Ravel Trio

Artist Information

Biography

“Superb ensemble and unflagging energy and verve.... I cannot begin to describe the delight I found in [their] playing.” - The Morning Call (Bethlehem, PA)

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Hailed internationally, the Ravel Trio captivates audiences with its conversational concert style and musical passion. In addition to frequent tours to Switzerland, the group maintains an increasingly active schedule in the Mid Atlantic region including formal recitals, house concerts, and performances with orchestras and choral groups. With a deep commitment to living composers, in 2008 alone the group commissioned and performed two works by Swiss composers Christian Henking and Daniel Andres, and a piano trio with voice by African American composer Dotti Anita Taylor.

In the Ravel Trio, each player is an accomplished solo artist and chamber musician. The group's diverse interests range from performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Loudoun Symphony to presenting a series on Russian Chamber Music at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington; from preparing an amateur wind ensemble for performance to presenting a workshop incorporating dance and chamber music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The group served as guest judges for the 2008 Diane Peacock Jezic Womens Composers Contest, selecting a piano trio by Judith Shatin for winning performances by the Ravel Trio. Additionally, the group respects new music and regularly performs works by Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Zhou Long, Daniel Schnyder, Nikolai Kapustin, and Libby Larson.

The Ravel Trio enjoys seeking non traditional avenues to bring chamber music to new audiences, and has played in renovated wine cellars, church services, and Cobi's Jazz Club in New York City. At the core of its mission is artistic collaboration with other artists - dancers, singers, poets - presenting wine concerts, and spreading the love of music through programs for intergenerational learning including workshops for adult amateurs of all instruments. Associated with numerous colleges in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, members of the group embrace the study of music and its relationship to other academic curricula.

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"You left an indelible impression on the audience. The Ravel Trio wins hands down - judged by many to be one of the best concerts held at Notre Dame the past few seasons!"
-Ernest Ragogini, Director, Music at College of Notre Dame Concerts

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Pianist Daniel Lau has received enthusiastic press notices for both his solo and chamber performances. The Washington Post praised his "exemplary artistry/" the Baltimore Sun noted "Lau's beautifully shaded playing;" the Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA) lauded his "flair, great technical proficiency and expressiveness;" and La Liberté (Fribourg, Switzerland) cited his "playful nuances, translucent phrasing, and miraculous sonorities." Since 2006, he has released half a dozen recordings with a variety of artists, including one recorded by award winning engineer Marc Arbort and a self-produced solo CD "Transcendent Colors." Dr. Lau serves as Chair of the Maryland State Music Teachers Association Chamber Music Festival and Competition Coordinator for the American Liszt Society’s Liszt-Garrison Festival and International Piano Competition. A versatile pianist, violinist and conductor, Dr. Lau also tours nationally with soprano Sabrina Coleman Clark. Dr. Lau attended Loma Linda University and the Peabody Conservatory, becoming a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda honorary society. He is an Assistant Professor of Music at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, MD.

Cellist Nancy Baun has performed over 1,000 events throughout the United States, including multiple appearances at NYC's Carnegie's Weil Hall and Merkin Hall, as well as in Switzerland, France, Italy, Iceland, and Canada. She appears on ten recordings, including two on the Naxos label. A student of Orlando Cole, she appeared in master classes for Lynn Harrell and Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, as a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. Living in Buffalo since 2001, Ms. Baun serves as adjunct faculty at SUNY Fredonia and the Tapestry School for the Arts. She has taught at Messiah College and Dickinson College, where she was also Director of the College Residency program. Her multiple interests also include recognition as Executive Producer for the Public Radio International series “Home for the Holidays,” Co-Director of the 2006 and 2008 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competitions, "new producer" credit on NYC's WQXR Radio Record Award 2000, and a 2006 national Young Audiences grant for her education workshops integrating music with drawing in Buffalo public schools.

Violinist Simon Maurer is an accomplished musician performing orchestral, chamber, operatic and solo repertoire throughout the eastern United States and Europe. He has performed as feature soloist in France and Switzerland with the St. Jean Orchestra of Geneva Switzerland, receiving rave reviews. He is Concertmaster of the Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and performs with Valley Vivaldi, Sartori, and other groups. In 2008, he was selected as violist in the Moravian String Quartet, in residence at Moravian College, and he is a founding member of Gabriel Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Maurer also ventures in the practice of jazz and free style improvisation, featured at Philadelphia area jazz clubs. He studied music at the Conservatory in Biel, and continued his violin studies in the U.S. with Geoffrey Michaels at Swathmore College and Joyce Robbins at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is on the string faculty at the Blue Mountain Academy and the Pennsylvania Music Academy where he also conducts and performs annually in the summer festival Vivace.

