French String Quartet to Play at SOU

Chamber Music Concerts will present French string quartet Quatuor Ebéne this weekend at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall. The group will perform twice, once at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7, and again at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 8.

Chamber Music Concerts will be collaborating with the SOU Student Food Pantry during these concerts, collecting non-perishable and unopened food items for donation. In addition to food the Student Food Pantry is also looking for household supplies and toiletries for students in need.

Tickets for the events are $30-35 for the general public, and $5 tickets are available for full-time students and individuals who hold an Oregon Trail Card. Tickets can be purchased by calling 541-552-6154 or online.

Quatuor Ebéne has been praised by the New York Times for their ability to ability to move from classical composers such as Franz Josef Haydn and Claude Debussy into jazz music with extreme ease. The four also have vocal talents that they may display during concerts with a capella performances. Skeptical ears should not hesitate to give the group’s music a chance with their unique way of melding genres together seamlessly.

On Friday, the group will be performing Hayden’s String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20 no. 5; Bela Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91; and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41 no. 3. On Saturday, the group will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 428; Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80; and “Fiction,” a selection of jazz pieces to be announced during the concert.

Quatuor Ebéne won multiple awards in 2004 from the ARD international competition in Munich, Germany, as well as winning the Forberg-Schneider Foundation’s Belmont Prize in 2005. For more information on the group, visit their website.