Lecture-Concert Series to feature Merling Trio, Sunday, Feb. 24
JONESBORO – The 2012-13 Lecture-Concert Series at Arkansas State University will feature a concert by the Merling Trio on Sunday, Feb. 24, announced Dr. Tim Crist, chair of the Lecture-Concert Committee.
The concert will be at 3 p.m. in Riceland Hall of Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr. The trio’s presentation at ASU is also supported financially by the College of Fine Arts and the Department of Music.
Admission is free to all Lecture-Concert Series events.
On Monday after the concert, members of the group will conduct a master class with ASU piano students at 9 a.m., and a chamber music workshop at 11 a.m. with students enrolled in chamber music courses. In the afternoon, they will visit the Jonesboro Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School.
Recognized as one of today’s premier ensembles, the Merling Trio is truly international, bringing together musicians from Polish, Japanese, and Dutch backgrounds. The Merling Trio has been hailed as a brilliantly distinguished group endowed with remarkable gifts of communication, magnificent precision, and an impeccable blend of sound.
“To have an ensemble of the Merling Trio’s caliber visit Jonesboro is such a special opportunity,” commented Guy Harrison, instructor of violin and viola. “ASU students will also benefit greatly from working with the Trio in a master class setting, gaining valuable insight as to how a professional ensemble approaches a musical work from first rehearsal through to a performance.”
The Merling Trio has released a number of critically acclaimed recordings including their most recent recording on the MSR Classics label, “postcards in e,” which features works of Shostakovich and Dvorak. Their performances have been broadcast widely on television and radio.
The Merling Trio takes its name from the Danish violin maker, Paul Merling. Currently, Bruce Uchimura performs on an Enrico Marchetti cello, made in Turin, Italy, in 1899. Renata Artman Knific’s violin, fashioned by Vincenzo Postiglione in Naples, Italy, dates from 1898. Susan Wiersma Uchimura is the pianist.
In residence at the School of Music at Western Michigan University, members of the trio have also been faculty members at the Schlern International Music Festival and the Encore School for Strings. Renowned educators, their students hold positions in major orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the world.
Several contemporary composers have written works for the Merling Trio. During the current season, Merling premiered the trio’s newest commission, “Piano Trio No. 2,” from San Francisco composer Peter Lewis.
Information about ASU’s Lecture-Concert Series and the 2012-13 schedule is online at http://www.astate.edu/college/fine-arts/lecture-concert-series/.
The Lecture-Concert Series serves Arkansas State University and the surrounding communities by bringing notable guest speakers and performers of diverse backgrounds and wide appeal to the ASU campus, according to Dr. Crist.
Many of the Lecture-Concert Series events include additional campus activities as well as community outreach projects. For more information, contact Dr. Crist, tcrist@astate.edu, (870) 972‑2094.
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