Morrison Artists Series Offers Chamber Music for All

SF STATE NEWS -- The Morrison Artists Series, San Francisco’s longest-running chamber music series, will launch its 59th season this month at SF State and run through May 2015, featuring free performances by six innovative music ensembles. This season’s diverse lineup includes a cappella singers from Norway, a quintet of woodwind instruments and a San Francisco-based, Grammy-nominated piano duo. “A lot of people have never experienced chamber music or been to a concert,” said Richard Festinger, professor of Music and artistic director of the series. “In this area, like other metropolitan areas, it’s the symphony and opera that are well known to the general public. For a lot of people, chamber music may slip under their radar. But almost all major composers have written significant works of chamber music." In many cases, Festinger added, chamber music is considered the “crown jewel” of a composer’s repertoire.