Posted - August 10, 2011

Peoria Symphony Chamber Players to perform five concerts at Eureka College

2011-2012 Season

The Peoria Symphony Chamber Players will offer several performances at Eureka College during the group’s 2011-2012 season that begins this fall.

The five concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. in Becker Auditorium in the Cerf Center. Admission will be $10. For tickets, call (309) 467-6301.

“Eureka College and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra are two great cultural institutions that have been bound together for many years and, in many ways, this partnership is simply returning to our shared roots, since Eureka faculty, staff and students were part of the founding of the PSO 115 years ago,” said Brian Sajko, Vice President for Admissions, Communications and Integrated Marketing at Eureka College and a member of the PSO Board of Directors.

“The arts are central to the Eureka College experience, and we're proud to welcome the Peoria Symphony Chamber Players to campus to a major role in culturally enriching Eureka and surrounding communities,” Sajko said.

The Chamber Players is comprised of members of the PSO who have a passion for chamber music and chamber orchestra repertoire, according to PSO Music Director George Stelluto.

“The inspiration for the chamber players came from two sources: our chamber orchestra performances last year during the regular season and the excellent chamber music performances of our Illinois New Music Festival last May,” Stelluto said. “Our excellent PSO musicians, performing in ensembles of four to 20 players, were exciting and inspirational. I knew immediately that this should be a regular component to our PSO activities. We are very excited to be in Eureka at Eureka College to share this wonderful music with the community there. When I visited the campus for the first time, I knew we had to play there," Stelluto said.

The Chamber Players’ schedule at Eureka College is:

• Oct. 9 – “Street Cred: Music for Dance and Celebration” featuring music of Bach, Barber, Villa-Lobos, Debussy and Copland.
  

• Feb. 7 – “African American Influences on Classical Music: Free Men and Free Minds!” featuring music of Dede, Lambert, Gottschalk and Groesch.
  

• March 6 – “Ancient Voices – Korean Traditional Music and Literature,” part of the "Peoria: An International Community" Celebration.
  

• March 19 – “Contemporary Latin American Music,” part of the "Peoria: An International Community" Celebration.
  

• April 19 – “The Genius of Beethoven.”

The PSO is among Illinois' most prestigious arts organizations and one of the oldest orchestras in the United States. It has served central Illinois for 115 years with great music, excellent cultural outreach and world-class guest artists. In the 2010 season, the PSO performed for thousands of Illinois residents and reached more than 5,000 students through its educational programs. This season, the PSO will perform more than 20 concerts of symphonic, operatic, popular and chamber music repertoire in Peoria, Morton, Eureka and Washington and will continue its dedication to the community by partnering with other arts organizations, schools and universities and community groups. In fall 2010, the PSO adopted a strategic plan to become more connected with the community, more relevant in the lives of citizens and broader in the scope of its cultural impact, according to Stelluto, who became music director in 2010.

-30-

Contact:

Michele Lehman

Media Relations Coordinator

mlehman@eureka.edu

(309) 467-6318