Another free “Brown Bag Lunch Concert” is taking place Saturday with musicians Michael Chu, violin, and Garnet Ungar, piano.
The concert will begin at 12:15 pm at Trinity Episcopal Church (720 Ford Avenue). There will be a reception afterward with food and drink. The free event is sponsored by the Order of the Daughters of the King, an order for women who are communicates of the Episcopal Church.
The free lunchtime concert series was started in 2018 by Kentucky Wesleyan College Clarinet Professor Kirsten Ahnell. Ahnell’s intent is to bring music to the public. The programs are mostly classically oriented and feature small groups of musicians.
In order to help enlighten the audience, Ahnell acts as a moderator for the programs. She has the musicians speak about the composers and pieces they are performing, discuss their instruments and answer questions from the audience after the program.
Chu was born and raised in Minnesota. He is an active performer and music educator. Coming from a diverse musical education including violin, piano, trumpet, and saxophone, he enjoys drawing inspiration from many different influences and cultures.
Chu is a graduate of the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, where he received his B.M. in Violin Performance and Music Education as a student of Sally O’Reilly. He later went on to receive his M.M. in Violin Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a student of Chen Zhao.
Chu also plays with the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra and is a Substitute Violinist with the Nashville Symphony.
Ungar has performed at Xinghai Conservatory (China), Kwassui University (Japan), Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, University of Michigan, University of British Columbia, Hong Kong Baptist University, Tanglewood, the American Liszt Society in New York City, and the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto.
In addition to concerts in Switzerland, Sweden, England, and South America, he has appeared on American Public Radio, the CBC, and Hong Kong Radio. Ungar retired as a tenured professor after 26 years of teaching at the University of Evansville to concentrate on performing and private teaching.
