Duane Hulbert, Maria Sampen, and David Requiro perform
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 19, on campus


TACOMA, Wash. – The Puget Sound Piano Trio returns to the stage in April with a performance of three works that span more than three centuries. The program includes pieces of the classical and romantic eras, as well as a new chamber work that debuted at the 2012 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival.

Piano Trio members Duane Hulbert, piano; Maria Sampen, violin; and David Requiro, cello, will perform Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m., in Schneebeck Concert Hall on campus. Ticket information and directions are below.

The program features works by Austria’s Joseph Haydn, Chicago-born composer Marilyn Shrude, and Russia’s Anton Arensky.

Haydn’s Piano Trio in C Major, Hob. XV: 27was published in 1797 and is celebrated as a piece featuring a demanding piano part and dramatic shifts in pace between the three movements. Earsense, a San Francisco chamber music website, describes the opening allegro as “a crisp sonata with a supple exposition marked by its opening fanfare, delicious pauses, lyrical grace, and sparkling piano runs, for music that captivates through charm.” Through the next movements the violin and cello step in more boldly, intensifying the mood. The work moves to a close with “fast-paced conversational exchanges between piano and violin.”

Marilyn Shrude’s Sotto Voce for piano trio had its world premiere at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival in June 2012. In Italian sotto voce means “under the voice,” and the festival described the work as one that “inhabits a quiet place, but makes a profound impact.” Shrude’s work is characterized by warmth, lyricism, and a complex blend of tonality and atonality. Her biographer comments, “Her concentration on color and the natural resonance of spaces, as well as her strong background in pre-Vatican II liturgical music, give the music its linear, spiritual, and quasi-improvisational qualities.”

Arensky’s Piano Trio No. 1 in d minor, Op. 32was written in 1894 and is often considered the gem among the lesser-known composer’s works. The romantic influence of Tchaikovsky is evident in the composition’s captivating opening. The Edition Silvertrust website describes the work as a masterpiece and writes that during the second movement “the strings are given a sparse, though telling, theme which is played against a fleet and running part in the piano. The contrasting trio features a superb waltz, Slavonic in nature, and one of many that this composer wrote.”

The Puget Sound Piano Trio was revived in autumn 2010, after a 15-year hiatus, bringing Sampen and Requiro together with Hulbert, who was a member of the original trio, which included the late Edward Seferian, violin, and retired Puget Sound cellist Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel.

Duane Hulbert, distinguished professor and chair of piano at Puget Sound, has toured the United States and Europe, winning rave reviews. He has won prestigious prizes at numerous competitions, including the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, and Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in Spain. During his 27 years at Puget Sound, Hulbert’s students have won major competitions and held distinguished positions in colleges and conservatories across the country. His recording of works by Alexander Glazunov was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002.

Maria Sampen, associate professor and director of strings at Puget Sound, has performed as a concerto soloist with orchestras across the United States, and as a chamber musician in Europe, Asia, and North America. She is in demand as a performer of both standard and experimental works, and frequently collaborates with leading composers. In addition to the Puget Sound Piano Trio, Sampen is a member of The IRIS Orchestra and Brave New Works. She also is on the violin faculty at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina.

David Requiro is the Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel Artist in Residence at Puget Sound. He has taken first prize awards at the Walter W. Naumburg International Violoncello Competition and the Washington International and Irving M. Klein International string competitions, as well as a top prize at the Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition in Japan. Requiro has made concerto appearances with the Tokyo Philharmonic, National Symphony, and Seattle Symphony orchestras, among others, and has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center.

FOR TICKETS order online at http://tickets.pugetsound.edu, or call Wheelock Information Center at 253.879.6013 to purchase with a credit card. Admission is $12.50 for the general public; $8.50 for seniors (55+), students, military, and Puget Sound faculty and staff. The concert is free for current Puget Sound students. Group ticket rates are available for parties of 10 or more by calling 253.879.3555 in advance. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door.

For directions and a map of the campus:pugetsound.edu/directions

For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility

Press photos of the artists can be downloaded from: pugetsound.edu/pressphotos
Photos on page: Top right: Piano Trio; Above right: Marilyn Schrude; Above left: Joseph Haydn, by Thomas Hardy.

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