Deanna Kolell

Friday, Feb. 2 | 7:30-9 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

The Escher String Quartet is acclaimed for their insightful music and beautiful tones. They have been recognized as a former BBC New Generation Artist and have received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. They have performed at prestigious venues like the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall, and Wigmore Hall. In New York, they are season artists for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Currently, the quartet is extensively touring the U.S., including notable venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Bohemian National Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Harris Theater. They are also performing in international locations such as Wigmore Hall, St. John in the Virgin Islands, and San Miguel De Allende in Mexico.

Saturday, Jan. 27 | 8-9:30 p.m.
Harper Hall

Duo Montagnard was formed in 2002 and has performed over 350 concerts in 50 states, eight Canadian provinces, and twenty countries on six continents. Festival performances include the Chautauqua Institution, Scandinavian Saxophone Festival, Hartwick College Summer Music Festival, North-West University New Music Week (South Africa), UNC-Wilmington New Music for Guitar and Saxophone Festival, Radford University International Guitar Festival, and the Alexandria Guitar Festival. The duo has commissioned, premiered and recorded more than forty works for guitar and saxophone.

Joseph Murphy has been the saxophone professor at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania since 1987, where he has also served as Department Chair and Director of Bands. He received the Bachelor of Music degree from Bowling Green State University (OH), and the Master of Music and Doctoral of Musical Arts degrees from Northwestern University. Dr. Murphy was the music director of Tiffin (OH) Calvert High School from 1983-85. In 1985-86 he received a Fulbright Award for a year of study in Bordeaux, France, where he received a Premier Prix. In June 1996, Dr. Murphy performed a solo recital at Lincoln Center. He has performed in Europe, Taiwan and Japan. He is a clinician for the Selmer Corporation and has been recorded on the Erol (France), Opus One, and Mark Record labels. Dr. Murphy’s memberships include Music Educators National Conference, Music Teachers National Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha and Kappa Kappa Psi. Murphy has been involved in commissioning and premiering more than twenty new works for the saxophone, including pieces by Libby Larsen, Michael Colgrass, John Harbison, Bernard Rands, and Gunther Schuller.

Matthew Slotkin is an acclaimed performer, teacher, and scholar, and has appeared in leading venues on six continents. A commitment to contemporary music has resulted in premieres of numerous works by composers including Linda Buckley, John Anthony Lennon, Scott Lindroth, John Orfe, and many others. Recent performances include tours of South Africa, Poland, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Greece, as well as concerts at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the Walled City Music Festival, the Monadnock Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institution, the Guitar Foundation of America, and the World Saxophone Congresses in Scotland, Thailand and Slovenia. He has performed on numerous classical guitar society concert series including New Zealand (GANZ), Montreal, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Iowa, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Great Lakes. He has given performances with many prominent chamber ensembles including Cantata Profana, Metropolis Ensemble, Mallarmé Chamber Players, Duo Montagnard and Dez Cordas. Recordings on the Summit, Centaur, and Liscio labels have been praised as “wonderful…a very enjoyable disc” (Soundboard), and “a magnificent achievement…the concept of this program is brilliant” (American Record Guide). Soundboard magazine called him an “exceptional” player, and a recent concert review from the Classical Voice of North Carolina praised his “fine sensitivity and facile technique.” Slotkin is an Associate Professor of Music at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA, where he has directed the guitar program since 2004. He has given masterclasses at numerous institutions and festivals including the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, Victorian College of the Arts (Australia), ESMAE (Portugal), National University of La Plata (Argentina), the Alexandria Guitar Festival, and many others. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied guitar with Nicholas Goluses.