Schwarz named string department chair

	Timothy Schwarz

Violinist and violist Timothy Schwarz has been named the new chair of Lehigh University’s string department.

Schwarz’s performance career includes solos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and chamber recitals at New York's Carnegie Hall. His teachers include the legendary Dorothy DeLay, Sylvia Rosenberg and Helen Kwalwasser.

Schwarz, who picked the violin for the first time at age 4, has taught at Lehigh for six seasons and has recorded solo albums for EMI, Centaur Records, and Marquis Classics.

Schwarz’s Zoellner Arts Center Debut as the new chair of the string department is on Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 8 p.m. with the Lehigh Philharmonic as a violin soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major.

Also joining the string faculty is violinist Kate Ransom a former member of the Alexander String Quartet and currently the Executive Director of the Wilmington Music School. The Serafin String Quartet, of which Schwarz and Ransom are members, will be the quartet in residence for their second season.

Starting this season, the Lehigh’s music department is introducing a Masters Series, which invites world renowned artists to give masters classes for Lehigh University string players. This year features Philadelphia Orchestra concert master David Kim, who will give a class on February 11, 2008, and cellist Ovidiu Marinescu, who will give a class on February 1, 2008. Both classes are free and open to the public.

A third seminar will be given by Alexander technique teacher Ariel Holyst on October 27, 2007. This class will deal with muscle tension particular to string players. Registration is required for the Alexander technique class.

For more information about the Master Classes or Lehigh's string department, please contact Timothy Schwarz at (610) 758-4592 or via email.

--Z. Candi Staurinos