New World Trio "Treasured Trios"

For immediate release: New World Trio “Treasured Trios”, works for piano trio by Enescu, Beethoven, and Dvorak with violinist Anhared Stowe, cellist Peter Zay, and pianist David Ballena at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 679 Farmington Ave., West Hartford, CT., Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2pm.Suggested donation $20. Reception following. For information 860 586-8579, newworldtrio.org

George Enescu composed his beautiful Serenade Lointaine for piano trio when he was just 21 years old. Although composed in 1903, the trio was discovered only recently. This opening work explores the Romantic side of the piano trio, and the warmness of Enescu’s textures highlight his influences from the Romantic era. In his Trio #1, Op 1, Beethoven places content over form for the first time, creating an unprecedented equality between the instruments. Here, the composer is no longer simply accommodating a listener’s desire for formulaic comfort but is instead leading his audience into his own sensibilities. Beethoven’s brilliance is so compelling that his privileged-class patrons only dimly realize that he has created a pathway for artists to emerge as a significant moral force. Antonin Dvorak’s Dumky Trio is one of the composer’s best-known works, and most original. Of Ukrainian origin, dumky refers to epic, lamenting, ballads. During the nineteenth century, Slavic composers began transforming these songs into a classical form. Their brooding, introspective themes are contrasted with lively, cheerful sections. Dvorak’s trio is the most-loved of these legendary ballads.