A prelude to concert #4 in this year's Winter Chamber series, Marc Johnson will discuss the Schubert String Quintet, which is featured in the evening's 7:30 p.m. concert.

Admission is free.

Marc Johnson was born into a musical family in Lincoln, Nebraska. Under the tutelage of his first teacher, Carol Work, he won several national competitions and was accepted as a scholarship student at the Eastman School of Music. While there, he studied with Ronald Leonard and John Celentano. He continued his studies at Indiana University where he was a student of Janos Starker and Josef Gingold. At the age of eighteen, he became the youngest member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and played in that orchestra for four seasons. He has also been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. For thirty-five years, Mr. Johnson performed as the cellist of the renowned Vermeer Quartet. The Quartet appeared regularly in the world's musical capitals on five continents and made extensive tours yearly in Europe and North America. Their recordings gathered critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and include a version of the complete Beethoven string quartets on the Teldec label. They received three Grammy nominations, including one for Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ. Mr. Johnson continues to pursue an active career since the quartet's retirement in 2007, appearing in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in North America and Europe. He is a frequent presenter of master classes in the U.S. and abroad. He and his wife, pianist Katherine Johnson, are co-directors of Bay Chamber Concerts: The Next Generation. He joined the faculty of Boston University in September 2007.