Carter Chamber Music Series Celebrates 25th Anniversary

East Stroudsburg University’s Distinguished Professor of Music, Robert Miller, D.M.A., wanted to “bring the best of live classical music to the campus and community” when he created the Carter Chamber Music Series in October of 1993.

To celebrate its 25^th anniversary, the Carter Chamber Music Series will present “Scary” Chamber Music Sunday, October 28 at 2 p.m. in Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of the university’s Fine & Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg. This presentation is part of the university’s 125^th anniversary events.

“The series has featured numerous world class musicians, including many musicians from the New York Philharmonic and other prestigious performing ensembles,’ noted Dr. Miller, who is artistic director of the series.  “There are few small universities that have been able to present a classical music series with such distinguished musicians for this length of time,” he added.

The anniversary program will feature the “Ghost” Trio in D Major, Op. 70, no.1 by Beethoven; “Danse Macabre”, Op. 40 by Saint-Saëns and Trio in C minor, Op.66 by Mendelssohn.

“Beethoven’s piece received its nickname “Ghost” because of the unusual, rhapsodic quality of the second movement.” Miller said. “Beethoven’s extensive use of tremolando effects gives this movement a dark, sinister ghostlike quality.”

“Danse Macabre is based on the legend that Death appears yearly at midnight on Halloween, summoning the dead from their graves to dance until dawn as he plays the fiddle.” Miller added.

In the Mendelssohn work, “the Trio opens in a very ominous and foreboding manner,” Miller explained, “There is an undercurrent of danger about to erupt.”

Noted violist Mary Rowell and acclaimed violoncellist and educator Frances Rowell will join pianist Miller for the concert.

Considered by critics to be one of the most interesting and exciting performers on the contemporary scene today, Rowell has carved an indelible place in the contemporary classical music world with the post-classical quartet ETHEL, which she co-founded. She also is known for her work with the Grammy Award-winning Tango Project; the indie band The Silos; and pop icon Joe Jackson.

Rowell has performed, recorded and premiered countless scores of today’s composers as soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared as violin and electric violin soloist with the National Symphony, Houston Symphony, New York Chamber Orchestra, and Warsaw Philharmonic among others.

As a composer, Rowell has been working with composer/performer Eve Beglarian as the duo BRIM  and recently debuted two new groups – TURNmusic based in Waterbury, Vt. and the composer/performer quartet Ensemble 50. A graduate of the Juilliard School, she is currently the concertmaster of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra.

Rowell graduated from Juilliard with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music. She enjoyed a jack-of-all-trades professional musical life in eastern Pennsylvania before joining the New Jersey Symphony in 1995.

In addition to her orchestral performances with the NJSO Rowell works as an educator and chamber musician through the Symphony’s extensive outreach programs. She is an adjunct faculty at Montclair State University.

Rowell has served young audiences of New Jersey as a teaching artist working with young soloists from the radio program From the Top in presentations in public schools. In 2016 she became the Music Director of the Craftsbury Chamber Players, a summer concert series based in her home town since 1966.

An inventor as well as a cellist, Rowell received a United States Patent for a portable endpin resonating platform for the cello and designed a stool to help students address posture issues.

Miller attended the Interlochen Arts Academy where he received the Outstanding Achievement in Piano Performance Award. He earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

A former faculty member of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where he was Van Cliburn’s rehearsal pianist, Miller has made numerous solo, chamber and concerto appearances throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Miller has appeared numerous times as guest artist with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles in their subscription series at Merkin Hall. As winner of the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship, he performed a solo recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and at the Salle Cortot in Paris.

Miller also appeared at Weill Hall in solo, art song and chamber music recitals. His tour of Australia culminated in a solo performance at the Sydney Opera House. He has taught and performed in summer programs at Oxford University, England and at IFK-University of Salzburg, Austria. Recently, he appeared with the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra, in four performances of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G minor.

Miller has also collaborated in chamber music performance with musicians from the Chicago Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He has given lecture recitals and master classes, nationally and internationally, including at Harvard University and the Ecole Normale du Musique in Paris.

General admission for the anniversary concert of the Carter Chamber Music Series is $15; students under 18, and ESU students with ID are $5.

Tickets are available online in advance at esu.edu/theatretickets (credit cards only online). Remaining tickets are available at the box office one hour before performance (cash and checks only at the box office).

For reservations or other information, please email esuarts@esu.edu or call 570-422-3483.

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