ISSUED: 12 March 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Department of Music will present “Quartet for the End of Time,” the final recital of the 2013-14 Shepherd Music Salon Series, Thursday, March 20 at 8 p.m. in the Frank Center’s W.H. Shipley Recital Hall.
“Quartet for the End of Time” by French composer Olivier Messiaen is one of the most profound and monumental chamber works of the 20th century. The concert will feature Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao, assistant professor of music at Shepherd, on piano, and adjunct faculty members in music David Drosinos on clarinet, Jeffry Newberger on violin, and Stephen Czarkowski on cello.
Messiaen was captured by the German army in June 1940 and imprisoned in Stalag VIII-A, a prisoner-of-war camp in Gorlitz, Poland, where he composed the piece for the four available instruments. With fellow prisoners clarinetist Henri Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire, and cellist Étienne Pasquier, the quartet was premiered at the camp, outdoors and in the rain, on January 15, 1941. The musicians played on decrepit instruments for an audience of about 400 fellow prisoners and guards.
Liao is a native of Taipei, Taiwan. She received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Tung-Hai University and her master’s and doctoral degrees of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an active member of the West Virginia Music Teachers Association and has the National Certification for Teacher of Music (NCTM) from Music Teachers National Association (MTNA.) She regularly gives master classes and is in high demand for adjudication at festivals and competitions around the West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. region.
Drosinos is a versatile and seasoned clarinetist who has enchanted audiences from Maryland to Moscow. He received his diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He is principal clarinet for the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra. In addition to Shepherd, Drosinos also teaches at the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Peabody Preparatory.
Newberger is assistant concertmaster of the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and a member of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra and performs regularly with the Third Millennium Ensemble as violinist and conductor. He teaches violin and viola at Shepherd, the McLean School of Maryland, and the Landon School. He directs the Junior Strings of the Shepherd Preparatory Division and is a sectional coach for the Frederick Regional Youth Orchestras and Shepherd Preparatory Orchestra. He is assistant conductor of both the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and Trinity Chamber Orchestra. He holds a master of music degree in orchestral conducting and a bachelor of music degree in violin performance,magna cum laude, from the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at the Catholic University of America.
Czarkowski is the principal cellist of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra. He received his bachelor of music degree and master of music degree in cello and conducting from Mannes College the New School for Music. He received a graduate artist diploma in orchestral conducting from the Catholic University of America. He serves as assistant conductor, orchestra personnel manager, and principal cellist of the Opera Camerata of Washington, D.C. He is conductor of the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and the Frederic Regional Youth Orchestra and shares conducting duties with the Shepherd Preparatory Orchestra. In addition to teaching cello at Shepherd, he also teaches at Landon School, Bullis School, and Montgomery College.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information call 304-876-5555 or go to www.shepherd.edu.
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