The "then and now" theme of this year's Moscow Forum International Festival, New Music on Old Instruments, Old Music on New Instruments is a natural match for the Da Capo Chamber Players, "da capo" of course meaning "back to the beginning," and by extension "ever renewing." The group will be making its first appearance April 15, 2002, at this exciting festival, performing repertoire that embraces musically the idea of "then and now." John Harbison 's November 19, 1828 (written for Da Capo, the Atlanta Chamber Players, and Voices of Change) is built on Schubert fragments left incomplete at his death. Bruce Adolphe's Machaut Is My Beginning (also written for Da Capo) is based on Machaut's famous 14th century canon, Ma fin est mon commencement. Charles Wuorinen's Bearbeitungen über Das Glogauer Liederbuch is a setting of 15th century instrumental works.

George Crumb's Eleven Echoes of Autumn, 1965 and Kirill Umansky's Kammerstück pull the program into the "now", along with Joan Tower's Petroushskates (written in 1980 for the 10th anniversary of the Da Capo Chamber Players)--an exuberant homage to Stravinsky. The Crumb work embraces a motto-quote from Federico Garcia-Lorca, ". . . and the broken arches where time suffers," thus also tying in with the theme of the Festival.

The Moscow Forum International Festival of Contemporary Music will take place at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, April 14-20. Top-flight ensembles from Britain, France, Finland, Netherlands and Estonia will also be featured. Da Capo's participation in the festival furthers an important goal of the group-to be cultural ambassadors, bringing American music to other countries, building bridges to other cultures, gathering information and new ideas from the music being played elsewhere, planning possible future collaborations or exchanges.

Participation of the Da Capo Chamber Players in this festival has been made possible in part through support from The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of State, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Rockefeller Foundation, with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and administered by Arts International.