BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | Chelsea Musica, a relatively new woodwind chamber ensemble, owes its founding to the Penn South waiting list.
Carolyn Pollak, the oboist of the group, and her husband had just retired. It was 2011, and they were contemplating a move back to New York City from New Jersey, but were wondering whether they could afford it — and then they received the call that they had gotten an apartment in Penn South.
“It was like winning the lottery,” Pollak told Chelsea Now by phone. “We had put our name on a waiting list for Penn South in 1975.”
Pollak surmises that when her family lived in Spain in the early ’90s, they might have been contacted for the apartment, but missed it. She thinks they were added back to the bottom of the list.
“My husband and I just pinch each other every day to remind ourselves how lucky we are,” she said. “We just love it here, and we love Chelsea.”
As the former principal oboist for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Pollak was frustrated that she hadn’t had the time to play chamber music. When she moved to Manhattan, she started playing with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, and through that group met Karen Robbins, a flutist.
Robbins called her up and brought two friends: bassoonist Cara Tucker and Denise Koncelik, who plays the keyboard and the flute, to play baroque trio sonatas at Pollak’s apartment.
“So we started just having fun,” she explained.
The quintet played for friends, who encouraged them to perform for others, and thus Chelsea Musica was formed about two years ago.
On Sun., Nov. 22 at 4 p.m., Chelsea Musica will perform for the first time at St. Peter’s Chelsea (346 W. 20th St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.) as part of the church’s Music in Chelsea series, whose proceeds go to the church’s food pantry.
Pollak, who has played at St. Peter’s before with other groups, said, “It’s a lovely church. It’s a lovely space. I enjoy very much playing there. We’re also really happy to be doing something for the soup kitchen.”
Music in Chelsea began in 1991, and was founded by Thad McGar (1927-2013) to benefit a restoration effort at that time at St. Peter’s, explained Sandra Elm, the series’ co-director, in a phone interview.
“When Thad retired in the summer of 2002, Keith Gardner and I took it on. As we’re fond of saying, it took two people to fill Thad’s shoes,” she said with a laugh.
McGar, she said, organized and hustled for the series in an era where there were no email blasts, and bulk mailings were done.
Then, in spring 2011, “it became obvious that the food pantry was in real need,” she explained. It was decided to “redirect the funds to benefit the food pantry.”
Elm, who plays the viola, said there are performances on selected Sundays at 4 p.m., and during the summer they are on Tuesday or Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The suggested donation of $10 is about what it costs to put a bag of food together, she said.
Rev. Stephen Harding, who has been the church’s pastor for two years, said the many performances and events at St. Peter’s are ways to reconnect with the neighborhood.
“Our thinking is that there are many people in Chelsea who have never been in St. Peter’s and we would like to change that,” he said in a phone interview.
The neighborhood has rapidly changed, and Harding said he wanted to bring people to the building itself. There is a $15 million capital campaign to restore the church, he explained, and the art programs and performances are part of that restoration campaign.
St. Peter’s will also be the venue for the 12th season opener for Chelsea Opera, which has a long relationship with the church.
Chelsea opera co-founders Lynne Hayden-Findlay and Leonarda Priore met at a summer music program and kept in touch. Later, in 2004, they decided to mount a performance of “Suor Angelica,” by Giacomo Puccini. The opera takes place at a convent in Italy in the latter half of the 17th century.
Being opera singers themselves, they had a network of friends already in mind for the cast, explained Priore in a phone interview.
“We were able to put on this production very quickly and beautifully,” Priore said. “And we thought that was it. We did it, it was wonderful, and then people began asking us what are we doing next.”
Chelsea Opera — named after the street Hayden-Findlay grew up on in Long Island — was founded in 2004. Their inaugural performance, “Sour Angelica,” was at St. Peter’s.
“ ‘Suor Angelica,’ particularly, was breathtaking there…because of the gorgeous stained glass and just the ambience of the church space itself,” Priore recalled.
Hayden-Findlay concurred, saying, “It always feels like coming home. The church itself provides a natural setting.”
Many other productions, such as “Don Giovanni,” have also been performed at St. Peter’s.
“One of the things that we like is — that the church kind of helps us paint the picture — is the audience is close, very close to us,” Priore said.
“The audience can feel as though they’re part of the action. Sometimes they actually are part of the action, because some of characters in the opera will be coming down the aisles. It’s very visceral.”
Chelsea Opera’s season begins with “Glory Denied.” The opera is based on the book by Tom Philpott, and tells the story of Floyd “Jim” Thompson, the longest-held prisoner of war in American history, explained Hayden-Findlay. Thompson was sent to Vietnam in 1964, when the United States was sending advisors. He was on a reconnaissance mission when his plane was shot down, and he was held captive for nine years, she said.
The opera, composed by Tom Cipullo, is divided into two parts. The first half covers the struggle of Thompson’s imprisonment and his wife’s concurrent battle to provide for the family in his absence. The second half chronicles their deteriorating relationship after he comes back home, said Hayden-Findlay.
This is the second time that the company is performing “Glory Denied.” The first was in 2010.
“We feel it’s one of our best works,” Priore said.
There are two performances of “Glory Denied” on Thurs., Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sat., Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. at St. Peter’s Chelsea (346 W. 20th St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). Admission is $30 general, $20 for students, seniors, and veterans. Free for active duty military (with ID). For reservations, call 866-811-4111 or visit chelseaopera.org.
Chelsea Musica will perform on Sun., Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. Suggested Donation: $10 ($5 for seniors/students). Concert proceeds benefit the food pantry at St. Peter’s. For info, call 212-929-2390 or visit stpeterschelsea.org.
NOTE: This article was corrected on Nov. 6 to reflect the reader comment, regarding “Suor Angelica.”
