String Theory, in partnership with Lee University and the Hunter Museum of American Art, will continue its seventh season with a concert on Thursday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m., featuring Colin Carr, cello; Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin; and Gloria Chien, piano.

Founded in 2009 by Artistic Director Chien, String Theory brings acclaimed chamber musicians from around the world to perform in the intimate setting of the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga.

The evening’s program will feature Ravel’s Tzigane, Sonata for Violin and Cello, and Piano Trio.

Prior to the performance, Art Connection will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Hunter Museum gallery. Art Connection gives attendees the opportunity to hear Ellen Simak, former Hunter Museum chief curator, and Maestro Robert Bernhardt discuss works from the Hunter collection that relate to the music featured in the concert.

Carr, who first began playing cello at the age of five, has served as a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, St. John’s College of Oxford, and Stony Brook University. He regularly appears throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher, playing with major orchestras worldwide. He has been a regular guest at the BBC Proms and has twice toured Australia.

As a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, he recorded and toured extensively for 20 years. He is a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals worldwide and has appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society (CMS) of Lincoln Center. He is the winner of many prestigious international awards, including First Prize in the Naumburg Competition, the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Award, Second Prize in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition and the Young Concert Artists competition.

Sitkovetsky made his concerto debut at the age of eight, going on to perform with the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin’s in the Fields, and the BBC Concert Orchestra, among others. Together with Wu Qian and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, Sitkovetsky performs in the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio, regularly giving performances in England at the Wigmore Hall and across Europe in halls such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Frankfurt Alte Oper.

“Sitkovetsky…is an amazing young man, who is undoubtedly destined for stardom,” said The Isle of Wight County Press. “His range of tone and expression plus his remarkable technique combined to make a memorable performance that left the audience enthralled.”

Chien, who currently serves as an artist-in-residence at Lee University, is a prize winner of the World Piano Competition and the San Antonio International Piano Competition. She is a Steinway Artist and has been praised by “The Strad” for “super performances… accompanied with great character.”

She was appointed the Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012 and frequently plays at Alice Tully Hall in New York, as well as other venues around the country with CMS on Tour.

Lee University will host a masterclass with Carr and Sitkovetsky on Tuesday, March 22 from 6-8 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall, located in Lee Humanities Center. The masterclass will include performances by String Theory Initiative students Harper Beeland and Allen Liu, who will play a piano and violin duet, and Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Youth Orchestra students Lori Bazter, Brandon McGrath, and Juliette Blais, who will play a violin, viola, and cello trio. Lee students Yo-You Lo, Kristiana McCombs, Yiran Zhao, and Duo Zhang will also perform in the masterclass.

Individual tickets for the concert are $30 for Hunter members, $40 for non-members, $10 for students with a valid student ID and $25 for groups of 20 or more people.

The masterclass is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 423-267-0968 or visit String Theory.