The Sundays at 3 chamber music concert series returns for its eighth season Sunday at the Shuck Recital Hall on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

The concert series features five concerts through May and offers a versatile selection of chamber music entertainment.

Founder and artistic director Dr. Brandon Christensen, assistant professor of violin and viola at Southeast, is looking forward to this year's lineup.

The American Chamber Players will fire up the season with their mixed ensemble performance.

"The program they put together is accessible and it's fun and it's varied; the instrumentation is a combination of winds, strings and piano," Christensen said. "If folks have not come to a concert on the series before, this is one they really shouldn't miss."

Christensen is looking forward to this year's lineup.

"The first concert we have coming up is one I am particularly excited about," he said. "It's one of the most well-known groups we've had on the series. This is a group that is performing and recording and is very active nationally and internationally."

Christensen said Miles Hoffman, the American Chamber Players' viola player, is particularly well-known.

"He's an NPR commentator and has been a strong advocate for classical music throughout his whole career," Christensen said.

The American Chamber Players will be in the area for more than just its Sunday performance. On Saturday, Hoffman will teach a master class for students at Southeast Missouri State University.

The ensemble will be doing some in-school programs in Cape Girardeau on Monday, at Franklin Elementary and Central High School.

"Education and outreach and introducing classical music to a younger generation and making it accessible and making it relevant -- that's something that this ensemble feels really strongly about," Christensen said.

Christensen said educating the next generation about classical music is one of the main reasons this concert series exists. A National Endowment for the Arts grant covers most of the cost for the series.

"I'm trying to bring this music into the area, make it easier for people to get to and try to do everything that I can to make it possible for students to come and take part," he said.

Christensen started the Sundays at 3 series eight years ago, after coming to Southeast to teach. The concerts were originally held at Old St. Vincent Church.

"I noticed that at the time, there was nothing in terms of professional level classical music that was coming in," he said.

"Now that we have the River Campus, we have larger groups like the Moscow Ballet and the St. Louis Symphony, but this series is the main avenue for chamber music."

The series also brings a more intimate atmosphere than the big shows in the Bedell Performance Hall.

"Chamber music is classical music at its best," Christensen said. "It's intimate and accessible, and your connection as a performer is a lot closer. We do it in Shuck, which is a beautiful, smaller venue so you're right up there next to the performers. It's a more personal and approachable kind of classical music, which I think is something students can relate to."

The Sundays at 3 series will feature the Kinsbury Ensemble with Maryse Carlin on harpsichord in December, and St. Louis Symphony principal flutist Mark Sparks will join pianist Peter Henderson and cellist Valentina Takova in January for a performance.

In April, Southeast flute instructor Paul Thompson will be joined by harpsichordist Bethany Cencer, and the final concert of the series will be a homecoming concert with violinist and Cape Girardeau native Liesl Schoenberger.

For more information, visit www.chambermusicsundays.com. Tickets are available at the River Campus box office, by calling 651-2265 or 800-293-5949 or online at metrotix.com.