COLLABORATIONS

COMMUNITY 
UNITARIAN CHURCH

Since 1990, I have served as Music Director of Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, N.Y. From September through June, most Sunday mornings find me providing music for worship services at CUC, often as a solo pianist, but sometimes in collaboration with guest artists, and—twice a month—with CUC’s wonderful Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas. Programming is eclectic and generally in keeping with the themes of services. Music starts at about 10 a.m., and services are over by about 11:15 a.m. Frequently, I include works by such Unitarian composers as Edvard Grieg (Remembrances CD – iTunes / ArkivMusic / AllMusic) and Béla Bartók, and programming often reflects a desire to include works by female, African-American, Jewish, gay and other composers of marginalized groups. Click here to view upcoming Sunday morning musical selections.  In addition, I serve as Artistic Director of Music at CUC, a concert series which features several performances by our Choir, a jazz event, as well as concerts of chamber and solo piano music in which I participate. Please visit the following link for more information on CUC, Unitarian Universalism, and our concert series: www.cucwp.org

THE DAMOCLES TRIO

The Damocles Trio was founded in 1996 by pianist Adam Kent, violinist Airi Yoshioka, and cellist Sibylle Johner, who met in the doctoral program at The Juilliard School.  The trio has performed throughout the USA, appearing numerous times at Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, and completed highly successful tours of Switzerland in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Commenting on a performance in Interlaken, the Oberländisches Tagblatt wrote, “The members of this international trio were perfectly attuned to each other and interpreted the magnificent work (of Brahms) with great expressiveness,” and a critic from the Zürichsee Zeitung enthused, “The three artists did justice to the great work of Beethoven with perfect harmony, courtly elegance, subtle coloration, and great virtuosity.” The Damocles Trio was also invited to present a special memorial program in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of 9/11 at Trinity Church in New York City and has been frequently featured on Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” on WQXR radio.

The Damocles Trio’s years of devotion to the music of Spain and Latin-America has won international recognition from a variety of sources. The Foundation for Iberian Music at the CUNY Graduate Center has presented the ensemble on numerous occasions, including its inaugural event in honor of pianist Alicia de Larrocha.  In 2004, the trio’s recording of Joaquín Turina’s complete piano trios and quartet with Emerson Quartet violist Lawrence Dutton was released on Claves Records to widespread critical acclaim. BBC Music Magazine praised the performances for their “great swagger,” Scherzo of Spain called the disc “a revelatory recording,” and Le Monde de la Musique lauded the ensemble’s “joyous interpretations.” Claves Records released the ensemble’s next disc in 2009, devoted to the complete piano trios of Heitor Villa-Lobos and the world-premiere recording of Oscar Lorenzo Fernândez’s Trio Brasileiro. The trio also conceived and directed, all underwritten by the Spanish Ministry for Education and Culture. Among the highlights of the festival were the premiere of Salvador Brotons’s Requiem Trio, a panel discussion at the Foundation for Iberian Music at the CUNY Graduate Center with Cuban composer Tania León, and a performance at Merkin Concert Hall with guest artists violinist Stephen Clapp and violist Toby Appel. BargeMusic has presented the trio in programs of Spanish and Latin-American music, and the Spanish Consulate, Instituto Cervantes, the Museo del Barrio, and the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at NYU have underwritten the trio’s numerous Hispanic-themed projects.

Contemporary music has also figured prominently in the trio’s programming, and the ensemble has appeared frequently on the Composers Now! series at Symphony Space as well as at the recent Live Wire! festival of new music at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Composers Eric Nathan, Sebastian Zubieta, Anthony Korf, and Salvador Brotons have written trios for the ensemble, and their recording of Linda Dusman’s “Diverging Flints” was released in 2012.
Read More at:  www.damoclestrio.com