New Marlborough — When was the last time you heard Felliniesque chamber music in the Berkshires (or anywhere else)? Here is how you might get your chance: The music that Trio Calore will perform at the New Marlborough Meeting House on Saturday, September 23 will include a piece by Nino Rota, the famed composer of scores for films by Federico Fellini. And if you have keen ears, you will detect in it traces of that droll Fellini sound.
The members of Trio Calore are flutist Carol Wincenc, violinist Kurt Nikkanen, and pianist Maria Asteriadou.
GRAMMY-nominated flutist Carol Wincenc’s half-century of concertizing has included appearances with the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and London Symphonies; the BBC, Warsaw, and Buffalo Philharmonics; and the Los Angeles, Stuttgart, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras. She won first prize in the Naumburg Solo Flute Competition, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association, a Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music from the National Society of Arts and Letters, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Brevard Festival. Wincenc serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
Juilliard graduate and Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra Kurt Nikkanen has appeared as soloist with a long list of orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and innumerable other American ensembles. In Europe, he has performed with the BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Mr. Nikkanen performs in recital at venues in the U.S. and abroad, presenting concerts with his wife, Greek pianist Maria Asteriadou.
The New York Times has enumerated the most important facts about Maria Asteriadou: She is an artist, they say, “with intense personality, virtuosic flair, unusual poise, and intimate contact with style.” A Steinway Artist, Asteriadou has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in concert halls throughout the Americas, Canada, and Europe. Maria took first prize in performance from the State Conservatory of Greece and the Maria Callas International Piano Competition. She won the Dora Zaslovsky concerto competition at the Manhattan School of Music.
The composers on Saturday’s program represent a fresh departure from typical chamber music fare. In addition to the previously mentioned piece by Rota, the group will perform works by
It is apparent from their choice of repertoire that the musicians of Trio Calore thrive on the risks and thrills of deviating from chamber music’s well beaten paths. For example, flute virtuoso Albert Franz Doppler wrote a great deal of music for other flute virtuosos—musicians at the level of Carol Wincenc. Doppler’s music is technically demanding, and the piece Carol selects is likely to have the character of a concerto.
Scores by Bohuslav Martinů are known to be devilishly difficult to play due to their their rhythmic complexity, unconventional forms, and extended techniques for instruments. But listeners reap the benefits. Martinů’s music often features engaging melodies, innovative harmonies, and structures sufficiently clear to make his works approachable on the first listen.
The trio will not be performing this Jacques Ibert piece, but if you listen to five seconds of it, you will instantly know the rascally side of Ibert’s character. He wrote some lovely chamber music, but that is not to say he lets the players off easily. He does not. He has a tendency to lure you into a piece with lush harmonies and lyrical ear candy, only to pull the rug out from under you with something shocking or incongruous when he decides to really get down to business. Even when he refrains from such antics, there is often a cheekiness about his music that might remind you of Prokofiev. Throughout his ouvre, Ibert’s development of thematic material brims with color and imagination, which partially explains how he managed to win the Prix de Rome at the Paris Conservatoire on his first attempt. Jacques Ibert’s music is becoming better known thanks to groups like Trio Calore.
J.S. Bach you have probably heard of. It is not stretching things much to say that Bach was friendlier toward listeners than he was toward the musicians he hired to performed his music. Trio Calore will not shy away from Bach’s toughest pieces.
Melanie Bonis wrote some perfectly magical music for flute and piano, like her “Scènes de la forêt.” Expect something similar from Bonis on September 23.
Hear Trio Calore perform a program of Ibert, Doppler, Martinů, Bach, Bonis, and Rota at the New Marlborough Meeting House, Route 57/183, New Marlborough, on September 23, at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets ($30, $25 for members) are available here or by calling (413) 229-5045.
