A free concert by four of the newest — and youngest — players in the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) will take place at 3 p.m. Feb. 11 in Umrath Hall Lounge. The concert is part of KWUR Week, a series of on-campus events sponsored by student radio station KWUR (90.3 FM).
The four musicians are violinists Joo Kim and Jooyeon Kong, violist Jonathan Chu and cellist James Czyzewski — all of whom joined the SLSO string section in the past two years. A goal of the concert is to provide students with an opportunity to see and hear performers close to their own ages in a relaxed, informal setting, said Marc C. Thayer, SLSO vice president for education and community partnerships. The SLSO Community Partnership Program is a co-sponsor of the event.
The program will feature Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, op. 77, no. 1, and Johannes Brahms’s String Quartet in C minor, op. 51, no. 1. During the concert, performers will offer commentary about the music and answer questions from the audience.
Both selections reflect the dominance of the Viennese in composing chamber music for strings in the 19th century. Haydn (1732-1809) pioneered the string quartet format — first and second violins, viola and cello — in the mid-1700s. The quartet on the program, published in 1802, was one of his final works in this genre. Conversely, the piece by Brahms (1833-97) was the composer’s first work for string quartet, written in 1873 at age 40.
The Community Partnership Program presents more than 300 concerts, recitals, lectures and classes each year in schools, churches, parks, retirement communities and other venues throughout the area. Other WUSTL-related activities include trips sponsored the ArtSci Council and discounted student tickets.
The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences also is sponsoring the concert.
For more information on the concert, call 935-4841 or e-mail staylor@wustl.edu. For more information on KWUR, call 935-5952 or visit kwur.com.