ROYAL Plantation’s classical concert series kicked off on Sunday with the Cape Fear Chamber Players in the Drawing Room of Royal Plantation Ocho Rios.

The Chamber, featuring Beverly Andrews on violin, Dominique on piano and Kathy Meyer on cello opened with miniatures from world-renowned artiste Frank Bridge. After a 15-minute break, the Cape Fear Trio began their second round with the Appalachia Waltz, an excellent piece which delighted the audience.

The players started the second section with improvised variations by Robert Schumann such as bewegt, doch nicht zu rasch, ziemlich langsam, rasch & kratig mit humour which translate in English as “fast but with humour”.

Formed in 1991 as a string quartet to provide music in a wide variety of settings, the Cape Fear Chamber Players comprises professionals living in the Wilmington, North Carolina area. Having excelled in classical and other experimental genres, they are also known for their versatility and virtuosity as performance artistes.

Beverly Andrews (violin) is co-concertmaster of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and a founding member of Cape Fear Chamber Players. Her earliest musical studies were with her pianist mother, whose family line has played violin or piano since arriving in America in the 1700’s. Beverly plays on a special Gemunder violin made in 1895 by a German immigrant who studied violin making under Jean Baptiste Villaume in Paris. After 111 years, the violin was recently discovered resting in a closet covered with black heating oil soot.

Domonique Launey, who resides in Wilmington, completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in performance at the University of Texas at Austin. During postgraduate work in Brussels, Belgium, she worked with Nadine Deletaille and was awarded the Gold Medal at L’Academie de Musique for piano performance. She has performed throughout the US and Europe as soloist, chamber musician, and featured soloist with many orchestras.

Kathy Meyer is a native of Atlanta, GA and studied with Richard Maag at Furman University, where she earned a BS degree in Biology. She continued her musical training at Drake University and has been a member of the Greenville, SC and Des Moines, IA symphonies as well as the Atlanta Chamber Orchestra and the Tallis Chamber Orchestra. She is currently principal cellist of the Wilmington Symphony and is a founding member of the Cape Fear Chamber Players. She plays a cello made in Lyon, France 1863.