243 FINAL EVENT IN MTSU’S PRESIDENTIAL CONCERT SERIES ON FEB. 10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 29, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493



(MURFREESBORO)—Vanderbilt’s Blair String Quartet will perform the final concert in MTSU’s annual Presidential Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the T. Earl Hinton Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Violinists Christian Teal and Cornelia Heard, along with violist John Kochanowski and cellist Felix Wang compose the group.
"The Blair String Quartet has a well-deserved national reputation for the excellence and verve of their chamber music performances," said George Riordan, director for the McLean School of Music at MTSU. "Collectively, these four players summon the sound of an orchestra.
"We worked with the group to design a program that has wide appeal, with two familiar works bracketing a pair of lesser-known compositions," he added.
Riordan said the concert will open with a quartet by Joseph Haydn (in G major, Op. 54, No. 1) and end with Maurice Ravel's Quartet in F that was composed in 1903.
"(This is) arguably the best-loved of all string quartets," Riordan commented.
In the middle will be two brief 20th century pieces—the first an early work by Anton Webern and the other by contemporary Romanian composer György Kurtág.
"This is a program that should be attractive to musical connoisseurs and first-time concert goers alike," Riordan said.
Widely acclaimed in performances across the country, the quartet has enhanced its national reputation through appearances at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, New York’s 92nd Street Y and Merkin Concert Hall.
The quartet has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Southern Arts Federation, the Tennessee Arts Commission and Chamber Music America’s C. Michael Paul Residency Program.
"The McLean School of Music is pleased to be able to partner with our colleagues in the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt in presenting this Presidential Series Concert," Riordan said.
The Feb. 10 performance is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.

—30—