Cellist Janos Starker to Open Concert Season

The Ithaca College Concerts season will start on Tuesday, September 26, with a performance by virtuoso cellist Janos Starker. This is the first of three concerts in the "Best of Class" 2000–2001 series, which features outstanding performers from three different musical genres. Starker will begin his performance at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Accompanied by pianist Shigeo Neriki, he will play sonatas by Richard Strauss, Beethoven, and Brahms. A pre-concert lecture will be presented by assistant professor of music Elizabeth Simkin, a former student of Starker’s. The free lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Iger Lecture Hall in the Whalen Center.

Tickets for the performance may be purchased at the door if seats are available or in advance at the Clinton House ticket center or at Rebop Records, Tapes, and Compact Discs in Collegetown. For more information call 274-3171.

Prices are as follows:

• children, senior citizens, Ithaca College students — $9
• Ithaca College alumni, faculty, and staff; Friends of Ithaca College; other students — $15
• general public — $18

A performer, teacher, and award-winning recording artist, Janos Starker, with his peerless technical mastery, intensely expressive playing, and communicative power, is recognized worldwide as one of the supreme musicians of the 20th century.

He began his study of the cello in his native Budapest at the age of 6 and was teaching and performing in public by the age of 11. His early career included studying at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and holding the first-cellist position with the Budapest Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1948 he emigrated to the United States and subsequently was principal cellist with the Dallas Symphony, Metropolitan Opera, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1958 he joined the faculty of the School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington and resumed his international solo career. Among Starker’s astounding recording catalog of more than 165 works is the 1998 Grammy Award–winning double CD set of the complete Bach suites.

The "Best of Class" series will continue on Sunday, November 12, with the appearance of the vocal jazz ensemble SoVoSó; it will conclude on Tuesday, March 20, with a performance by the Musicians from Marlboro.

For more information regarding the concert schedule at Ithaca College, visit the Ithaca College Concerts Web page.