Green Lake Chamber Music Camp

Well, we just got back from teaching at our camp in Wisconsin, and our 10th year was a spectacular success in every way. Not only did we have great students, but fantastic visiting faculty (Samantha George - Milwaukee Symphony, Mathias Tacke - Vermeer Quartet, Ritz Chamber Players). The final concerts were performed with passion and zest, and we are looking forward already to next year, when we will be extending the camp by 4 days and adding lessons and solo masterclasses.

Some of the highlights? The K-Mart Extravaganza was won by Gabe Park, featuring a "noodle" theme - third year in a row that the competition was won by a male. Very impressive. Another highlight? Repertoire that ranged from Tchaikovsky "Souvenir de Florence" to Beethoven "Ghost" Trio. Much fun was had by all, and each participant worked hard and played with all of their heart.

Can't wait until next year!

A Hagen We Will Go, A Hagen We Will Go.....

Thrilling, thrilling it is to work on a new piece with a passionate and visionary composer. It opens the ears, opens the mind to new possibilities. Today, the Amelia Trio was able to play the brand new triple concert, "Orpheus and Eurydice" for the composer in his home in NYC. Hagen is a composer who lives and breathes his works, and his passion springs from the page. In two weeks, we will be together for the premier of this wonderful concerto, in Symphony Space with the Chicago Youth Symphony.

This concerto, which was co-commissioned by the Chicago Youth Symphony, Vermont Youth Symphony, the Corvallis Youth Orchestras, and the Amelia Trio, is written especially for pre-professional orchestras.

Check out our Facebook Group - "Amelia Triple" for late-breaking news!

Here and There, or, "Out and About"

Hello from the Amelias, spread far and wide after a crazy spring and summer! We have been on the road a lot - tours in the West, East, teaching at our camp in Wisconsin, playing the Beethoven Triple. Now, some time to ourselves (sort-of). Jason and Anthea head West again for the Bravo! Vail festival for two weeks (quite enjoy) while Rieko tours Italy with her fiance, Jesse, playing duo concerts. After Italy, Rieko and Jesse head to Colorado (just in time to miss Anthea and Jason) to play in the Alpinglow Festival.


While Rieko is playing her heart out in Colorado, Jason and Anthea will sneak away to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru.


Fall plans? Recordings are in the works - another disk for Naxos - the Strauss Trios, and the Rachmaninoff Trios recorded with the latest technology - IsoMike - with Ray Kimber, one of the leading recording experts in this new field.

Back from the West

Back from the West Coast - and what a fun tour it was. We started in Oklahoma - what a cold, flat landscape, but a nice, warm audience! From there, to San Francisco - pack up those winter coats and head outside - flowers in bloom in February! Playing in the beautiful Kohl Mansion, we were overwhelmed by the open and eager audience. We headed up the Berkeley Hills to spend two days with Jason's grandmother, Madeline, a local legend and national treasure. Known equally well in the musical community (Jason's grandfather was the famous musicologist Vincent Duckles) and in the peace movement (having garnered many awards for her ground-breaking work for world peace), we were able to kick back and practice for our next concert - in Eugene, Oregon. We were in residence at the University of Oregon (sponsored by the Chamber Music Series) for several days before performing in their beautiful Beall Hall. To the left, you will just be able to make out Jason in the light blue shirt - playing along with the Eugene Suzuki Institute concert - we all joined in, and had a great time trying to remember all the Suzuki songs!

Next on the agenda - "Circle of Sound" concert with students and members of the Eugene Symphony. You can see Janet Stewart from the Chamber Music Series introducing the band. After the concert, we headed across the street to play again in the Oregon Wine Warehouse - cured meats, olives, Vivaldi, wine tasting, and Jason and Anthea trying to play Jazz with Steve Larson, teacher of theory at the University.

Final stop - Florence, Oregon - home of the never-ending Oregon Dunes. We spent a lovely day there, and ate a big pancake breakfast at the local hang-out with Jason's mom and dad, always the devoted groupies!
Home for the week now, Rieko moves to her first purchased home with her fiance, Jesse. WAIT A MINUTE - hold the phone - did I hear right? FIANCE? Yup, you heard it here first. One of us had to grow up some time, and it turned out to be Rieko. You go, girl!

