Trio Karénine. Photo by Lyodoh Kaneko
The Asheville Chamber Music Series (ACMS) presents Trio Karénine, in concert on Sunday, January 13, at 4 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville. The French ensemble will perform three piano trios from the 19th and 20th centuries.
“We are absolutely delighted to come back to North Carolina to play a fascinating, yet very contrasting, program,” says the trio’s cellist Louis Rodde.
The concert opens with Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio in F major, Op. 80. Written in 1847, the piece can be read as a love letter from the composer to his wife, Clara. Next on the program is the gripping WWII composition, Piano Trio, Op. 24 by Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Inspired by the Polish composer’s escape to the USSR during the German invasion, and his subsequent persecution, this work is both tragic and political. The evening concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor. Completed in 1814 in just five weeks, the composition employs coloristic effects such as trills, tremolos, harmonics, glissandos and arpeggios
“Ravel’s trio may be the most fascinating piece of the repertoire,” says Rodde. “It plays on tunes of the Basque country to create an ineffable poetry.
Founded in Paris in 2009, Trio Karénine bears the name of Tolstoy’s beautiful and emotionally honest heroine. The trio is lauded by both critics and audiences for its musical integrity and joie de vivre. Top prize winner at the ARD International Competition in 2013, the ensemble has performed in major halls including Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Pleyel and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montréal, Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and Prinzregentheater and Herkulessaal in Munich.
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville is located at 1 Edwin Place. Tickets are $40 general admission. Youth under 25 are free. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit AshevilleChamberMusic.org, call 828.575.7427 or email support@ashevillechambermusic.org.
