[350] Stones River Chamber Players bid goodbye to winter with free Feb. 29 concert

MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s Stones River Chamber Players will feature the works of a Grammy-winning composer and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet alongside an MTSU professor’s composition in a free public concert, “Winter Meditations,” set for Monday, Feb. 29.

The ensemble members, all of whom teach in MTSU’s School of Music, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 29 in Hinton Music Hall inside MTSU's Wright Music Building.

“Winter Meditations” will feature a variety of works for trios that span more than 150 years of music, said Arunesh Nadgir, SRCP co-director and one of the frequently featured pianists for the group.

“The three works on the program display a variety of interesting instrumental and vocal combinations,” Nadgir added.

The concert will begin with Grammy Award winner André Previn’s “Four Songs for Soprano, Cello, and Piano,” which uses the poetry of Toni Morrison and will feature soprano Christine Isley-Farmer, cellist Christine Kim and Nadgir.

“Previn’s musical weaving of classical and jazz idioms into the fabric of Morrison’s poems reinforces her heartfelt poetic sentiments,” Isley-Farmer said.

MTSU composer-in-residence Paul Osterfield’s “Lullaby for Michelle” will conclude the concert’s first half. Osterfield created the piece for his daughter, who was born in 2013, and premiered it at MTSU in 2015.

Music faculty Michael Parkinson, Tim Pearson and Brian Mueller will perform “Lullaby for Michelle” with Parkinson on trumpet, Pearson on double bass and Mueller on vibraphone.

The second half of the Feb. 29 program features Johannes Brahms’ "Horn Trio in E-flat Major." Performed by Angela DeBoer on horn, Karen Clarke on violin and SRCP co-director Adam Clark on piano, the Brahms trio is hailed as one of the most popular of the composer's chamber works. 

“This is a major work in the horn chamber music repertoire and one that horn players treat with reverence,” said DeBoer.  “The composer’s use of the violin, horn and piano is nothing short of masterful.”

The Stones River Chamber Players will conclude the 2015-16 season April 11 with a spring finale concert featuring compositions by Franz Schubert and Bohuslav Martinů and the premiere of MTSU music professor Jamey Simmons’ new work.

You can listen to streaming audio performances by the Stones River Chamber Players at http://www.mtsu.edu/music/srcp.php. For details on more MTSU School of Music performances, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com and click on the "Concert Calendar" link.