The Denison University music department is hosting a Chamber Music Invitational featuring 10 young chamber ensembles. Organized by Deborah Price, who teaches viola at Denison, the individual ensembles will perform between 4 and 7 p.m. and then participate again in a reading session as a string orchestra with guest artists at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 15) in Burke Recital Hall. The performances are free and open to the public.

The ensembles range from three to six members and from 11 years old to college age. The invitational is organized similarly to a competition but without prizes. Serving as judges during the event are Price, Annie Fullard and Merry Peckham of the Cavani String Quartet, and Andrew Carlson, chair of the Denison music department.

The ensembles which will perform are: Caprice Quintet, Focus Quintet, Excelsior, Streich, Citharoedi, Accelerando, Denison String Quintet, Gratus String Quartet, Con Fuoco Quartet and Bella. Among the composers represented on the ensembles program are Schubert, Dvorak, Mozart, Haydn, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. The work for the combined ensembles will be finale of Beethoven's Quartet, Opus 59, No. 3.

Fullard and Peckham are both founding members of the Cavani String Quartet, which is the Cleveland Institute of Music's Quartet-in-Residence, and serve on the CIM faculty. Price, violist, is the founder and artistic director of the Chamber Music Connection, and was named the 2004 Columbus Symphony Orchestra's Community Educator of the Year. Carlson, in addition to his classical performances of new music with the Iowa Center for New Music and the University of Georgia Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, has authored a book titled "A Guide to American Fiddling" and has numerous recordings as the Warner Bros., Atlantic, Elektra, Geffen, Polydor and Capricorn labels.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- A Chamber Music Invitational featuring 10 young chamber ensembles; 4 to 8 p.m., Friday (Dec. 15), Burke Recital Hall (240 W. Broadway). Free and open to the public. Contact 614-537-8650 to confirm information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575