Southwest Minnesota String Festival July 20-25 at SMSU

Published Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Southwest Minnesota String Festival

Aspiring string players will be on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University July 20-25 for the second annual Southwest Minnesota String Festival.

The String Festival is meant to encourage young string players and give them instruction from professionals during the week.

Twenty-three individuals will be participating this year, said Kris Gruhot, Southwest Minnesota Orchestra board chairperson.

The camp’s lead sponsor is the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra. Some scholarship assistance is provided by the Logan Family Foundation. Other sponsors include Music Street, String Works, House of Note and SMSU.

“Our participation is up this year,” said Gruhot. “I believe word of mouth has played a part in that, as well as a great participant experience from last year.

“This String Festival is a great opportunity to showcase SMSU and the music programming available at the university for post-secondary education. The resident quartet of SMSU, the Meadowlark Quartet, consists of four of the finest string musicians this state has to offer. It is a great opportunity for our young string players in the region to be tutored by outstanding faculty.”

The Meadowlark Quartet is comprised of Lindsay Schlemmer, Bacco Liu, Cindy Min and Kirsti Petraborg. They perform with the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra and are from the Twin Cities.

Students will have the opportunity to play with the SMO at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 22 during its summer concert at the Liberty Park Band Shell.

The students’ week will culminate with a final concert from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, July 25 at the Campus Religious Center at SMSU.

A couple of other public events will be part of the week, including:

String Works Masterclass with Dr. Tanya Remenikova, 1-3 p.m., Thursday, July 23, Fine Arts Theatre.
Meadowlark Quartet Concert, 7 p.m., Friday, July 24, Campus Religious Center.