The Stones River Chamber Players, an ensemble-in-residence at MTSU, invites the community to “Pack Your Bags” for the 2011-12 season, which takes off Monday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the University’s Hinton Hall in the Wright Music Building.

The free Oct. 3 concert, “New York, New York,” will give local audiences a first listen to a performance that will be taken to New York’s Steinway Hall later this fall.

“While the SRCP has made two tours of Europe, we have never performed in the musical capital of our own country,” said Todd Waldecker, MTSU professor of clarinet and SRCP member.

“We would not have dreamed of taking the program to New York, however, without first sharing it with the MTSU music audience right here at home,” added Lynn Rice-See, MTSU piano coordinator and SRCP co-director.

“New York, New York” includes music for three different piano trio combinations by Beethoven, Khachaturian and Schubert. Waldecker, Rice and new MTSU faculty cellist Christine Kim will perform “Beethoven Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11.” for clarinet, cello, and piano.

Andrea Dawson, SRCP member and an MTSU associate professor of violin, will then join Rice-See and Waldecker to perform “Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano” by the Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.

Rounding out the season’s first SRCP performance will be the “Piano Trio in B-flat major” by Franz Schubert.

The local SCRP season will continue on Feb. 20, 2012, with “The Thirteen Original Colonies” and a musical trip to “Eastern Europe” on April 9.

For more information on these and other concerts at the MTSU School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or click on the “Concert Calendar” link at www.mtsumusic.com. For more information about the Stones River Chamber Players, including streaming audio of some past performances, visit their website at www.mtsu.edu/music/.