Instrumentation

Daniel Lau, piano
Simon Maurer, violin
Nancy Baun, cello

Discography

Ravel Trio Debut CD - "Music From Our Home - Volume 1" featuring the Mendelssohn D Minor Trio, Turina B Minor Trio, and Rebecca Clarke Trio.

Official Website

http://www.raveltrio.com

Links

• Ravel Trio on YouTube

Audio

• Mendelssohn Trio I in D Minor - Molto allegro ed agitato
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• Rebecca Clarke Trio (1921) - Moderato ma appasionato
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• Paul Schoenfield Cafe Music - Andante moderato
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Video

Ravel Trio in Concert

Photo Gallery

Press

• Ravel Trio Concert Review
  

  "Ardent performance."

• Ravel Trio Concert Review [+ Show ]
  

  Spielerische Natürlichkeit Im Lyceum-Club Biel kam es zur Begegnung mit alten Bekannten. Das Ravel-T...Spielerische Natürlichkeit Im Lyceum-Club Biel kam es zur Begegnung mit alten Bekannten. Das Ravel-Trio aus den USA war innert Jahresfrist zum zweiten Mal zu Gast. Daniel Andres Wobei der Geiger des Trios, Simon Maurer, in Biel aufgewachsen ist, aber nun seit rund 33 Jahren in den USA lebt und dort musikalisch Karriere gemacht hat. Seine Partner sind die Cellistin Nancy Baun und der Pianist Daniel Lau. Zusammen spielen sie in den bedeutenden Konzertsälen Amerikas und waren - wie zurzeit - auch schon auf Konzertreisen in den wichtigsten europäischen Ländern.Die Räume des Museum Neuhaus, wo die Konzerte des Lyceum-Club stattfinden, sind wie geschaffen für Kammermusik. Eine intime, familiäre Atmosphäre und Nähe zu den Künstlern bilden mit Gemälden des Seelandes einen Rahmen wie sie die bürgerlichen Salons des 19. Jahrhunderts boten.Das Ravel-Trio begann vor vollen Sälen mit dem Trio in C-Dur, KV 548, von Mozart. Da wurde zugriffig, aber auch fein ziseliert gespielt, vorbildlich artikuliert und das Spiel durch kleine agogische Freiheiten aus der Strenge gelöst.Folgte das Trio élégiaque des 19-jährigen Sergej Rachmaninoff, der mit dieser überzeugenden Talentprobe im Gefolge von Tschaikowsky ein hoch emotionales und doch schon persönliche Züge tragendes Werk schuf. Die Streicher trugen dennoch nicht zu dick auf, verlegten sich vielmehr auf betörende und vielfach abgetönte Klangfarben.Was der Pianist Daniel Lau aus einem nicht unbedingt brillanten Flügel herausholen konnte, zeigte die grossen Qualitäten dieses Künstlers. Besonders im abschliessenden Trio in a-moll von Maurice Ravel, erklärtermassen dem Lieblingsstück des Trios, das vom Komponisten seinen Namen bezieht, konnte er demonstrieren, wie man subtil mit Farben und Nüancen spielen kann, auch wenn man keinen Steinway zur Verfügung hat. Im Gegenteil gab der im Klang eher verhaltene Flügel dem Ganzen wiederum eine Note, welche die Ambiance und den Charme häuslicher Konzerte vergangener Zeiten beschwor. Und die Nähe zum Publikum, kaum einen Meter zu den ersten Hörerinnen, erlaubte es den Musikern auch nicht, mit Raumklang zu verblüffen. Die relative Trockenheit des Klanges zwang sie, ausschliesslich mit den direkt dem Instrument entlockten Klängen zu überzeugen.Und das gelang ihnen vortrefflich. Der Zauber der Klangwelt von Ravel wirkte ganz direkt auch in den eher engen und überfüllten Räumen und verzückte die Zuhörer. Über der Natürlichkeit und Selbstverständlichkeit des Spiels vergass man die enormen Schwierigkeiten des Werks insbesondere auch für den Pianisten, der eigentliche Schwerarbeit verrichtet, aber diese für die Hörer in reinen Genuss verwandelte. Der grosse Beifall spornte das Trio zu einer Zugabe an, einer jazzartigen Cafe Music des Amerikaners Paul Schoenfield, wobei einem auch klar wurde, dass die virtuose Leichtigkeit und die Nonchalance dieser Musik auf die Natürlichkeit und Freiheit der Interpretation in den ‚klassischen' Stücken abfärbte.

