068 VERDEHR TRIO OPENS 2007-08 PRESIDENTIAL CONCERT SERIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 31, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

VERDEHR TRIO OPENS 2007-08 PRESIDENTIAL CONCERT SERIES AT MTSU

(MURFREESBORO)—The Verdehr Trio, a violin-clarinet-piano trio in residence at Michigan State University, will open MTSU’s 2007-2008 Presidential Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall in the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Referred to as “simply the most influential violin-clarinet-piano group in the world” by Music and Vision Magazine, the Verdehr Trio comprises violinist Walter Verdehr, clarinetist Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr and pianist Silvia Roederer.
“It is an honor for us to have this distinguished, world-traveling trio of artists and teachers open the Presidential Concert Series this year,” said Dr. George T. Riordan, director of MTSU’s McLean School of Music.
The trio, which received a Creative Programming Award from Chamber Music America, is credited with helping develop a whole genre of chamber music through its commissioning of some 170 works. These efforts were referred to as The Making of a Medium by The Strad magazine in November 1995.
“Not only will the public have a chance to hear (this) ensemble that has directly developed a whole genre of chamber music, but our students will also have the unforgettable experience of working with the ensemble’s individuals in master classes as well,” Riordan said. “In addition, our composition students will be able to become acquainted with music by current composers.”
The Verdehr Trio has performed throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union and in South and Central America, as well as in Asia, Australia and in all but two states in U.S. Riordan said that the Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House, Dvorak Hall in Prague, IRCAM Centre in Paris and Leningrad's Philharmonic Chamber Hall are among the major concert halls where the trio has performed. The players also have performed at various international festivals, including the Spoleto Festival, Prague Spring Festival, the Vienna Spring Festival.
According to one Washington Post story, "The Verdehr Trio is a first-rate chamber group with a difference—the three have been winning celebrity over 30 years for creating a new niche in world music, commissioning l70 plus works by an international bevy of composers ... impeccably matched phrasing and contrasting tonal colors as clearly etched as Mozart's operatic characters."
In addition to the Sept. 19 performance of the Verdehr Trio, this year's Presidential Concert Series will feature a Feb. 12, 2008, performance by pianist Read Gainsford and a March 14, 2008, performance by the Baroque ensemble, Aulos Ensemble.
All events in the Presidential Concert Series are free and open to the public.
For more information on this or other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.edu or call 615-898-2493.
—30—

• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To secure a jpeg of the Verdehr Trio for editorial use, please e-mail your request to Tim Musselman in the music school at tmusselm@mtsu.edu.