Mill Ave Chamber Players

The musical term “pizzicato” instructs a string player to pluck a string instead of using a bow. For our new Pizza-cato Chamber Music Series, we’ve “plucked” some of the Valley’s best classical musicians and will present them in special intimate lunchtime concerts. Join us for great classical music and some delicious pizza!

Mill Ave Chamber Players (MACP) is a professional chamber music ensemble based in Phoenix, Arizona. Formed in 2007, MACP has received local and national recognition: City of Phoenix Mayor’s Arts Awards nominee, Governor’s Arts Awards nominee, and Chamber Music America recognition for work in community building at the annual national conference.

For the past fifteen seasons, the Mill Ave Chamber Players has been dedicated to bringing engaging concerts to our community. Starting with our original series in Sun City, Arizona, MACP has partnered libraries, public and charter schools, community organizations, and bookstores to hold concerts in unique settings, averaging 50 concerts a year. The ensemble is featured in a permanent exhibit at the Musical Instrument Museum, has been featured on KBAQ’s Arizona Encore, and is currently ensemble-in-residence at Phoenix College. In 2022 ensemble performed at the Walled City Music Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland, featured on the Downtown Chamber Series at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona, and in 2023 will be guest artists at the FAOT Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and at the University of Arizona.

Committed to community collaboration, MACP has received the Performing Arts Partnership Grant from the City of Glendale (AZ) to continue the 30-year-old “Live at the Library” series at the Glendale Public Library for the ninth consecutive year. Previously, MACP was awarded a grant from the City of Phoenix to participate in ARTSpace, an after-school community arts program. MACP has also performed for and partnered with Rosie’s House: A Music Academy for Children, Phoenix Children’s First Academy, the Peoria Unified School District, West Valley Symphony, and the West Valley Arts Council. Mill Ave Chamber Players has held residencies at the University of the Pacific (CA), Glendale Community College, and Paradise Valley Community College and holds an annual summer chamber music camp.

Recently featured performances include the International Women’s Brass Conference in Tempe, AZ, Arizona Encore on KBAQ, 47th International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles, premiere of John Steinmetz’s dectet Three Pieces with the composer and faculty at the University of the Pacific, the International CALA (Celebración Artística de las Américas) Festival, and the Southwest Horn Conference in Phoenix, AZ.

Mill Ave Chamber Players has recorded three albums: Impressions (2018) with commissions by John Steinmetz, Kerry Turner, Thomas Breadon, Jessica Meyer and Robert Springer; What the Birds Said (2016) with the music of John Steinmetz; and Mill Ave Chamber Players (2014). The ensemble has recorded two compositions by Thomas Breadon meant for educational outreach concerts: Aesop’s Fables and North American Folk Tales with the “We Are One Grant” from the City of Glendale, AZ and published their transcriptions that have become a staple of their repertoire including works by Bach, Gabrieli, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky in 2022.