Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Beginning this fall, Mississippi State music majors and others will have an option for instruction in orchestral strings.
"With support from the College of Education, we will offer limited instruction in strings that include the violin, viola, cello, and double bass," said music department head Michael Brown. "Dean Richard Blackbourn has been very supportive of our effort to expand the university's opportunities both for instruction and performance in the strings area."
Brown said Simona Barbu, a Romania native completing a doctorate at the University of Memphis, will direct a new string ensemble. She also will provide weekly instruction to MSU and private students.
"We're very fortunate to have someone with her experience and talent to launch this effort," he added.
Barbu began music studies in violin at age 7 and, at age 15, undertook the cello. She graduated as a cellist with the highest distinction at the Conservatory of Music in Tismisoara in her native country. Her education continued at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where she studied under Johanne Perron and earned a bachelor's degree with distinction.
While pursuing a master's degree at Southern Methodist University, she studied under cellists Nathaniel Rosen and Christopher Adkins.
An active chamber and solo artist, Barbu has performed with symphonies in the U.S., Italy and her native Romania. Earlier this year, she performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Memphis University Symphony Orchestra as the concerto competition winner.
Full scholarships for summer study at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina and the MasterWorks Music Festival in Indiana testify to her skills, Brown observed.
For more information about the new MSU strings program, contact the department at 662-325-3070.