Celebrate spring with concert, cruise

The Kairos Quartet, established in 1993, has been the quartet-in- residence at Central Washington University since 1998. Violinists Carrie Rehkopf and Heather Netz, violist Timothy Betts, and cellist John Michel, world class chamber musicians who have toured extensively in the US and performed internationally from Japan to Scotland.

Rehkopf has also performed in chamber music concerts at the Tanglewood, Banff and Norfolk festivals and she has given the world premiere of Maria Newman's violin concerto, which she subsequently recorded on Capitol Records.

Netz is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, where she won the first prize of the Ian D. Watt Award, a competition of the Sonata and Chamber works by Claude Debussy. Alongside her classical education, she studied Scottish fiddle with Pete Clark and was featured on Clark's album Mackintosh at Murthly -- The Music of Robert Mackintosh.

Betts serves as the executive director of the Kairos Lyceum, a summer chamber music institute for advanced high school and college- age string players. Prior to his appointment at CWU, Betts was active as a musician in New York where he earned a master's degree in Viola Performance.

Michel was one of seven cellists featured at the First Kobe International Cello Festival, Japan, where he gave a solo recital and masterclass. At the World Cello Congress III, he premiered the new Solo Cello Sonata "Othmar" by composer Maria Newman.

This concert is the first of a six concert series held throughout the Columbia Gorge in Stevenson and North Bonneville as well as Hood River and Cascade Locks.

The Series includes:

May 18 -- Grammy Award Winning Duo Tingstad & Rumbel at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort & Spa in North Bonneville.

June 8 -- Ringering Wheeler Piano Duo at the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center in Stevenson.

July 13 -- The Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson.

Aug 22 -- Karla Bonoff at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson.

Sept. 12 -- The Stolen Sweets; at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River.

Individual concert ticket rates are: $25.00 Adult; $22.50 65+ senior and $10 Student Discount Subscription rates available for the full series and for a "Pick 3" subscription.