Liesl Schoenberger comes home for Sundays at 3 performance

Fresh off a few performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Cape Girardeau native Liesl Schoenberger will return home for a performance at the Chamber Music Sundays at 3 series at Shuck Recital Hall.

This third show in the series of six features Schoenberger on violin with Matt Yount accompanying on piano. They will perform selections from Johannes Brahms, Eugene Ysaye, Fritz Kreisler, Antonin Dvorak and Pablo de Sarasate.

"Liesl is an incredible talent," said the series creative director Brandon Christensen. He should know talent when he sees it; not only does Christensen maintain a busy touring concert schedule of his own, he organizes the Sundays at 3 concerts and holds a doctoral degree in musical arts. But you won't see him onstage Sunday.

"I wouldn't dare try to take away from Liesl's considerable thunder," he said.

Schoenberger was playing with a violin before most children are potty trained.

"I don't really remember my life without the violin," she said in a phone interview. She said she first picked up the instrument at 2 years old. She doesn't recall what her initial attraction was to the violin.

Whatever the attraction, it seems to have paid off. Her residence in New Haven, Conn., puts her just an hour-and-a-half from New York City and Carnegie Hall.

"You know, I'm not an East Coaster," Schoenberger said. "It's exciting playing in a big city, and it's exciting playing in New Haven, but I love Missouri and I love Cape Girardeau."

Schoenberger said returning to Cape Girardeau to perform is important for her because she feels she is helping to facilitate the growth of the arts.

"Every opportunity I get to come back and do a recital or collaborate with an artist from my hometown is quite a blessing," she said.

Schoenberger also said that given the state of the economy and a nationwide loss of jobs, she feels especially blessed to get to work full-time doing something that she truly loves.

Christensen said Schoenberger's performance is sold out, but three concerts remain in the series: "Sparks & Valentines" with St. Louis Symphony principal flutist Mark Sparks and Valentina Takova on Feb. 15; A string quartet program April 19; and Southeast Missouri State University alumnus Jessie Reuter joins Brandon Christensen and Matthew Yount for a Brahms trio for French horn, piano and violin May 10.

The Sundays at 3 series aims to bring chamber music to Southeast Missouri so people can experience this classical or baroque music played with six or less instruments.