Violinist to perform at Bates

Violinist Janet Packer will perform a recital with pianist Orin Grossman at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The public is invited to attend the performance free of charge.

The program includes a celebrated solo violin “Partita in D Minor” by J.S. Bach; a dazzling sonata for violin and piano by Maurice Ravel; a new transcription of melodies from “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss; and a contemporary work by Mary Mageau, “Calls from the Heartland: Five Preludes for Violin and Piano,” an exploration in five short pieces of the emotional states of playfulness, anger and serenity.

Continuing her long-standing commitment to presenting new music for the violin, Packer commissioned the distinguished Australian composer Mageau to write a work for her 1996-97 performances.

Called an “incisive and deeply thoughtful violinist” by The Milwaukee Sentinel, Packer’s performances have won her international critical acclaim. Fanfare magazine admired “the warmth and conviction that makes her performance very emotionally satisfying.”

In addition to her performing, Packer teaches master classes at universities and schools. She is the artistic director of the preparatory division of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass.

Pianist Orin Grossman is a graduate of Harvard College and holds a doctoral degree in music from Yale University. He pursues a long-standing interest in jazz and popular music. His innovative combinations of classical pieces with his transcriptions of jazz piano solos, and his ability to move through different idioms, have led to a successful debut at Carnegie Recital Hall and all Gershwin concerts in Cairo, Egypt, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Grossman is professor of fine arts and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of Fairfield University in Connecticut.

For additional information, call the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall at 207-786-6135.