Pomona College welcomes the Mojave Trio to Bridges Hall of Music next weekend in a characteristic program of classical and contemporary music by Beethoven, Gao Ping and Kaija Saariaho. Sponsored by the Music Department at Pomona College, the trio’s musicality has been hailed for a “dynamic sense of contrast, attack, and nuance” (LA Newspaper Group). Their 3 p.m. concert on Sunday, Feb. 23 and is free and open to the public.
The Mojave Trio — dedicated to presenting a wide variety of classical music from the standard repertoire of the 18th-19th centuries to new works of our time — has performed across the southland and appeared on series including the “Sundays Live” radio broadcast from Bing Theater at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Monk Space, Trinity Lutheran Church, and many more. Members of the ensemble include distinguished Southern California performers Sara Parkins, violin; and Pomona College Faculty members Maggie Parkins, cello and Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano.
Violinist Sara Parkins is a Grammy®-award winner for Best Chamber Music Performance for the complete recordings of the Haydn String Quartets with the Angeles Quartet, and a prizewinner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with the Stonybrook Piano Trio. A member of the acclaimed Eroica Trio, she has collaborated with prominent new-music composers and performers such as Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, and Guy Klucevsek. In addition, Parkins has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City, is principal second violin with the Pasadena Symphony and is an active studio musician. She has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Strings in the Mountains, and the Bravo Festival in Vail, Colorado. Internationally, she has participated at the Taklos Festival in Zurich, The Wels Unlimited Festival, the Festival Internationale de Cadeques in Spain and in Eisenstadt, Austria. Parkins is featured on Phillips Classics, Victo, Avant and Tzadik recording labels.
Cellist Maggie Parkins, and sister of Sara, is equally at home performing chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde, and has concertized throughout the Americas and Europe. Her interest in music outside the classical tradition has led her to perform with Todd Sickafoose, the Jazz Passengers, the Anthony Braxton Tri Centric Ensemble, percussionist Alex Cline and the Phantom Orchard Orchestra. As an orchestral performer, she has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle and Andre Previn. An active recording artist as well, Parkins has recorded extensively with harpist – and sister – Zeena Parkins and with accordionist Guy Klucevsek on the Tzadik, Avan and Victo labels. Parkins has performed around the world at prestigious venues including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Festival Internacional de Musica de Cadaques (Spain), Spoleto (USA and Italy), the Taktlos Festival (Switzerland), and the Bach Aria Festival in New York.
A versatile performer of music spanning five centuries, Grammy®-nominated Genevieve Feiwen Lee regularly offers performances on piano, harpsichord, toy piano, keyboard, and electronics. She has given solo recitals at Merkin Concert Hall, NY, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Since her first concerto engagement at age twelve, she has appeared with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Brazil; the Vratza State Philharmonic, Bulgaria; and The Orchestra of Northern New York. Her concerts in China appeared on Hunan State Television, and her performance from the Spiegelzaal at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was broadcast on live radio. She has premiered and commissioned numerous works, and she can be heard on the Innova, Albany and Reference labels. As a guest performer she has appeared on the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music series at Disney Hall, and with the Southwest Chamber Music, Jacaranda, Piano Spheres series and the Hear Now New Music Festival. Lee was also a member of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet when they performed in Carnegie Hall. At Pomona College, she is the first recipient of the Everett S. Olive Professorship, endowed by Yuk Mei Shim ’50.
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PROGRAM:
Gao Ping.............................................................. Four Sketches (2009)
Kaija Saariaho................................................... Light and Matter (2014)
Beethoven........................................................... Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2