CutTime Players is a BOLD idea... A CLASSICAL MUSIC BAND!   ... a DAZZLING and FLEXIBLE ensemble  COVERING 300 YEARS of written music's GREATEST HITS! CutTime Players is your SHORTCUT to enjoying classical music!   • POPULAR MUSICAL STORIES: Click or download these MP3 links to hear how they play... Peter and the Wolf,  The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the wonderful new Animal Circus Suite. • NARRATED DRAMAS: Pictures at an Exhibition, Carmen, The Three-Cornered Hat, plus The Soldier's Tale with 3 actors. • SYMPHONY MOVEMENTS: from Mozart to Beethoven to Mendelssohn to Tchaikovsky to Mahler. • CONCERTOS that feature deepest personal expression & virtuosic control: The Four Seasons. • OVERTURES that set the stage for opera: Russlan and Ludmilla, William Tell, The Magic Flute. • PIANO WORKS: from Beethoven's Fur Elise to Rachmaninoff's Prelude in c-sharp and shorts. • JAZZ SUITES by Claude Bolling, jazz standards, Joplin rags, gospel on into FUNK! • FOLK MUSIC SUITES from Romania, Hungary, Spain, England and Russia... even KLEZMER! • ENCORES: Ride of the Valkyries, Tico Tico, Hungarian Dance #5 & Stars and Stripes Forever. • SPECIAL FAMILY PROGRAMS: featuring Spanish, Russian and Jewish musics, a Christmas program, an imaginative Halloween program with a kids costume PARADE, and two soulful programs celebrating the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King and W. A. Mozart.

CutTime Players features: Geoff Applegate, violin Rick Robinson, bass & director Sharon Sparrow, flute & education director Ted Oien, clarinet Bob Williams, bassoon Kevin Good, trumpet Randy Hawes, bass trombone Sam Tundo, percussion (Percussionist Keith Claeys pictured on index page)

The remarkably versatile grouping above began with Igor Stravinsky's profound 1917 music-drama The Soldier's Tale. Exploring its "miniature orchestra" potential, DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (DSO) bassist and 2010 Kresge Artist Fellow RICK ROBINSON (AKA Mr. CutTime) tapped seven colleagues in 1995 to perform this work, along with his first transcription, Prokofiev's music-story Peter and the Wolf. Their success launched the development of a whole new GENRE... a classical COVER BAND featuring 120+ transcriptions and arrangements! The CUTTIME is the musical symbol meaning TWO BEATS PER BAR... indicating a LIVELY tempo. They ADOPTED this symbol as their commitment to REACHING OUT to new audiences with LIVELY, FUN, and GENUINE concerts. Together with a cool mix of STORIES, METAPHORS and PERSONALITIES, CutTime Players (CTP) CUT your TIME to ENJOYING the classics! They have taken great pleasure bringing popular classical AND classic pop standards to audiences across Michigan, into Ohio and recently to Florida! (Here is a YouTube VIDEO of their adventures!) With great arrangements, world-class musicianship and a warm, informative concert style, this ensemble is AN INSTANT HIT wherever they go! They recently performed a sold-out Xmas concert for Fair Lane Music Guild in Dearborn... and then packed DIA's Rivera Court for Noel Night.  CutTime Players recently won a FISCAL SPONSORSHIP with the New York Foundation for the Arts to solicit charitable contributions to perform 17 educational services next year! You can help CUTTIME PLAYERS GO BACK TO SCHOOL! Give a fully tax-deductible contribution ONLINE! Then get their new webalbum at InstantEncore.com. Enter CODE: 'ctp2schools' for FREE DOWNLOADS! Join Our Mailing List Email: For Email Marketing you can trust CutTime Players produces CLASSICAL CONCERTS WITH CHARACTER! DOWNLOAD this MP3 of Soundbites (9Mb). (More MP3s) DOWNLOAD this Informational Brochure (.pdf) for printing. Larry Johnson of The Detroit News calls CutTime Players "... a small band with a ton of talent." Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker says "The emphasis is on high-level musicianship and entertaining and witty presentation." Read here what other people are saying. Read about their next concerts. Take a quick look at some previous seasons and their growing repertoire list!

CUT OUT THE FORMALITY,  IT'S TIME TO HAVE FUN!

Read about the history of CutTime Players and its mission. Read a letter from the director.  Learn about the musicians and their guest actors. Read their extensive resume. Wanna go DEEPER? Pop over to Rick's writings of MUSICAL INSIGHTS for young musicians and classical music fans where you'll discover juicy tidbits about symphonic concerts and music making. Also visit the updated LINKS page for kids and hot suggestions!  VISITORS: Invite CutTime Players to YOUR community! This is your time to make CUTTIME work its magic in your school or church, simply by providing us an official contact along with your name as reference.

PRESENTERS: Block-booking discounts are available! Read more... TEACHERS and PARENTS: They offer 35% DISCOUNTS for metro-Detroit schools. CORPORATIONS: Valuable marketing opportunities are available! Dinner parties! Call 313-680-8104 for a quote! CutTime Players is a member of Chamber Music America.