• UNC Charlotte Department of Music Presents Chamber Music Festival

• Monday, January 9th, 2012
• Department of Music

Special Guest Artists, The Catalyst Quartet
January 20, 22, 24, & 26
Belk Theater, Robinson Hall
UNC Charlotte

The UNC Charlotte Department of Music will present its second annual chamber music festival January 20-26 in the Anne R. Belk Theater of Robinson Hall. Directed by David Russell, the Anne R. Belk Distinguished Professor of Violin, the festival features professional musicians from across the country, along with faculty from the Department of Music. Please see schedule below for a full list of performers.

This year’s special guest ensemble is the Catalyst Quartet, a Sphinx Organization ensemble comprised of winners of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players. The mission of the Catalyst Quartet is to advance diversity in classical music and inspire new and young audiences with dynamic performances of cutting-edge repertoire by a wide range of composers. For more information, visit www.catalystquartet.com.  The Catalyst Quartet performs Tuesday, January 24. That morning, the ensemble will perform a free education concert for local school children.

The programming for the 2012 festival is inspired by the upcoming Violins of Hope project, presented by the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture this April. Violins of Hope is a series of exhibitions, concerts, and lectures centered around 18 violins recovered from the Holocaust by an Israeli violinmaker and never before presented in exhibition and performance in the Americas.  Repertoire such as Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 (1944) and Oliver Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” (1941) make direct references to the events of that period, while Osvaldo Golijov’s more recent “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” (1994)refers to a 13^th-century rabbi and includes klezmer clarinet. For more information about Violins of Hope, please visit www.violinsofhopecharlotte.com.

The UNC Charlotte Chamber Music Festival and the educational outreach are funded in part through a UNC Charlotte Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Grant.

Tickets are $9, $7 for seniors and UNC Charlotte faculty and staff, and $6 for students. For more information, call 704-687-1849 or visit www.performances.uncc.edu.

The UNC Charlotte Chamber Music Festival 2012

Concert 1
January 20, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.

BACH  Goldberg Variations
SHOSTAKOVICH  Piano Trio No. 2

David Russell, violin
Mira Frisch, cello
Kirsten Swanson, viola
Janet Sung, violin
Mihai Tetel, cello
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano

Concert 2
January 22, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

MOZART  Piano Quartet in E-flat Major
MESSIAEN  Quartet for the End of Time

David Russell, violin
Mira Frisch, cello
Kirsten Swanson, viola
Dylan Savage, piano
John Sadak, clarinet
Janet Sung, violin
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano
Natasha Farnay, cello

Concert 3: The Catalyst Quartet, a Sphinx Ensemble
January 24, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.

RAVEL  Quartet in F Major
BEETHOVEN  Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95 (Serioso)
WEBERN:  Langsamer Satz
GINASTERA  Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 

Bryan Hernandez-Luch, violin
Karla Donehew-Perez, violin
Christopher Jenkins, viola
Karlos Rodriguez, cello 

Concert 4
January 26, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.

DOHNANYI  Serenade
GOLIJOV  The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind

Felicia Moye, violin
David Rose, viola
Alexander Ezerman, cello
John Sadak, clarinet

About the UNC Charlotte Department of Music

Part of the College of Arts + Architecture at UNC Charlotte, the Department of Music represents more than 70 students, 16 full-time faculty, and 19 part-time faculty. The department offers a B.A. in Music, a B.M in Music Performance and in Music Education, a Graduate Certificate in Violin, and a music minor. For more information, visit www.coaa.uncc.edu.