The Onyx Chamber Players have based their reputation and repertoire on performing classical music with a fresh new slant. They strive to perform works of yesteryear as if they were composed yesterday.
The trio performs at the First Sunday at the Commons concert series on Bainbridge Island May 7, during Arts Walk.
The trio consists of Cecelia Archuleta on violin, Meg Brennan on cello and David White on keyboards, from piano to harpsichord.
Archuleta can boast that she has performed internationally, and for royalty and heads of state.
By special request of the First Lady of Mexico she has twice played for the President of Mexico. While performing in California she performed a concert for Princess Grace of Monaco and a Bach Double with Jack Benny.
Locally she has spent 12 seasons playing in a barn, at the Olympic Music Festival outside of Quilcene.
She has also performed with the Northwest Sinfonietta, the Seattle Symphony and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra.
Brennan performs both modern and baroque cello and is a professor of cello at Seattle Pacific University.
For the past 15 years she has been a cellist with Gallery Concerts, playing chamber music on period instruments. She also performs regularly with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver, B.C. and is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra.
She may be familiar to Kitsap audiences as a member of the Iris Quartet, a chamber ensemble with close ties to the Bainbridge Island music community.
White can play anything with keys, but his specialty is the organ. He began playing piano at age 6, and as soon as his feet could reach the pedals he switched to organ. He’s been a liturgical musician ever since, holding posts as organist and Director of Music at several prestigious congregations in the Chicago area.
As a conductor he has spanned many genre from opera and symphony to Broadway musicals and choral. As a composer he has written more than 150 works for choral and orchestral groups around the world.
He is currently working on a large-scale trio for Onyx and is about to embark on composing his fourth opera.
The Onyx Chamber Players perform 4 p.m May 7 at the Bainbridge Commons, 402 Brien Dr., Bainbridge Island. Admission at the door is $15 adults, $10 students.