• Ravel Trio Concert Review [+ Show ]
  

  mardi 15 février 2005, Regions --------------------------------------------------------------------...mardi 15 février 2005, Regions
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  Une formation débordant d'énergie
  
  Critique · Le temps d'un récital chaleureux, le Ravel Trio de Baltimore a transformé, samedi soir, la Kulturkeller Gerbestock de Chiètres en salon de thé viennois, puis en tripot argentin. Pour une assistance hélas clairsemée.
  
  En provenance de Baltimore, la formation de chambre Ravel Trio rayonne de spontanéité «à l'américaine», tout en cultivant une élégance stylistique bien européenne. Les auditeurs présents samedi soir à la Kulturkeller Gerbestock de Chiètres ont pu en apprécier toutes les nuances.
  
  L'évidente complicité qui lie les trois virtuoses s'épanouit de prime abord dans la fluidité mélodique d'un charmant trio mozartien. Faisant fi de conditions un peu rustiques, le pianiste Daniel Lau suggère des nuances ludiques, des phrasés transparents, tirant miraculeusement d'un piano droit aux limitations sensibles les sonorités souples et voluptueuses d'un bel instrument de concert. Le violoniste Simon Maurer et la violoncelliste Nancy Baun répondent à ces incitations communicatives avec une rare plénitude expressive. Un public, malheureusement trop peu nombreux, goûte à la lueur des bougies à une ambiance à la fois musicalement sophistiquée et d'une totale simplicité. Aucune prise de tête chez ces musiciens au sommet de leur art. Douceur, imagination, mais aussi une amplitude harmonique enveloppante dans l'acoustique étonnamment adéquate de ce lieu de
  culture accueillant du district du Lac.
  Un trio postromantique de Joaquin Turina évoque sans prétention, et
  avec un petit côté impressionniste, des champs d'oliviers odorants, bruissants de cigales. Le compositeur espagnol saute du coq à l'âne avec une expansivité méditerranéenne et une conviction joyeusement outrée, qui s'apparente aisément à la faconde décalée d'un Don Quichotte.
  
  prouesses techniques
  
  «Café Music» de Paul Schoenfield mélange ensuite, sans vergogne et
  avec un humour effronté, Beethoven, Gershwin et Keith Jarett. «Blues
  viennois», nostalgie kelzmer et fantaisie tzigane cohabitent avec cette affinité étrange de musiques de l'âme empreintes de pathos magique et désabusé. Un final endiablé déchaîne des prouesses techniques en crescendo culminant avec les deux coudes du pianiste plaqués sur un clavier tempétueux en guise d'accord conclusif... Place enfin à quelques tangos rauques et élégiaques d'Astor Piazzola qui offrent un champ d'action idéal à l'énergie déployée de l'ensemble. Après un paisible bis mendelssohnien, le Ravel Trio
  poursuit sa tournée helvétique, non sans avoir fait tanguer Chiètres pour un instant dans son sillage étincelant.
  

• Ravel Trio Concert Review [+ Show ]
  

  "The Ravel Trio played with sensitivity and a piercing dynamic quality... The level of musicianship..."The Ravel Trio played with sensitivity and a piercing dynamic quality... The level of musicianship was
  breathtaking."
  

• Ravel Trio Concert Review [+ Show ]
  

  Classical at Musikfest was sweet and sour By Philip A. Metzger Special to The Morning Call ...Classical at Musikfest was sweet and sour
  
  By Philip A. Metzger
  
  Special to The Morning Call
  
  August 16, 2007
  
  Musikfest's 10 classical concerts last week provided a variety of musical experiences, from brass to balalaika, from elation to disappointment, from high seriousness to Latin exuberance, and seemingly almost everything in between.
  
  The performance venues, Central Moravian Church and the Old Chapel right behind it at Main and Church streets in Bethlehem, also provided comfortable seating and respite from the heat, and on that meteorologically memorable Friday, from the chilly winds.
  
  .......
  
  The final night for classical music, Friday, was also the pinnacle of the week.
  
