Dickinson College Artist-in-Residence Program Welcomes Boston Trio
Boston Trio presents palette of musical colors during three-day residency
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
They say music is the universal language, capable of communicating what mere words cannot. At no time and place does this idiom ring more true than this week at Dickinson, as the acclaimed Boston Trio visits campus for a three-day residency featuring master classes, classroom visits and performances that celebrate a palette of musical colors and music from around the world.
About the trio
When Boston Trio was formed in 1997, its hometown paper, The Boston Globe, issued a command to music-loving readers: “Whenever this trio plays, drop everything and go hear them!” Over the years, many more accolades rolled in. Boston Trio has been hailed for “remarkable versatility” (Music & Vision Magazine), “uniformly superb” playing that’s an “emotional triumph” (South Coast Today) and “passion and youthful enthusiasm” (Palm Beach Daily News).
Boston Trio was founded by pianist Heng-Jin Park, artistic director of the Halcyon Music Festival, who made her debut with the Boston Pops at age 15. Joining her in the current iteration are Jonah Ellsworth (cello), who has performed as soloist with the Boston Symphony, Boston Philharmonic and Jacksonville Symphony, among others; and Irina Muresanu (violin), the recipient of top prizes at the Montreal International Competition and the Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition, who has appeared as soloist with the Boston Philharmonic and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among other international orchestras.
Regular guests on Boston’s WGBH Radio and on NPR, Boston Trio has collaborated with Borromeo Quartet and Bill T. Jones Dance Company and has performed in numerous prestigious venues and series, including the Bank of America Celebrity Series, Seiji Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood, the Sanibel Chamber Music Festival, the ‘First Monday’ series at NEC and the Harvard Musical Association and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall. A Boston Trio performance at Belgrade Music Festival, Serbia, was nationally televised. The trio has coached chamber music at Tanglewood and served a residency at the American Academy of Arts.
Master classes, classroom visits and two concerts
During a three-day residency at Dickinson, Boston Trio will deliver master classes for students studying stringed instruments and the piano, and the trio will visit with students in a music history class and a music theory class. Members of the trio also will travel with members of Dickinson’s music department to local elementary, middle and high schools to speak about music and music careers as part of Dickinson’s music outreach programming.
The Dickinson residency also includes two free, public performances on campus:
Four Strings Around the World by Boston Trio’s Irina Muresanu
Thursday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Rubendall Recital Hall, Weiss Center for the Arts, 240 W. High St.
Muresanu will present a solo concert celebrating diverse musical cultures. Showcasing violin music from Europe, Asia, South America and North America, the Four Strings From Around the World concert will feature classical, fiddle, Arabic Asian and tango styles of playing; short videos with music and images designed to inform and immerse the listener in the less-familiar cultures; and two works written specifically for this program by Shirish Korde (India) and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw Nation). Writing of this program in the Cape Cod Times, critic Keith Powers noted: “The only thing these works had in common was a kind of magical virtuosity that Muresanu regaled the audience with in a most facile manner.”
Wheel of Colors by Boston Trio
Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m.
Rubendall Recital Hall, Weiss Center for the Arts, 240 W. High St.
Wheel of Colors brings the entire trio onstage together for a program that Boston Trio performed in 2017 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Highlights include Jennifer Higdon’s Piano Trio (with movements "Pale Yellow" and "Fiery Red"); Joseph Haydn’s “Gypsy” Trio, with its vibrant theme-and-variations first movement and Hungarian-infused finale; and Eric Korngold's piano trio, which embodies the gold and glitter of the Viennese world in the beginning of the 20th century. A wide palette of musical colors will be showcased in this program, which brings works from the classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire. View an excerpt of the Wheel of Colors performance at Weill Recital Hall.
Boston Trio is only one of the many visiting musical, visual and performing artists who come to campus each year to work with students in small groups, in and out of class, and deliver free public events. While they bring a diverse program of lectures, exhibitions and performances to the campus and local community, they also provide valuable creative and career information to students studying the arts at Dickinson.
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Published March 19, 2019