LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Performing Arts Department of Lock Haven University will be hosting another free concert of chamber music at 3 p.m. this Saturday, April 16, in Price Auditorium on the LHU campus. This concert will feature two quintets for piano and winds, one by Mozart and one by Beethoven. The public is invited to attend.

The piano part of both works will be played by Hyun Ju Curtin, and the wind players, all of whom serve on the Penn State School of Music faculty, include Liza Bontrager on horn, Anthony Costa on clarinet, Daryl Durran on bassoon, and Timothy Hurtz, oboe.

Like last month's concert, which featured Max Zorin on violin and Hyun Ju Curtin on piano, this concert was made possible by a generous grant from the Pennsylvania Presenters in the Arts and the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance, which Dr. David Curtin, associate professor of piano applied for on behalf of the university.

“We are thrilled to have performers of this caliber here at Lock Haven," Dr. Curtin said. “This is a level of playing you would expect to hear at Lincoln Center in New York City.”

Dr. Curtin had high praise for quintets that will be performed. “Beethoven was directly inspired by Mozart's quintet, perhaps seeing it as a challenge to take up himself. Beethoven scored his quintet for the same combination of instruments, in the same key, with the same number of movements, as Mozart did.” He added, “These two composers are usually considered (along with J.S. Bach) to be the greatest who ever lived. And here we have a unique opportunity to compare them on equal terms.” He invites the public to “Come to the concert and judge for yourself who comes out on top!"

About the musicians:

Lisa Bontrager (horn) has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, including tours with the internationally award-winning Pennsylvania Quintet, the versatile Millennium Brass, and horn duo MirrorImage with Michelle Stebleton. Bontrager is an elected member of the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society. She may be heard on 20 recordings, including her solo CD, “Hunter's Moon,” released on the Summit label. .
Anthony J. Costa is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Penn State and clarinetist with The Prestige Clarinet Quartet, The Pennsylvania Quintet and The Chihara Trio. He has served as clarinetist/bass clarinetist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999. In 2010 Costa presented a recital with The Chihara Trio at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Daryl Durran is Professor of Bassoon at Penn State, bassoonist with The Pennsylvania Quintet, and principal bassoonist of the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra. He has been a frequent performer and lecturer at IDRS Conferences and has served the Society as chairman of its Fox-Gillet Competition. In 2009 he was the recipient of Penn State’s Undergraduate Program Leadership Award, recognizing his contributions to the students of the School of Music.

Tim Hurtz is Associate Professor of oboe, having joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University in 1993, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Woodwind Quintet. Previously a faculty member at Illinois State University, teaching the oboe and performing with the Sonneries Woodwind Quintet, Hurtz has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Opera and Ballet, Joffery, Bolshoi, and American Ballet Theater Orchestras, the Santa Fe Opera, Mannheim Steamroller, and has given recitals and clinics across the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan. He currently serves as principal oboe and has been a soloist with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra.

Korean-born pianist and Steinway Artist Hyun Ju Curtin has performed concerti, chamber music, and solo recitals throughout the United States and in Korea. An avid chamber musician, she was a founding member of the Escalante Piano Trio, and has performed in the Grandin Festival in Cincinnati and on the Carnegie Concert Series in Michigan (with violinist Christopher Takeda). She is a frequent lecturer at piano teachers' associations in Korea and in the U.S. Hyun Ju recently made her Pennsylvania orchestral debut with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5.