NOTE TO EDITORS: For photo scans of the Cypress String Quartet (March 8) and of percussion soloist Charles Dowd (March 4), call Scott Barkhurst, (541) 346-1163.

EUGENE–Performances by the Cypress String Quartet, jazz vocalist Nancy King and student ensembles highlight the eight concerts scheduled this week at the University of Oregon School of Music, 961 E. 18th Ave.

For more information, call the music school weekdays at (541) 346-5678. To confirm concert times and ticket information, call GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2533, for a 24-hours-a-day taped message of the week’s events.

The Oregon Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, the School of Music’s top two concert bands, will give a concert at 3 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

The UO Symphonic Band, under the direction of Todd Zimbelman, will perform "A Longford Legend" by Robert Sheldon, "An Irish Farewell" by Larry Daehn, "Orient Express" by Philip Sparke, "Conversations With The Night" by Andrew Boysen and "Dance of the Jesters" by Tchaikovsky.

The Oregon Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Robert Ponto, will present Joseph Schwantner’s "Concerto for Percussion," featuring UO Professor Charles Dowd as soloist. Dowd is professor of timpani and percussion at the School of Music and serves as principal timpanist of the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene Symphony and Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz, Calif.

The University Singers and Chamber Choir will share a concert at 7:30 p.m. in Beall Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

The UO Chamber Choir, directed by Associate Professor Kathryn Lehmann Olson, will perform "Ego flos campi," a sacred Renaissance motet by Jacob Handl; "Ave Maris Stella" by Trond Kverno; music by German composer Woldemar Voullaire; and "Sing a Song of Sixpence," arranged by John Rutter for the King’s Singers.

Also on the Chamber Choir’s program is "Kasar Mie La Gaji" ("The Earth Is Tired") by Alberto Grau, one of the leading personalities in Venezuelan music and an ardent supporter of efforts to save the Earth and solve problems of the environment.

The University Singers, directed by Associate Professor Sharon Paul, will sing two Baroque motets by Telemann and Schütz, "Three Choruses from e.e.cummings" by Peter Schickele and selections by Morten Lauridsen and Antonio Estévez built on texts dealing with the four elements of air, water, earth and fire. The program will conclude with "Loveliest of Trees" by James Quitman Mulholland and "Feller from Fortune," a Newfoundland folk song.

Vocal majors and pianists at the School of Music will present a group recital titled "Poetry in Song" at 7 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Admission is free.

The performance is the second of three in a series of "Poetry in Song" recitals built on a wide variety of art songs. The performers are graduate and undergraduate students of voice faculty members Ann Tedards, Mark Beudert, Milagro Vargas and Mark Kaczmarczyk.

Oboe students of Professor J. Robert Moore will perform at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Admission is free.

The program is composed of ensembles for oboes and other instruments in chamber groupings–trios, quartets and larger ensembles. The concert features selections by Mouret, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy and others.

Flute students of Associate Professor Richard Trombley will give a group recital at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Admission is free.

The selections were originally written for flute and orchestra, but will be performed with piano accompaniment. They are Mozart’s "Concerto in G Major" and "Concerto in D Major," "Serenade" by Howard Hanson, "Poem" by Charles T. Griffes, "Concerto for Flute" by Jacques Ibert and "Concerto Pastorale" by Joaquin Rodrigo.

Flutists on the program include Danielle Holten, Jeremy Zander, Ruxton Schuh, Christopher Walker, Njeri Njoora, Christine Larson, Pei-Jin Lee, Lee Ann Sterling, Jessica Sprick, Debra McAndrews, Jasmine Hedrick and Elizabeth Hoffman.

Jazz vocalist Nancy King and pianist Steve Christofferson will be the featured guest artists along with UO jazz combos at the popular Jazz Café series, performing at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St.

Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens. Light snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. The concert is co-sponsored by the Erb Memorial Union Cultural Forum.

