The world of classical music, with its formality and tradition, sometimes gets viewed as inaccessible. Poulenc Trio strives to mix up that perspective, showing that good music can and should reach everyone.
Made up of Bryan Young on bassoon, pianist Irina Kaplan, and Vladimir Lande on obo, each member of the trio is distinguished individually on their instruments, holding posts at Yale and Johns Hopkins universities and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra among other accomplishments.
The trio will bring its music to Lompoc audiences on April 21, starting with some Bach and then going into a little Beethoven, playing some songs that were really popular in his day. Then the group will play some Mexican dances and tangos.
“It’s an eclectic mix, but hopefully a fun mix of things,” Young said.
The trio has been widely acclaimed on the international stage for its combination of 21st century vibrancy combined with the best of classic European instrumental traditions. The trio has toured internationally since 2004 performing at the Kennedy Center, the Ravello and Ville Vesuviane festivals in Italy, and with Hilary Hahn at the State Hermitage Museum in Russia.
The group’s unique sound has garnered an impressive list of compositions commissioned for the ensemble. Along with the many classics they perform, the trio has added between 20 and 25 commissioned works to their performances.
“We always are looking for new things. The thing we care most about is ‘Is it good? Is it interesting? Is the audience going to just love it?’” Young said.
Aside from its season of performances, the trio does outreach work with schools and within communities that wouldn’t otherwise have access to chamber music. Notably the trio has also created a “Music at the Museum” series, partnering with museums nationwide, including the National Gallery of Art. