News Release

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Brentano String Quartet, Nessinger
to perform 20th-century masters

CHAPEL HILL – The Brentano String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger will perform at 8 p.m. March 30 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The concert in Memorial Hall will be part of the 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series.

The program will include "String Quartet No. 2" by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951); "Five Movements, Op. 5," "Six Bagatelles, Op. 9" and "String Quartet, Op. 28" by Anton Webern (1883-1945); and "Lyric Suite" by Alban Berg (1885-1935). Nessinger will join Brentano on the Schoenberg quartet.

The three composers were members of the "Second Viennese School," known for its progressive style of composition. Berg and Webern studied with Schoenberg.

The Brentano String Quartet has received the Cleveland Quartet Award, Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Martin E. Segal Award and Great Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for the most outstanding debut.

This year Brentano became UNC’s first resident string quartet. Its members have visited classes in 20^th-century music, composition and classical repertoire. They also have coached chamber music ensembles, solo cellists, violinists and violists; participated in seminars on classical style; and shared their expertise in 20^th-century performance techniques.

Previously, the quartet was in residence at Princeton and New York universities and London’s Wigmore Hall.

Nessinger teaches voice at Princeton University and Vassar College. She is gaining attention for her critically acclaimed performances of some of the most dynamic works of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Single tickets – $28 to $50 for the public and $10 for Carolina students – are available by calling (919) 843-3333 or from the Memorial Hall box office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. On performance days, the box office is open from 10 a.m. until intermission.

Carolina students should call the box office for purchasing information. For more information, e-mail performingarts@unc.edu or visit www.unc.edu/performingarts. 

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/memorial/brentano_quartert.jpg
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Carolina Performing Arts Series contact: Jennifer Smith, (919) 966-3834 or jwsmith@unc.edu

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589