Chiarina Chamber Players

Celebrates Carlos Simon in Latest Recording

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. — Azica and Chiarina Chamber Players are pleased to announce a new album that celebrates the collaborative spirit of composer Carlos Simon. At the heart of the project is The Best Cuisine, a chamber work composed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioned through a grant from Chamber Music America with generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the piece served as the catalyst for the album's creation. What began as a singular collaboration has evolved into a larger musical journey that reflects Simon's distinctive voice and showcases his shared spirit of musical exploration.

Premiered in Washington, D.C. in 2022, The Best Cuisine emerged as a creative response to a time marked by isolation. Baritone and librettist Carl DuPont, whose text anchors the work, collaborated with Simon to celebrate the joy and artistry of cooking—an everyday ritual both artists came to appreciate more deeply during lockdown.

The album goes far beyond this centerpiece work, offering a broader portrait of Simon’s artistry with several additional pieces that highlight his rich musical language.

While Carlos Simon has garnered national acclaim for his large-scale orchestral and choral works, this album showcases his versatility through more intimate chamber music settings. At its core, the project is a celebration of friendship, musical dialogue, and resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Drawing from Simon’s multifaceted compositional voice, DuPont joined violinist Domenic Salerni, cellist Carrie Bean Stute, and pianist Efi Hackmey at Chiarina’s longtime home, the historic St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C to record The Best Cuisine alongside other works for various combinations of baritone, violin, cello, and piano.

The Best Cuisine: Music of Carlos Simon

ARTISTS: 

Carl DuPont &

Chiarina Chamber Players

COMPOSER: 

Carlos Simon

INSTRUMENTATION:

Piano, Violin, Cello and Baritone

LABEL: Azica

RELEASE DATE: 

August 22, 2025

CATALOG NO.: ACD-71380

COMING THIS FALL!

Chiarina Chamber Players' first concert of the 2025-26 season highlights music from The Best Cuisine: Music of Carlos Simon, featuring the recording’s four performers. 

Founded in 2015 by pianist Efi Hackmey and cellist Carrie Bean Stute, Chiarina brings distinctive chamber music to Capitol Hill, DC. With world-class artists, their mission is to create an engaging, inclusive listening experience that connects audiences, performers, and music from a wide range of composers from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. They hold the conviction that live performance is the cornerstone of their art and should be accessible to all, aiming to bridge gaps with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Recognized by the Washington Post for presenting “some of the most compelling chamber music programs in town” and named one of Washington Classical Review’s "Top Ten Performances" of 2022 and 2021, Chiarina has received grants from Chamber Music America, Mid Atlantic Arts, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, including the inaugural Franzén Award for the Arts.

Chiarina's name is inspired by Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9 for piano, evoking Schumann’s imaginative spirit and that of his pianist-composer wife Clara, one of the most consequential musical figures of 19th-century Germany.

www.chiarina.org

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