Southern Exposure: Composers will discuss work, attend opening concert Sept. 29

The Amernet String Quartet will perform new works by American composers Joel Hoffman and Russell Platt at the opening concert of the Southern Exposure New Music Series' 2007-08 season.

Hoffman and Platt will attend the performance, which also will feature masterpieces from the string quartet literature by Bela Bartok and Elliott Carter.

The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in the School of Music Recital Hall. Admission is free, but patrons who make a donation of $75 or more will receive one reserved seat for the entire Southern Exposure season. A public reception will follow the concert at the "if Art Gallery," 1223 Lincoln St., in the Vista, across from the Blue Marlin.

Platt will discuss his music from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sept. 28 and Hoffman from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in Room 210 of the School of Music. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

"We're thrilled to begin our sixth season with a performance by the remarkable and up-and-coming Amernet Quartet and to have two of America's most notable composers join us for the concert," said John Fitz Rogers, artistic director of the Southern Exposure series and associate professor of composition in the School of Music.

Born in Vancouver, Canada in 1953, Hoffman received degrees from the University of Wales and the Juilliard. Currently he is a professor of composition at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, where he also is artistic director of its annual new music festival, MusicX. Hoffman's works draw from diverse sources, including Eastern European folk music and bebop and are known for their lyricism and rhythmic vitality.

The program will feature Hoffman's String Quartet No. 3 (2005). The work was commissioned by the Caramoor Festival in upstate New York for the Amernet Quartet, which gave its first performance in July 2005.

Born in 1965 in New York City, Platt studied music at Oberlin, Curtis, Cambridge University, and the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D. in 1995. He is a composer of vocal and instrumental works as well a senior editor for classical music at The New Yorker and the classical music columnist for the New York Observer.

The program will feature Platt's Quintet for Bassoon and Strings, Op. 14 (1997), with Peter Kolkay on the bassoon.

The other pieces on the program are Bartok's String Quartet No. 3 (1926) and Carter's String Quartet No. 5 (1995).

The Amernet String Quartet is ensemble-in-residence at Florida International University. The quartet was formed in 1991, while two of its members were students at the Juilliard School. Founding members Marcia Littley and Javier Arias have been joined by fellow Juilliard graduates, violinist Misha Vitenson and violist Michael Klotz.

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