The Bennington Museum is excited to welcome back the Bennington String Quartet on Sunday, January 20 at 2:00 p.m. This concert will feature the music of Mozart, in celebration of his birthday. Founded in 1991 as resident group of the North Bennington Graded School String Program, the quartet visits classrooms during the year, introducing children to the instruments, music and composers of the world of chamber music. In addition, the quartet performs regularly in the Bennington area.

The Bennington String Quartet consists of violinists Joseph Schor and Melanie Dexter, violist Catharine Hall-Schor, and cellist Nathaniel Parke. For this performance, they welcome Kerry Ryer-Parke, soprano, as Guest Artist. Joseph Schor is a former member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and former concert-master of the New York City Opera and Denver Symphony Orchestras. He is a member of the American Composers Orchestra, Berkshire Symphony, and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East.

In addition to her work with the Bennington String Quartet, Melanie Dexter, violin, performs locally with the Berkshire Symphony, Albany Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and at Williams College. She has played orchestral and chamber music worldwide in Germany, Italy, and Puerto Rico.

Catharine Hall-Schor, viola, is a member of the American Composers Orchestra and the Berkshire Symphony. She is director of the String Program at North Bennington Graded School and Co-Director of The North Bennington Children’s Shakespeare Theater. Hall-Schor is also timpanist with the Sage City Symphony.

Principal cello of the Berkshire Symphony, Nathaniel Parke has been a member of the Boston Composers String Quartet. He is Artist Associate in Cello at Williams College and a part-time lecturer at SUNY Albany. In the past, he has served as a faculty member and chamber music coach at the Longy School of Music, where he received his training, Skidmore College and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East.

Kerry Ryer-Parke, soprano, is known as a skilled and intuitive performer of many musical styles, from oratoria, opera, early music and new works of jazz and blues. She is the Director of the Bennington Children’s Chorus, a position she has held since 1994. An Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Williams College, she has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts, the New School of Music, and the Sonatina School of Music.

The cost for the concert is $12 per person, $7 for students, and children under 12 free.