University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 20, 2003

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The Colorado String Quartet, believed to be the first female quartet to have performed the complete Beethoven Cycle in both North America and Western Europe—including a performance in Berlin in 2001—will present the fifth concert in this season's 47th annual Slee/Beethoven Cycle at 8 p.m. March 1 in Slee Concert Hall, North Campus.

Also on tap on the Department of Music's concert schedule for March are a faculty recital by cellist and composer Jonathan Golove, a performance of Hector Berlioz' revolutionary masterpiece "Symphonie Fantastique" by the UB Symphony and a presentation of Handel's opera "Serse" by the UB Opera Workshop.

Colorado String Quartet

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the New York-based Colorado String Quartet is noted for its musical integrity, impassioned playing and lyrical finesse. The group—comprised of Julie Rosenfeld and Deborah Redding, violins; Marka Gustavsson, viola, and Diane Chaplin, cello—appears regularly in major concert halls around the globe.

The members of the quartet are well-respected teachers as well as fine musicians, having held residencies at the Oberlin College-Conservatory, Swarthmore, Skidmore and Amherst colleges, and Philadelphia's New School of Music. They are founders and artistic directors of the Soundfest Chamber Music Festival and Institute of String Quartets in Falmouth, Mass., which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2001. The group currently is quartet-in-residence at Bard College.

It has received numerous awards, including two of music's highest honors—the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and First Prize at the Banff International String quartet Competition—as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

The quartet's program for its Slee performance will be Beethoven's Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 and Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130.

Tickets are $12 for the general public; $9 for UB faculty, staff and alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card, and $5 for students.

As a member of the Baird Trio and Slee Sinfonietta—ensembles know for switching easily from classical to contemporary and back again—cellist Jonathan Golove has no problem moving between the two worlds of music. Accompanied by his wife and fellow cellist, Mary Artmann, and Baird Trio pianist Stephen Manes, Golove will present a faculty recital offering a mix of the familiar and the unexpected at 8 p.m. March 3 in Slee. Golove's program will range from Beethoven to "Music for Cello and Computer"—a work by UB composer Cort Lippe.

An assistant professor in the Department of Music, Golove is a featured soloist with both the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Slee Sinfonietta, UB's professional chamber orchestra. He also is active as an electric cellist, both as a recitalist and in the field of improvised music.

Golove, who received a doctorate in composition from UB, has had his works performed throughout North America and Europe.

Tickets for Golove's performance are $5, with UB students admitted free when showing ID.

Hector Berlioz' masterpiece "Symphonie Fantastique—once described by Leonard Bernstein as "the first psychedelic musical trip"—has helped define a new generation of artists, musicians and writers. The UB Symphony, conducted by Magnus Mårtensson, will present a free concert featuring this seminal work at 8 p.m. March 4 in Slee.

The UB Symphony is a full-sized orchestra composed primarily of UB students, as well as members of the UB faculty and staff, and the Western New York community. Mårtensson, who has served as conductor of the Slee Sinfonietta as well as the symphony since 1996, also appears with orchestras and ensembles in Europe and South America. A champion of new music, he has premiered more than 200 works.

Following the success of last season's presentation of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," the UB Opera Workshop will revisit the baroque opera with performances of Handel's "Serse" at 8 p.m. March 5 and 6 in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. The performances will be preceded by a discussion of "Modern Perspectives on Handelian Operas" by an interdisciplinary panel of UB scholars at 7 p.m. in the Drama Theatre.

George Friederich Handel wrote 40 operas over the course of his composing career, most of them in London. The plot of "Serse" revolves around the competition between Serse, King of Persia, and his brother, Arsamene, over the love of Romilda. Although Serse is betrothed to the princess Amastre, he falls in love with Romilda and attempts to win her away from his brother. Romilda's sister, Atalante, also in love with Arsamene, thickens the plot by purposely misleading the thwarted lovers in the hope of gaining Arsamene for herself.

The UB Opera workshop production of "Serse is directed by Dora Ohrenstein, visiting assistant professor of music; musical director is Roland E. Martin, lecturer in the Department of Music. The 14 young singers featured in the opera will be making their debuts in a full operatic role. Set and costume design are by students in the Department of Theatre & Dance.

Tickets are $5.

Tickets for all UB Department of Music productions may be obtained in the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and in the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster locations.