FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2004

SFA festival’s second concert features string quartet

The resident string quartet for Stephen F. Austin State University’s 2004 Chamber Music in the Pines Festival will present music by Maurice Ravel, W. A. Mozart and Giacomo Pucinni at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, in Cole Concert Hall.

The quartet is composed of violinists Jennifer Dalmas, SFA assistant professor of muisc, and Meredith Maddox, member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra; David Hermann, associate principal violist for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; and cellist Evgeni Raychev, instructor in the SFA Music Preparatory Division.

The program includes Giacomo Puccini’s “The Chrysanthemums,” which Dalmas describes as “a wistful, lyrical piece originally written for string quartet but more frequently heard today in a version for string orchestra.”

The quartet also will perform Mozart’s “String Quartet in C major,” one of six quartets Mozart wrote between 1782 and 1785 and dedicated to Joseph Haydn. Dalmas explained the work’s more popular title is “Dissonance” because of its slow introductory bars and its eerie, meditative character that soon gives way to a sunny Allegro movement.

The quartet will close the concert with Ravel’s “String Quartet in F major,” which is presently one of the most often played and popular works in chamber music literature, according to Dalmas.

“It is the only string quartet Ravel ever wrote and is often considered his first masterpiece,” Dalmas continued.

John W. Goodall, SFA professor of music and the festival’s artistic director, said all of the members of the quartet are very talented musicians.

Dalmas is completing her first year as an SFA faculty member and as the concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Pines. Prior to moving to Nacogdoches, she studied at Florida State University where she received her master’s and doctoral degrees. While in Tallahassee, she served as the assistant concertmaster and later as concertmaster of the University Symphony Orchestra.

Maddox also received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Florida State University and her bachelor’s from Belmont University.

She served as concertmaster in both universities’ orchestras and was a member of the Jacksonville, Naples and New World Symphony Orchestras. Maddox joined the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in 2002. As a chamber musician, she is a member of Quartet alla Turca in Florida and the Arkansas Symphony’s premier string quartet, The Quapaw Quartet.

Hermann has been the associate principal violist for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 1979, a tenure that included three seasons as acting principal. Hermann has also served as principal violist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of Fort Worth’s oldest professional chamber music group, The Spectrum.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois and has studied at the Academy of String Quartets in Banff, Alberta.

Raychev, a Bulgarian native, received his master’s degree from the Sofia Music Academy and a second master’s and doctoral degrees in cello performance from Florida State University.

While in Tallahassee, he was principal cellist for the Florida State University Symphony and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. His performance experience includes recitals in Bulgaria, Austria, Czech Republic, Costa Rica and the United States. Raychev is the principal cellist for the Orchestra of the Pines.

All of the musicians will be performing on the two remaining events of the festival: a piano with strings concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 23, and an all-Bach concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 25.

The festival is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and the Department of Music. It is sponsored in part by Ed and Gwen Cole.

Individual tickets for any of the concerts are $10 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and $5 for students and children.

To order tickets or for more information, please call (936) 468-6407 or1-888-240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.