New London’s Own Chamber Orchestra

Professor Shou Ping Liu formed the New England Chamber Orchestra in her first year at Conn

When Assistant Professor of Music Shou Ping Liu arrived at Conn a little over a year ago, she quickly set to work rebuilding the Connecticut College Orchestra, which had struggled to rebound after COVID. But she had other ideas, too. 

“There wasn’t much going on in New London in terms of artistic orchestral music,” she recalls. “So I started to think about forming a group, just incorporating all these great musicians I know are around me.” 

To gauge interest, Liu began reaching out to some of the finest professional musicians in the area, including several from the United States Coast Guard Band.

“I called every person, one by one, and said, ‘I would love to work with you.’ And they all said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’”

And thus, the New England Chamber Orchestra (NECO) was born. Liu serves as the artistic director for the group, which prides itself on discovering rarely performed chamber orchestral works and introducing them in their historical context. 

Among NECO’s 15 permanent members is Taylor Isberg, a clarinetist for the Coast Guard Band.

“I perform in a band and NECO is, well, an orchestra. So that opens me up to a whole new repertoire of music, gives me a whole different range of composers’ work I can perform,” Isberg says. “I studied orchestra for a long time. I love playing band music, but it’s really great to do orchestra as well. Especially with the level of players I’m able to interact with here.”

NECO performed its first concert, which Liu described as “artistic level” and “absolutely stunning,” in April. The group’s second concert, performed in Evans Hall on Sept. 22, featured the sublime and mysterious Symphony No. 4 of Gustav Mahler (Klaus Simon Chamber Version). It was no easy feat, Liu says, since the smaller collection of musicians in a chamber orchestra must still produce the kind of sound that a larger symphony would in order to do the piece justice. “Only the best musicians are able to accomplish this.”

Students from the Connecticut College Orchestra also had the opportunity to team up with NECO to perform the witty and unforgettable overture to Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and NECO will perform at least one work with the Conn students at each of their concerts. 

“The students get to play alongside the professional musicians, and it is this boost of ‘I can do this’ for them,” Liu says. 

Having presented Mahler to orchestral music enthusiasts in New London County, Liu has her sights set on the next hurdle.

“[I’ve hired] a Grammy-winning producer to help us make a CD,” she reveals. “We want to build this step by step, and releasing a professional recording is an important part of that. I can feel us building real momentum.”