Eroica Trio kicks off fall schedule

Eroica Trio kicks off fall schedule
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BY ELLEN CHANG
Rice News Staff

The Houston
Friends of Music and the Shepherd School of Music’s
2002-2003 Chamber Music series will begin its 43rd season
Sept. 17 with a performance by the highly acclaimed Eroica
Trio.

Pianist Erika
Nickrenz, violinist Adela Peña and cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio,
all top-ranked, award-winning soloists in their own right,
comprise the trio that came to international attention in
1991 when they won the first prize in the Walter F. Naumburg
Chamber Music Competition. Since then they have released
four celebrated recordings for Angel/EMI Classics Records
and have toured the United States, Europe and Asia.

Their program
is to include Bach/Dudley’s “Chaconne from ‘Partita
in D Minor,’” Albinoni/Eroica Trio’s “Adagio
in G Minor,” Schnyder’s “Piano Trio”
(1999-2000, American premiere) and Brahms’ “Trio
in B Major, Op. 8.”

The performance
is set for 8 p.m. Sept. 17 in Stude Concert Hall, Alice
Pratt Brown Hall. Tickets are $26 to $44. A limited number
of complimentary tickets are available for Rice faculty,
staff and students.

Other fall performances
in this series include:

• the American
String Quartet Oct. 17, performing Mozart’s “Quartet
in E-flat Major, K. 428,” Shostakovich’s “Quartet
No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73” and Ravel’s “Quartet
in F Major”
• the Prazák Quartet Nov. 5, performing “Suk
Meditation on the St. Wenceslas Chorale, Op. 35,” Haydn’s
“Quartet in A Major, Op. 20, No. 6,” Martinu’s
“Quartet No. 7” and Smetana’s “Quartet
No. 1 in E Minor, ‘From My Life’”
• the Vermeer Quartet with Ueli Wiget Dec. 3, performing
Mozart’s “Quartet in D Minor, K. 421,” Bartok’s
“Quartet No. 2, Op. 17” and Schumann’s “Quintet
in E-flat Major, Op. 44”

The series will
be rounded out with performances in the spring by:
• Chanticleer Jan. 14
• the Pacifica String Quartet with Ursula Oppens Feb.
11
• the Atlantic Brass Quintet March 4
• the Muir String Quartet with James Dunham April 3
• the Emerson String Quartet April 28

All performances
begin at 8 p.m. at Stude Concert Hall, Alice Pratt Brown
Hall. For more information about purchasing tickets or about
the performers, call (713) 348-5400 or visit <www.rice.edu/~friends>.

The Houston
Friends of Music was created 42 years ago to present chamber
music by great performers. The non-profit organization expanded
its mission to include outreach to a younger audience by
providing free tickets to some Rice students and several
local high schools and master classes for music students.

“Chamber
music is considered the distillation of the art of music,”
said Curtis Robinson, president of the Houston Friends of
Music board. “We have an obligation to present chamber
music. It enhances our life much more than any other form
of music.”

The performances
are funded in part by grants from the City of Houston, the
Texas Commission on the Arts through the Cultural Arts Council
of Houston/Harris County and the National Endowment for
the Arts.

“The series
brings world-renowned chamber music groups to Rice,”
said Thomas Littman, concert manager of the Shepherd School
of Music. “Their concerts and occasional master’s
classes are of great benefit to the students and others
at Rice, as well as to the Houston community.”