Johnson County Community College
Press Release
College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Director, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122
3/06/08
Story by Peggy Graham
Carlsen Center Introduces Viennese Trio
Chamber ensembles find worthy namesakes in painters and poets — so, too, the Altenberg Trio. The Trio has found its inspiration in the revered Viennese poet Peter Altenberg who was a contemporary of renowned Viennese artists at the turn of the 20th century. And good inspiration it has been. Since its official debut during the Salzburg Mozart Week 1994, the Altenberg Trio has earned a reputation for thoughtful, expressive playing.
The Altenberg Trio will perform its Midwest premiere at 8 p.m. Friday, April 18, in Polsky Theatre of the Carlsen Center for the Performing Arts, Johnson County Community College. The program will include works by Beethoven, Trio No. 3, Op. 1, No. 3; Mauricio Kagel, Trio No. 2 (completed Sept 11, 2001); and Schubert, Trio E-flat major, Op. 100/D929 (unabridged, autographed version). Artist Insights by Paul Laird, musicologist, the University of Kansas, and Bill Everett, musicologist, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, begin at 7 p.m.
The trio consists of Claus-Christian Schuster, piano; Amiram Ganz, violin; and Alexander Gebert, cello. Their fine blend of instruments is aided in performance by their placement – piano center stage, violin and cello on the right and left. Their repertoire encompasses no fewer than 250 piano trios, many composed for and premiered by them.
The performers have impressive individual reputations in chamber music and take great pride in remaining faithful to the style and tradition of the “Viennese sound.” The Altenberg Trio enjoys a solid reputation among international chamber music ensembles and have been enthusiastically received by audiences in the United States and Europe including, of course, their native Austria. Simultaneously with its foundation, the ensemble became the trio-in-residence of Vienna’s Society for Friends of Music, and they are the trio-in-residence of the Vienna Conservatory.
The Altenberg Trio currently has 10 recordings on the Vanguard Classics label ranging from German and French classics to American music. In 1999, following the release of their recording of the complete Schumann piano trios, the trio received the Robert Schumann Award given in the city of Zwickau, Schumann’s birthplace. Their recording of trios including Ives, Copland and Bernstein won the Edison Award in Amsterdam.
- Pianist Schuster, born in Vienna, studied in Vienna, Bloomington, Ind., and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He won awards at international piano and chamber music competitions performing as a soloist until 1984, when he founded the Vienna Schubert Trio. Later, he founded the Altenberg Trio with his colleagues Ganz and Martin Hornstein (replaced by Gebert in 2004). In addition to performing widely, he and his colleagues provide a series of seminars for chamber music majors at the Vienna Conservatory as well as master classes in Europe and the United States.
- Violinist Ganz, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, began studying violin in his homeland and at age 11, he won the Jeunesses Musicales Competition. He continued studies in the United States, International Academy of Chamber Music in Rome and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He won several international competitions and became the first concert master of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Strasbourg. From 1987 until the founding of the Altenberg Trio, he was the violinist of the Shastakovitch Trio. Since 1981, he has been teaching at the Strasbourg Conservatory.
- Cellist Gebert, born to a musical family in Warsaw, moved to Finland at age 3. He won his first international contest at age 16. He studied at Turku Conservatory in Finland, Sibelius Academy, Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Paris Conservatory and with Natalia Gutman in Stuttgart. He has widely performed both as a soloist and chamber musician at many prestigious venues and joined the Altenberg Trio Vienna in 2004.
Altenberg Trio tickets are $20, available by calling the Carlsen Center box office at
913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter.
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