UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 14
December 12, 1996
Annual Winter Institute for String Quartets on Jan. 6-12

     The University will hold its sixth annual Winter Institute
for String Quartets Jan. 6-12. The weeklong chamber music program
will include two public concerts and three master classes. All
events will be held in the Loudis Recital Hall of the Amy E. du
Pont Music Building.
     Founded in 1992 by the Mendelssohn String Quartet, in
residence at UD since 1989, the institute attracts serious string
students from throughout the country for coaching by Mendelssohn
members and guest artists.
     Admission to the institute has become increasingly
selective, since the institute accepts only a maximum of five
quartets each year. Past applicants have been trained at such
recognized institutions as the Juilliard School of Music, Curtis
Institute of Music and Peabody Conservatory.
     "When the program first started," Marcy Rosen, Mendelssohn
cellist, said, "we were able to admit more individual applicants,
who would be placed in ensembles when they arrived. But, there
are so many more excellent pre-formed quartets applying as
ensembles that we can no longer accept individual players."
     As a result, Rosen explained, the free Emerging Artists
Concert, which ends the institute, has become a chamber music
lover's delight, featuring five young, talented quartets
performing the finest of string quartet literature.
     A free public concert will begin at 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 12,
in the Loudis Recital Hall of the Amy E. du Pont Music Building.
The program will feature the Coolidge Quartet, formed at the
European Mozart Academy in Poland; the Chagall Quartet, current
holders of a Chamber Music American Rural Residency grant; and
the Viardot Quartet, 1996 winners of the national MTNA Chamber
Music Competition.
     Other Winter Institute events open to the public are master
classes to be conducted by guest artists.
     Robert Mann, first violinist of the Juilliard String
Quartet, will present a class at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 8;
     Violist Donald Weilerstein, a member of the Cleveland String
Quartet, will give a master class at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 9;
and
     Norman Fischer, former cellist with the Concord String
Quartet, will present a master class at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan.
10.
     At 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11, a concert will feature the
Mendelssohn String Quartet-with Nick Eanet and Nicholas Mann,
violins; Maria Lambors, viola; and Marcy Rosen, cello-along with
Donald Weilerstein, viola, and Norman Fischer, cello.
     The program includes Brahm's G Major Sextet, Mendelssohn's
String Quartet in F minor and String Quartet No. 1 by Janacek.
     Tickets for this concert are $15 for adults, $10 for senior
citizens, faculty, staff and alumni, and $6 for students.
     For addtional information and events call 831-2577.