September 24, 2010

School of Music to present two concerts

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The School of Music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale presents a weekend of music to begin October.

First, the School of Music welcomes pianist Michelle Schumann to campus as the first of several visiting musicians for the academic year.

Schumann will offer a free musical performance beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 1 in the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall.

Aurélien Pétillot, viola instructor at SIUC, will present a musical performance at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 in the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall.

Schumann is assistant professor and artist-in-residence at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, Texas. She is a co-founder of the Barbwire Music Project, a new-music ensemble in Texas, for which she also plays piano. In addition, she appears with such ensembles as The Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin and Austin Chamber Music Center. She performs regularly with Joel Becktell in a piano-cello duo called Bridge.

Pétillot, a native of France who came to Southern Illinois via Texas, teaches music history as well as viola. He is the founder and artistic director of Viola by Choice, a critically acclaimed concert series. He twice won the City of Paris Chamber Music Competition and once the City of Paris Viola Competition. He, too, has affiliation with the Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin, and he has appeared as a guest at numerous venues, including the American Repertory Ensemble and the Texas Bach Choir.