The Strata ensemble, featuring clarinetist Nathan Williams, violinist James Stern, and pianist Audrey Andrist, presents a program entitled Riddles and Mirages, including works by American composers Paul Schoenfield, Margaret Brouwer, Libby Larsen, and works composed for Strata by Robert Maggio(Riddle) and Jonathan Leshnoff (Seven Glances at a Mirage).

Strata is a coming together of three extraordinary musical talents whose combined credits encompass numerous international prizes and performances across four continents, including such places as Carnegie Hall, the Marlboro Festival and the Kennedy Center.

Strata brings “deft ensemble playing” and a “talent…that’s worth getting worked up about” (The Washington Post) to a repertoire that combines the great trio and duo repertoire of the past with an ever-growing body of new works written especially for them over the more than 25 years they have been playing together. Equally capable of winning over an audience with unique renderings of popular music and of making even the most complex works accessible, exciting and meaningful, Strata has received enthusiastic repeat engagements at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, New York’s historic Maverick Concerts and San Francisco Composers Inc., for which they were listed as one of San Francisco Classical Voice’s “highlights of 2005.” They have been resident artists at the Banff Centre for the Arts and appeared in New York City under the auspices of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

All holders of the doctor of musical arts degree from The Juilliard School, the members of Strata are dedicated to every level of music education, from the mentoring of graduate students and young professionals, to the initial sparking of musical passion in very young children, to the guiding of audiences in what to listen for. Spoken commentary is an integral part of all their concerts. They perform a wide range of specially tailored presentations for K-12 schools, and have done numerous university residencies involving coaching chamber music and both advising and performing the music of young composers. They have appeared as a featured ensemble at the annual conventions of the Music Teachers’ Association of California and the International Clarinet Association.

The ensemble’s first CD, an exciting mix of old and standard repertoire, is available on the AUR label as well as on iTunes and Amazon. They are featured on compact discs of the music of Robert Maggio for CRI and Adam Silverman for Albany Records, and have been recorded live in concert for CBC Radio in Canada.

$15 general admission, $10 seniors, $5 students, free for UMBC music majors and music faculty/staff, available online or at the box office one hour prior to the performance.