Feb. 13 concert is dedicated to the memory of slain SU graduate student Simeon Popov
Trombonists Haim Avitsur and William Harris will appear in concert with the Degas Quartet, Syracuse University's quartet-in-residence, during a special concert Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium in the University's Crouse College. The concert is free and open to the public.
The concert is dedicated to the memory of Simeon Popov, a 27-year-old graduate student in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music, College of Visual and Performing Arts. A native of Bulgaria, Popoff was killed Jan. 20, 2002 when he stumbled on an armed robbery at an off-campus apartment.
The concert will feature music written by Joseph Downing, director of the Setnor School of Music, and performed by the Degas Quartet and Harris, principal trombonist for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and affiliate artist in the Setnor School of Music. Harris was Popov's trombone instructor. The program will also include works by Franz Joseph Haydn and Gerald Cohen.
Trombonist Avitsur has performed with the Degas Quartet in Syracuse and in New York City's Carnegie Hall. A native of Israel and the winner of the 2000 Artist International Special Presentation Award, Avitsur has performed in Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Stanford University's Ballroom, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Other appearances include the Alice Tully Hall, the Lincoln Center, Bard College and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Founded in 1999, the Degas Quartet has performed at numerous festivals, recitals and chamber music concerts in Syracuse and elsewhere, including New York City. The quartet has performed at the Bowdoin Music Festival and has fulfilled a partial residency with the West Piedmont Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina.
