On February 28th at 7:30pm the Sun Quartet will present music by Mozart and the beloved Clarinet Quintet of Brahms with guest artist Deborah Pittman. This superb ensemble comprises Sacramento State faculty members Ian Swensen and Anna Presler on violin, Anna Kruger on viola, and Andrew Luchansky on cello. The quartet has been enhancing Sacramento's concert life since 1994, and is nationally regarded for their mastery of instrumental color and driving performance style.

On March 9th at 7:30pm the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds will be performing. This quintet has forged a unique place among contemporary American chamber groups by performing not only masterpieces of the past but by actively commissioning and performing new works that bridge European, American, African and Latin-American traditions.The wide range of programs offered by Imani Winds demonstrates their mission to expand the wind quintet repertoire and diversify sources of new music. From Mendelssohn, Jean Françaix, György Ligeti, and Luciano Berio, to Astor Piazzolla, Elliott Carter and John Harbison; to the unexpected ranks of Paquito D’Rivera and Wayne Shorter, Imani Winds actively seek to engage new music and new voices into the modern classical idiom. Imani members Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott both regularly contribute compositions and arrangements to the ensemble’s expanding repertoire, bringing new sounds and textures to the traditional instrumentation. Their excellence and influences have been recognized with numerous awards including the 2007 ASCAP Award, 2002 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released CD Umoja.

On March 17th at 7:30pm viola da gambist Jordi Savall will be performing. Instrumental in the modern rebirth of the viola da gamba, Savall has been one of the giants of the early music movement since its inception in the 1970's, and he has performed to sold-out houses in all of the world's major music centers. Equally active as a conductor, he remains one of the most accomplished and sought-after performers active in music today. He completed his cello studies at the Barcelona Conservatory in 1965, and, seeking to broaden his musical horizons, took an interest in early music. After determining that his new-found interest could not be well served by the modern cello, he discovered the viola da gamba and the performance practices of an earlier period. Jordi Savall went on to study in Brussels and later attended the Schola Cantorum of Basel, where he studied with August Wenzinger. In 1974, he succeeded Wenzinger in the position of Professor of Viol and Ensemble at the Schola Cantorum.

Pianist Richard Goode will round out the New Millennium Series on March 23rd at 7:30pm. A musician of remarkable technique and insight, Richard Goode has established himself as one of the supreme pianists of his generation. Over the past seasons, Mr. Goode was honored for his contributions to music with the first ever Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance in 2006, which culminated in a residency at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL for the past two years. His most recent season included performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt and the Cleveland Orchestra with conductor Ivan Fischer. Carnegie Hall featured Richard Goode in an ‘engrossing’ (NY Times) eight-event Perspectives, and Mr. Goode was invited to hold master classes at the City’s three leading conservatories – Juilliard, Manhattan and Mannes – and to give two illustrated talks on his Perspectives repertoire at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.He will be presenting the repertoire closest to his heart, that of the great Classical and Romantic masters Bach, Haydn, Brahms, and Schubert.

Purchase tickets in advance by calling (916) 278-4323. Individual tickets for the Sun Quartet are $15 general, $10 senior, and $5 student; for all others $25 general, $20 senior, and $10 student. A season subbscription is available for $72, a savings of $18 off general admission prices.