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Eastern Sierra’s Felici Trio celebrating 10 years in-residence |
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Friday, 19 September 2008 |
 The Felici Trio – German violinist Rebecca Hang, Taiwanese pianist Wen-Ting Huang and American cellist Brian Schuldt (l-r) – first came to the Eastern Sierra 10 years ago this month as grantees of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Rural Residencies program. File photo Chamber Music Unbound
9-18-2008 It’s been 10 years since the Felici Trio came to Mammoth Lakes as grantees of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Rural Residencies program in September of 1998. Thousands of students in the Eastern Sierra have been introduced to the world of music in Kids’ Concerts, hundreds have taken up violin, cello and piano, and 96 illustrious guest artists from across the country and abroad have appeared in collaboration with the trio in countless performances.
But numbers can’t tell the whole story.
The Felici Trio was selected by the California Arts Council (CAC) as the only piano trio amongst a handful of distinguished chamber groups onto the CAC Touring Artist Roster. It remains the only Rural Residencies ensemble still in-residence with its original host community, because here, in the Eastern Sierra, chamber music fell on fertile ground with so many local lovers of great music.
“With your support and interest, we will continue to do our small part in trying to make the world a better place,” the Trio said. “Please join us in celebrating our 10-year anniversary season with six upcoming programs.”
In October, the Felici Trio is honored to welcome back a distinguished guest, American-Israeli clarinetist Eli Eban from our alma mater, Indiana University. Hear his soulful clarinet sing out expressive works of the two maverick composers, Jean Françaix and Johannes Brahms. Vitality and exuberance intersect with autumnal melancholy in this opening concert of the winter season, also featuring the Swiss violinist Lorenz Gamma and violist Andrew McIntosh from L.A.
The Felici Trio and the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra offer an “Ode to Joy” in November. This festive concert, in collaboration with guest conductor Michael Goodwin, features music by the immortal Ludwig van Beethoven. Centerpiece is the vibrant and playful “Triple Concerto” from the year 1808, a work that can be heard as a metaphor for the composer’s idealistic notion of self and society in the wake of the American and French Revolutions.
December is Nutcracker time – the season’s favorite fairy tale with Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet music in the only live rendition by a piano trio-gone-orchestral with the help of 21st century technology. This concert has been hailed as true one-of-a-kind musical experience and a feast for the eyes with young dancers under the expert guidance of Susan Powell.
True to Shakespeare’s “if music be the food of love,” the Felici Piano Trio “plays on” in January of 2009 with a program that showcases the ensemble’s stylistic versatility and virtuosity. Three delectable works by Haydn, Schoenfield and Mendelssohn bestow blissful nourishment for the soul with classical elegance, jazzy entertainment, and a Romantic’s spiritual search.
In March, two illustrious guests, violinist Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio from the University of Nevada, Reno, and violist Jodi Levitz from the San Francisco Conservatory, join the Felici Trio for a nip at the “Fountain of Youth.” The legendary spring that restores eternal youth is the bubbling imagination of musical genius. Works by Mozart, Ireland and Dvorak are covered.
The winter season wraps up in May with Rossini, the master of Italian Bel Canto, who composed his delightful quartets with double bass, to be played with three of his friends at the tender age of 12. Melodic charm, sparkling ideas, humor and coy elegance characterize Rossini’s work, as well as the Piano Quintet by the eminent French lady composer Louise Farrenc from the year 1840 on the same program. With Chilean-American violinist Josefina Vergara and eminent double bass virtuoso Nico Abondolo.
Concerts will be held in both Bishop and Mammoth Lakes.
For more information on the Felici Trio’s upcoming winter season and 10th anniversary in the Eastern Sierra, visit www.ChamberMusicUnbound.org.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 October 2008 )
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