Aspen Ensemble to Give Next Music at Noon Performance
The Aspen Ensemble, a mixed quintet of flute, piano and strings drawn from the famed Aspen Music Festival, will perform at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on Thursday, March 6.
Aspen Ensemble appears at the college as part of Music at Noon: The Logan Series. The performance will begin at noon in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building; admission is free and open to the public.
The quintet’s acclaimed musicians are united in their love for chamber music and commitment to bringing varied and scintillating performances to audiences around the world. Their Penn State Behrend program will be drawn from Bohuslav Martinau’s Madrigal Sonata for flute, violin and piano, Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor, a Mozart piano quartet, and “The Jet Whistle,” a Heitor Villa-Lobos composition for flute and cello.
“The Aspen Ensemble brings an unusual ability to color each work with a new orchestration,” said series director Gary Viebranz, who also is director of instrumental ensembles at the college. “Their diverse repertoire will allow our audience to experience a reinvention of the group with each musical selection.”
Aspen Ensemble’s members are violinist David Perry, violist Victoria Chiang, cellist Michael Mermagen, flutist Nadine Asin and pianist Rita Sloan; all are also highly regarded solo artists.
Music at Noon, an innovative program to introduce classical music in an informal atmosphere rather than an intimidating concert hall, was founded at Penn State Behrend in 1989 by Warren philanthropist and arts advocate Kay Logan. Its unique music outreach efforts were honored with an Adventurous Programming Award given by Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. The series receives major support from the Kay Logan Trust and additional funding from the Penn State Behrend Student Activity Fee, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts and the Erie Arts Endowment of the Arts Council of Erie.