Dr. Ting-Lan Chen
Music, 308.865.8041 or chent1@unk.edu
University of Nebraska at Kearney violin and viola students will be the featured performers in The Spring String Concert–An Evening With Concertos and Chamber Music on Friday, April 1, on the campus.
Among the works being performed will be an original student composition created specifically for the UNK Thornton String Quartet. The two-part piece, titled “String Quartet for Three Violins and Viola,” was written by DeAnn Sindt LoCasto, a UNK student from Kearney. The first movement is titled “My Irish Dream,” and the second, “Redman’s Reel.”
According to Dr. Ting-Lan Chen, concertmaster for the Kearney Symphony Orchestra and UNK associate professor of violin/viola,
the Thornton String Quartet commissioned Sindt LoCasto to write the work in 2010, specifically for the current quartet members.
Members of the quartet are Cindie Reneau, violin, from Oklahoma City, Okla.; Jennifer Zumwalt, violin, Lincoln; Megan Kreuger, violin, Kearney; and Spencer Wolfe, viola, Lincoln. Membership in the Thornton String Quartet is by competitive audition. Students selected for the quartet receive a $3,000 annual scholarship–$1,500 per semester. In return, they perform in the Kearney Symphony Orchestra, as well as for various community and university events.
In addition to performing as a quartet, members will also perform individually on the Friday night program, as will Naomi Yonemoto, a UNK student from Osaka, Japan. Yonemoto will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D Major, Mvt. 1.” Providing accompaniment will be Dr. Chen, Nancy Curry and Maiko Sugahara.
The spring string concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the UNK Fine Arts Recital Hall, which is located in the Fine Arts Building. The event is free and open to the public.
