S.C. Chamber Music Festival returns for fifth season

The South Carolina Chamber Music Festival, produced by Francis Marion University’s Dr. Paolo Gualdi, will make its way to Florence and Lake City for its fifth season and a full week of classical chamber music beginning on Monday, Feb. 20.

The festival will once again feature music by world-class musicians from Ukraine, Latvia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Uruguay, China and Italy.

All festival events are in small venues, so advance ticketing through the FMU Performing Arts Center box office is recommended. Ticket prices vary by performance for the general public, though students from FMU and are admitted free to all events with a valid student I.D., but are required to have a ticket as well.

The festival kicks off on Monday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the FMU Performing Arts Center’s Black Box Theater with a tango, jazz and flamenco-style performance of Piazzolla, Gershwin and others by clarinetist Philip Lipton and guitarist Ulyana Machneva. Tickets are $5.

On Tuesday, special guests Irina Pevzner on piano, and Terris Roberts on violin performing works by Berlioz, Grieg and others beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Black Box Theater. Tickets for the event are $5.

Wednesday night will see the world premiere and recording of a commissioned piano trio by FMU professor of music technology Dr. Brandon Goff at 7 p.m. The piece will be performed by violinist Carmelo de los Santos of Brazil, cellist Martin Gueorguiev of Bulgaria and pianist Ciro Fodere of Uruguay in the Black Box Theater. This event features free admission, but seating is limited.

Lake City’s National Bean Market Museum will host the Thursday night performance – which features free admission – of the Masterworks for Piano Trio by de los Santos, Gueorguiev and Fodere, featuring works by Turina and Mendelssohn at 7:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Lake City Creative Alliance.

On Friday night the festival shifts back to Florence and the Black Box Theater as The Stephen Anderson Trio performs both jazz standards as well as original material beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $5.

The festival concludes Saturday night with a performance of French masterpieces by violinist Qing Li of China and Francis Marion’s own pianist Paolo Andre Gualdi of Italy, featuring works by Debussy, Faure and Saint Saens.

The event will be held in the Black Box Theater and tickets are $5. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 843.661.4444 and in person at the FMU Performing Arts Center Box Office. Tickets for the Festival are not available online.

For more information, check out the festival’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/SCCMF, the web page at pagualdi.wix.com/sccmf or contact Gualdi at pgualdi@fmarion.edu.