Clarinetist George Silfies returns to Washington University for chamber concert April 12

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present a chamber music concert featuring former faculty member George Silfies, principal clarinetist with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, at 8 p.m. Monday, April 12.

The performance takes place in the auditorium of Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering, located at the intersection of Forest Park Parkway and Hoyt Drive. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call (314) 935-4841.

Silfies, who is retiring after 34 years with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, came to St. Louis after teaching at the Peabody Conservatory and serving as principal clarinetist with the Baltimore Symphony. From 1972 to 1976, he served as conductor of the Washington University Symphony Orchestra, a position previously held from by Leonard Slatkin from 1969-72. While on campus, Silfies also taught clarinet as a visiting assistant professor of music and conducted the Washington University Chamber Orchestra.

Silfies will be featured soloist in a performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, a showpiece for the clarinet, for which he will be joined by cellist Elizabeth Macdonald, director of strings at Washington University; and Hugh Macdonald, Ph.D., the Avis Blewett Professor of Music. The program also will feature three of Silfies’ colleagues from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra — violist Mike Chen and violinists Asako Kuboki and Mark Thayer — in a performance of Mozart’s Quintet for Strings in B-flat Major, K. 174.

Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering is Washington University’s newest School of Engineering & Applied Science building. The state of the art facility includes a 150-seat auditorium and was dedicated Oct. 20, 2003.