The Fred and Dinah Gretsch School of Music at Georgia Southern University will present two performances of the 2024 Strings at Southern Chamber Music Festival, co-directed by Drs. Steven and Larisa Elisha.

On Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carol A. Carter Recital Hall, the Gala Chamber Music Recital will feature the Magnolia String Quartet (Julia Sellman and Max Martinez, violins, Mia Passmore, viola and Faye Chu, cello), directed by Dr. Larisa Elisha, performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet in D Major, K. 155 and Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No.12 in F Major, Op.96, known as the "The American.”

The concert also features the Georgia Southern Symphony String Camerata, conducted by Dr. Steven Elisha, performing Julius (Gyula) von Beliczay’s String Serenade, Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, Florence Beatrice Price’s String Quartet in G Major arranged for String Orchestra and Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances.    

On Sunday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, the Festival Orchestra Concert features the Georgia Southern Symphony, under the baton of Dr. Steven Elisha, as well as Brett Ochoa, tenor and James Rowell, bass baritone, who were the first-place winners of the 2023 Georgia Southern Symphony Solo Aria Competition.

The program includes Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Lenski’s Aria from Eugene Onegin, Mozart’s Aria, ‘Il mio tesoro’ from Don Giovanni, and Verdi’s Aria, ‘Ella giammai m'amò’ from Don Carlos. 

The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s rousing tone poem, Marche Slave. Both performances are free and open to the public.

The Georgia Southern Symphony and String Camerata, a premier ensemble of the Gretsch School of Music, has been a recipient of an Emmy Award and featured in performances throughout the state and region, including the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conferences, the Georgia Governor’s Mansion, as well as at the Performing Arts Center and Carol A. Carter Recital Hall on the Statesboro Campus, Fine Arts Auditorium (Savannah), the Dublin (Georgia) Arts Council Gala and Vidalia’s historic Pal Theater.

Recently, the String Camerata was awarded a prestigious grant from the Halle Foundation, which will partially fund a performance and educational tour of Germany during May 2024.

The Camerata will perform in Berlin, Leipzig, Halle and Bamberg, including the Summerhall of the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) in Leipzig, Germany, where composer Johann Sebastian Bach was last employed and buried.

The tour will also include faculty/student collaborations with Georgia Southern’s official exchange partner, Halle an der Saale, as well as visiting other significant musical, historic and cultural landmarks throughout Germany.

To assist the String Camerata Germany Tour project, contributions may be made using the following link:  https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/43955/donations/new