The Arts Alive Concerts in the Garden will present the chamber ensemble Marian Anderson String Quartet at 8 p.m., on Wednesday, April 8, at Tillett Gardens. After Marianne Henry (violin), Diedra Lawrence (viola), Nicole Cherry (violin), and Prudence McDaniel (cello)– then known as the Chaminade Quartet–made history in 1991 by becoming the first African-American ensemble to win a major classical music competition, they went to the great contralto Marian Anderson to ask whether they might have permission to adopt her name as their own. She agreed, and they became the Marian Anderson String Quartet.
Since that time, they have pursued their mission of entertaining, educating, and creating new and diverse audiences through their music. Their venues have ranged from soup kitchens to concert stages and from juvenile correctional facilities to presidential inaugurations.
Tickets for the concert are $30, or $70 with the prix fixe dinner; reservations are recommended. Tickets are available at Tillett Gardens in the Tillett Gallery, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information and to make reservations, call 776.8566 or e-mail artsalive@tillett.net. The program is funded in part by the V.I. Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
