St. Cecilia Piano Trio to perform concert series
The St. Cecilia Piano Trio performs in a series of summer chamber music concerts Saturday, Aug. 8, Tuesday, Aug. 11, and Friday, Aug. 14, at 8 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $5 for general admission and $2 for students and senior citizens. Children under 12 can attend free of charge. Ticket reservations can be made by calling 207-786-6135.
The trio, composed of violinist Scott Esty, Bates class of ’92; cellist Solen Dikener; and pianist Duncan Cumming, Bates class of ’93, will present a concert of American music sandwiched between two all-Beethoven programs.
The series begins Saturday, Aug. 8, with the first Beethoven program, including Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 12, No. 1; Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 102, No.1; and Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1 (Ghost Trio).
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Dikener and Esty will perform Triptych, composed by William Matthews, the Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at Bates. Cumming will perform the piano solo Epitaph also by Matthews, and the trio will perform Piano Trio, a third work by Matthews. Dvorak’s Piano Trio, Op. 90, concludes the program.
On Friday, Aug. 14, a second Beethoven program includes Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69; Piano Trio in G major, Op. 1, No. 2; and Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 47 (Kreutzer).
A native of Washington, D.C., violinist Esty received a master of arts degree from the University of Ann Arbor Michigan. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras throughout the country. Currently, he serves as assistant concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (KSO) and also is a member of the KSO String Quartet.
Dikener performs regularly as the principal cellist of the KSO and as a member of the KSO String Quartet. He is a doctoral candidate in musical arts from Michigan State University and also serves as the executive director of the Young Strings Academy in Kalamazoo, Mich. Before coming to the United States, Dikener studied with Paul Tortelier in France and attended the Academy of Music in Vienna. He earned his chamber music degree from the Conservatoire Nationale de Nice in France. In his native Turkey, he served as principal cellist of the Ankara Chamber Orchestra as well as a faculty member in cello performance and chamber music at Hacettepe University. He has performed numerous times with all major Turkish orchestras.
A resident of Boston, Cumming is a frequent collaborator in double concerto, two-piano and four-hand repertoire with Frank Glazer. While a student at Bates, Cumming made his professional debut as a concerto soloist with the Maine Chamber Ensemble. In May 1996, he received a master’s degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory. As both a concerto soloist and recitalist, he has performed throughout the United States, including an appearance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Cumming performs annually in England and will perform all of the sonatas for violin and piano by Beethoven in a series of three concerts at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., where he is a performer and faculty member.
