by Stacey Balkun

Piano Quartets to be Performed at Fresno State
Friday, January 31, 8:00 p.m.

On Friday, January 31 at 8:00 p.m., the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concerts and Phi Kappa Phi present the Toren Loewenheim & Werz Trio with Claudia Shiuh on viola. The musicians will play piano quartets by Schumann, Froelich, and Brahms.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a German composer and music critic. His wife, Clara Schumann (1819-1896), was a German musician, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. Schumann was the first pianist to perform some of Johannes Brahms’s works. Brahms (1833-1897), a German composer and virtuoso pianist, considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. Kenneth Froelich (1977-) is a contemporary composer living in Fresno, CA.

The newly established Fresno State Trio includes Limor Toren-Immerman on violin, Thomas Loewenheim on cello, and Andreas Werz on piano. The trio premiered last season. At this event, violist Claudia Shiuh of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra will join the trio. Educated at prestigious institutions including University of Southern California, University of California, Berkeley, Indiana University, and the Freiburg Conservatory in Germany, these four colleagues have achieved great success as performers, pedagogues, competition jurors, and recording artists in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Fresno State Concert Hall

This program is open to the public. Tickets cost $18 for general public, $12 for senior citizens, and $5 for students. Free parking is available in Lot C on the corner of Shaw and Maple Avenues. For ticket reservations and other information, please call (559) 278-2337.

Off the Grid: Featuring Rare Choral Music
Monday, February 10, 8 :00 p.m.
Concert Hall

If you don’t know much about choral music, it may all be new to you. But this special event digs up the lesser-known songs of choral music’s history. The concert will take place in the Concert Hall of the Music Building at Fresno State. Off the Grid is definitely a unique event worth checking out.

This program is open to the public. Tickets cost $15 for general public, $5 for employees, $5 for senior citizens, and $5 for students.

Mariachi Fresno State “Noche de Amor:” An Evening of Romantic Classics
Friday, February 14, 8:00 p.m.
Concert Hall

Grab your friends, family, or Valentine’s Day date for a night of romantic mariachi music and dancing in the Concert Hall of the Music Building at Fresno State.

This program is open to the public. Tickets cost $15 for general public, $5 for employees, $5 for senior citizens, and $5 for students.

For ticket reservations and other information for all of the above concerts, please visit www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/music/concerts/.

An Evening of Iranian Classical Music at Fresno State
Saturday, February 15, 7:00 p.m.
Concert Hall

On Saturday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m., the Middle East Studies Lecture, Performance & Film Series will host An Evening of Iranian Classical Music in the Concert Hall of the Music Building of Fresno State. The same performers will be returning to the Concert Hall after a successful event last year.

This unique event is free and open to the public. A brochure explaining the modal system (Dastgah) and compositions and improvisations based on this system will be distributed at the door.

An Evening of Iranian Classical Music is sponsored by Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, the Parsa Foundation, Middle East Studies Program at CSUF, Persian Language & Cultural Studies at CSUF, World Cultures & Globalization Cohort at CSUF, and the Department of Music at CSUF.

For more information, please contact Partow at phooshmandrad@csufresno[dot]edu.

Stacey Balkun’s poetry has appeared or will appear in The Los Angeles Review, THRUSH, Bodega, The Feminist Wire, and others. She served as Artist-in-Residence at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the summer of 2013. She lives in Fresno, California, where she explores the deserts, mountains, and lakes.