Local Young Woman Founds Concert Series

Claire Marquardt former Poteau resident serves as collaborative pianist on the Oklahoma Baptist University faculty. This year, she has founded the Red Earth Chamber Series (RECS), an independent professional chamber music concert series currently affiliated with the university and based in central Oklahoma. Here is the information about the RECS inaugural concert.

“Foundations”
Thursday, September 3, 7:00 PM
Room 300A, Shawnee Hall, Oklahoma Baptist University
Admission is free.

The program will feature a Telemann trio sonata, Mozart’s Piano and Wind Quintet, K. 452, a small divertimento by Obiols, and Jean Françaix’s Wind Quintet No. 1, all performed by a professional ensemble of chamber musicians.

This concert opens the inaugural season, which continues with two additional programs: “Modern America” on October 25, and a program devoted to Beethoven on March 6, 2027. Further details on both will follow in the coming months.

Please follow the series on Instagram at @redearthchamberseries for updates. As admission is free, no reservation is required — we hope simply to see you there.

If you would like to receive emails about future Red Earth Chamber Series concerts and events, please fill out this form with your email address: https://forms.gle/NWgcxh4sXycmyUdZ8. In addition, contact us at redearthchamberseries@gmail.com with any questions.

Claire Marquardt, a native of Poteau, Oklahoma, began playing piano at age four. As a piano major at East Central University, she won the collegiate division of the national Lynn Freeman Olson Composition Contest, graduating with honors. She went on to earn a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Oklahoma, where she studied with Dr. Stephen Beus and held a graduate assistantship in accompanying with the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre. She later completed a second Master of Music, in Collaborative Piano, from the University of Central Oklahoma under Dr. Sallie Pollack.

Claire helped organize and found the Chickasaw Nation School of Piano in Ada, Oklahoma, where she taught all classes and lessons for two years while simultaneously serving as choir accompanist for Ada and Stratford schools. She currently serves as Collaborative Pianist and Director of the Preparatory Department at Oklahoma Baptist University, and sits on the editorial board of On Collaborating, the multimedia journal of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society (IKCAS).

Claire is also the founder of the Red Earth Chamber Series, a new professional chamber music concert series based in central Oklahoma. She has presented and performed for organizations including IKCAS, the College Music Society, the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, and the IMC: Tenor-Bass Choral Consortium. Claire is passionate about collaboration and higher education in Oklahoma, and her research interests include Catalan music and British song.