GRANVILLE - The Denison University Faculty String Quartet will present its premiere concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday (March 24) in Burke Recital Hall playing works by Franz Schubert, Antonin Dvorak and Denison faculty member Ching-chu Hu.

Denison Faculty String Quartet

The quartet performers are: Andrew Carlson, violin, an assistant professor at Denison and director of the Denison Orchestra; Chenoa Annette Sykes, violin, an affiliated instructor at Denison and assistant principal second violin with the Mansfield Symphony; Deborah Barrett Price, viola, an affiliated instructor at Denison and founder and artistic director of the Chamber Music Connection, Inc.; and Cora Kuyvenhoven, cello, an affiliated instructor and director of the Suzuki Program at Denison.

Opening the program will be Schubert's "String Quartet No. 14 in D minor," also known by the title "Death and the Maiden." Although Schubert did not use this title, the foreboding character of all four movements of the work has made the theme of impending death a suitable title for the work.

Hu's work, "Indelible," was composed as a single-movement work in three continuous sections dealing with his reflections on the tragedy of Sept. 11th. The three sections are "8:45," "Lachryme" and "Aurora." Hu wrote the work for this premiere concert of the Denison Faculty String Quartet.

Following intermission, the quartet will play one of Dvorak's most admired and joyful works, the "String Quartet No. 6 in F major," the "American." While serving as director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York, Dvorak spent summers in Iowa. There, he was exposed to a variety of American musical styles.

Hu earned degrees from Yale, the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. He has been a composition fellow at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and the Advanced Center for Composition at the Aspen Music Festival. He is active as a pianist and conductor of new music and is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Music Center (AMC) and the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI). Winner of the 2000 SCI/ASCAP Composition Commissioning Program, Hu has written the score forThe Life and Times of Jimmy B, a film by Alison McDonald which recently received a Director's Guild of America Award.

Carlson has performed as a soloist and as a chamber musician throughout the United States. Carlson is featured on the University of Georgia Contemporary Chamber Ensemble's CD "The Voice and the Virtuoso." In addition to his experience as a classical violinist, Carlson began learning traditional fiddle music from his grandfather at age 5 and has twice been named the Georgia State Champion Fiddler and was the 2000 Ohio Grand Champion Fiddler. He is the author ofA Guide to American Fiddling, which was recently released by Mel Bay Publishers.

Sykes began her musical life at the age of 3 when her parents enrolled her in a Suzuki violin program. She earned both a bachelor of music degree and a master of music degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and says that her love of music has afforded her many opportunities from winning the 1994 title of "Miss Black Cincinnati" to appearing on New York's "Showtime at the Apollo" program. She is a member of the Seneca Chamber Orchestra and the River City Orchestra, both in West Virginia.

Price is the co-conductor of the Youth Camerata Strings at the Cleveland Institute of Music and conductor of Women-In-Music String Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra. She performed Mozart's "G minor Viola Quintet" with the Cavani String Quartet in 1999 and has recorded with the Camaraderie String Trio. She was nominated as the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Educator of the Year in both 2000 and 2001 and was a 1994 nominee for Chamber Music America's Heidi Castleman Award for Outstanding Chamber Music Educator.

Kuyvenhoven moved to central Ohio in 2000 and has been the principal cellist of the Columbus Opera for the summer season as well as a guest performer with the Oxford String Quartet and has represented ProMusica in various chamber music settings. In Canada, Kuyvenhoven performed, recorded and toured with the Toronto Symphony and performed with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony and the Mississauga Choral Society.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575