Curium – Friday, June 22 at 8 pm
Curium
Agnieszka Peszko, violin; Natalie Raney, cello; Rachel Kim, piano
Clara Schumann Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17
Kaija Saariaho Light & Matter
Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 67
Curium: the 96th element in the periodic table named after the pioneering female scientist, Marie Curie. Founded in the summer of 2017, the women of Curium piano trio specialize in performing the music of female composers along with traditional piano trio repertoire. They are committed to bringing creative and diverse programming to their audiences and have brought together a community of people with their representation of diversity and women.
The program will feature two rarely heard piano trios by women composers. Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho wrote her piano trio, Light and Matter, while watching the changing lights and colors of Morningside Park from her window in New York. The piece emanates light kinetic energy with its uniquely luminous, sometimes weightless sounds, while other parts feature dramatic gestures, rapid exchanges between instruments, and slow chordal passages within an ever-spinning texture. They will also perform two movements from Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17. Finishing the program will be the dark and richly emotional Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Known as one of Shostakovich’s most haunting works, an eerie melody for muted cello, played entirely in harmonics, sets the somber mood of this music. At times driving, solemn, scintillating and grotesque, it is a measure of Shostakovich the artist that he could transform his anguish into music of such power and beauty.