Fowler Center Series presents Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in final performance of the 2008-2009 season

April 21, 2009 -- Arkansas State University presents the final performance in this year’s Fowler Center Series, when the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of David Itkin, performs on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m. in Riceland Hall, Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro.

This year’s performance of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra includes the Brahms  Concerto for Violin and Violoncello in A minor, Op. 102, and features violinist Kiril Laskarov and cellist Melita Hunsinger. After a short intermission, the orchestra returns with Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in A major, Op. 34.

Kiril Laskarov is currently in his ninth season as co-concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony and third season as orchestra director at the Episcopal Collegiate School. A native of Bulgaria, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State Academy of Music in Sofia and his master’s degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Laskarov won the Bulgarian National Violin Competition in 1995 and appeared as a soloist with a number of Bulgarian orchestras during the following two years. In the United States, he has performed as a soloist with the Arkansas Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Southern Illinois Symphony, and Abilene Philharmonic. Laskarov has also appeared in the Arkansas Symphony chamber music series in Little Rock and presented recitals in Memphis, Kansas City, and Dallas.

Cellist Melita Hunsinger is in her fifth season as a full-time member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She performs regularly with the Quapaw Quartet on the ASO’s River Rhapsodies Chamber Series and in recitals throughout the state. In 2004, she was named principal cellist of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and also appeared as a soloist with the orchestra, performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1.

A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Ms. Hunsinger studied cello with string pedagogue Louis Potter Jr. of East Lansing, Mich.. She graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. While completing her studies, Ms. Hunsinger won the opportunity to solo with the St. Olaf Orchestra on its ten-day tour of the Midwestern United States in 1998. She was again a featured soloist with that orchestra in 2000, performing the opening movement of Franz Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D Major. She continued her performance studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where her teachers included Norman Fischer, Desmond Hoebig, and James Dunham. Her education there included the opportunity to participate in an intensive course of string quartet master classes under the instruction of Paul Katz, formerly of the Cleveland Quartet. While completing a Master of Music degree, she served as co-principal cellist of the Symphony of Southeast Texas and taught private cello lessons.

Ms. Hunsinger has also participated in many music festivals, notably, the Colorado College Summer Conservatory, the National Orchestral Institute (as principal cellist), and the Aspen Music Festival, where she met her husband Jeff Hunsinger, now the operations and production manager for the Arkansas Symphony.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert is one of the most popular and best-attended events at Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall, and it is a fitting finale to the 2008-2009 Fowler Center Series season.

Ticket prices are $30 and $20 for adults, $24 and $16 for ASU faculty and staff,
$23 and $15 for senior adults and K-12 students, and $10 and $6 for ASU students. Tickets are available online at http://www.fowlercenter.astate.edu/tickets/  or by calling 972-2781.Call toll-free at 888-278-3267. For more information, contact Jeff Brown, director, Fowler Center, at (870) 972-3471.     

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