Triple Helix @ Firehouse Center for the Arts

When the award-winning and internationally known Triple Helix musicians — violinist Bayla Keyes, cellist Rhonda Rider, and pianist Lois Shapiro — joined together in 1995, The Boston Globe described the results of their union as “the livest live music in town,” with “wildly imaginative, emotionally charged, virtuoso playing” that was “sophisticated in musical detail, wholeheartedly interactive, uninhibited in emotion, and touched by a special grace.”

Subsequently, the ensemble has become known as one of the best piano trios on today’s musical landscape. As the Los Angeles Times noted, “Triple Helix is clearly something special… the players have a splendid musical chemistry with virtually perfect dynamic balance, a firm collective sense of rhythm, and fervor and authority when needed.”

About the name: In calling themselves “Triple Helix,” the artists were inspired by the notion of the double helix — the dynamic intertwining and interdependence of the spiraling energies that generate life. They saw a parallel in their partnership of violin, cello, and piano: each instrument, a potent force in its own right, is entrusted by the composer with its specific share of the music’s “genetic material.”

About the musicians:

Violinist Bayla Keyes, lauded as “a musician of expressive generosity and technical élan” by Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, was a founder and long-time member of both the Evian- and the Naumburg-award-winning Muir String Quartet. She is an Associate Professor of Violin at Boston University, founding director of the String Quartet Institute at Tanglewood, and director of the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Conference. Ms. Keyes has recorded for Ecoclassics, CRI, Musical Heritage, EMI-France, Koch, Bridge, and New World Records. She holds degrees from Curtis Institute and the Yale School of Music and currently serves as a board member of Chamber Music America.

Cellist Rhonda Rider — whom The Boston Globe calls “a glorious cellist,” remarkable for her “extraordinarily expressive and inventive playing” — was the founding cellist of the Naumburg-award-winning Lydian String Quartet, with whom she performed for over twenty years. Rider is currently Coordinator of Chamber Music and on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory. During the summer months, she is heard at various festivals including Music from Salem, Green Mountain, Tanglewood, and Token Creek. She is also the cello coach for the Asian Youth Orchestra in Hong Kong. An advocate of contemporary music, she has premiered works by such composers as John Harbison, Lee Hyla, and Steve Mackey. She holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music.

Pianist Lois Shapiro “conjures enchantment” and “produces and inspires musical magic,” notes The Boston Globe. A New York Concert Artists Guild Award winner and highly sought-after soloist and collaborative pianist, she has appeared throughout the U.S. and abroad in concerts ranging from 18th-century period-instrument performances to premieres. Shapiro has recorded on Afka, Channel Classics, Centaur, MLAR, and Pierrot. She teaches at Wellesley College and at the Longy School of Music. As an expression of her abiding interest in inspiring young people, Ms. Shapiro has created, in collaboration with the Longy School of Music Dalcroze Department, engaging and highly popular family programs in which she has performed as narrator and pianist. She holds degrees from Peabody Institute and the Yale School of Music.

Program:

An Evening of Beethoven

Trio Movement (Allegretto) in B-flat Major, WoO. 39
Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No 3
Allegro con brio
Andante cantabile con variazione
Menuetto. Quasi allegro
Finale. Prestissimo

INTERMISSION

Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 (“Ghost”)
Allegro vivace con brio
Largo assai et espressivo
Presto



This event is presented by the Firehouse.