INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED CHAMBER DUO TO PERFORM AT BARD COLLEGE ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 Pianist Annlynn Miller and cellist Ulrich Schmid will perform sonatas by Beethoven and Schnittke

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The Bard Center presents an evening of chamber music with internationally acclaimed chamber duo, pianist Annlynn Miller and cellist Ulrich Schmid, on Thursday, September 26. The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall.

Miller and Schmid will perform two of Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonatas for Piano and Cello, No. 1 in C Major and No. 2 in D Major, Op. 102, and Alfred Schnittke's Sonatas for Cello and Piano, No. 1 (1978) and No. 2 (1993/94). (This concert will be repeated on Sunday, September 29, at Carnegie Hall.)

"Sensitive, scrupulous music-making!" is how the New York Times has described the duo's performances. During the 2002-03 season, Miller and Schmid plan two concert tours in the United States, as well as one throughout Europe. Their recent performances include a sold-out concert in January 2000 at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., where more than 200 people were turned away. In 2003-04, Ulrich and Schmid plan to record Beethoven's complete works for piano and cello. The duo is renowned for its performances of Alfred Schnittke's entire repertoire for cello and piano (including the unpublished epilogue for the ballet Peer Gynt).

Pianist Annlynn Miller is widely acclaimed as an extraordinarily dynamic and sensitive concert pianist. Her extensive repertoire of solo and chamber music works and her numerous recordings for European radio stations have enabled her to captivate audiences in major cities and capitals throughout the United States and Europe. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Sarah Lawrence College, she also studied with Bruno Seidelhofer at the Vienna Academy of Music. In addition, Miller was a longtime student of Rudolf Firkusny. She is a member of the faculty at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich.

Cellist Ulrich Schmid has established a remarkable reputation through recital and orchestra performances throughout Europe and the United States. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and received his concert diploma from André Navarra in Detmold, Germany. Schmid was the principal state cellist with the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with the orchestra of the State Theater in Darmstadt. He has recorded the concerti of Bloch, Villa-Lobos, Honegger, Stamitz, and Mozart. A recipient of the Diploma d'Onore in Siena (Italy), Schmid performs on an Italian master cello built by Nicolas Gagliano in 1774.

The fall concert series, presented by The Bard Center, will continue on Wednesday, October 16, at 8:00 p.m., with "One World Chamber Music with the Da Capo Chamber Players," an evening of Cambodian, Arabic, and Belarussian music. On Sunday, October 27, at 3:00 p.m., the Colorado Quartet will perform Haydn's "Quinten" Quartet; Joan Tower's In Memory; and Schubert's Quartet in D Minor, "Death and the Maiden." And on Sunday, November 10, at 3:00 p.m., there will be an afternoon of chamber music with Robert Martin and friends. All concerts will be held in Olin Hall and are free and open to the public.