(April 14, 2022) The Center City Chamber Orchestra (CCCO) launched in 2018 thanks to the vision of PYO alums Davey Hiester, David Ortiz, Marquise Bradley and Oleksandr Kashyluk while they were still in high school, and as part of Project 440’s Doing Good program. 

CCCO is made up of college, postgraduate, high school students, and professionals representing the diversity of the surrounding community. Members of the group come from more than 35 universities and conservatories across the country and internationally, a mix of Philadelphia/Philly suburbs natives, and members who have come to the area more recently to study and pursue music. Since their time in PYOMI, the alumni have continued to advance the mission of the chamber orchestra “to embody and support necessary societal change with innovative performances, leadership, and artistic collaborations.”

Center City Chamber Orchestra recently performed a program called “PREORCHESTRATION” on Friday, April 8, at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. Repertoire included mixed chamber music for woodwinds, brass, strings, and piano, symbolizing the unity of different voices that comprise the core of an orchestra.
 
As Davey Hiester (PYO ‘18, bassoon) wrote for the program, “Chamber music performances overwhelmingly take place through mediums of canonically established ensembles—the string quartet, piano trio, piano quartet, woodwind quintet, or brass quintet, among others—and there are volumes of rich repertoire that can often be left behind in the midst of such conventional programming. Throughout music history, mixed chamber music has been a vehicle for profound, envelope-pushing works from Bach’s Brandenburg concerti, to Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Messaien’s Quartour pour la fin du temps, and many works of our own time. When CCCO REORCHESTRATION, a concert of works that had been transformed through orchestration, was postponed due to Covid in December 2021, we decided to view it as an opportunity to expand upon the theme of that concert. The idea to extend it across multiple events led us to engender this evening, the first CCCO performance since the advent of the pandemic.” PREORCHESTRATION provided the opportunity to explore and introduce audiences to some of this repertoire, including Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst (chamber version arranged in 2020 by Jannina Norpoth), Bohuslav Martinu’s La revue de cuisine H. 161, and Ernó Dohnányi’s Sextet in C Major, Op 67.
 
Of his experience working with the group, alumnus Immanuel Mykyta-Chomsky (PYO ‘20, piano) said, “It has been rewarding to talk about rep with Davey and the others and help plan innovative programming together, set up rehearsals and concerts, and collaborate with other musicians, many of whom rose up through PYO, Temple Music Prep, Settlement and other organizations.”
 
CCCO invites all to attend their upcoming Easter performance this Sunday, as well as a May concert titled REORCHESTRATION. Visit https://www.facebook.com/cccorch for more details.
 
Sunday, April 17th, 2022, 11:00 AM
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Hamilton Village 
3916 Locust Walk 
Philadelphia, PA 19104
 
Friday, May 27th, 2022, 8:00 PM
Trinity Memorial Church
2212 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103