Jan. 6, 1998 School of Music Contact Scott Barkhurst (541) 346-1163 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135 EUGENE--Three concerts featuring guest jazz artists, a faculty vocalist and one of the country's hottest young string quartets are scheduled this week at the University of Oregon School of Music, 961 E. 18th Ave. For more information, call the UO School of Music 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. Saturday, Jan. 17--Oregon Jazz Celebration Guest Artists: The Gary Hobbs Quintet The UO School of Music opens its doors to hundreds of Northwest students and jazz buffs as it presents the 10th annual Oregon Jazz Celebration. Jazz drummer Gary Hobbs and his quintet will perform with the UO's award-winning Oregon Jazz Ensemble to conclude the day's activities. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $8 general admission and $5 for senior citizens. Under the direction of Associate Professor Steve Owen, the one-day lineup of concerts, clinics and workshops is designed to heighten understanding of jazz and jazz performance practices. Nearly 20 high school bands from around the Northwest will attend, and the public is welcome to watch the various ensembles perform during the day at no charge. All-day Celebration Passes are available at the music school for $5. These passes entitle the bearer to attend all performances by high school jazz ensembles and workshops presented by clinicians as well as the evening concert. Hobbs' first big gig was with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Since then he has gone on to perform and record with major jazz artists including Eddie Harris, Bud Shank, Tom Grant and Anita O'Day, to name but a few. Hobbs has given numerous clinics at universities and colleges around the country in association with Yamaha Drums, and he has performed extensively on stage, radio and television throughout North America and Europe. Hobbs has been recorded on dozens of albums, including his own "Low Flight Through Valhalla." Hobbs has been involved in jazz education for many years, and is one of the busiest drummers in Portland as a sideman and band leader. Besides Hobbs, other members of the Hobbs Quintet include Jerry Hahn, guitar; Renato Caranto, saxophone; Dave Captein, bass; and Gary Versace, piano. Sunday, Jan. 18--Faculty Artist Series: Mark Beudert, tenor; Timothy Cheek, piano Associate Professor Mark Beudert will perform songs of Franz Liszt in a Faculty Artist Series recital at 4 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $4 for students and senior citizens. The concert is an overview of Liszt's contributions to the solo vocal art form. Beudert will perform songs in French, German and Italian (the Petrarch sonnets), as well as some of the lesser-known works in English, Hungarian and Russian. Liszt's songs are quite demanding of both singer and pianist, but they are not all bravura in style. Many show tenderness and sensitivity, and some are quite prophetic of compositional trends of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beudert joined the UO music faculty in 1995 as chair of the voice department. A native of New York, he received his B.A. degree at Columbia College in New York City and M.Mus. and A.Mus.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. He has studied voice with Franco Corelli, George Shirley and Spiro Malas, and has coached with Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Giuseppe di Stefano. He won the 1986 Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, and has been a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Competition and the G.B. Dealey International Competition. Beudert has been a leading tenor with the New York City, English National, Turin and Scottish operas. In 1995 Beudert made his Italian debut at the Teatro Reggio in Kurt Weill's opera "Street Scene," and last February he performed the role of Pinkerton in "Madame Butterfly" in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Pianist Timothy Cheek is on the piano faculty at the University of Michigan, where he holds a doctorate in piano accompanying and chamber music. He has performed recitals as a collaborative pianist in much of the United States, as well as in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy and The Netherlands. He has worked as a pianist at the Ravinia Festival, the Santa Fe Opera and the Mozart Opera Studies Institute in Germany. Tuesday, Jan. 20--Chamber Music Series: The Ying Quartet The Ying Quartet will give a Chamber Music Series concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Reserved-seat tickets range from $8 to $22, available in advance from the Hult Center at (541) 682-5000. Student rush tickets will be sold at the door for $5 and $9. The program includes Quartet in B-flat ("La Mallconia") by Beethoven, Quartet in E minor by Verdi and Quartet No. 8 by Shostakovich. The concert will be preceded at 7:15 p.m. by a free lecture offering insights and recorded excerpts from the program. Praised by The New York Times, the Ying Quartet has become one of the best known and most highly regarded young ensembles on the American music scene. The four siblings from Illinois formed the Ying Quartet in 1988 while studying at the Eastman School of Music. The quartet won the International Cleveland Quartet Competition in 1989, made its New York debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 1991, began to tour professionally in 1992, and won the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1993. The Ying Quartet's touring schedule has included appearances all across North America and concerts abroad in Japan, Germany, England, Sweden, Austria, Estonia and Taiwan. The Yings have spent summers in residence at Tanglewood, Aspen and Interlochen, and they have participated in numerous other festivals, including Norfolk, Kapalua, Colorado and San Miguel. Their 1996-97 season included debut appearances in Mexico and Australia, and a return visit to Taiwan, as well as concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, San Francisco and San Diego. In the fall of 1996, the Ying Quartet joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. In addition to coaching student ensembles and performing, its unique role includes musical education and outreach activities throughout the greater Rochester area. For two years, the Ying Quartet participated in the ground-breaking National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Initiative, now administered by Chamber Music America, serving as resident ensemble in Jesup, Iowa (pop. 2,000). As members of the community, the Yings shared their music with everyone they encountered, ranging from students to senior citizens, from farmers to local business owners. They also have held residencies sponsored by Northwestern University and Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, and they provide a wide range of outreach services with concert engagements across the country. The Yings have performed at the White House at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton and for members of Congress in a National Endowment for the Arts presentation. They have been the subject of numerous media profiles describing their richly diverse musical life. -30- #P-2110/A&E