Photo: Prometheus Trio - Facebook
Prometheus Trio
Prometheus Trio
The Prometheus Trio, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music’s resident trio, will open this season with a program of music by Haydn, Schumann, and Esmail, music from the early classical period to modern.
The Trio was founded by Stefanie Jacob and Scott Tisdel more than 20 years ago to celebrate the completion of the multi-million-dollar renovation of the historic McIntosh/Goodrich Mansion, the home base of the Conservatory. Margot Schwartz, a first violinist with the MSO, joined them 8 years ago.
The Trio will open the concert with Haydn’s B-flat trio Hob. XV:20, a delightful composition in three movements. The first movement is an example of non-stop energy with wonderful music for the piano according to Jacobs, the Trio’s pianist. The other two movements are “more classical in character.”
This is followed by Schumann F Major Trio, Op. 80, where the outer movements are full of fire. The second movement is a sweet nocturne, and you can almost hear Schumann sighing over Clara in the third movement.
Margot, the Trio’s violinist, “discovered” Esmail’s Trio and they performed it on their Zoom concert in May 2020. It’s a wonderful composition and they wanted to perform it for a live audience—we’re lucky. Reena Esmail Piano Trio (2019) is lyrical and delightful. The beginning of the first movement reminds me of rain falling, but rain that might hide a haunting story. You’ll have to decide for yourselves.
Esmail is an Indian American composer working “to bring communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces.” She has degrees in composition from Julliard and the Yale School of Music and has studied Hindustani music in India under a Fulbright-Nehru grant. She was profiled on Season 3 of PBS Great Performances in the series “Now Hear This.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
She has an impressive list of compositions for soloists, chamber groups, orchestras, and choral groups besides compositions combining Hindustani and Western traditions. She was composer-in-residence with the Street Symphony (2016-18) and is currently an artistic director of Shastra, a non-profit promoting cross-cultural music combining Indian and Western traditions.
The concert takes place in the Helen Bader Recital Hall, originally the mansion’s ballroom. It’s a small hall with a stage at one end for the performers. The plaster work on the ceiling and complementary décor provides an exquisite venue for chamber concerts and the acoustics are superb. For those not familiar with chamber music this is a unique opportunity to listen to an intimate form of music in a salon-setting as if you were royalty living centuries ago with the Trio in your personal employ.
The Packers play on Sunday so Scott, the Trio’s cellist, will not need to announce the score after intermission. Complimentary parking is available at Milwaukee Eye Care, 1684 N Prospect Ave, one block north of the Conservatory.
Tickets for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24 concert can be purchased on the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music website: www.wcmusic.org.
