The DePaul University School of Music will offer two chamber music concerts featuring its world-renowned faculty members performing rarely played works. The free, public concerts will be performed at 8 p.m. Feb. 22 and May 10 at the DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden Ave.

This series was born out of faculty members desire to perform with one another, introduce the public to little-known masterpieces and offer students the opportunity to hear their mentors in eclectic ensembles.

The collective brainchild of faculty members Ilya Kaler, Julie DeRoche, Larry Combs and Stephen Balderston, the concerts will feature works by Bartok, Dvořák, Zemlinsky and Bach.

“We have this great pool of performers who are at the very highest level of their art,” said DeRoche, a clarinetist and clarinet professor who chairs the performance studies department at DePaul. “And we just wanted to get together and play chamber music.”

The series is “repertoire-driven,” DeRoche said, adding that faculty members produced a wish list of compositions they would like to perform.

“We always have things we want to play–maybe we heard it and loved it, but never played it,” DeRoche said. “So this was put together based on what the faculty wanted to do.”

While this is the first year DePaul has presented an organized faculty chamber music series, the six full-time performance professors and 60 adjunct professors plan to continue the series in future years. The performances will be informative and inspirational for both students and the public.  Audiences will hear some traditional chamber music as well as compositions that are rarely played, DeRoche said. “It will be varied over time,” DeRoche said. “We’re only beginning to see the potential.”

The Feb. 22 concert will feature Ilya Kaler, violin; Larry Combs, clarinet; Julie DeRoche, clarinet; Olga Kaler, violin; Rami Solomonow, viola; Stephen Balderston, cello; and Aglika Angelova, piano.  Profiles of all of the faculty members can be seen at http://music.depaul.edu/FacultyAndStaff/.   

The Feb. 22 performance will include Terzetto in C Major for Two Violins and Viola; op. 74 by Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904); Trio in D Minor for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano; op. 3 by Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942); and “Contrasts” by Béla Bartók (1881-1945).

The May 10 program will feature works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), including Sonata no. 4 for Violin and Harpsichord in C Minor, BWV 1017; Sonata in E Major for Flute and Harpsichord, BWV1035; and Sonata sopr'il Soggetto Reale from “The Musical Offering,” BWV 1079.   The program will feature Ilya Kaler, violin; Stephen Balderston, cello; Mary Stolper, flute; Jason Moy, harpsichord; and others.