FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EDGERTON TO SOLO WITH SOUTHEAST CHAMBER PLAYERS

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., Nov. 15, 2002 – Dr. Sara Edgerton, professor of cello and string bass at Southeast Missouri State University and director of the Southeast Missouri Symphony, will be the featured soloist at a concert of the Southeast Chamber Players Dec. 8.

The concert is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Old St. Vincent’s Church.

Edgerton will perform French composer Jacques Ibert’s “Concerto for Cello and Winds.” The performance of the Southeast Chamber Players will be the culminating event in a two-month long celebration of music and visual art that has taken place in area elementary schools.

Edgerton received an undergraduate degree with distinction in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music and master of arts and doctor of musical arts degrees from Cornell University. She has studied with notable American cellists Ronald Leonard, Alan Harris and John Hsu, and in England with artist teacher William Pleeth. Edgerton has performed extensively throughout the United States and England both as a modern and Baroque cellist. She has collaborated with such composers as Aaron Copland, Karel Husa, Claude Baker and Morton Subotnick in performances of their works and has premiered a number of works for the cello. In addition to her teaching duties at Southeast, she also is a member of the Southeast Baroque Trio.

The concert will feature the music which area students used as their artistic inspiration and audience members will have the opportunity to see selected children’s artwork in a printed program booklet. The music to be performed will include a march composed by Carl Maria von Weber during the final days of his life and a suite performed often during the first half of the 19th century composed by Franz Krommer. In addition to the cello concerto by Ibert, another French composer, Jean Francaix, will be represented by a lighthearted suite, the second movement of which is entitled “Pin-up Girls.” The concert will end with a spirited performance of Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance No. 15.”

Those who attend also will have the opportunity to meet the young artists whose work was selected to be printed in the program booklet. A “Meet the Young Artists” reception will be held at the Arts Council following the concert.

The ensemble, which was formed in 1990, is comprised of Southeast faculty and students as well as area music teachers and has distinguished itself not only with local performances and school workshops but also with two performances for the Missouri Music Educators Association. Dr. Robert Gifford is founder and conductor of the Southeast Chamber Players.

For more information on the concert, call Gifford at (573) 651-2140 or (573) 335-1866 or e-mail rgifford@semo.edu. PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES:

• Rehearsal on Sunday, Nov. 17 in Brandt Music Hall and on Saturday, Dec. 7, in Old St. Vincent’s Church
• Concert on Sunday, Dec. 8, in Old St. Vincent’s Church