‘Music Mosaics’ celebrates Valentine’s Day with piano trio

Editor’s note: the following information has been released by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Department of Music. 

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Department of Music has announced the first concert of the Music Mosaics series this spring with UW-Whitewater Piano Trio. All proceeds from the Music Mosaics series go directly towards scholarships for Department of Music students. This performance will take place on Sunday, February 13 at 7:30 pm in the Light Recital Hall. Ticket prices are $14 for general public, $12 for over 65, $7 for individuals under 18 and free for all UW-Whitewater students. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at tickets.uww.edu or by calling (262) 472-2222. Masks are required for anyone entering a campus building and each performance in the Light Recital Hall will have a social distance seating option. Do not come to campus if you are ill. For the most up to date campus safety information, visit the Warhawks are Back webpage at the link below. uww.edu/warhawks-are-back. 

Celebrate your Valentine’s Day with two distinctive masterpieces from the Romantic period: Felix Mendelssohn’s second piano trio and the Gabriel Faure piano trio. Mendelssohn’s second piano trio is the last chamber work the composer lived to see published. The opening movement is cast in a traditional sonata form, with the first theme featuring a rather foreboding, dark, and almost stormy emotional tone. Simple, lyrical, and beautiful—the second movement serves as a much-needed respite from the wild harmonic explorations and dramatic outbursts of the opening Allegro energico. The Scherzo’s intricate counterpoint and constant trading of lines among members of the ensemble endow this particular movement with a kinetic force much unlike the other movements. The final movement, indicated as Allegro appassionato, is a rollicking fast movement laced with a great deal of lyrical beauty, as well. Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Trio, his penultimate work, clearly shows Fauré’s ability to combine a transparent texture with charming and elegant themes.

Benjamin Whitcomb is a Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, where he has received awards for his teaching, research, and service. An active recitalist and chamber musician, he performs frequently throughout the country and abroad. Benjamin is a prolific author, having published dozens of articles in six different journals and presented over thirty papers at national and international conferences. He has contributed to three books and published ten, including The Advancing String Player’s Handbook series, Cello Fingerings, and Bass Fingerings, all of which have received rave reviews from Strings magazine plus the journals of ASTA and AUSTA. More recent books include the Compendium of Chords series and the Guide to Practicing the Popper Etudes. Benjamin is very active in the American String Teachers Association, having served as Wisconsin state president, national Secretary, plus Chair of the Student Chapters committee and of the Studio Teachers’ Forum. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Oklahoma State University, and he has studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing.

Leanne League teaches violin and viola at UW-Whitewater and is the assistant concertmaster of the Madison Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.  Leanne studied Baroque violin with Karen Clarke and has performed with several period instruments groups including the Tallahassee Bach Parley, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Madison Bach Musicians.  Performing at festivals such as Token Creek Festival and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, she has collaborated with artists such as Toby Appel, Karmit Zori, Parry Karp, and Axel Strauss.  Other projects include a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in March 2020 and a presentation on violin pedagogy at the national American String Teachers Convention in Spring 2021.

Korean born pianist Dr. MyungHee Chung has received numerous national and international awards, including first prize at the 1977 William Kapell Maryland International Piano Competition; the 1976 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Performer’s Competition, the 1978 Portland Symphony Orchestra Competition and the 1980 Juilliard Concerto Competition. She was a prizewinner in the 1980 Gina Bachauer International Competition and a finalist in the 1981 Busoni International Competition.  She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the Far East and she has performed with many major orchestras including the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Baltimore, Portland, New Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic. Dr. Chung received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from The Juilliard School studying with Martin Canin.  She continued her studies with Gary Graffman at the Manhattan School of Music where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree.  Her teachers include Andre Watts, Tong-Il Han, Chung-Choo Oh and Kisun Yun. Dr. Chung taught at the Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri and at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico as an Associate Professor.  In August 1995, she joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, where she is a Professor and keyboard coordinator.

The Music Mosaics UW-Whitewater Piano Trio concert will take place on Sunday, February 13 at 7:30 pm in the Light Recital Hall. Ticket prices are $14 for general public, $12 for over 65, $7 for individuals under 18 and free for all UW-Whitewater students. All proceeds from the Music Mosaic series go directly towards scholarships for Department of Music students. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at tickets.uww.edu or by calling (262) 472-2222. Masks are required for anyone entering a campus building and each performance in the Light Recital Hall will have a social distance seating option. Do not come to campus if you are ill. For the most up to date campus safety information, visit the Warhawks are Back webpage at the link below. uww.edu/warhawks-are-back.