PROGRAM: 

John Zorn: Philosophical Investigations
Charles Ives: Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97 "Archduke"

 

"All have distinguished careers as soloists and the three of them banding together yields something of a supergroup." -- Sam Jacobson, Bachtrack. 

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Three renowned visionary artists of the next generation combine talents in this eclectic new piano trio, Junction. Violinist Stefan Jackiw, recognized for musicianship that combines poetry and purity with an impeccable technique, returns with pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell. Tao, who appears worldwide as a pianist and composer, has been dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by the New York Times. Approaching both old and new works with the same curiosity and emotional commitment, Campbell has been called “electrifying” by the New York Times. Recent concerts of the trio have included performances at Washington Performing Arts, Portland Ovations and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.

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"It’s like self-hypnosis, in a sense. When I’m writing, sometimes it gets to that place where I feel like the piece is writing itself and I’m trying not to get in the way. I’m getting ready to write a piece now, and it’s been six months thinking about it, changing the instrumentation, changing the name, doing more reading..." – John Zorn, BOMB Magazine

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"...The Trio was, in a general way . . . a reflection or impression of . . . college days on the Campus, now 50 years ago. The first movement recalled a rather short but serious talk, to those on the Yale fence, by an old professor of Philosophy; the second, the games and antics by the students . . . on a Holiday afternoon; and some of the tunes and songs of those days were . . . suggested in this movement, sometimes in a rough way. The last movement was partly a remembrance of a Sunday Service on the Campus . . . which ended near the "Rock of Ages." – Charles Ives

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As a character in Haruki Murakami’s novel “Kafka on the Shore” says of the Archduke Trio: 

it’s the most refined of all Beethoven’s piano trios. He wrote it when he was forty, and never wrote another. He must have decided he’d reached the pinnacle in the genre.

 

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