FARMINGTON – On Saturday, Feb. 20, the Nordica Trio will perform a delightful concert of music for viola, clarinet and piano. The program will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Nordica Auditorium on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington.
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The program will feature works for Clarinet, Viola and Piano and will include a performance of Mozart’s “Kegelstatt” Trio. Pianist Martin Perry and violist Graybert Beacham will perform the “Sonata for Viola and Piano” (1919) by Rebecca Clarke. Mr. Perry will play the orchestral reduction for a performance of the delightfully tuneful “Concerto for Clarinet and Viola” by Max Bruch.
The members of the Nordica Trio are: Graybert Beacham (violin and viola), Karen Beacham (clarinet), and Martin Perry (piano). This ensemble brings together three outstanding musicians who have performed internationally.
Since its debut in 1994, the trio has been enthusiastically received by audiences in Maine and beyond. In addition to performing, the members are all active as educators in the state of Maine. The Nordica Trio has performed numerous concerts for students across the state and sponsored a student composers competition in 2004. Recordings of live performances have been broadcast by Maine Public Radio for the program Maine Stage and members of the trio recorded “Divertimento” (for violin, cello and piano) by Maine composer Peter Ré for Albany Records.
The trio takes its name from the American operatic soprano, Lillian Nordica. Born Lillian Norton in Farmington, Maine, Madame Nordica made her operatic debut in Brescia in 1879. Her fame quickly spread, and she made appearances in all the principal capitals in Europe and America. She was known in Europe as the Yankee Diva. The recital hall at the University of Maine at Farmington is named Nordica Auditorium in her honor. This was where the members of the trio first met to rehearse and discuss the idea of forming a chamber music ensemble. It was therefore fitting for the newly formed ensemble to adopt the name Nordica Trio and thus carry on the name of one of Farmington’s most famous natives.
This delightful, tuneful concert of works by Clarke, Bruch and Mozart is presented by the Arts Institute of Western Maine, an affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington. Admission to the concert is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, free for children under 16 years of age and for UMF students. For more information call 778-4572.
