Chamber music recital to be given at Bates

The St. Cecilia Piano Trio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday Feb. 7, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The trio, composed of violinist Scott Esty ’92; cellist Solen Dikener; and pianist Duncan Cumming ’93, will present a concert of music from Beethoven, Dvorák and William Matthews, the Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at Bates. The ensemble has performed in Michigan and been featured on Mainchigan Public Radio. Each summer, they present a series of chamber music recitals at Bates.

The first half of the concert begins with Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost,” and is followed music from Matthews’ “A Book of Hours,” including “L’aprés-midi d’un Arnold,” “Le tombeau de Monk” and “Morning Song.”

The concert’s second half features Dvorák’s Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90, “Dumky.”

A native of Washington, D.C., 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. Currently, he is enrolled in the doctor of musical arts program at Boston University, where he studies with Anthony di Bonaventura.

For more information about the concert, call the Olin Arts Center at 207 786-6135.