Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players

“This was music-making of a very high order”
“at the Jupiter concerts, there is always so much about which to be enthusiastic.”
“the rarities glittered like jewels”

Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun
view more reviews

Join Our Mailing List!

Dear Friends and Music Lovers,    We thank all of you who helped make last season a success—our musicians who played splendidly for appreciative audiences, music lovers who provided the enthusiasm for Jupiter’s music making, and all our supporters from near and afar for their gifts. Our brilliant artistic director Michael Volpert has again created 20 varied and beautiful programs.    We hope you’re up for the musical journey, but if you come, it’s at your own risk during this pandemic. It continues to be dicey when gathering indoors, but we’ll follow state-city guidelines and we can offer: ♦ Spaced-apart seating ♦ Required wearing of masks by audience and staff ♦ HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation ♦ Hand sanitizers ♦ Doors to open 20 minutes before concert starts ♦ Request distancing when entering and exiting ♦ Suggest minimal, quiet talking     Since the pandemic is evolving over time, we’ll be vigilant and flexible. For updates regarding concerts and requirements, please visit the website.    This season there are no subscriptions. Tickets are by reservation only. Please visit our ticket page for details. And, as challenges remain, please consider of gift of $100 or more and become a “Friend,” or please give as much as you can to help keep Jupiter vibrant. Your financial support is truly needed.    All gifts are tax deductible.    Thank you so much,

Caricature of Jens Nygaard in pen and ink by Nicholas “Nicky” Zann ~ in fond memory

Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.

View Our Season Calendar

more details here...

View Our Printable Calendar (pdf)

Take a look at our guest artists for this season.
Find out more about the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Join us for our next concerts...

Monday, February 7 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Two Titans
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway)
Limited Seating

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Laureate of numerous prizes including the 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Prize and the 2018 Paris Recital Prize from Poland’s Prix de Tarnów Competition ~ “excellent young pianist” The New York Times

Robin Scott violin
First Violin of the Ying Quartet ~ 1st prizes: California Young Artists Competition and WAMSO, 2nd prizes: Menuhin, Irving Klein, and Stulberg competitions ~ “sweetly spun tone and formidable technique” Washington Post

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola
Winnings include First Prize at the 2013 Banff Competition, Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2010 Fischoff Competition, First Prize at the Lionel Tertis Viola Competition, and top prizes at the Tokyo and Sphinx competitions ~ “she should have a great future” Tully Potter ~ Wigmore Hall ~ “lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines” Strad Magazine

Oliver Herbert cello
Recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant, top and special prizes in the 2018 Lutoslawski competition; winner of the first and Casals prizes in the 2015 Irving Klein and a top prize in the 2015 Stulberg competition

Roni Gal-Ed oboe
First Prize winner of the Lauschmann Oboe Competition in Mannheim ~ “Outstanding” The New York Times ~ “Expressive, wonderful player” German SZ Magazine

Vadim Lando clarinet
Winner of the CMC Canada, Yale and Stonybrook competitions ~ “consistently distinguished...vibrant, precise, virtuosic playing” The New York Times

Karl Kramer horn
Winner of the 1997 and 1999 American Horn competitions ~ “Praise goes to the heroic horn playing of Karl Kramer.” New York Classical Review

Joshua Butcher bassoon
Acting Assistant Principal with the Albany Symphony

BEETHOVEN  Quintet in E^b Major Op. 16
  ~ instrumental sonorities are explored in this mini-concerto for the piano with a backup wind band of 4—the oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon—the same instrumentation and key as the K. 452 Quintet by Mozart, whom he admired

Beethoven’s young friend and piano pupil Ferdinand Ries, upon hearing the Quintet at a gathering, recounted an amusing incident that occurred during the performance: “In the last Allegro a pause occurs several times before the theme returns; on one of these occasions Beethoven began to improvise, taking the Rondo as his theme, pleasing himself and those listening for a considerable time, but not pleasing the other players. They were annoyed, and the oboist even enraged. It really looked highly comical when these gentlemen, expecting the movement to be resumed at any moment, kept putting their instruments to their mouths, but then had to put them down again without playing a note. At length Beethoven was satisfied, and started up the Rondo again. The whole assembly was delighted.” This Quintet is Beethoven’s only work for piano and winds.

