FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834

March 27, 2008

MURASAKI DUO TO PERFORM IOWA COMPOSERS FORUM WORKS AT GRINNELL COLLEGE

GRINNELL, IA. - The Grinnell College Department of Music will host the Murasaki Duo in concert on Sat., Apr. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Sebring-Lewis Hall of the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell College campus.

The Murasaki Duo of cellist Eric Kutz and pianist Miko Kominami is ensemble-in-residence at Luther College. The Duo will perform works by members of the Iowa Composers Forum, which is co-sponsoring the tour. Music on the program includes "Elegy and Affirmation" by Grinnell College Professor of Music Jonathan Chenette; "Three Pieces" by Maurice Monhardt, Luther College; "Through a Glass, Darkly" by Jeffrey Prater, Iowa State University; "dark waters" by Brooke Joyce, Luther College; and "Wings" by David Vayo, Illinois Wesleyan University.

The Duo was founded in 1996 and has been in residence at Luther College since 2002. Kutz, who is an assistant professor of music at Luther, has performed throughout North America and Europe and with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony. Kominami, who has been reviewed by critics as "a virtuosic and musicianly performer," is a piano faculty member at Luther College and principal keyboardist for the Cedar Rapids Symphony.

"Elegy and Affirmation," Chenette’s work on the program, was commissioned by the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge for a memorial event marking the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Chenette describes the work as "seeking both to mourn our loss and assert our interconnectedness in the aftermath of the attacks."

The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts is located at 1108 Park St. on the Grinnell College campus. For more information, call (641) 269-3065 or e-mail chenet@grinnell.edu.