Chattanooga’s celebrated concert series String Theory returns for its third spring installment on Thursday, March 8, featuring the dynamic sounds of the Miró String Quartet with internationally renowned pianist Gloria Chien. The concert begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Hunter Museum of American Art.

A pre-concert discussion on art and music will start at 5:30 p.m., led by Hunter Museum Chief Curator Ellen Simak and Robert Bernhardt, Music Director Emeritus of the CSO and Artist-in-Residence at Lee University. They will explore works from the Hunter collection that relate to the music featured in String Theory.

In its third season, String Theory is a partnership of Lee University and the Hunter Museum of American Art. The concert series has consistently provided an innovative artistic experience for the Chattanooga community.

Hailed by The New York Times as possessing “explosive vigor and technical finesse,” the Miró Quartet remains one of the nation’s highest-profile chamber groups. After two decades, the Quartet continues to captivate audiences and critics around the world with its startling intensity, fresh perspective, and mature approach to music.

The Miró String Quartet was founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. The Quartet has been featured on national radio broadcasts such as American Public Media’s Performance Today as well as international radio networks across Europe, Canada and Israel. The Quartet has also been seen on ABC’s World News Tonight and A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts.

In 2005 the Quartet became the first ensemble to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, along with the Cleveland Quartet Award the same year. They have released several recordings, including a disc featuring live performances of works by Dvorak and Kevin Puts and a release of the Op. 18 quartets of Beethoven on the Vanguard Classic label.

Highlights from the Miró Quartet’s 2010-11 season include a critically acclaimed return to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and collaborations with the celebrated British percussionist Colin Currie, pianist Shai Wosner, and cellist Lynn Harrell. In addition to touring concert venues across the globe, the Quartet also serves as the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.

Gloria Chien is an internationally acclaimed pianist and assistant professor of music at Lee. She has been picked by the Boston Globe as one of the Superior Pianists of the year, “… who appears to excel in everything.” In 2009, Chien was the founder and artistic director behind String Theory.

Chien’s recent CD with violinist Joanna Kurkowicz, featuring the music of Grazyna Bacewicz, was released on Chandos Records in 2011. “[The violinist] could ask for no more sensitive or supportive a pianist than Gloria Chien,” wrote the International Record Review about the record.

An avid chamber musician, Chien was chosen to join the roster of the Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center for 2012. She has been the resident pianist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston since 2000, a group known for its versatility and commitment to new music. Boston Herald praises Chien for “[playing] phenomenally.”

Chien is a prize winner of the World Piano Competition, Harvard Musical Association Award, and the San Antonio International Piano Competition, where she also received the award for Best Performance of the Commissioned Work. Chien has presented solo recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Harvard Musical Association, Sanibel Musical Festival, Caramoor Musical Festival, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan.

Tickets are $25 (advance sales) or $30 at the door, with a $5 discount for String Theory donors and Hunter members.

For more information about String Theory at the Hunter or to purchase tickets, visit www.stringtheorymusic.org, call 423-267-0968, or email [email protected].

Photo:  (from top) Miro Quartet; Chien; Bernhardt