Irina Muresanu and James Stern have both performed at The Clarice with epic unaccompanied violin recitals. Now these two revered faculty combine forces to show that a rich world of sound can be found in the top half of a string quartet. The program features the magical sonorities of the French Baroque, the Classical perfection of Mozart, the daredevil stunts of violin geekdom, two loving homages to the diversity of 20th-century art and a romp through the Hungarian countryside by an Oscar-winning Hollywood composer.

An esteemed violinist and professor of violin and chamber music at Boston University, Peter Zazofsky enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist and chamber musician. Zazofsky tours and records as the first violinist of the Muir Quartet and is the director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute String Quartet workshop. In a program that includes the stately Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, Zazofsky will be joined by School of Music faculty members Rita Sloan, Irina Muresanu, Katherine Murdock and Eric Kutz to showcase his extensive ensemble versatility.

Join the UMD Repertoire Orchestra (UMRO) for some of the greatest hits of the operatic stage, played by symphonic orchestra! The concert will open with the grand, majestic Overture to The Magic Flute, followed by the delightfully fun Czech folk dances from The Bartered Bride. You're sure to recognize the tuneful classics "Habanera" and "Toreador" from Carmen, and perhaps even the seductive "Seguidilla" or the brilliant "Bohemian Dance" that closes the concert!

Conductor David Neely makes his debut as the UMD Symphony Orchestra's (UMSO) new music director with Antonín Dvořák's cheerful Symphony No. 8. The concert will also feature Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral, a cathartic and uplifting work the American composer wrote in memory of her younger brother, and Overture No. 3 from Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Leonore, later known as Fidelio.