The Trio Johannes (Italy) has a glowing international reputation, performing throughout Europe and abroad. On Tuesday, March 6, music students at the College of Staten Island (CSI) will have the opportunity to perform in a Master Class held by Europe’s leading piano trio.

The CSI Master Class will include performances by students of music professors Olivier Fluchaire and Yojin Oh. The event will take place in the college’s acoustically superior Center for the Arts Recital Hall (1P-120).

The event is sponsored by the CSI Student Musicians Society. Both sessions are free and open to the public.

The first session begins at 11:15am with Greogory Post performing Prelude and Fugue in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I by J.S. Bach, followed by Gerald Gallardo performing Bach’s Giga from Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin.

The second session begins at 2:30pm with Eric Cooper performing Cello Concerto in Bb major, Adagio (non troppo) by Luigi Boccherini, followed by the Schumann Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Op.44: Allegro Brilliante performed by G. Gallardo, vl, Kristina Colon, vl, Prof. Olivier Fluchaire, va, Eric Cooper, vc, and Greogory Post, pf.

CSI music professor David Keberle said, “Thanks to our new relationship with Concert Artists Guild, the Trios’ management, our chamber music students at CSI will have the opportunity to work with some truly world-class musicians. This is the kind of experience that will stay with them for a lifetime and the kind we will continue to foster at CSI.”

The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a senior college of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban university. It is located at 2800 Victory Boulevard, in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island.

CSI offers 36 academic programs, 15 graduate degree programs, and challenging doctoral programs to 12,000 students.

The 204-acre landscaped campus of CSI, the largest in NYC, is fully accessible and contains an advanced, networked infrastructure to support technology-based teaching, learning, and research.

BACKGROUND:

The Trio Johannes was founded in Italy in 1993 by three friends, each with a passion for chamber music. Members include Francesco Manara, violin; Massimo Polidori, cello; and Claudio Voghera, piano.

The trio has won prizes at important international competitions: the 50th Concert Artists Guild International Competition (2001), the Third International Chamber Music Competition (1999) in Osaka, and Italy’s Trio di Trieste Competition (1998), as well as a special merit diploma from the Trieste Superior Chamber Music School.

In recent seasons, Trio Johannes has performed in the United States, with appearances at Weill Recital Hall-Carnegie Hall, the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, the Savannah International Music Festival, and the Market Square Concerts in Harrisburg, PA. Their concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on New York’s WQXR and WNYC.

While Trio Johannes has made its mark as an ensemble, each of its members can point to significant personal musical achievements. Francesco Manara, violin, is concertmaster of the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, chosen for that post by Riccardo Muti in 1992. He has played as a soloist with more than 50 orchestras, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Wiener Kammerorchester (Vienna), and the Tokyo Symphony. He was awarded first prize at the prestigious Concours International de exécution musicale in Geneva, and has succeeded in other important competitions, taking first place at the Michelangelo Abbado Competition, and winning prizes in Hannover, Cremona, Moscow, and Seoul.

Massimo Polidori became principal cellist with the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in 2000, before which he served in the same position with the Camerata Bern, performing and recording with this fine chamber orchestra throughout Europe. The winner of the Geneva Conservatorys Virtuosité competition, he took third prize in the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Italy.

Claudio Voghera, piano, a student of Aldo Ciccolini, met Francesco Manara at the Italian National Conservatory at Turin, where both players were students. The two formed a duo that performed at major music societies in Italy and abroad (Frankfurt, Tokyo, Madrid).