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Last modified: Wednesday, May 12, 2010

IU Violin Virtuosi to give concert tour of Argentina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Violin Virtuosi, a collection of eight young violinists from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music's Pre-College String Academy, will leave May 25 to perform a series of concerts across Argentina, returning June 15.

IU Violin Virtuosi

Print-Quality Photo

Members of this year's group, who perform both as soloists and as an ensemble, include Brian Allen, 16; Alex Ayers, 19; Yoojin Cho, a Virtuosi alumna: Amy Lidell, 14; Gregório Lopes, 14; Ren Martin-Doike, 18; Misha Sanderson, who just graduated from high school and will attend the Jacobs School in the fall; and John Smith, 17.

"This is the first trip of the Violin Virtuosi to South America, and it promises to be a most rewarding adventure," said Mimi Zweig, professor of violin, artistic director of the Virtuosi and director of the IU Pre-College String Academy. "We have 12 concerts scheduled throughout the country, where they will be performing in beautiful theaters, and we are all looking forward to meeting and interacting with fellow musicians as well as the public."

Zweig will travel with the students on the trip, along with co-director Brenda Brenner. Jacobs Dean Emeritus Charles Webb will serve as piano accompanist.

The program, which may be heard in Bloomington on May 22 at 2 p.m. in Recital Hall, includes music by Corelli, Paganini, Sarasate, Dvoák, Szymanowski, William Harvey, Brahms, Atar Arad, Wienawski and more.

The tour is sponsored by the Starling Foundation, a long-standing supporter of the school and program, and Mozarteum Argentino in Argentina, a non-profit institution that promotes musical culture in South America.

Starling began its close association with the Jacobs School in 1983 and began supporting the Pre-College String Academy in 2003. This will be the seventh time the foundation has sponsored an international tour of this kind.

Over the past few years, the Virtuosi completed five successful tours of France and in 2004 was enthusiastically received on its tour of Japan. In 2006, the group toured Sweden, Spain and Italy, where it presented the entire Beethoven Violin Sonata Cycle.

The performers are gifted students from Bloomington and beyond who study at the Pre-College String Academy at the IU Jacobs School of Music, where they are immersed in an intense musical curriculum of weekly private lessons, chamber music, theory, master classes and rehearsals.

The Emmy Award-nominated documentary Circling Around -- The Violin Virtuosi has been aired on PBS throughout the United States.

For more information, visit https://music.indiana.edu.