DUC Chamber Music Series: Ensemble Schumann

Co-sponsor: KWUR 90.3 FM

Ensemble Schumann

Thomas Gallant, Oboe

Steve Larson, Viola

Sally Pinkas, Piano

Program:

Trio in D for Oboe, Viola, and Piano, Op. 61 Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900)

Eight Pieces for Oboe, Viola and Piano, Op.83 Max Bruch (1838-1920)

Intermission

Romances for Oboe and Piano, Op. 94 Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Introduction and Dance Michael White (b. 1931)

Trio for oboe, viola, and piano in E-Flat Major, K. 498, W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

“Kegelstatt” 

Biography:

Joined in a lively and colorful trio, the members of ENSEMBLE SCHUMANN – Thomas Gallant, Oboe, Steve Larson, Viola, and Sally Pinkas, Piano, present works by their name-sake Robert Schumann, as well as by Johannes Brahms, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles Loeffler, Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich, and others. Gallant, Larson and Pinkas have each performed at notable venues, including Lincoln Center, the Frick Collection and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Jordan Hall in Boston, Wigmore Hall in London, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the festivals at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Lucerne, Spoleto and Mostly Mozart. Performing together since 2005, Ensemble Schumann has been featured at the prestigious Da Camera Series in Los Angeles, at the Clark Art Museum in Massachusetts and on Live From Fraser on WGBH- Radio in Boston.

The trio’s recent debut CD release, Romantic Trios for Oboe, Viola and Piano on the MSR Classics label, has been hailed as “...exquisite music, exquisitely played, and exquisitely recorded…” by Fanfare Magazine. Audiophile Audition praised their “... stunning performances and amazingly radiant tonal qualities ...”. Ensemble Schumann's next CD, an all-Mozart program (with the Adaskin String Trio) will be released in 2016.

Upcoming tours during the 2015-16 season include performances at the Stockton Friends of Music in California, Mount Vernon Museum of Art and Principia College in Illinois, Cornell College in Iowa, Auburn Chamber Music Society in Alabama, Washington University Chamber Series in St. Louis, Young Auditorium in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and at Strathmore Hall in Maryland.