For those chamber music lovers, the Westport Arts Center's unique Composer's Project which incorporates the best of the classical tradition with the new sounds of the 21st century, is presenting the Claremont Trio on Friday, May 23, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. at Westport Town Hall. The curators of this series, the Antares ensemble, will introduce this group and composer Mason Bates at the pre-concert talk.
The Claremont Trio, comprised of violinist Emily Bruskin, cellist Julia Bruskin and pianist Donna Kwong, began their career by winning the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and were the first recipients of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award. This summer they will be performing at the Bard Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, the Chappaquiddick Summer Music Festival, Saratoga Chamber Music Festival and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. They embrace the standard repertoire as well as the challenges of contemporary music. They commissioned Mr. Bates' 2002 piece, String Band.
Mr. Bates, the winner of the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and the Berlin Prize, successfully navigates between the classical, electronic and theatrical musical worlds. He studied at the Columbia-Juilliard program with such notables as John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, and Samuael Adler. In the fall of 2007, he began a three year commitment wit the California Symphony as its Young American Composer in Residence. His recent premieres include Liquid Interface, Digital Loom, Rusty Air in Carolina and Omnivorous Furniture.
The Claremont Trio's concert includes Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Trio in G Major, Op, 1 No. 2, Mason Bates, String Band and Johannes Brahms's Piano Trio in C Major Op. 87.