Presidential Chamber Music Returns To Macey

SOCORRO – String trios by Beethoven and Mozart, as well as two trios by modern composer Mark O’Connor, are on the program for the Presidential Chamber Music concert scheduled for Feb. 1 at New Mexico Tech. The concert is on Monday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Macey Center. Thanks to support by Dr. Daniel H. López, president of New Mexico Tech, the concert series is free and open to the public.

The series is part of New Mexico Tech’s Performing Arts Series.
Before the concert, Tech Club – Club Macey (TCCM) holds a social in Macey from 5 to 7 p.m., with “Lite Bite” appetizers. TCCM is a social club for people 21 and over. There is a $5 cover charge if you are not a member of TCCM.
Willy Sucre, organizer and violist of the chamber music series, is joined by violinist Ray Sonne and cellist James Holland for the trios. Ray Sonne is a longtime member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a prominent music educator in the Pittsburgh area. He is currently retired from the symphony and is on the faculty at the Carnegie Mellon University Preparatory Department. One of his interests is bridging the gap between classically trained violinists and jazz improvisation.
James Holland, who has appeared in the first Presidential Chamber Music concert of the season, is assistant principal cello of the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra. He was a longtime cellist and teacher in Charleston, S.C., until his relocation to New Mexico in 2007.
Beethoven’s String Trio in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3 is one of the last string trios he published, dating from around 1797. Scholars speculate that when he began composing string quartets the next year, he found them more satisfying and did not return to composing trios.
Mark O’Connor, a living American composer, relates that he composed “Appalachia Waltz” in 1993, while sitting in a cabin in Santa Fe.
He was writing a portion of his second concerto, hoping to identify with some of the Native American culture in New Mexico. He recounts that this piece appeared in his head with all of the doublestops and drones, all at once! In 15 minutes it was written. It seemed much too intimate for his concerto, so he tucked it away and introduced it to Yo-Yo Ma a couple of years later. It turned out to be the impetus (and title inspiration) for the two projects they recorded together. It is one of his most liked pieces and he likes to think it is because folk musicians think it's classical music and classical musicians think it's folk music.
The trio will also perform O’Connor’s College Hornpipe.
The concert wraps up with Mozart’s Divermento in E flat Major, KV 563.

Willy Sucre. Courtesy photo

Presidential Chamber Music Returns To Macey