Violinist James Stern, of the University of Maryland School of Music, will present a concert at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center on Saturday, Feb. 19.

The program begins at 8:15 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A). It is free and open to the public and will feature J.S. Bachs Partita no. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 ; Partita no. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002 ; and Partita no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 .

Stern also will present a free violin master class Saturday, Feb. 19, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

Stern has given recitals and chamber music performances at the Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. He has also performed at the Marlboro, Banff, Ravinia and Bowdoin summer festivals, and appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout the United States.

He is a member of two critically acclaimed ensembles, the Stern/Andrist Duo with his wife, Canadian pianist Audrey Andrist, and Strata, a trio in which they are joined by clarinetist Nathan Williams. The trio is featured in a CD of new and standard repertoire on Arizona University Recordings and has been presented in a New York appearance sponsored by the International Society of Contemporary Music. They have received enthusiastic repeat engagements at San Francisco Composers, Inc., the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and New Yorks historic Maverick Concerts. The duo has recorded music by Donald Erb on CRI Records, and did a recital tour of China in the spring of 2002. Both ensembles have performed numerous world premieres, including music written especially for them.

Now associate professor of violin and chamber music at the University of Maryland School of Music, Stern has appeared with the Twentieth Century Consort, at Strathmore Hall, at the Corcoran Gallery and at the Smithsonian Institution in a recital demonstrating their collection of priceless ornamented Stradivarius violins.

Additional recitals have taken him throughout the United States, Canada, China and to Germany and Norway. Stern is a former faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. He has taught master classes throughout North America as well as in China and Norway. He received his doctorate at the Juilliard School, studying with Louise Behrend, Joseph Fuchs, Lewis Kaplan and members of the Juilliard Quartet.

For more information, contact the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4841, Ext. 3108.