New: School, Piece, Way to Prepare Kale

Here we are - December - and lovely weather in the NE, thanks to global warming. Trio has been busy, with the usual - concerts, planning for next season, whatnot. On December 3rd, we played a concert on the Schneider Series at New School. We played a new piece by Paul Moravec - called "Tempest Fantasy" - with guest Richard Stoltzman. That was very fun. The piece is crazy and dense and beautiful. What a ride! Richard Stoltzman was a dream.
We had the chance to rehearse at his home outside of Boston - staying with him for three days. What a lovely and caring man. Turns out, not only is he a super wiz at the old tooter, he is a magician in the kitchen. We were privy to wonderful meals, and our collective socks were removed with a bit of "slight of kale" with a kale/raisin/garlic side-dish. We went out with Moravec after our concert, and had a couple of nice beers.




We were fortunate to have a mention in the Wall Street Journal. Here it is - -

The Wall Street Journal
December 9-10, 2006
Leisure & Arts
Sightings
“The Musician Next Door: How to make youngsters care about artistic pursuits”
By Terry Teachout

[Excerpt]
Last Sunday I went to a concert by the Amelia Trio, an exciting young chamber-music group whose fresh-faced members teamed up with the great clarinetist Richard Stoltzman to perform “Tempest Fantasy”, a piece by Paul Moravec that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for music. Mr. Moravec, who lives in New York City, was there as well, and he talked to the audience about his piece, explaining in a clear, no-nonsense way how its various themes were musical portraits of the characters in Shakespeare’s play. As Mr. Moravec spoke, the musicians played the themes associated with Ariel, Prospero, and Caliban. Then they played the whole piece from start to finish, and when they were done, “Tempest Fantasy” received the kind of standing ovation that any composer of modern music would die for.

It occurred to me as I listened that what Mr. Moravec had to say about “Tempest Fantasy,” illuminating as it was, was no important than the mere fact that he was willing to get up on stage and talk about his work in so plain-spoken and unassuming a manner. Most concertgoers, after all, have never met a major classical composer, much less heard him tell a self-deprecating joke.

All at once I remembered another Sunday afternoon years ago when I tuned in one of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts. The topic was American music, and at the end of the program Bernstein introduced an ordinary-looking man in a business suit who proceeded to conduct the finale of a symphony he’d written. The man, Bernstein explained, was Aaron Copland, and the piece was his Third Symphony, one of the permanent masterpieces of American art. Young as I was, I got the message loud and clear: Art doesn’t just drop from the skies. It’s a normal human activity, something that people do for a living, the same way they paint houses or cut hair. It is a message that every artist in America should be sending as clearly – and frequently – as possible

Beethoven + Now

Well, here we are, home on the East Coast for a couple of days between week two and three of our Beethoven Cycle, live on the air of WFMT Radio in Chicago, with host Kerry Frumkin. We have played the Beethoven Cycle several times this fall - in Burlington, VT, as well as Newburyport, MA, BUT - live on the air sure feels different. We have a supportive studio audience each week - old friends who drive from points far and near. Each week we play Beethoven, sandwiched around a work written for the trio by a living composer. First week was Augusta Read Thomas - she was in the studio with us, speaking on the subject of Beethoven and the influences of past composers on her current work. The second week featured John Harbison, who spoke from his home in Cambridge, MA, about his trio as well as his opinions about the Op. 70 #2 trio. Next week - Daron Hagen, Op. 1 #3 and the Archduke. We can't wait! In between the WFMT broadcasts, we play regular trio concerts, as well as do some work with Ravinia. We did have a chance to walk around the millennium Park in Chicago and to stand under "The Bean". Looking good!

Inbetweenies about it

What do the members of the Amelia Trio do in between concerts – do they relax, do they play other concerts with non-Amelias, do they go to Costa Rica? Good questions. Let’s, for example, take last week. There was a concert in Charleston, WV, on Saturday, and then concert in Logan, Utah, on Tuesday. Hmmmm, what to do. Rieko decides to go back to Brooklyn, where she has meetings with her real estate person – she and Jesse are in the middle of first-time home buying – looking at a place in Jackson Heights (YUMMY INDIAN FOOD). Jason and Anthea decide to head to the WV Mountains for some r&r in a cabin in the woods. Good idea. Twas fun. Good thing they decided to stock up on great food at the market in Charleston before they hit the road. They had lots of caprese and Guinness, and, oh yea, some soccer (cabin came with cable). Then, meet up at the Salt Lake airport. Next on the agenda – Beethoven Cycle for the Vermont Mozart Festival on the 11th and 12th. Jason and Anthea head home to CT to teach at Hartt and Wesleyan, and Rieko heads directly to Milan, Italy, to play a concert with Ann Akiko Meyers. This woman is immune to jet lag let me tell you. Next time we meet, we play live on VT radio. Oh, the fun of it all, “Quite Enjoy”