Takács Quartet opens 1998-99 Cornell Concert Series Saturday

The 1998-99 Cornell Concert Series, in its 95th year, again features artists and ensembles on the leading edge of classical music.

Appearing in Bailey Hall during the season will be renowned jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, British violinist Nigel Kennedy with an accompanying ensemble of 11, pianist Leon Fleisher and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Featured in concerts at Statler Auditorium will be the Ithaca-area debuts of Trumansburg residents Andreas Haefliger and Marina Piccinini -- who appear with the renowned Takács Quartet at the opening concert this Saturday, Sept. 19; a song recital by the fiery Polish contralto Ewa Podles; and a recital by the elegant Cuban guitar virtuoso Manuel Barrueco. In a special event to take place in Sage Chapel, the Tallis Scholars, acclaimed "a cappella superstars," will present a program of sacred English Renaissance music in March.

"The richness and variety of [this] season's series makes it a very real star of brilliance in the Ithaca and Southern Tier arts firmament," said Carl F. Gortzig, chair of Cornell's Faculty Committee on Music, which sponsors the series.

Season tickets (subscriptions) and single tickets are on sale at the Lincoln Hall Box Office, 105 Lincoln Hall, 255-5144. There are six different subscription possibilities offered for the 1998-99 season, ranging from all nine concerts to as few as three.

Depending on the number of concerts and seat location desired, prices range from $208 to $48 for the general public to $125 to $29 for students.

Responding to studies suggesting ticket prices to the series were inhibiting student attendance, the Faculty Committee on Music voted last spring to set student subscription and single ticket prices at just 60 percent of that of the general public. It now is possible for an elementary, secondary or college-age student to subscribe to the series for as little as $9.33 per concert. Single tickets range from a low of $8.50 to a high of $24.

Details are available at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/Cornell_Concert_Series.

The Lincoln Hall Ticket Office is open for telephone sales Monday through Friday between 9:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. and is open for walk-in sales from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets also may be ordered via the Cornell Concert Series web site.

Here's a listing of the concerts, beginning with Saturday's opening performance.

• Takács Quartet with Andreas Haefliger, piano, and Marina Piccinini, flute, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. in Statler Auditorium. The Takács Quartet was a great success in September of 1996. Soon after their concert, first violinist Edward Dusinberre wrote to Concert Series Manager Richard Riley to inform him they had made a commitment to record the Dvorak Piano Quintet with Andreas Haefliger and that Haefliger and his wife, flutist Marina Piccinini, had just moved to Trumansburg. Saturday's program showcases all the performers. The Takács Quartet -- formed in Hungary, but now half British, half-Hungarian and living in Colorado -- will begin the concert with Beethoven's String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4. Piccinini will be featured in Mozart's Flute Quartet in DMajor, K. 285. After intermission, Haefliger will join the Takács for a performance of Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81, a piece they will record together in November for the Decca label.

• Ewa Podles, contralto, with Jerzy Marchwinski, piano, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. in Statler Auditorium;

• Kronos Quartet, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall;

• Kennedy, violin, and ensemble, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall;

• Manuel Barrueco, guitar, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. in Statler Auditorium;

• Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Joseph Swenson, conductor; Robert McDuffie, violin, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall;

• Leon Fleisher, piano, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall;

• Tallis Scholars, March 14 at 4 p.m. in Sage Chapel; and

• Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, April 27 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall.