Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Three woodwind players and a pianist from the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will be featured musicians during this week's two Chamber Music in the Pines Festival concerts held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 11, and Friday, July 14, in Cole Concert Hall.

This year's festival, "Mozart and More," celebrates the 250th anniversary of W.A. Mozart's birth but also includes chamber music by other composers.

Tuesday's concert, ". . . With Schubert and Brahms," will open with W.A. Mozart's Flute Quartet in D Major, No. 285, featuring flutist Christina Guenther, SFA assistant professor of music. Performing with her will be violinist Jennifer Dalmas, SFA assistant professor of music; guest violist Nikolay Ivanov; and cellist Evgeni Raychev, SFA lecturer of music.

Guenther joined the SFA faculty in 2005 after holding a teaching assistantship at Florida State University where she earned her master's and doctoral degrees. She performs with the Stone Fort Wind Quintet, is the principal flutist for the Orchestra of the Pines and performs frequently in the greater East Texas area.

Tuesday's concert will also feature clarinetist Christopher Ayer, SFA associate professor of music, performing Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115, along with Dalmas, Raychev, Nikolay Ivanov and guest violinist Ivo Ivanov.

"One of the most wonderful things about this particular work is that it is a real quintet," said Ayer. Although the clarinet sometimes stands out among the stringed instruments, Brahms treats all five instruments equally with some incredible writing for the string quartet. It is a beautiful, expansive and autumnal work which is quintessentially Brahms."

A native of New Brunswick, Canada, Ayer has been a member of the SFA faculty since 2001. He is the principal clarinetist for the Orchestra of the Pines, a member of the Stone Fort Wind Quintet and frequently adjudicates and presents clarinet clinics throughout the United States and Canada. He will be performing at the 2006 International Clarinet Conference in Atlanta.

Also included on Tuesday's program is Franz Schubert's String Trio in B-flat Major, D. 582. The four-movement piece will be presented by Ivo and Nikolay Ivanov and Raychev.

John W. Goodall, SFA professor of music, will be the featured oboist during Friday's concert, ". . . With Britten, Loeffler and Mendelssohn." Goodall, Dalmas, Nikolay Ivanov and Raychev will perform Benjamin Britten's Phantasy for Oboe and Strings, Op. 2. Goodall, Nikolay Ivanov and pianist Kae Hosoda-Ayer, instructor for the SFA Music Preparatory Division, will present Charles Martin Loeffler's Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano.

Goodall, a member of the SFA faculty since 1980, is a founding member of the Stone Fort Wind Quintet and is the principal oboist for the Orchestra of the Pines. He has performed with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, the Longview Symphony Orchestra and other major performing groups in the area and is frequently in demand as a soloist and clinician.

Hosoda-Ayer, who has been an instructor in the Music Preparatory Division for four years, will be performing on two other pieces during Friday's concert. She, Dalmas and Raychev will open the concert with Mozart's Piano Trio No. 4 in C Major, K. 548. For the closing number, she, Dalmas, Raychev and Nikolay Ivanov will present Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 1.

Hosoda-Ayer received her master's from the New England Conservatory of Music after completing her bachelor's degree at Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin where in April 2004 she won first prize in the Sidney Wright Endowed Presidential Scholarship Competition in Piano Accompanying. She has concertized throughout the United States and Japan as a soloist and accompanist.

The Chamber Music in the Pines Festival concludes with a final concert, ". . .With Beethoven and Dvorák," at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 16.

The festival, which is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music, is sponsored in part by Ed and Gwen Cole.

Single event tickets are $10 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets or more information, please visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.