Schumann Trio
Friday, May 7, 7:30 pm , Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro, VT

The Schumann Trio was conceived in 2008 by violist Michael Tree, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and pianist Anna Polonsky. These three acclaimed musicians, audience favorites of the BMC and Marlboro Music Festival, come together to explore the rich, under-performed repertoire for clarinet, piano, and viola or violin.

Part of the Brattleboro Music Center Chamber Music Series. Tickets $30, $20, $10;
Purchase on-line at BrattleboroTix.com
Or call the BMC at 802-257-4523.

THE STORY:

On Friday, May 7, 7:30 pm at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont, the Schumann Trio will present the concluding concert in the Brattleboro Music Center’s 2009-10 Chamber Music Series.

The Schumann Trio was conceived in 2008 by violist Michael Tree, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and pianist Anna Polonsky. These three artists made their initial musical connection at both the Curtis Institute and the Marlboro Music Festival. After many years of performing together in different combinations, crossing paths at music festivals, and collaborating with the Guarneri String Quartet (of which Mr. Tree is a founding member), the three musicians decided to come together to explore the rich, and somewhat under-represented, repertoire for clarinet, piano, and viola.

Michael Tree was born in Newark, New Jersey. His principal violin studies were with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music. Subsequent to his Carnegie Hall recital debut, Tree appeared as violin and viola soloist with major orchestras throughout the United States, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

A founding member of the Marlboro Trio and Guarneri String Quartet, Michael Tree has performed throughout the world and recorded more than 80 chamber music works, among which are ten piano quintets and quartets with Artur Rubinstein. Tree serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the University of Maryland, and Bard College. He plays a Hiroshi Iizuka viola dated 1995.

Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, has quickly earned the reputation of being one of classical music's finest solo, chamber and orchestral musicians. Before joining the MET Orchestra in 2004, he served as associate principal clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for four years. With the MET Orchestra, McGill frequently performs in Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium, as well as Zankel and Weill Halls with the MET Chamber Ensemble. He can be seen and heard on the Live in HD broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera.

On January 20th, 2009, McGill performed "Air and Simple Gifts" by John Williams with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In 2000, McGill was a winner of the highly prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. McGill has appeared as a soloist with many prominent orchestras and is a distinguished chamber musician. He has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Lang Lang, Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman and Gil Shaham, as well as world-renowned string quartets including the Guarneri, Tokyo, Shanghai, Miami, Miró and Daedalus quartets. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a chamber and orchestral musician.

McGill attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Curtis Institute of Music. In high demand as a teacher, McGill currently serves on the faculties of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Mannes College of Music.

Anna Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov, the Buffalo Philharmonic with JoAnn Falleta, the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, and Audubon Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Arnold Steinhardt, Anton Kuerti, Gary Hoffman, and Fred Sherry. She is regularly invited to perform chamber music at festivals and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Anna Polonsky was a member of CMS Two during 2002-2004. In 2006 she took a part in the European Broadcasting Union's project to record and broadcast all of Mozart's keyboard sonatas, and in the spring of 2007 she performed a Carnegie Hall solo recital, inaugurating the Emerson Quartet's Perspectives Series.

Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She immigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master's Degree from the Juilliard School. Polonsky was a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2003. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College. She is a Steinway Artist.

The Schumann Trio’s Brattleboro performance will include Mozart’s "Kegelstatt" Trio, Schumann’s "Märchenerzählungen", Bruch’s Romantic Pieces Nos. 1,2,5,7, and Brahms’ Clarinet Trio (with cello part arranged for viola by Michael Tree).

Supposedly, Mozart was inspired to write this trio while playing skittles, hence the name “skittle alley”, but scholars actually believe that opportunistic publishers titled the work thus after the fact. It seems Mozart’s twelve bassett-horn duos were actually the skittle fare… The Kegelstatt trio is a first of its kind: with the youthfulness of the clarinet, which had only recently been invented, this piece is thought to be the first with clarinet, viola, and piano instrumentation. Mozart, of course, played the viola part the first time it was played.

Schumann’s beautiful Märchenerzählungen, or “fairy tale narrations,” weaves his incomparable melodies among the instrumentsin a slightly increasingly agitated manner. One melodic theme, initially introduced by the viola, recurs throughout the four movements, sometimes emerging unexpectedly from seemingly unrelated sections. This piece was composed quite late in his life, just before a suicide attempt.

Bruch’s Romantic Pieces were composed late in his life. He must have particularly enjoyed the texture of clarinet and viola, as he had also composed an early double concerto for both instruments, which he subsequently reworked for other instruments as well. The Romantic Pieces are all in minor keys, usually trading off between the viola and the clarinet with the piano, “much like a conversation between an old married couple,” according to James Reel. The selections to be played here include one that reflects the influence of a Rumanian folk melody (#5) and one that hints of an Italian folk dance (#7).

The concert will conclude with Brahms’ magnificent Clarinet Trio, with viola part arranged by Michael Tree from the original ‘cello part. Richard Mühlfeld, a virtuoso clarinetist of the late 1890’s reportedly inspired Brahms to come out of retirement to compose this trio, the clarinet quintet and subsequently two clarinet sonatas. Brahms even performed this work with his newfound muse. The rich, dark colors of this work will stay with you for a long time.

Part of the Brattleboro Music Center Chamber Music Series.
Tickets $30, $20, $10;
Purchase on-line at BrattleboroTix.com
Or call the BMC at 802-257-4523.