Czech Republic’s Graffe String Quartet to Perform at UT Feb. 17

The Graffe String Quartet from the Czech Republic will perform a concert at The University of Tampa as part of its 2012-2013 Concert Artist Series in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. The concert will include the North American premiere of the recently discovered 1911 Piano Quintet “No. 0,” H. 35 by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů.

The concert is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m. The performance is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Doors will open 45 minutes before the concert.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 1:15 p.m. by Barbara Karpetova, first secretary and head of the cultural section of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C. Karpetova, a cultural anthropologist, will speak about the pieces to be played in the concert as well as contemporary music in the Czech Republic.

Performing with the Graffe String Quartet are pianists Michiko Otaki, a noted chamber musician and director of keyboard activities at Clayton State University; and Grigorios Zamparas, assistant professor of music and director of piano studies at UT.

In addition to the Martinů premiere, the program includes String Quartet No. 2 in D Major by Alexander Borodin, and Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor, Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms.

The Graffe String Quartet is considered one of the most promising young ensembles from Central Europe, receiving the Czech Chamber Music Society Prize in 2008. Founded in 1997 at the Brno Conservatory in Brno, Czech Republic, the ensemble consists of Štepán Graffe and Lukáš Bednarík, violin; Lukáš Cybulski, viola; and Michal Hreno, violoncello.

The 2012-2013 Concert Artist Series is sponsored by the UT College of Arts and Letters and the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. For more information, contact caldean@ut.edu or go to www.ut.edu/sykeschapel.