Department of Music
 

University Chamber Music Series

The University Chamber Music Series presents a full season of concerts offering both new and traditional music from Virginia Tech faculty members and internationally known guest artists. The series provides outstanding learning opportunities for students and brings world-class professional performances to Blacksburg, the New River Valley, and southwest Virginia. Past seasons have included masterworks like Stravinsky's Histoire du soldat, the world premiere of a song cycle based on texts by Edgar Allan Poe, and ensembles such as the Manhattan Piano Trio, Emerson Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, and Alarm Will Sound.

We are proud to partner with Comfort Inn Blacksburg and the Main Street Inn as our University Chamber Music Series lodging sponsors.

Upcoming Events

Garrick OhlssonGarrick Ohlsson CANCELLED

Friday, January 20, at 8 p.m. | Lyric Theatre

We regret that the January 20 concert with pianist Garrick Ohlsson has been canceled due to an unexpected scheduling conflict with the artist. Ticket holders will receive a full refund. If you purchased your ticket through the Lyric box office, contact them at (540) 951-4771 for a refund. If you are a UCM ticket holder, you will receive your refund in the mail from the Department of Music.

Presented in partnership with the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech.

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although he has long been regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Fryderyk Chopin, Ohlsson commands an enormous repertory, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertory. His concerto repertory alone is unusually wide and eclectic — ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the twenty-first century — and to date he has at his command some 80 concertos.

PHOTO: PAUL BODY

 

Vinson ColeVinson Cole

Saturday, January 28, at 8 p.m. | Squires Recital Salon

Sponsored by Paul and Kathleen Zweifel.

American tenor Vinson Cole is internationally recognized as one of the leading artists of his generation. His career has taken him to all of the major opera houses across the globe. Equally celebrated for his concert appearances, Cole has been a frequent guest of the most prestigious orchestras throughout the world and has collaborated with the greatest conductors of this era. Cole had an especially close working relationship with the late Herbert von Karajan, who brought the artist to the Salzburg Festival to sing the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier, the first of many performances there together. Their collaboration went on to include works such as Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Requiem, and Bruckner's Te Deum. Many of these were issued on recordings on Deutsche Grammophon.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE! Ticket on-sale date TBD.
$15 General; $10 Senior; $5 Student

 

MarcOliviaMarcOlivia

Sunday, March 18, at 3 p.m. | Squires Recital Salon

Violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, who together form the violin and violin/viola duo Marcolivia, have concertized extensively throughout the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, England, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. They have performed in many of the world's cultural centers, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Moscow, London, Tokyo, and Mexico City.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE! Ticket on-sale date TBD.
$15 General; $10 Senior; $5 Student


Colorado QuartetColorado Quartet

Sunday, March 25, at 3 p.m. | Squires Recital Salon

The Colorado Quartet has been a ground-breaking ensemble for nearly three decades. Catapulted onto the scene by back-to-back wins at the Banff International String Quartet and Naumburg competitions, it was the first all-women quartet to attain international stature. The first female quartet in history to perform the complete Beethoven quartet cycle in Europe and North America, its recording of the cycle is available on the Parnassus label. Of the Late quartets, Fanfare Magazine said: "The Colorado Quartet tears into these works with a combined tension, cohesion, grace, and complete understanding of the music… if it's the music and what the music says that interests you, well, this is the only set of the late quartets you'll ever need. These four women bring Beethoven to intense, blazing life." The program will feature all works by Beethoven.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE! Ticket on-sale date TBD.
$15 General; $10 Senior; $5 Student

 

Imani WindsImani Winds

Tuesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. | Lyric Theatre

Presented in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Virginia Tech and made possible by a grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The University Chamber Music Series proudly presents the Imani Winds as the renowned group returns to Virginia Tech and the stage of the Lyric for an encore performance. More than North America's premier wind quintet, Imani Winds has established itself as one of the most successful chamber music ensembles in the United States. Since 1997, the Grammy nominated quintet has taken a unique path, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, genre-blurring collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while meaningfully bridging European, American, African, and Latin American traditions.

To purchase tickets, call (540) 951-4771, visit the Lyric Theatre during regular box office hours (Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.), or BUY TICKETS ONLINE! Tickets go on sale Monday, August 15, 2011.
$40 General (available online); $34 Senior; $16 Student (senior and student tickets are available only at the Lyric Theatre box office with a senior or student ID)

UCM Season Subscribers: Tickets will be mailed to you. Contact ecrone@vt.edu if you have questions or concerns regarding your season tickets.

PHOTO: LISA MARIE-MAZZUCCO

 

Previous Events

HomagesFaculty Chamber Music

Sunday, August 28, at 3 p.m. | Squires Recital Salon

Faculty members from the Virginia Tech Department of Music collaborate to perform works for large chamber wind ensemble, conducted by Travis J. Cross. Entitled "Homages," the program opens with David Maslanka's Little Concerto for Six Players, with movements influenced by Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Brahms. Pianist Tracy Cowden is featured on Jean Françaix's Hommage à l'Ami Papageno, a witty series of variations on themes from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Darius Milhaud's ground-breaking, jazz-influenced ballet La création du monde features David Jacobsen on saxophone. The program ends with John Husser soloing on Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty's Dead Elvis, one of the most frequently performed contemporary works for bassoon and chamber ensemble (not coincidentally, the same instrumentation as Stravinsky's Histoire du soldat).

Kandinsky TrioKandinsky Trio

Sunday, September 18, at 3 p.m. | Squires Recital Salon

The second concert in the University Chamber Music Series features the Kandinsky Trio — Alan Weinstein, cello; Benedict Goodfriend, violin; and Elizabeth Bachelder, piano. Guest artists Susan Waterbury, violin, and Michael Klotz, viola, will join the Kandinsky Trio in a performance of Antonín Dvorák’s A Major Piano Quintet. In addition, the Trio and Klotz will perform Gustav Mahler’s only piece of chamber music, the Piano Quartet in A Minor. The program will open with the Haydn Trio in C Minor, Hob. XV:13.

 

 

 

The English ConcertEnglish Concert

Saturday, October 15, at 8 p.m. | Lyric Theatre

Presented in partnership with the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech.

The Center for the Arts and Department of Music at Virginia Tech partner to bring the best that classical music has to offer. The English Concert, led by conductor/harpsichordist Harry Bicket, performs an evening concert featuring the following works: Purcell's Suite from King Arthur and Suite from The Fairy Queen; Vivaldi's Sonata in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 12 "La Folia" and Concerto for Two Trumpets; and Telemann's Tafelmusik and Concerto for Viola and Strings.

PHOTO: RICHARD HAUGHTON


For More Information

Questions, comments, or suggestions? To learn more about the Virginia Tech University Chamber Music Series, please call the Department of Music at (540) 231-5685 or e-mail music@vt.edu.