The Lee Trio’s Evening of Mozart and New Music

×

Expand

Photo via The Lee Trio - theleetrio.com

The Lee Trio

The Lee Trio

On Saturday, March 15, the Lee Trio—Angela Lee, Melinda Lee Masur and guest violinist Jennifer Choi—returns to Concordia University Wisconsin for an evening of chamber music in its stunning chapel. They will also offer a masterclass as part of their residency, exploring with music students “the joy, possibilities and complexities of performing chamber music.” The Lee Trio helped to kick off this chamber music series at Concordia in 2023 and part of its mission is to highlight music of living composers from Wisconsin and the Midwest.   

The program opens with Mozart’s “Kegelstatt Trio, K. 498 in Eb Major” (1786). Pianist Masur, violist Nicole Swanson will join Jay Shankar, the newly appointed as Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s assistant principal clarinetist. The clarinet was a relatively new instrument at Mozart’s time and his delightful composition was the first of its kind. Kegelstatt is German for a place where skittles (similar to duckpin bowling) is played. Mozart inscribed an autographed manuscript to the effect that he composed this while playing skittles.  

Shankar says he is excited to play Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio in my first year here in Milwaukee. “We clarinetists are very lucky that at the end of Mozart’s life and career, he came across the clarinetist Anton Stadler who inspired him to write a myriad of works for the clarinet,” Shankar adds. “Only Mozart could write a piece inspired by a game that is so light and quirky, and at the same time it is beautiful and deep. Milwaukee has been an amazing place to call home so far and I’m looking forward to many more collaborations in my community.”  

Mozart will be followed by the world premiere of David Conte’s “Songs of Consolation for Soprano and Piano Trio” (2020). Conte, a native of Ohio, has been a professor of composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1985. He has published more than 150 compositions including six operas. 

 The Lee Trio met David Conte in Paris where they gave a recital at the European American Musical Alliance. “We had many points of intersection and commissioned him in 2020 to write a trio inspired by Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebration year, which got cut short during the pandemic,” Masur says. “Conte wrote a gorgeous piano trio that we premiered in San Francisco, and also wrote this trio arrangement of these Songs of Consolation originally for soprano and organ. We are so thrilled to bring them to Milwaukee audiences with the wonderful Laura Strickling for their world premiere performance. During this fraught season of unrest in our country, we know it is a gift to be able to console through music and David has described the arc of this piece reflecting the spiritual journey of moving through a difficult night to the comfort of morning.”   

Midwest Attitude 

Of his Midwest connection, Conte says, “I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Midwest remains my favorite part of the country, though I’ve lived in San Francisco for nearly 40 years. I’d like to think that the openness, honesty, and lack of pretension that for me characterizes the Midwest has somehow found its way into my music.”   

Two-time GRAMMY-nominated soprano Laura Strickling will sing in English and Czech. “This is my first Wisconsin concert as a Wisconsin resident,” she says “I was born and raised in Chicago, but spent the last nine years in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the three years before that in Afghanistan. It’s wonderful to be back in the Midwest and I’m particularly thrilled to jump into the thriving collaborative ecosystem of the classical music community here in Southeastern Wisconsin.” 

The concert continues after intermission with the Midwest premiere of Jacob Beranek “Co Bůh? Člověk? (What is God? Man?)” (2024) for soprano, clarinet, cello and piano. Beranek is a native of Wisconsin and already at a young age has an international reputation for his upbeat and infectiously melodic music. 

“Even though I live in New York now, I was born and raised in Wisconsin, so Wisconsin will always be home,” Beranek says. “It’s very special to have The Lee Trio perform my music here in my home state. This piece is particularly special to me, too. My Christian faith and my Czech heritage have always been important aspects of my life that I’ve worked into my music many times before, but rarely at the same time. Co Bůh? Člověk? (What Is God? Man?) marks one of the first times that I’ve tackled both a Czech and Christian subject together: a sacred poem written by a Czech priest in the 17th century. At the end of the day, the text is really just a love letter to God from start to finish, but it is broad enough to touch people from any faith tradition.” 

The program concludes with Robert Schumann’s “Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 44” (1842). Swanson joins the Trio on viola. In her diary, Clara Schumann describes her husband’s quartet as a “beautiful work, so youthful and fresh, as if it were his first.” Though officially dedicated to the Russian cellist Count Mathieu Wielhorsky, Schumann clearly had his wife in mind. Clara was considered one of the finest pianists of the Romantic Period and had a concert career that spanned more than 60 years and all of Europe. Trust her evaluation of this wonderful quartet. 

The Lee Trio is world-renowned, having won the Recording Prize at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung grant in Berlin among other honors.  

An Evening of Chamber Music with The Lee Trio, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 15 at Concordia University Wisconsin. For tickets visit https://www.cuw.edu/events/details.php?id=62507