King came to the San Francisco jazz scene of the early 1960s from Springfield. It was at the legendary Jazz Workshop that she met Sonny King, her future mate, and joined his band. They headlined for two years at the workshop, where she worked with Vince Guaraldi, John Handy, Sonny Donaldson and Flip Nunez. In the early 1970s, she took a break from touring, settling in Eugene to raise her three sons. On weekends, she sang in the Benson Hotel lounge in Portland with future jazz luminaries Ralph Towner, Patrick O’Hearn and Tom Grant.

King has been performing locally and along the West Coast with pianist/composer Steve Christofferson since 1978. During the mid-1990s, King and Christofferson were on the faculties of the Stanford University Jazz Workshop, Bud Shank’s Centrum Jazz Workshop and Jazz Camp West. They also performed at festivals in France, the United States, Israel and Canada. In 1997, Mons Records released "Straight Into Your Heart," recorded in Holland and featuring King and Christofferson with the 51-piece Metropole Orchestra.

In 1999, King and Christofferson played at the Telluride Festival in Colorado with Tom Wakeling, and then flew to Bulgaria to headline at the Bansko International Jazz Festival. King’s performances in 2000 included a concert with Christofferson and the Oregon Symphony featuring the orchestral arrangements from "Straight Into Your Heart," and a collaboration with Elvis Costello and Deborah Harry in London’s Royal Albert Hall. That same year King and Christofferson completed their seventh recording session for the CBC.

The award-winning Cypress String Quartet will give a Chamber Music Series concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Reserved-seat tickets range from $10 to $25, available in advance from the Hult Center, (541) 682-5000, or from the Erb Memorial Union Ticket Office, 346-4363. A limited number of discounted student tickets will be sold at the music school on the day of the concert.

The concert will be preceded by "Musical Insights" at 7 p.m., with Professor Robert Hurwitz offering a free audience-friendly talk about the evening’s repertoire, which includes Haydn’s "String Quartet in D Major," Bartok’s "String Quartet No. 6" and Mendelssohn’s "String Quartet in A Minor."

Winners of the 1999 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, the Cypress String Quartet has performed to growing acclaim throughout North America since its inception in 1996. The quartet was featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a "Generation X ensemble to watch" and was nominated "Debut Artist of the Year" by National Public Radio’s "Performance Today."

The Cypress Quartet is equally committed to performance and education. During the 1998-99 season, the quartet began a community residency in Neskowin, Ore., and presented programs to more than 3,000 students in Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

This season, the quartet is launching its innovative "Call and Response" series in San Francisco, integrating performance and outreach through the commission of new works. The quartet has presented educational programming and concerts in conjunction with the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and currently serves as faculty members at the Las Vegas Music Festival.

The Cypress String Quartet has participated in public seminars with the Amadeus Quartet in London and the Juilliard Quartet in New York City, and it has been in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. They have held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival Center for Advanced Quartet Studies and at the Summit Institute for Arts and Humanities. They also have worked closely with cellist Bonnie Hampton and with members of the Cleveland, Orion, Emerson and Muir quartets.

Music and video works by noted composers Dennis Miller and Peter Terry will be featured in a Future Music Oregon concert at 8 p.m. in Room 198 of the Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

Also on the program are interactive computer works by UO students Mendel Lee and Alex Hall, as well as a video and sound installation by John Villec that will function as an overture to the concert.

Future Music Oregon, the Computer Music Center at the University of Oregon, is dedicated to the exploration of sound and its creation, and to the innovative use of computers and other recent technologies to create expressive music and media compositions. FMO values interaction with other arts and is involved in intermedia collaborations with dance, theater, visual art and other technological media.

Miller is one of the leading figures in electroacoustic music today. He received his doctorate in composition from Columbia University, and since then has been head of the music technology program at Northeastern University in Boston. His works have been performed in concerts and festivals throughout the world, and his music appears on Opus One Records and the Frog Peak Collaborative CD, among others. Miller is also a graphic artist and 3-D animator whose video works have been presented in America and around the world.

Terry holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, Bowling Green State University and the University of Michigan. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Terry’s music has been performed at prestigious festivals, on concert series and in alternative galleries and concert halls throughout the United States and Europe. He has several recordings on the Cambria CD label.

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