An afternoon of Romantic trios by Brahms and Clarke, among others.
The Sonoma Trio comes together out of a long and colorful past of musical relationships. The trio's focus is on the uniquely human element that unites both performer and audience in the appreciation of great music including the treasured masterpieces of the past, lesser known works, and newly composed pieces. We dedicate this concert to the spirit of those women and men who made the women's vote a reality 100 years ago.
Mary Artmann, Cello
Kate Stenberg, Violin
Miles Graber, Piano
Cellist Mary Artmann is a Bay Area native. She spent numerous years living in upstate New York performing with many chamber and orchestral groups, in addition to being an active recitalist. Moving westward, she joined the award-winning Veronika String Quartet, artists-in-residence at Colorado State University-Pueblo.
As a devoted performer of new music, she has performed with the Empyrean Ensemble, the SF Contemporary Music Players and the June in Buffalo Festival. She has also performed with the String Orchestra of Hidden Valley and has appeared as a guest artist with the Colorado Chamber Players and the Colorado Bach Ensemble.
Kate Stenberg’s violin playing has been described as “highly virtuosic and deeply communicative…full of character and presence” (NewMusicBox), as heard in performances in a dozen countries and on numerous CDs from New World Records, Sono Luminous, Newport Classics, Decca Records, Other Minds and New Albion labels. She is a leading interpreter of contemporary chamber music having premiered over a hundred works, including pieces incorporating multi-media and improvisation. Stenberg has premiered new works by Tania Leon, Jack Body, Peter Sculthorpe, Chinary Ung, Per Nørgård, Kui Dong and many others. Stenberg’s CD Scenes from a New Music Séance with virtuoso pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann has received special notice and features groundbreaking, innovative works by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Ruth Crawford Seeger and George Antheil. Composers who have dedicated work to her include Larry Polansky, Charles Amirkhanian, Robert Honstein, David Evan Jones, Amy X Neuburg, Aaron Gervais and Ronald Bruce Smith.
Miles Graber received his musical training at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Anne Hull, Phyllis Kreuter, Hugh Aitken, and Louise Behrend. He has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1971, where he has developed a wide reputation as an accompanist and collaborative pianist for instrumentalists and singers. He has performed with numerous solo artists, including Sarah Chang, Cho-Liang Lin, Camilla Wicks, Axel Strauss, Mimi Stillman, Judith LeClair, Frederica von Stade, Martha Aarons, and Lev Polyakin. Mr. Graber has accompanied violinists Robin Hansen, Christina Mok, Natasha Makhijani, Stuart Canin, Roy Malan, and Mariya Borozina, cellists Michael Graham, Robert Howard, Thalia Moore, and Stephen Harrison, clarinetist Tom Rose, and flutists Gary Woodward, Amy Likar, Sasha Launer, and Ai Goldsmith.
He is a member of the chamber groups MusicAEterna, GGR Trio, Alcyone Ensemble, the Sor Ensemble, Mira Trio, and the new music group Sounds New.