Hutchins Consort to Perform at Historic Upper East Side Church

New York, NY, October 15, 2011 --(PR.com)-- The famed violin maker Carleen Maley Hutchins (May 24, 1911-August 7, 2009) was called the “female Stradivari” by her mentor Harvard physicist Frederick A. Saunders. Hutchins was a most unlikely pioneer—a biologist and trumpet player who taught herself acoustical physics by making violins. Hutchins and Saunders performed more than 100 acoustical experiments on violas and violins made by Hutchins. Hutchins eventually created a louder, more resonant violin via plate tuning and modal analysis.

The new palette of sounds originates with the Hutchins Consort of San Diego, CA—the only ensemble named for an American luthier and the only ensemble in the world that performs on a Hutchins Violin Octet. The Hutchins Consort will embark on its Debut East Coast Tour in October, 2011, in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Hutchins’ birth and will be honoring Dr. Hutchins’ memory throughout their 2011-2012 season.

The unique musical event will be held 8 p.m. on Friday, October 21 at the Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10028. $20 Adults, $15 Students/Seniors at the door.

Former Boston Globe arts journalist and Carleen Hutchins biographer, D. Quincy Whitney, will tour with the Hutchins Consort. Whitney will give a short pre-concert talk about Hutchins and the biography.

Despite the fact that she was a lone female in two male-dominated fields of acoustical physics and violinmaking, Hutchins was the only woman to be awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Acoustical Society of America – whose very short list of recipients includes Thomas Edison. Hutchins was also the recipient of four honorary doctorates, a Guggenheim Fellowship and was considered the foremost authority on violin acoustics. From 2002 to 2003, Mrs. Hutchins’s octet was the subject of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York entitled “The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section.”

The Hutchins Consort performs a wide repertoire ranging from Medieval, Baroque and Renaissance to jazz, blues and modern, including new works written specifically for these instruments.

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