For the seventh concert in Redwood Arts’ Ruby Anniversary Season, we present the Poulenc Trio on Saturday, April 11 at 7:30 in the Occidental Center for the Arts. The program will include works by Shostakovich, Poulenc, André Previn and others. Since its founding in 2003, the Poulenc Trio has performed in 45 U.S. states and at music festivals around the world, including the Ravello Festival in Italy, the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico, and the White Nights Festival in Russia. In a recent review, the New York Times praised the Trio for it “elegant rendition” of Piazzolla’s Tangos.
The Trio has a strong commitment to new works from living composers. Since its founding, the Trio has greatly expanded the repertoire available for the oboe, bassoon and piano, with 22 new works written for and premiered by the group, including three triple concertos for Trio and full orchestra. The Trio has also made a commitment to explore and promote music that reflect its members’ African, Asian, Eastern European and Jewish roots. Recent concerts have featured works by Afro-Cuban jazz great Paquito D’Rivera, Mexican-American composer Carlos Medina, Russian-American composer Nataliya Medvedovskaya and an exploration of Jewish culture by composer Jakov Jakoulov. The Poulenc Trio is engaged in several exciting collaborations, including a new commission from the Barlow Endowment, for Viet Cuong, to premiere in 2020, and a celebration of Walt Whitman's 200th anniversary for 2019.
The Trio’s prior album, Creation, debuted at #4 on Apple Music’s iTunes Classical Music playlist and garnered high praise from the American Record Guide for the group’s technique and expressive range. The recording also features a pairing with poet and Guggenheim Fellow Lia Purpura, with a reading of her poems set against Schnittke’s Suite in the Old Style.