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by Lisa Saca, PR Student Writer
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (March 10, 2003) – The Milligan College String Quartet has been chosen by the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra to participate in the Music for Youth/Education Outreach. The quartet will perform for fifth grade students at Andrew Johnson Elementary School in Kingsport on Tuesday, March 18.
Music for Youth/Education Outreach brings professional KSO musicians into the classrooms of fifth through seventh grade students. In intimate settings, students learn about the four instrument groups, musical styles and occasionally are allowed to play along.
The Outreach program, funded by the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra, receives a grant each year to fund musicians going into elementary schools from Southwest Virginia to Greene County.
“Music is incredibly important in children’s lives, and as musicians and music educators, we have an obligation to make sure that music is available and accessible,” said Dr. Kellie Brown, a music professor at Milligan and director of Milligan’s string quartet.
“I am very excited that the Milligan College String Quartet has been chosen to work with the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra’s Educational Outreach program. This outreach program has been very successful, and we look forward to continuing in that success.”
The Milligan College String Quartet is an auditioned chamber group featuring the college’s premier string players. In addition to performing frequently on Milligan’s campus, this group is also featured throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
The String Quartet consists of Dr. Kellie Dubel Brown, director; senior violinist Dana Leathers, Rockford, Ill.; freshman violinist Gina Jury, Bradenton, Fla.; senior violist Emily Fuller, Silver Spring, Md.; and sophomore cellist Rebekah Abbott, Johnson City, Tenn.
Brown has been a member of the Milligan College music faculty since 1998 where she serves as the director of the strings program and of the Milligan College Chamber Orchestra. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music education, a master’s in violin performance, and a doctoral degree in higher education administration, with an emphasis in music administration.
The music department at Milligan College offers a wide variety of opportunities in strings and is dedicated to the promotion and expansion of string education. Milligan also features the only collegiate string program in northeast Tennessee. Opportunities for musical growth and worship through strings are available for the music major and non-major.