The 21^st annual Ken and Sandy Beall Cello Plus Chamber Music Festival moves to fall this season on the stages of MSU’s intimately scaled venues Cook Recital Hall and the MSU Alumni Memorial Chapel. Festival director and MSU Professor of Cello Suren Bagratuni has assembled a spectacular group of musicians that will offer outstanding, up-close experiences for audience members.

Thanks to festival underwriters Ken and Sandy Beall, the Oct. 8, 10, and 12 event lineup will feature timeless chamber music by classical giants, 20^th-century composers, and composers inspired by the spirit of America. Musicians include: South Korean-born artists visiting from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Sung-Mi Im, piano, and Kyung Sun Lee, violin; an all-Detroit Symphony Orchestra cast of string players, Robyn Bollinger, concertmaster, Kim Kaloyanides Kennedy, associate concertmaster, Wei Yu, principal cello, and Eric Nowlin, principal viola and MSU assistant professor of viola; and MSU Chamber Trio musicians Yvonne Lam, violin Ralph Votapek, piano, and Suren Bagratuni, cello.

“We are eagerly anticipating our fall season debut for this festival,” Bagratuni said. “Running more than two decades now, I’m always delighted to collaborate and share the stage with such wonderful musicians. I’m inspired each year to work with my colleagues on repertoire that celebrates chamber music through creative and insightful programs to share with our MSU community.”

Audience members can anticipate a diverse cross-section of chamber music performances during this series:

• Sunday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m. Cook Recital Hall: Stars from South Korea presents timeless chamber works that include Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata, a violin sonata by Maurice Ravel, and the most famous Piano Trio by Johannes Brahms.
• Tuesday, Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m. Alumni Memorial Chapel: Detroit Symphony Orchestra String Quartet presents music inspired by the spirit of America featuring Samuel Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11, String Quartet by DSO cellist and composer Jeremy Crosmer, and the “American,” String Quartet No.12, Op. 96 by Antonín Dvořák.
• Thursday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. Cook Recital Hall: MSU Chamber Trio presents a celebration of piano trios featuring Trio Op. 70, No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Cello Plus Chamber Music Festival is generously sponsored by Ken and Sandy Beall, with additional support from concert sponsors Dr. Robert W. Uphaus and Dr. Lois M. Rosen.

Reserved seating tickets for individual events are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors (age 60 and older), and $7 for students and those under 18. Find information on this and other concerts, recitals, and performances on the MSU College of Music website: www.music.msu.edu.

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Press materials

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Contact Michael Sundermann, 517-353-2043, sunderm7@msu.edu 

The Cello Plus Chamber Music Festival takes place in MSU’s Cook Recital Hall and Alumni Memorial Chapel, venues with less than a dozen rows, affording patrons an up-close experience with performances.