September Prelude Chamber Music Festival of the Triangle

DATE: September 11 2005, 3 PM

SITE: Reynolds Industries Theatre, Duke University

TICKETS: Combination package (Sept 9 & Sept 11) $30; Students, $15. Single tickets -$20, $10.

(919) 821 2030 or (919) 684-4444

PROGRAM

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The nationally acclaimed piano trio Triple Helix was named "2002 Musicians of the Year" by the Boston Globe is ensemble-in-residence at Wellesley College. The individual members of the trio serve on the music faculties of several Greater Boston colleges. "Emotionally charged, virtuoso playing," said the Boston Globe of Triple Helix. The Los Angeles Times noted the trio's "splendid musical chemistry, virtually perfect dynamic balance, firm collective sense of rhythm, and fervor and authority when needed."

Triple Helix was established in 1995 by three award-winning musicians.

Violinist Bayla Keyes was a founder and long-time member of the Evian- and Naumburg-award-winning Muir String Quartet. She teaches at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and is artistic director of the Interlochen Chamber Music Festival and the founding director of the String Quartet Institute at Tanglewood. She is also an active performer with Musica Viva.

Cellist Rhonda Rider was the founding cellist of the Naumburg-award-winning Lydian String Quartet. She performs with the chamber players at Boston Conservatory, where she heads the chamber music program and is the founding director of the Cello Seminar. She has premiered works by contemporary composers Elliott Carter, Lee Hyla, Donald Martino and Steve Mackey.

Pianist Lois Shapiro has concertized as soloist and collaborative artist throughout the US and abroad in concerts ranging from 18th century period-instrument performances to premieres of pieces. A winner of the New York Concert Artists Guild Award, Shapiro has recorded on Afka, Channel Classics, Centaur, MLAR and Pierrot. She is on the faculty of Wellesley, Longy School of Music, and Brandeis.

At Wellesley College, Triple Helix is completing the third and final year of a Beethoven Festival. "The runaway hit of the chamber music season," said the Boston Globe. Also at Wellesley, Triple Helix takes lecture-recitals directly into classrooms in which poetry, history of art, philosophy, Russian history, math, or astronomy is taught. The group ties the music to the particular curriculum being studied and thereby enhances students' grasp of the cultural and social aspects of a given period or country. The Triple Helix musicians are also regular guests on WGBH-FM radio, where they offer performances and lecture-recitals.

In calling themselves Triple Helix, the artists were inspired by the double helix, the spiraling energies that generate life. They saw a parallel in the partnership of violin, cello and piano - each instrument entrusted by the composer with its own share of "the genetic material" of the music.

Advocates for new music, Triple Helix has premiered 8 new works written especially for the group.

Artist Website: www.triplehelixpianotrio.org

Violist George Taylor is active in practically every aspect of performance as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Taylor is associate professor of viola at Eastman. Before joining the Eastman faculty, he was a member of the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University, a position he held from 1979 through 1986. He has served on the artist faculties of the Encore School for Strings, the Meadowmount School, the Manchester Music Festival, and the Elan International Music Festival, among others. He has also served as a juror for international competitions in Europe and the United States.

George Taylor has given numerous solo recitals and appeared as a chamber musician in concerts throughout the United States and at the Tainan Cultural Center in Taiwan. He was also co-founder and conductor of the St. Stephens Chamber Orchestra (Durham, NC), an ensemble that is still active in performance and recordings to date.

An active advocate for the performance of music by African/American composers, Taylor was a participant in the National Black Arts Festival held in Atlanta, GA. He is also a member of the Black Music Repertory Ensemble, which presents music of African/American composers in concerts throughout the country. Taylor has performed and premiered works written for him by many composers, including Ron Carter, Noel DaCosta, George Walker, David Liptak, and Carmen Moore.

A native of New York City, Taylor attended the Manhattan School of Music where his teachers included Jaime Laredo, Raphael Bronstein, and Burton Kaplan. Further studies on viola were with Michael Tree and Abraham Skernick. Chamber music studies include such notables as Arthur Balsam, Joseph Seiger, Lillian Fuchs, Joseph Gingold, Mischa Schneider, and members of the Guarnari Quartet. He made his recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1979. Joseph Horowitz of the New York Times wrote: "He is already an unusually accomplished player, with a secure command of the instrument, and an ardent, refreshingly direct style."