Chester Baroque

The Chester Baroque Orchestra seeks to bring enjoyment to audiences of all ages through the performance of Baroque music.  We seek to teach both young and old to develop familiarity with the music and the composers of this era.  We hope that you can take away an appreciation and understanding of baroque music from our performances.

The Chester Baroque Orchestra is beginning its Seventh season.  The group is devoted to the performance of eighteenth-century works.  In addition to works from the most well-known composers of the baroque era (such as Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli) the orchestra prides itself on presenting works from some of the lesser known Baroque composers (Scarlatti, Albinoni, Mascitti).  The orchestra takes pride in yearly performances of the Christmas Concerto repertoire of the period.  Most well known are the “Christmas Concerti” by Arcangello Corelli, Michele Corrette and another by Giuseppe Torelli. Additional Baroque Christmas works are also performed.  Each concert’s repertoire is thoroughly studied using manuscripts from the era.

Richard Maximoff grew up in Dallas, Texas, received a full scholarship at age 17 to attend the Juilliard School in NYC. Later, while in the doctoral program he was a member of the contemporary ensemble of the eminent Pierre Boulez who was the music director of the N.Y. Philharmonic at the time.  During his military service, he performed at official state dinners at the White House during two Presidential administrations (Johnson and Nixon).
A former studio string contractor, Maximoff was asked by an RCA producer to put together a group, which became the Hampton String Quartet.  The Hampton String Quartet is the original all classic rock string quartet. They have been performing to standing ovations world-wide for over 32 years, have been nominated for a Grammy Award and sold more records + CDs than all other string quartets combined.   As principal violist of various chamber groups, Dr. Maximoff premiered contemporary compositions under the direction of Bernstein, Britten, Copland, Hindemith, Milhaud and Stravinsky.