Trio highlights classical music
Chadron State College and Mari Sandoz Center Chicoine Atrium, with the assistance of the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center director Sarah Polak, hosted a concert of the Ezinma Piano Trio Saturday.
The trio is comprised of students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music, and is sponsored by the Hisxon-Lied Endowment in the Hixson-Lied. Meredith Ramsay, plays the violin; Timothy Paek, the cello; and Michael Glur-Zoucha, the piano.
The trio contacted Sarah Polak about the possibility of performing at college. However, the final arrangements were not made until several days before the concert.
“We are excited to be able to host the trio and happy to provide this opportunity to the campus and Chadron,” Polak said.
The concert contained two parts and an intermission with the trio playing music pieces by Beethoven and Brahms.
After the concert the performers discussed how they juggled performance schedules as full-time college students.
The trio said that they still go to school and attend classes while touring, because they arrange their performances mainly on the weekends.
Saturday’s concert was the first stop of the trio’s Nebraska tour. Answering the question about why they chose Chadron, Glur-Zoucha said, “I just wanted to cover every part of the state.”
The idea of going on tour came to the trio after playing in Columbus at a church. Also, their string teachers did a tour earlier, inspiring the trio to go on a tour themselves.
One of the goals of the tour is to draw attention to classical music.
The tour also gives the members of the trio the practice they need to improve their proficiency. It also helps them prepare for graduate school, which is their ultimate goal after graduating from college.
The trio members think they would like to go into musical performance or possibly teaching as their desired areas for their careers.
The performers in the trio are highly proficient musicians, who showed their interest in music at a very early age. However, the performers say that what matters is not the amount of years they have been playing, but the amount of practice they are getting now.
Ramsay, Paek, and Glur-Zoucha organized the trio two years ago. To the question of if they have a leader in their group, the members of the trio say they are establishing collaboration, rather than leadership by one person.
“We are equal,” said Glur-Zoucha, with all the members of the trio agreeing with him.
