Playing "Chamber Music in Any Chamber," the Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer, Julie Yoon violin; Jonah Sirota, viola; Gregory Beaver, cello) reaches from the concert hall into clubs, bars and galleries, expanding the places to hear live classical music while returning chamber music to its roots in intimate spaces. Described by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "vastly talented, vastly resourceful, and vastly committed to the music of their time," the Chiara is also continually finding new meaning within pieces from the well-established quartet canon. Their performances have been described as "luminous," "searing," (New York Times) "soulful," "biting," and possessing a "potent collective force" (Strings Magazine).

The 2009-2010 season is the first year in the Chiara Quartet's two-year Beethoven cycle, during which they will perform all sixteen of Beethoven's string quartets in Cambridge and Northampton, MA and Lincoln, NE. In keeping with their commitment to bring classical music to uncommon places, the quartet will perform "Beethoven in Bars" at clubs throughout the country, featuring Beethoven's music with new works by young composers Thierry Tiedrow, Lauren Loiacono and Matthew Ricketts, alumni of the 2009 CMI.

The Chiara discography includes the Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets with Håkan Rosengren for SMS Classical, and the world premiere recordings of Robert Sirota's Triptych and Gabriela Lena Frank's Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout for the Quartet's own New Voice Singles label. In 2007 the Chiara recorded Jefferson Friedman's Second and Third Quartets, and they recently finished recording the complete string quartets of Brahms for SMS Classical.

Official Chiara Quartet website
UNL Chiara Quartet webpage

John Bailey, Flute, is a member of the critically acclaimed Moran Woodwind Quintet, resident faculty quintet at UNL, which has toured extensively in the Midwest and recorded for Crystal Records and Coronet. Dr. Bailey has been the directory of CMI since 2007.

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UNL Moran Woodwind Quintet

Paul Barnes is Co-chair of the Piano Division and recently premiered Phillip Glass's Concerto No. 2.

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Paul Haar, Saxophone, is nationally recognized as both a jazz and a classical artist. He has performed with numerous bands and orchestras across the country and has appeared with such artists as Michael Buble, Tony Bennet and Lou Rawls.

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Alan Mattingly, Horn, is highly active as a chamber musician, performing with the Moran Woodwind Quintet, the University of Nebraska Brass Quintet, and the Plymouth Brass.

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UNL Faculty Brass Quintet

Jeffrey McCray, Bassoon, is Assistant Professor of Bassoon, a member of the Moran Woodwind Quintet, and principal bassoon with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra.

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UNL Moran Woodwind Quintet

Tyler White, Composition, has received commissions from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, and other ensembles. He is also Director of Orchestral Activities at UNL.

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UNL Orchestras