THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University will present the Premier Players in concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 21, in Samuelson Chapel.

Pianist Robert Thies and violinist Lorenz Gamma will join Cal Lutheran faculty cellist Joyce Geeting in a performance of music by Antonin Dvorak, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert and Zoltan Kodaly as part of the university’s Artist and Speakers Series.

As the Gold Medal Award winner in the 1995 International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Thies is the only American pianist to win a Russian competition since Van Cliburn’s triumph in 1958. Thies is described by the Los Angeles Times as a pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power.” A frequent recitalist in the United States and abroad, he has developed a reputation for his genuine interpretations of intriguing and delicately balanced programs. The Los Angeles resident he has worked and recorded with top studio musicians and film composers. His playing can be heard on Mychael Danna’s Oscar-winning score to “The Life of Pi” and he was a featured pianist on Danny Elfman’s concert piece “Serenada Schizophrana.”

Born and educated in Switzerland, Gamma is a violinist who, like Thies and Geeting, has enjoyed a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher. The Los Angeles resident has performed internationally a large part of the string quartet repertoire of more than 50 composers, as well as most of the other standard chamber music repertoire of more than 80 composers. Gamma dedicates himself with passion to coaching chamber music in addition to teaching violin. He has given master classes in the U.S., Europe and Asia and has taught violin at several universities. His private and professional violin students have won numerous prizes and gone on to continue their studies at prestigious music schools.

Geeting has been featured in televised solo and chamber performances in Europe and the U.S., served as a soloist and faculty member for the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria and toured Western Europe with the Collegium String Quartet. The Simi Valley resident has performed as a soloist with festivals in Austria and Italy and as a guest artist with symphonies throughout the U.S. The Los Angeles section of the American String Teachers Association named her the 2014 Studio Teacher of the Year and she has numerous award-winning students as well as former students who are professionals throughout the U.S. and in Europe and South Africa.

The free concert is part of the university’s Artists and Speakers Series. The chapel is located at 165 Chapel Lane. Additional parking is available at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visitCalLutheran.edu.