Cellist Tanya Lesinsky Carey, an instructor in the Community Music Program at DePaul University’s School of Music, will present a concert March 13 that celebrates two milestones – the 60th year of her performance career and the 300 th birthday of her cello. The free, public concert begins at 8 p.m. in the DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden Ave.

Called “Three Hundred and Sixty—Full Circle,” the “cello-bration” will feature a program of music that spans the three centuries that have passed since Carey’s Guarnerius cello was crafted by master instrument makers in Cremona, Italy. Works by Scarlatti, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Stravinsky will be performed, as well as more recent compositions. The latter will include two premieres, “Singing and Dancing,” by David Ott and “Recitative and Aria” by Kenneth Paoli, as well as “String Trio,” by Ellen Taaffee Zwilich. In addition to Carey, performers include Charles Wendt, cello; Joan Huang, piano; Almita Vamos, violin; Roland Vamos, viola; and Steven Balderston, cello, who is coordinator of the DePaul School of Music string program.

Carey, a retired Western Illinois University music faculty member, has been a music teacher for nearly 50 of her 60 professional years. She has taught in DePaul’s Community Music program since it was founded 16 years ago. The program offers evening and weekend music lessons to more than 700 children and adults taught by 60 musical artists and educators from the Chicago area.

“We’re excited to join Tanya in celebrating these two special anniversaries and to showcase the kind of musicians who teach in DePaul’s Community Music Program and nurture the next generation of performers, educators and music lovers,” said program director Susanne Baker.

Carey began her musical studies in piano, violin and cello in Whiting, Indiana, under the tutelage of her father, Adam P. Lesinsky, a musician, and mother, May Coleman Lesinsky, a gifted teacher. She studied at the American Conservatory and spent six summers at Interlochen, a prestigious camp in Michigan for gifted music students, where she won the Lyon Healy Young Artists’ Award and the Outstanding Musician Award. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a doctoral music degree from the University of Iowa.

Carey was principal cellist at Interlochen and played in the core group of musicians for the Rochester Philharmonic, Rochester Civic, and Eastman-Rochester orchestras. She was assistant principal cello of the Milwaukee Symphony, and continues her orchestral work as associate principal of the Quad City Symphony. Her chamber music career includes work with the Lydian Trio (string) and the Leopold Sipe Trio (piano), presenting concerts in Carnegie Hall and Tully Hall.

Carey’s classes contain evolving young artists, teachers and professional players. Her work as a performer and teacher has taken her to more than 30 states and 15 foreign countries. Explaining her mission, she said: “I am committed to excellence, nurturing growth in myself and others, communicating at a high level musically and personally and sharing my insights, my passion for what I do, and my belief in limitless potential with others.”

For more information about this concert or the Community Music Division at DePaul’s School of Music, call 312/325-4390.