Castleman Quartet Program West: Faculty & Guest Chamber Music Recital

The Castleman Quartet Program West (CQPW) opens its inaugural season with the Faculty Chamber Concert on Saturday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Recital Hall. Founded in 1970 by legendary violinist Charles Castleman, the Castleman Quartet Program has earned an international reputation for cultivating exceptional young chamber musicians through intensive study, collaboration, and performance. CDQ alumni and University of Wyoming music faculty Drs. Beth Vanderborgh and John Fadial are excited to bring the prestigious summer training program to Wyoming for the first time. This free, public concert features guest violinist John Gilbert alongside violinists Charles Castleman and John Fadial, violist Renée Skerik, and cellist Beth Vanderborgh. The program opens with Maurice Ravel’s four-movement “Sonata for Violin and Cello,” followed by selections from Béla Bartók’s folklore-inspired “44 Duos for Two Violins.” The performance concludes with Felix Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1,” which features a rapid Presto con brio finale. An internationally-acclaimed violinist and Tchaikovsky and Brussels competition medalist, Charles Castleman is a professor at the Frost School of Music who performs on a 1708 Stradivarius violin. John Gilbert is professor of violin at the Texas Tech University School of Music, and an active soloist and recitalist who has served as concertmaster for multiple American symphony orchestras. Chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue John Fadial is professor of violin at the University of Wyoming, former United States Artistic Ambassador, and experienced concertmaster who has led numerous American and European orchestras while teaching regularly at festivals. Beth Vanderborgh is a professor of cello at the University of Wyoming, principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, a founding member of the France-based Stanislas Sextet, and a former United States Artistic Ambassador who has recorded extensively for labels like Albany, Centaur, and Navona. Violist Renée Skerik is instructor of viola and chamber music at Interlochen Arts Academy, an international masterclass presenter, a frequent adjudicator for national competitions, and a former member of the award-winning Artaria String Quartet who co-founded the Stringwood Chamber Music Institute.