Johann Gottlieb GOLDBERG  3 Polonaises
  ~ by the German prodigy whose name was made famous by Bach’s Goldberg Variations

It is thought that Goldberg (1727–1756) was a student of Bach’s son, Wilhelm Friedemann, in Dresden, and he also studied with J.S. Bach in Leipzig. By the age of 10 he was already a virtuoso keyboard player with exceptional sight-reading facility. As to his compositional skills, “Goldberg’s extant compositions show a musical style varying with genre and hypothetical chronology, from a style very close to J.S. Bach’s…to one far more galant and accessible to the Dresden audience (the polonaises…) and, perhaps finally, to an ambitious modern style calculated for Count Brühl’s orchestra and possibly influenced by the style of C.P.E. Bach…. It is not surprising that in approaching the works of this young and facile man it is difficult to find his ‘real’ musical style, though a love for syncopation, for wide-ranging melodies and especially for chromaticism runs through his works [New Grove Dictionary].”

BACH  Goldberg Variations BWV 988
  ~ a monumental work, arranged by Dmitry Sitkovetsky for string trio in 1985

Long regarded as the most important set of Baroque variations, it was praised in 1774 as “the best variations” by one of Bach’s pupils, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, and in 1802 as “the model according to which all variations should be made” by Johann Nicolaus Forkel, Bach’s first biographer. The Variations were named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who was 13 at the time of its composition. Dmitry Sitkovetsky is a Soviet-Russian-born violinist, composer, and arranger.

Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ By Reservation Only
Call (212) 799-1259 or email admin@jupitersymphony.com
Pay by check or cash (exact change)​​​

By now you know the danger of gathering indoors with people outside your bubble. If you come, it’s at your own risk. If you are in the least bit fearful of CoVid-19, please do not come. We’ll follow state-city guidelines, however, and we can offer:

♦ Spaced-apart seating
♦ Required wearing of masks by audience and staff
♦ HEPA-filter air purifiers in operation
♦ Hand sanitizers
♦ Doors to open 20 minutes before concert starts
♦ Request distancing when entering and exiting
♦ Suggest minimal, quiet talking

Refreshments may not be served.
Please use the restrooms before/after the concert.

Jupiter 2021 - 2022 Season
20 Mondays at 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

View Our NEW Season Calendar

To reserve Tickets ~ $25, $17, $10 
please call (212) 799-1259
or e-mail admin@jupitersymphony.com

Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive

Concert Venue:
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66 Street (west of Broadway), New York

“one of the most refined and intelligent church spaces in New York” ~ The New York Times Built in 1893 by Josiah Cleveland Cady, architect of the old Metropolitan Opera House and the American Museum of Natural History

Office Address:
JUPITER SYMPHONY
155 West 68th Street, Suite 319
New York, NY 10023
admin@jupitersymphony.com
(212) 799-1259

Like our Facebook page to see photos, videos,
concert information and the latest news

Jupiter in the News

ConcertoNet
“knocked the socks off this listener...It was wondrous chamber music. And the three artists gave it the deserving excitement, volition and imagination.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“the performers were top notch”
“The homey church where these concerts take place, nestled on West 66th Street in the shadow of Lincoln Center, is an intimate and acoustically vibrant place for chamber music.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times   more...

Strad Magazine
“A finely forthright, fluent and expressive account of Haydn's Divertimento in E-flat major opened this programme of miscellaneous chamber music in a series known for adventurous programming.”
Dennis Rooney, Strad Magazine   more...

ConcertoNet
“Mr. Nygaard’s cadenza flowed down Mozart lanes and paths, each with beautiful backgrounds. And at the very end, Mr. Nygaard brought forth that martial major theme, like an unexpected gift.” 
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet   more...

“...the group’s efforts proved illuminating ...Brown played a lovely, subtly virtuosic cadenza for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 by Jens Nygaard, the ensemble’s founder, who died in 2001, but whose fascination with rarities continues to drive its programming”
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times   more...

The next time you shop on Amazon, sign up at Smile.Amazon.com and donate 0.5% of your purchase to Jupiter, without additional cost to you or to Jupiter. Many thanks

As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him.

Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy.

John FIELD  Divertissement No. 1 H. 13
  ~ simply delicious piano quintet, alternately titled Rondeau Pastoral and better known in its version for solo piano, Twelve O’clock Rondo, on account of the 12 “chimes” at the end ~ by the creator of the Nocturne, which had a major influence on Chopin

We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sung viola
Christine Lamprea cello

Sir Hamilton HARTY  Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12
  ~ in a lyrical Romantic idiom, with a distinct, breezy Irish-salted voice

Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento.

Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript.

Mackenzie Melemed piano
Abigel Kralik violin
Dechopol Kowintaweewat violin
Sarah Sun viola
Christine Lamprea cello

I Allegro 0:00
II Vivace 10:43
III Lento 14:44
IV Allegro con brio 23:59