KIRSTINA BOLTON | staff writer
Dr. Duane Funderburk, Alex Russell, Jonathan Thomson, and Quinn Karges connected with London and Lithuania in hopes of starting more music programs in Europe for the future.
Funderburk plays piano, Russell plays violin, Karges plays viola, and Thomson plays cello and is also in an Artist Certificate Program that is new to the School of Music.
The group’s first stop was London, where they performed in an ancient church, St. Giles in the Fields, on Friday, Oct. 5. In the same church stands a pulpit that Charles Wesley once spoke from.
The next stop was Vilnuis, Lithuania where they performed a concert on Monday, Oct. 8.
“In London, it was a recital with just the four of us, and it was a shorter concert meant to fill in a bit between people’s lunch break,” Russell said.
In Lithuania, the group preformed in a concert hall rather than a church.
“It was a longer program, maybe an hour and a half. Dr. Funderburk and I would do solos with the orchestra, and there was a Beethoven piece for violin, cello, and piano soloists,” Russell said.
Dr. Funderburk arranged hymns for the group to perform, and is the one who arranges the compositions they perform.
“After those two concerts, we went to another city in Klaipeda, Lithuania and connected with APU at the LCC International University,” Russel said.
Our APU group performed at their chapel and at a concert hall nearby, both sponsored by the satellite campus.
They were able to perform in a different atmosphere. It gave them time to connect with musicians and students in other countries. 
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