The Hamilton College Classical Connections series opens on Saturday, Sept. 23, with a performance by the Cassatt String Quartet at 8 p.m. The performance will take place at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.
Named after the American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, the Manhattan-based Cassatt String Quartet is hailed as one of America's outstanding ensembles. Formed in 1985, the Cassatt String Quartet was the inaugural participant in Juilliard's Young Artists Quartet Program. They have performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East, with prestigious appearances at New York's Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Tanglewood Music Theater, the Kennedy Center and The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
The Hamilton College program will include Alexander Borodin's "Nocturne" from Quartet No. 2, Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat Major, and "Powers That Be" for Piano Quintet by Jay Reise featuring Margaret Kampmeier on piano. This piece was written for the Cassatts.
Pianist Margaret Kampmeier has performed across the United States, in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia, and is active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral keyboardist and teacher of piano. She is a founding member of the New Millennium Ensemble, a mixed chamber group which won the 1995 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. Kampmeier has appeared as guest artist with the Kronos Quartet, performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and appears frequently with New York area groups such as Speculum Musicae, and the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. Active as an educator, Kampmeier teaches at Princeton University and has presented forums on music of women composers and contemporary techniques.
Tickets are $15 general admission with discounts for groups, senior citizens and students. All seating is general admission. For more information or to order tickets, call the box office at 859-4331.
