STRING QUARTET PERFORMS TONIGHT

The Leontovych String Quartet will perform tonight at Old St. Vincent's Church, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The quartet hails from Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, and made its debut in the United States with performances at the Dag Hammerskjold Library in New York, the Ukrainian Institute of America, Harvard University, and Music Mountain international music festival in Connecticut.

The ensemble's first American concerts have been repeatedly broadcast on more than 100 stations affiliated with National Public Radio. The foursome made its second U.S. recording with Koch International.

Since it was founded at the Kiev Philharmonica in 1971, the quartet has played more than 2,000 concerts. The ensemble received the Lyssenko Republican award for popularizing Ukrainian chamber music in 1989, the first time in history the award had been given to an instrumental group rather than a composer.

The Leontovych String Quartet will perform compositions by Eastern European composers. Admission to Wednesday's performance is free, however, donations will be accepted.

The performance is sponsored by Southeast Missouri State University's cultural programs committee.