Felici & Friends Winter Concerts commence
Classic chamber music will be performed in Mammoth Lakes on Sept. 30 and in Bishop on Oct. 1
The Felici Piano Trio’s 2023/24 winter concert season begins this weekend. The first performance takes place at 7 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 30, at Cerro Coso College in Mammoth Lakes, with a program titled “Silent Woods” after a composition by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. This program will be repeated at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1, at Cerro Coso College in Bishop. Visit Chambermusicunbound.org for tickets and information.
The Music:
“Silent Woods” was arranged by Dvorak to be played with a cellist friend for his farewell tour of Bohemia, before embarking on his journey to the New World, in 1892. Another work Dvorak composed for that same occasion was a piano trio nicknamed “Dumky”, which became one of the most beloved repertoire pieces for violin, cello, piano. “Dumky” is actually a Ukrainian word and refers to a ballad, or a song of lament, but during the 19th century, composers from other Slavic countries began using the term to describe a musical form in which elegiac or introspective parts alternate with lively and cheerful sections. This quick and frequent back and forth of characters was not common in chamber music, and makes for a wonderfully varied listening experience. The “Dumky Trio” immediately became very popular in the composer’s native land, and it was published while Dvorak was living in America and working as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City.
Also on the program is a trio by the Frenchman Camille Saint-saens (18351921), who once said of himself that he
The Felici Piano Trio (from left to right): Brian Schuldt, Rebecca Hang, and Steven Vanhauwaert. produced music as “the apple tree produces apples,” implying that writing music came to him quite naturally and easily. Indeed, his musical career had begun at the tender age of ten when he performed a recital which made headlines in Boston and New York newspapers. Like Dvorak, he studied to be an organist - a career that was considered “safer” than becoming a free-lance pianist. He eventually became the organist at the famous Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris, where Franz Liszt heard him improvise and proclaimed him “the greatest organist in the world”. His first piano trio in F Major was completed in 1863 and it was his first truly successful work. In it, Saint-saens’ youthful optimism expresses itself through breezy simplicity and sweet lyricism. The music was inspired by the landscapes and the folk music of his mother’s home country, the French Pyrenees, an alpine mountain range that straddles the border between France and Spain.
The Performers:
The Felici Piano Trio moved from Milan, Italy, to Mammoth Lakes as recipients of a NEA grant in 1998. Violinist Rebecca Hang and cellist Brian Schuldt decided to make the Eastern Sierra their home and raise their children here. In addition to playing chamber music, they teach after-school string classes in Mammoth, Bishop and Lee Vining and music appreciation and orchestra at Cerro Coso College. Together they founded the Unbound Chamber Music Festival. Pianist Steven Vanhauwaert has been a member of the ensemble since 2010. He lives with his family in Los Angeles and, in addition to his performing career, teaches at the University of Utah in Salt Lake.
Join these passionate chamber musicians to discover the beauties of Dvorak’s and Saint-saens’ trios. Mammoth Lakes native, pianist Ari Schuldt, a student of Steven Vanhauwaert and a recent graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, makes a guest appearance playing “Silent Woods” with his father, Brian.
Ari Schuldt, a Mammoth Lakes native, makes a guest appearance playing “Silent Woods” with his father, Brian Schuldt.