NEAVE TRIO, NOVEMBER 21, 2021

 

Opening our 81st season on Sunday afternoon, November 21st, the Neave Trio presented our first live concert since the shut down. Our audience numbered a little over 100 and was as enthusiastic as the performers. Elizabeth Lemieux and Marietta von Bermuth sponsored the concert.

 

Most interesting was the programming that featured four well-know women composers, Louise Ferrenc (1804-1875), Amy Beach (1867-1944), Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944) and Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962).  Only 1.8% of all women composers are programmed so this was a rare treat!

 

The four Piano Trios provided a tremendous variety of rhythms, harmony and technical expertise. It was a concert of consummate artistry. There was always the feeling that the Neave Trio was playing as one instrument as they executed some very difficult repertoire. They performed on our virtual concert series last season and we were thrilled to present them live at the Williams Munson Proctor Museum, Utica, NY.

 

Anita Humer 
CSMU Board Member
Pianist, Teacher, Accompanist and Adjudicator 

Staff Pianist for Colgate University

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On Sunday November 21, 2021, Nieve Trio presented a fabulous concert for Chamber Music Society of Utica. If you were not in attendance, you should have been. This was the opening concert for CMSU series. The audience was excited, the ensemble was thrilled to be performing live in a great space with a sizeable and appreciative audience, and everything came together for a lovely afternoon of music.

 

Four works were performed, all by female composers who broke ground professionally way ahead of their time. All were interesting compositions, highly deserving of performance, and because they were not the standard concert fare, it seemed the audience listened with even greater than normal attention and concentration.

 

I had the privilege of turning pages for the pianist.  All I can say is the program was hugely difficult, and everyone in the ensemble did an amazing job.  The only piece I knew from performance experience was Jennifer Higdon’s trio. It is wonderful but insanely difficult for all the instruments, especially the piano. Everyone rose to the occasion, and the audience jumped to its feet at the conclusion.

 

As a performer myself, who happened to turn down some high end work to be involved with this performance, I can honestly say I was delighted to have been there. 

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Sar-Shalom Strong

Sar-Shalom Strong is well-known as both a soloist and a collaborative pianist with the versatility to jump between styles and genres.  For over 30 years, he has worked with many international artists as well as the fine musicians who have chosen to live and perform in upstate New York. He has been a soloist in concerti with the Utica Symphony, Hamilton College Orchestra, and Symphoria, and has regularly appeared on series sponsored by, the Society for New Music, Civic Morning Musicals, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, the Skaneateles Festival, A Little Summermusic, the Oasis Center of Syracuse, Hamilton College, Utica College, Mohawk Valley Community College, and the Walker Lecture Series (Concord, NH). He also has performed orchestral keyboard with numerous orchestras. Mr. Strong is Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists and piano maintenance for Hamilton College, where he has taught since 2001, and has a large private studio. In 2012, he was a judge for the Humans in Space Youth Art and Music Competition sponsored by NASA, and in 2016 he celebrated the release of eight CDs recorded with Ronald Caravan, clarinetist/saxophonist, on Mark Recordings with Naxos distribution.