FMU’s South Carolina Chamber Music Festival will return on February 24

Francis Marion University will host the thirteenth annual South Carolina Chamber Music Festival Monday, February 24 through Friday, February 28. All performances with the exception of Wednesday’s concert will be held in the FMU Performing Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre. Wednesday evening’s event will be at FMU’s Gately Gallery in downtown Florence.

This year’s program will feature internationally acclaimed artists including horn player Dr. Heidi Lucas, pianist Dr. Paolo Andrè Gualdi, violinists Qiao Solomon and Bryan Hall, violist David Johnson, cellist Martin Gueorguiev, percussionist Michael Carp, and string quartet Orange Road.

The South Carolina Chamber Music Festival was created over a decade ago by FMU professor of music and piano virtuoso Dr. Paolo André Gualdi.

“This year’s Festival includes a fantastic lineup of internationally-acclaimed artists,” Gualdi says. “It is so special and exciting to host musicians of such a high caliber at our university.”

The first event of the Festival is a free lecture entitled “21st Century Skills for Successful Musicians” which will be presented by Dr. Heidi Lewis of the University of Delaware.

Lucas will return to perform with pianist Gualdi on Tuesday, presenting “Tales Untold,” featuring the world premiere of a piece by A.J. Perry.

On Wednesday evening, the string quartet Orange Road will present a program at FMU’s Gately Gallery.

The Festival will continue on Thursday with the live recording of a new work by FMU professor Dr. Brandon Goff. The piece will feature violinist Qiao Solomon and percussionist Michael Carp.

The final performance of the week includes violinists Soloman and Bryan Hall, violist David Johnson, cellist Martin Gueorguiev, and pianist Gualdi, who will return for “Majestic Brahms – Eurasia Trio and Friends.”

Tickets are $10 for the general public and are available at the FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street, Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444. FMU students, faculty, and staff are admitted at no charge upon showing an FMU ID.

For more information on the artists or individual performances, visit https://www.facebook.com/SCCMF/.