Trio Niche in Concert

Saint Benedict Music Series presents:

Trio Niche
Sunday, March 15, 4:00 p.m.

Trio Niche: Tom Marshall, fortepiano; Susan Via, violin; and Sarah Glosson, cello, presents a program of late Classical chamber music performed on period instruments, featuring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Trio in C Major, K. 548 and Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 35, with guest tenor Joel S. Kumro.

The concert opens with selections by Ludwig van Beethoven from his settings of British Isles poetry: Again, my Lyre, yet once again, from 25 Scottish Songs, Op. 108, No. 24, and Since Greybeards Inform Us That Youth Will Decay, from 20 Irish Songs, WoO 153, No. 4. Heard in an intimate chamber setting, these works reveal Beethoven’s gift for lyrical simplicity and expressive nuance.

Mozart’s Piano Trio in C Major, K. 548, composed in 1788, reflects the composer’s mature style, marked by structural clarity and an elegant exchange of musical ideas among violin, cello, and fortepiano. Following the trio, Kumro returns for Franz Schubert’s Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D. 343 (“Litany for the Feast of All Souls”) and Joseph Haydn’s The Spirit’s Song, Hob. XXVIa:41, offering moments of spiritual depth and Classical poise.

The program culminates in Hummel’s Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 35, a brilliant and graceful work that bridges the Classical tradition and the early Romantic spirit. The evening concludes with Beethoven’s The Farewell Song, from 12 Irish Songs, WoO 154, No. 3, bringing the program to a warm and reflective close.

Formed by distinguished early music specialists, including members of the Wren Masters and Colonial Williamsburg’s Governor’s Musick, Trio Niche brings historical sensitivity to repertoire from the turn of the nineteenth century. The ensemble performs on a modern replica of an 1805 Walther fortepiano built by Paul McNulty, alongside period string instruments played with reproduction transitional bows, recreating the intimate sound world of the salons of Jane Austen’s era and the early American republic.

All are warmly invited to attend this historically informed and beautifully expressive program. There is no cost for this performance, but a free-will offering will be taken up to support Saint Benedict Music Series. We appreciate your generosity.

Saint Benedict Catholic Church
300 N. Sheppard St.
Richmond VA 23221
804-254-8810 x112
Parking lot behind the church on N. Belmont Ave.