The Friends of Music Concert Series at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Remembrance: The Piano Quintets of Elgar and Shostakovich” at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.
“The concert is presented in remembrance of World War I, which ended 100 years ago this month, on Nov. 11, 1918,” said Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, professor of violin and viola in the SFA School of Music.
The program showcases works by English composer Sir Edward William Elgar and Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich performed by guest artists Elisabeth Adkins, professor of violin at Texas Christian University, and her husband, Edward Newman, pianist with a private teaching studio in Fort Worth, along with Dr. Misha Galaganov, chair of strings and professor of viola at TCU.
Dalmas and her husband, Dr. Evgeni Raychev, cello instructor at SFA, will join the guest artists in the performance. The ensemble will perform the same program the following week at TCU.
Dalmas said the Elgar quintet was selected for the concert because it was actually written in the year WWI ended.
“It was first performed the following year, in May of 1919,” she said. “One of Elgar’s finest works, it is an expansive, wonderful piece with a wide range of colors and moods.”
The Shostakovich quintet was written in 1940, near the beginning of WWII.
“It is a powerful and moving piece composed in five movements, and it won the Stalin Prize in 1941,” Dalmas said.
The artists will conduct master classes with SFA string and piano students beginning at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3.
Adkins served as associate concertmaster of the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., before joining the music faculty at TCU. She continues her orchestral career as the concertmaster of the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as concerto soloist for the Baltimore Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Maryland Symphony and the Seattle Symphony, as well as numerous appearances with the National Symphony. Since arriving in Fort Worth, she has performed concertos with the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra and the TCU Symphony. She and her husband have presented concerts at the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery.
Newman is a prizewinner in many major competitions, including the Robert Casadesus (Grand Prize, 1979), Gina Bachauer and University of Maryland International Competitions. He was a semifinalist in the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition. He has been featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Utah Symphony, and the Boston Pops, and with a number of European orchestras. As pianist of the American Chamber Players for 10 years, he appeared in concert throughout the United States. He has served on the faculties of The Catholic University of America, George Mason University, the Levine School of Music and the Washington Conservatory.
Galaganov’s solo and chamber music engagements have taken him to concert halls in the USA, Latin America, Europe and China. He has given lectures and master classes in major conservatories around the world, including Juilliard, Beijing Conservatory and Shanghai Conservatory. He has taught and performed in several European and American Festivals, such as EuroArts festival in Germany, Orlando Festival in Holland, Conservatory Music in the Mountains, Summit Music Festival, Wintergreen Music Festival and Mimir festival, among others.
The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.
