The South Haven Performance Series is getting ready to kick off its summer concert season, and it’s starting everything with a bang as it invites the Lincoln Trio. They’ll perform on June 24. The South Haven Performance Series gave us the full details:
The South Haven Performance Series is pleased to announce the opening concert of its 12th summer season. The Chicago-based Lincoln Trio will delight the audience with their virtuosity and versatility on Friday, June 24. The 7:30 p.m. concert will take place in the air-conditioned First United Methodist Church, 429 Michigan Avenue.
Founded in 2010, the South Haven Performance Series is an all-volunteer community based organization dedicated to providing a rich mixture of professional music and the performing arts for residents and visitors of South Haven.
Nominated for a 2017 GRAMMY Award for Best Performance by a Small Ensemble, the Lincoln Trio has become one of Chicago’s most celebrated chamber ensembles. Praised for their “joy of sheer technical ability, unanimity of phrasing and beautiful blended tone”, the trio takes its name from their home in the heartland of the USA, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.
The Trio’s polished presentations of well-known chamber works and their ability to forge new paths with contemporary repertoire has led to the group’s reputation as a first-rate ensemble, drawing an eclectic audience of sophisticated music lovers, young admirers of contemporary programs, and students discovering chamber music for the first time. They were the winners of the 2008 Masterplayers International Competition in Venice, Italy.
Each member is an artist of international renown. Violinist Desirée Ruhstrat has performed throughout the US and Europe, appearing at the White House and performing on a live radio broadcast heard around the world with the Berlin Radio Orchestra; cellist David Cunliffe has performed with the BBC and Royal Scottish orchestras as well as touring as a member of the Balanescu Quartet, and pianist Marta Aznavoorian has appeared with the Chicago Symphony and has performed at the Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House.
Formed in 2003, the Trio has performed throughout the United States, including appearances at the Ravinia Music Festival, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Chamber Music Series, the Lane Concert Series at the University of Vermont, Central Texas Orchestral Society, Columbus Chamber Music series, and a tour on behalf of the Ravinia Festival celebrating the
Lincoln Bicentennial, including a kickoff celebration in Springfield, Illinois with President Obama. In Chicago they are frequent guests of classical radio station WFMT and have been featured on Arts Across Illinois TV, NEIU’s Jewel Box Series, the Fazioli Concert Series, Music in the Loft, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Unity Temple and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series. In 2011 on behalf of the Ravinia Festival, the Trio toured in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Champions of new music, the Lincoln Trio has performed numerous compositions written for them, including premieres of seven works by members of the Chicago Composers Consortium. Their CD, Notable Women, features works by Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winning composers Jennifer Higdon, Lera Auerbach, Augusta Read Thomas, Laura Schwendinger and Stacy Garrop for the Cedille label. Their performance of Pierre Jalbert’s Piano Trio for Cedille Records was praised by The Strad magazine as “sensational!”
The series will continue on Friday, July 29, when Stephen Lancaster, baritone, and Kevin Vaughn, organist, take the stage at Peace Lutheran Church at 7:30 p.m. Performances are provided thanks to the generous support of the South Haven Community Foundation, corporate sponsors and individual donors. A modest $10 admission is charged for the summer concerts. There is no advance sale. Doors open one-half hour before the concert. Students are always welcome free
