For the City-Times

“Art exists for the human species. I think that all of the people who love art, those who teach art, and all of you should burn with the obligation to save the world” – Shinichi Suzuki.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Aber Suzuki Center’s founder, Margery Aber, and in honor of former ASC director and long-time CWSO principal violist Dee Martz, the CWSO welcomes the 66th season on October 11th and 12th with a homecoming.  A shining example of the extraordinary influence of Suzuki instruction, ASC alumni Steven Zander, violin, and Jane Mitchell, viola, travel home to perform Mozart’s magnificent Sinfonia Concertante with the CWSO under the direction of Patrick Miles. No homecoming would be complete without football, and the Yale-Princeton Football Game by Charles Ives depicts that November afternoon in 1897 when the Bulldogs celebrated their undefeated season with a win over the Tigers. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, considered the epitome of the composer’s life and musical style, brings the CWSO season into full bloom. The concerts are generously sponsored by Associated Bank, with artistic sponsorship by the Mead Witter Foundation, also supporting extensive outreach activities for music students in Central Wisconsin the week prior to the concerts.

Jane Mitchell, a member of the CWSO viola section from 2004-2006, and a viola student of David Becker, earned her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College and her master’s degree from the Yale School of Music. She recently joined the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, a full-time orchestra academy under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Steven Zander is an orchestral violinist, chamber music collaborator, and a studio musician based in Malibu, California.  Also a former member of the CWSO, Steven earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His principal teachers were Patricia D’Ercole (present director of the Aber Suzuki Center), Vartan Manoogian, and Sergiu Luca.

A free pre-concert reception hosted by the Aber Suzuki Center will feature remarks and a special presentation as well as refreshments beginning approximately 20 minutes prior to the start of the concerts. Music in the lobby prior to the concerts will be provided by students of the Aber Suzuki Center.

The concerts will take place in the [email protected] in the Sentry complex, 1800 North Point Avenue, Stevens Point. Saturday’s performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s is at 4:00 p.m.

Concert tickets are $10 (students with I.D.), $20 (seniors 65+) and $25 (adults) and are available at the Information & Ticket Office at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, or at the door.  For tickets, visit the Dreyfus University Center at 1015 Reserve Street, log onto cwso.org/tickets or call 800-838-3378.

The CWSO is affiliated with the College of Fine Art and Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  The CWSO season is sponsored in part by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Wisconsin Public Radio is proud to be this season’s media sponsor.

For more information about the CWSO, call 715-345-2976 or visit cwso.org.