MACON – Internationally renowned violinist Robert McDuffie will give a free concert on Tuesday, March 11, as part of the Spring String Series of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Neva Langley Fickling Hall of the McCorkle Music Building, 1329 Adams Street, on Mercer’s Macon campus.
The program will include a variety of music styles and periods and will showcase several of the Center’s outstanding string students. McDuffie will perform “Winter” from Antonio Vivaldi’s best-known work, “Four Seasons,” with the McDuffie Center String Orchestra of Mercer University. The orchestra is composed of nine string students, along with critically acclaimed violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti, who serves as director of the McDuffie Center, as the concertmaster. He will also play Maurice Ravel’s “Sonata for Violin and Cello” with freshman cellist Lavena Johanson of Seattle, Washington. He will complete the concert with some Viennese pieces, accompanied by award-winning pianist Elizabeth Pridgen of New York.
The free concert is open to the public. Seating is limited, so tickets are required for admission. The free tickets are available through Mercer Ticket Sales at (478) 301-5470 after Feb. 29.
McDuffie has appeared with most of the major orchestras of the world. This season he returns to Europe for performances of the Bruch G minor Concerto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and in Utrecht, with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as performances of the Rózsa Violin Concerto in Bordeaux. He also returns to Korea for performances of the Barber Violin Concerto with the KBS Symphony in Seoul. To further celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Miklós Rózsa’s birth, he will perform the Rózsa Violin Concerto with the Dallas Symphony as well as with the Utah Symphony.
He will give recitals with pianist Christopher Taylor, including Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center and at the National Academy of Sciences. Future engagements include a U.S. tour with the Jerusalem Symphony and performances of the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony. He will premiere “The American Four Seasons,” a new work by Philip Glass, and will tour Europe and the United States, pairing it with the Vivaldi “Four Seasons.”
McDuffie is a Distinguished University Professor of Music at Mercer. The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University had its official opening at the beginning of the 2007-2008 academic year. He is the co-founder and artistic director of The Rome Chamber Music Festival. The mayor of Rome, Italy, recently awarded Robert McDuffie the prestigious Premio Simpatia in honor of his contribution to the cultural life of that city.
About the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings
The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings is a highly selective program that prepares string students for success in the real world. Students study with some of the nation’s renowned string musicians, receiving music instruction of conservatory quality, while earning an academically well-rounded education from a comprehensive, nationally recognized university. The 2007-2008 academic year marks the inaugural year of The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings. The Center is a special institute within Mercer’s Townsend School of Music on the Macon campus.
About Townsend School of Music
Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music and the Townsend-McAfee Institute Graduate Studies in Church Music offer undergraduate and graduate professional music studies in a comprehensive university environment. The School is nationally recognized for its outstanding faculty, award-winning students, performance ensembles and state-of-the-art facilities. Mercer University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has 7,300 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon and Atlanta; four regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial Health University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu .
