March 31, 1998 School of Music Contact Scott Barkhurst (541) 346-1163 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135 EUGENE--A world-renowned string quartet will close the 30th season of the Chamber Music Series and one of the Northwest's top 20th-century music ensembles will perform with Native American guest artists 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. Tuesday, April 14--Chamber Music Series: The Vermeer Quartet The Vermeer Quartet, one of the world's top chamber ensembles, will give the final concert in the Chamber Music Series' 30th season at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave. Reserved-seat tickets, ranging from $8 to $22, are available in advance from the Hult Center, (541) 682-5000. Student rush tickets will be sold at the door for $5 and $9. The program contains three selections: "Quartet in G Major" by Mozart, "Quartet No. 1 in D Major" by Tchaikovsky and "Quartet in E Minor" by Frank Bridge. With performances in practically every major city in North America, Europe and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet has achieved international stature as one of the world's finest music ensembles. Formed in 1969 at Marlboro, the Vermeer has performed at virtually all the most prestigious festivals, including the Tanglewood, Andeburgh, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Bath, Lucerne, South Bank, Flanders, Albuquerque, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Santa Fe, Edinburgh, Great Woods, Spoleto, Ravinia and Casals festivals. The members of the Vermeer Quartet have been on the resident artist faculty of Northern Illinois University since 1970, and they have presented annual master classes at the Royal Northern College of Music in England since 1978. For more than two decades, they have spent part of each summer on the coast of Maine as the featured ensemble for Bay Chamber Concerts. The Vermeer makes its permanent home in Chicago, where it has been the resident quartet for Performing Arts Chicago since 1984. The Vermeer Quartet offers an impressive variety of repertoire, including standard classics as well as less familiar compositions. In addition, they regularly present new works for string quartet, many of which were written for them. The Vermeer Quartet's numerous recordings include the entire Beethoven cycle, as well as works by Schubert, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Their Grammy-nominated CD of Haydn's "The Seven Last Words of Christ" has been broadcast to more than 60 million people throughout the world, reaching far beyond the traditional chamber music audience. Wednesday, April 15--Vanguard Series: Third Angle Several guest artists, including Native American performers, will join Third Angle, a Northwest ensemble renowned for its performances of new music, in a Vanguard Series concert titled "Evocations of the Spirit" at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $4 for students and senior citizens. An "audience interactive" panel discussion will precede the concert at 7 p.m. The concert is subtitled "a celebration of music that illuminates the spiritual realm." It contains five 20th-century works that reflect human spirituality. Among the guest artists are Ed Edmo and Arlan Neskahi, two of the Northwest's most distinguished Native American performers, who will perform their piece, "Invocation." Also on the program is "Fratres" by Arvo Pärt, featuring pianist Victor Steinhardt, and Olivier Messiaen's masterpiece, "Quartet for the End of Time." Members of the Oregon Percussion Ensemble, directed by Charles Dowd, also will join the program in "Coyote Builds North America" by John Luther Adams and "Bacchanalle" by Alan Hovhaness. Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," one of the most technically demanding works of the 20th century, was created while the composer was in a Stalag prison camp during World War II. Messages of suffering, joy, fury and transformation are fused together into this work of great power and beauty. Third Angle, under the direction of Jeffrey Peyton, is composed of eight core musicians and a flexible roster of principal guest artists. Founded in 1985, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble is the premiere contemporary chamber ensemble in the Pacific Northwest. The award-winning ensemble is dedicated to the highest standards of excellence in the performance of 20th-century chamber music, with an emphasis on music by contemporary American composers. Third Angle also pays homage to those composers who have changed the course of music during the past century with their groundbreaking and original music. Throughout the past 13 seasons, the ensemble has presented 73 concerts of contemporary music and has commissioned 13 new works, firmly establishing the ensemble's place as one of the West Coast's foremost presenters of contemporary music. Third Angle has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts each year since 1988 and from the Regional Arts and Culture Council each year since 1986. In addition, it has received grants from Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, WESTAF, the Oregon Arts Commission, Meet the Composer/ Readers Digest, the Templeton Foundation, and many other public and private funding sources. Guest artist Edmo is an internationally acclaimed poet, playwright, performer, storyteller and lecturer on the Northwest tribal circuit. He is no stranger to Eugene audiences, having narrated the popular "Children of the Raven" for Eugene Ballet for many years. He also performed "Through Coyote's Eyes: A Visit with Ed Edmo" in Syria, India and Jordon on a 1995 world tour. Edmo attended the University of Oregon and is a consultant in folklore and legends for the Museum of Natural History. He has been an instructor at Indian Education camps throughout Oregon, telling legends, conducting workshops and teaching tribal dance. Neskahi is well known throughout the Indian Nations for his performance, composition and knowledge of traditional music. He has won many awards and currently has six albums in distribution with Canyon Records. His composition and performance, "Round Dance," was featured on the 1995 Grammy Award-winning "Prayer for the Wild Things" by Paul Winter and the Earth Band. Since moving to Portland in 1994, Neskahi has been sharing his music and cultural knowledge with the local community and schools through performances, workshops and assemblies. Steinhardt is professor of piano at the University of Oregon. One of this area's most popular and acclaimed pianists, he has been a featured artist at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival in California, the Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho, the Chamber Music Northwest Series in Portland, Bargemusic chamber series in New York, the Mohawk Trail Concerts in Massachusetts, and the Oregon Bach Festival. -30- #P-2177/A&E