Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release
December 17, 1999

10 Free Concerts Scheduled for Lawrence University's 2000 Bjorklunden
Music Series
 

     APPLETON, WIS. -- A performance by the internationally acclaimed
Trio Rachmaninoff opens the third season of the Bjorklunden Music Series
Sunday, Jan. 9.  The series showcases performances of faculty members
and students of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music.
     The 10-concert series is conducted Sundays at 1:30 p.m. in the
great room of the lodge on the 405-acre Bjorklunden estate on Highway 57
just south of Baileys Harbor in Door County.  All concert performances
are free and open to the public.
     Founded in 1997, the Rachmaninoff Trio comprises three graduates of
the famed Moscow State Conservatory in Russia -- violinist Atis Bankas,
cellist Velitchka Iotcheva and pianist Patrice Lare -- and features
works centered on the masterpieces of the Russian romantic and
post-romantic repertoire. 
     Bankas joined the Lawrence Conservatory of Music faculty in 1999.
Winner of numerous violin competitions, he is the concertmaster and
artistic director of the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra.  Iotcheva,
a native of Bulgaria who began her musical studies at the age of five,
is a two-time winner of national competitions in her homeland.  Lare,
who was born in Paris and has performed throughout France, Russia and
Canada, won the 1994 First Concerto Competition at the University of
Montreal, where he currently teaches.
     Other concerts scheduled for the 2000 Bjorklunden Music Series
include:

> Jan. 16, Sigma Alpha Iota Musicale.  SAI, a national honorary society
for  women, performs works by various composers.     

> Jan. 30, Lawrence Symphony Orchestra. Members of LSO will perform
under the direction of Pierre Plax, assistant conductor of the orchestra.

> Feb. 6, Lawrence Horn Ensemble.  The ensemble previews its 2000
repertoire under the direction of James DeCorsey.

> Feb. 13, Cello Studio Recital.  Members of Janet Anthony's studio
perform. 

> Feb. 27, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Concert.  PMA, a national honorary
music society for men, showcases the talent of its members.

> March 5, Jazz Chamber Ensembles.  Under the direction of Ken
Schaphorst, several small ensembles present a program of jazz and popular
standards. 

> April 23, Low Brass Chamber Music.  Prepared by Nick Keelan and David
Stull,  low brass chamber groups perform this little-known music literature.

> May 7, Piano and Painting Crosscurrents.  Members of Catherine
Kautsky's piano studio present works inspired by paintings.

> May 14, String Chamber Music.  The string department presents a
chamber recital following a weekend of master classes. 

     For additional information regarding the 2000 Bjorklunden Music
Series,  call 920/832-6585.