  It began with an area chamber ensemble, the Ravel Trio (violin, cello and piano), in an imaginative and substantive program made all the more rewarding by superb ensemble and unflagging energy and verve. The program included one of Joachin Turina's two piano trios, Mendelssohn's absolutely glorious Trio in D Minor, and a funky and jazzy modern work by Paul Schoenfield called Café Music. I cannot begin to describe the delight I found in this playing.

• Presenter Review [+ Show ]
  

  “Thank you, thank you for such a wonderfully beautiful evening of music! I also had a great time li...“Thank you, thank you for such a wonderfully beautiful evening of music! I also had a great time listening to the afternoon rehearsal. I’ll talk with you soon, Margie, and express my gratitude more in conversation!! I am still high today with the sounds… Can we have them again in the fall?”

• Presenter Review [+ Show ]
  

  “I’ve heard it said that quartets are four equals but piano trios are three soloists who happen to b...“I’ve heard it said that quartets are four equals but piano trios are three soloists who happen to be playing together. The Ravel Trio proves this to be false. The sum of their parts is indeed greater, and their personalities meld together in a way that makes the music they play accessible and irresistible. I’ve heard many trios, and the Ravel has a magical quality that goes beyond notes on a page.”

• Presenter Review [+ Show ]
  

  “The Ravel Trio brought to downtown Laurel not only a level of flawless musicianship, but also an en...“The Ravel Trio brought to downtown Laurel not only a level of flawless musicianship, but also an engaging and inviting communication with the audience. From note one, it was immediately apparent that the musicians were fearlessly accomplished, yet completely delighted in playing as a Trio and presenting their choices of chamber music. Yet the technical musicianship was only a part of the treat that evening. A large part of the magic that the Ravel Trio brings to an audience is their presentation of the materials in an enlightening and pleasurable manner. The overwhelming impression that our patrons received was that the Ravel Trio was absolutely grateful to be bringing us the wonderment of the music. It was engaging and enthralling.”

• Presenter Review [+ Show ]
  

  “There are definitely not enough words to describe how much our audience enjoyed your programs. You...“There are definitely not enough words to describe how much our audience enjoyed your programs. You have created a standard that will be very difficult to meet! So many people came up to me to thank me for having made it possible for you to be part of the series – I am grateful to you for making me look good but even more for your generous gift of time and talent.”

• Presenter Review [+ Show ]
  

  "The enthusiastic response from the audience during and after the recital bespoke your mesmerizing r..."The enthusiastic response from the audience during and after the recital bespoke your mesmerizing renditions of both the Mendelssohn and Rebecca Clarke trios. Clearly the ensemble’s overall virtuosity and mastery of these works created a performance rivalling any of its kind in Buffalo. In addition, I personally enjoyed working with the group in producing this recital. Thanks to your high level of professionalism, it was my great pleasure to promote your esteemed trio."

Setlist

Full length traditional concerts available as well as specialty concerts. Workshops and residencies offered.

SAMPLE CONCERTS

Traditional Concert:

Beethoven Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat Major
Café Music by Paul Schoenfield (a deliciously energetic piece utilizing popular American idioms)
Brahms Piano Trio in C Major


Schumann Tribute:

Song Cycle "Dichterliebe" for voice and piano (Schumann, 1840)
Christian Henking's Piano Trio "Und Blaue Funken Brennen" (commissioned, 2008)
Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, opus 110 (Schumann, 1851)


Women composers:

Amy Beach Trio
Rebecca Clarke Trio
Libby Larsen "Three for the Road"
Gwyneth Walker - Various works
Clara Schumann Trio
Julia Smith - Cornwall Trio
Dotti Anita Taylor - (Commissioned, 2008).


“From Gypsy to Tango”

Haydn “Gypsy” Trio
Dvorak “Dumky” Trio
Astor Piazzolla “Seasons”


Peace Concert - available with dancer/actor

Shostakovich Trio No. 2
Mendelssohn C Minor Trio


Wine and Chamber Music Events - available with sommelier

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The Ravel Trio is very committed to education, often coaching aspiring musicians from young students to adults. Additionally, Ravel offers the following Community School workshops:

1) Rhythms of the World – an international tour of classical music using the language of rhythm. Selections by Turina (Spain), Piazzolla (Argentina), Schoenfield (USA and Israel), Dvorak (Czech Republic), and Bright Sheng (China).

2) Impressions in Sound – how composers create moods and emotions. Selections include a comparison spanning the centuries from Haydn (18th Century) to Mendelssohn (19th Century) to Rebecca Clarke (20th Century) to Christian Henking (21st Century).

Basic Requirements

Calendar