The Emory Woman’s Club will celebrate its 95th anniversary on Saturday, March 8 with a banquet and silent auction to benefit Emory’s String Quartet in Residence Program.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with cocktails and a silent auction, followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. After dinner, the Vega String Quartet will perform.

Proceeds from the event, to be held at the Miller-Ward Alumni House, will go toward a $1 million challenge grant made by the Abraham J. and Phyllis Katz Foundation in 2012 to help keep a quartet in residence at Emory in perpetuity. International award-winning Vega String Quartet currently holds the residency.

"With a lead gift from Dr. John and Linda Cooke, the fundraising drive is over halfway to the matching $1 million challenge grant from the Katz Foundation," says William Ransom, Director of Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. Ransom is also Mary Emerson Professor of Piano and director of piano studies in Emory College of Arts and Sciences' music department.

The Vega String Quartet provides education experiences to students at all levels.

At Emory, they teach the interrelationships between music and every discipline.

In the community, they appear in area public schools as part of Atlanta’s Young Audiences Arts Education Program and work with pre-college students through the Quartet’s Youth Chamber Music program. Funds from the benefit will help continue these activities.

The event is open to the public. For tickets, contact Margaret Foust or Vanessa Wardi.

"We have til 2016, and we hope to raise in excess of the $1 million match," Ransom says.