Local violinist and pianist to perform for Nov. 9 Afternoon Sabbatical

Lecture: Afternoon Sabbatical – Professors Matthew Hill and Solomia Soroka
Date and Time: Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 at 1 p.m.
Location: Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: Free and open to the public

GOSHEN, Ind. – Goshen College Associate Professor of Music Solomia Soroka, violin, and Professor of Music Matthew Hill, piano, will present a program of chamber music on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 at 1 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall, Music Center as part of the monthly Afternoon Sabbatical series. The event is free and open to the public.

Alongside several GC music students, Soroka and Hill will perform the Piano Quartet in G Minor by Johannes Brahms, as well as pieces by Anton Dvorak, Astor Piazzola and Felix Mendelssohn. They will be previewing their upcoming chamber music recital on Nov. 19.

Soroka joined the Goshen College music faculty in 2004 and teaches applied violin and viola, chamber music, advanced music theory and music literature classes. Born in the Ukraine, Soroka made her solo debut with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 10. She completed graduate and post-graduate studies at the National Music Academy of Ukraine, and holds a doctor of music arts from Eastman School of Music in Rochester (N.Y.). She has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine and the United States. The winner of top prizes in three prestigious international violin competitions, Soroka has served as Artist-in-Residence at James Cook University in Australia from 1994 to 1997, and has given the Australian and American premieres of several important contemporary Ukrainian compositions for violin. She is a recording artist for the NAXOS label.

Hill teaches piano, music history and humanities. In October 2006, he presented a series of master classes and a recital performance at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China, as well as guest lectures at the Southwest University of Science and Technology in Mianyang. He contributed a chapter to "Silence, Music, Silent Music" (Ashgate 2007), has written for Clavier and was an invited presenter at "Couleurs dans le vent: Celebrating the Music of Olivier Messiaen," an international conference held at the University of Kansas in 2002. Hill is co-chair of the music department and co-coordinator of the GC Piano Workshop. He has a doctorate in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under pianist Howard Karp and has also studied with the renowned Beethoven interpreter Claude Frank.

Afternoon Sabbatical programs are usually on the second Tuesday of the month at 1 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall or the College Church Fellowship Hall and are free and open to the public. For more information on the Afternoon Sabbatical series call the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566. 

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

###

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.