Tickets are on sale now for the second concert of the Friends of Music’s current season, a special Martin Luther King Holiday Concert by the Two Rivers String Quartet. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Shepherdstown.

The concert will honor Dr. King with an all-American program that includes two works by pre-eminent African-American composers.

The composers and their works will be as follows:

Duke Ellington, “Sophisticated Lady” and “Take the ‘A’ Train”

Samuel Barber – String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11

Quincy Porter – String Quartet No. 3

Scott Joplin – “Country Club Rag” and “Paragon Rag.”

Ellington, who played a major role in gaining recognition of jazz as an art form, is ranked by many as one of America’s greatest composers.

Barber’s String Quartet was the basis for his “Adagio for Strings,” his most famous work and one of the best-known and most-loved American orchestral works of the 20th century.

Porter, descended from an old New England family, was a contemporary of Aaron Copland who developed a fresh contemporary style of his own.

Joplin’s Rags are among the best-loved of American music.

Admission to the concert will be free for Friends of Music members. The ticket price for others will be $20 per person ($18 before Jan. 1).

Tickets and Friends’ memberships can be purchased on the Friends’ website at www.friendswv.org or by mail (FOM, PO Box 220, Shepherdstown, WV 25443). Visa and Master Card will be accepted.

The Two Rivers String Quartet includes the following musicians:

Heather Austin-Stone, Violin. Ms. Austin-Stone is currently the Concertmaster of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the Assistant Concertmaster with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and a section 1st violinist with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.

Camilo Perez-Mejia, Cello. Mr. Perez-Mejia is a member of the Temple Trio, Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington, and principal cellist for the National String Symphonia. He is also the Music Director and Conductor of the Charles Washington Symphony.

Dana Rokosny, Viola. Ms. Rokosny is principal violist of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra and performs regularly with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Petr Skopek, Violin. Mr. Skopek is a member of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra.

The Friends of Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence in the Eastern Panhandle.

For full information about the Friends and their concerts go to www.friendswv.org.

This year’s concert season is supported by a grant from the WV Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.