rm its first free concert of the school year Tuesday at 8 p.m. The quartet have been part of the NIU music faculty since 1970.

Tuesday’s concert will feature special guest Alex Klein, oboist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Lynn Slater, coordinator of admissions for the School of Music is excited about the presence of the Brazilian oboist at NIU.

“I can’t wait to meet Alex Klein,” Slater said. “To have someone of his caliber come to NIU is outstanding.”

Klein has performed at the Santa Fe and Seattle Chamber Music Festivals, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

The program for the evening will include Britten’s Phantasy for Oboe and Strings, Bliss’ Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet and Beethoven’s Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130.

The Vermeer Quartet has recorded works by Beethoven, Dvorak, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

Its recording of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ” was nominated for a Grammy in 1995 and its recording of piano quintets by Shostakovich and Schnittke were nominated this year.

The members of the quartet have helped many students, Slater said.

“They are great mentors to students, not only as teachers, but as human beings,” she said.