Artist Orchestra Competition, the Young Musicians Foundation Competition, and the National MTNA Selmer Competition. Now a resident of New York City, Ms. Maurer performs regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and she is a member of the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, with whom she has appeared as soloist and concertmaster. She also served as concertmaster of the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra for their final two seasons. A versatile artist with a broad repertoire, Ms. Maurer has collaborated with fiddler/violinist Mark O’Connor in, among other projects, performances of his Double Violin Concerto.

Alberto Parrini, cello

   Born in Italy, cellist Alberto Parrini has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia.  He spent the 2002-03 season as cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, in residence at Stanford University. Prior to that he was Assistant Principal cellist with the Richmond Symphony.  He has toured extensively with Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project and performed with Continuum, Lenape Chamber Ensemble and the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra.  His festival appearances include Evian, Tanglewood, Taos, Verbier, Montreal, San Miguel de Allende, Spoleto U.S.A., and the Piatigorsky seminar.  Mr. Parrini’s principal studies were with Timothy Eddy, Joel Krosnick and David Soyer.  He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School. 

Sara Stern, flute

      Flutist Sara Stern leads an active and varied career as a recitalist and chamber musician.  As solo flutist of the 20th Century Consort, in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., she has premiered countless important new works and made many recordings.  She has presented solo recitals in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Recital Hall, and at many other concert halls around the country, and she has appeared as guest artist with the Emerson String Quartet and other distinguished chamber ensembles.  Ms. Stern has also toured both here and abroad as one half of the duo "Stern and Levalier," with harpist Dotian Levalier, and she is a founding member of the Eastwind Consort, a critically acclaimed woodwind ensemble.

 .
Additional information about the quartet may be found at its website, www.acplayers.com