Nationally Recognized String Artists to Perform

02/27/2018 12:45 PM

The Concordia String Trio will present a Guest Artist concert Friday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dingeldine Music Center, 1417 W. Barker Avenue in Peoria. Admission to this concert is free.

The trio members are Marcia Henry Liebenow, violinist, Concertmaster of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and faculty member at Bradley University; Leslie Perna, violist, faculty member at the University of Missouri-Columbia and violist of the Esterhazy Quartet; and cellist Karen Becker from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who also serves as principal cellist of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra.

Their March 23 concert, entitled “Serenades and Such,” features works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ernst von Dohnanyi, Andrew List, and Thomas Larson. The Beethoven Serenade in D Major, Op. 8 and the Dohnanyi Serenade in C Major, Op. 10 are two of the great string trio masterworks. The other pieces on the program are works written for the Concordia String Trio by nationally recognized American composers Tom Larson, professor of composition and jazz studies at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Andrew List, professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The Larson will be premiered in March, and List’s Bagatelles was premiered in 2002. 

The Concordia String Trio explores and expands the eclectic repertoire of an under-appreciated genre—the string trio. This versatile ensemble has built a reputation for its exciting performances and innovative programs, juxtaposing pieces from the standard string trio repertoire with new compositions and little-known works of great composers. Formed in 1999, the Trio has performed recitals, educational programs, and given lecture/demonstrations throughout the United States. They were featured on WTVP public television in a program entitled “Marcia and Friends” as part of the Peoria Symphony’s Sound Bites series. The Trio has presented at national ASTA conventions, and in 2017 performed and taught at the Omaha Conservatory Summer Music Institute. They have also been resident ensemble at the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival in Vermont, and recorded a Capstone CD entitled 90’s Timeflow – Chamber Music of Alan Schmitz.

This spring, the Concordia String Trio will be presenting concerts throughout the Midwest. Their new recording, Viennese String Trios, was released in August 2017 on the Centaur label, and their latest CD, American Vistas, will be released in 2018, also with Centaur. Copies of both CDs will be available for purchase at the Bradley performance. For more information, call (309) 677-2602.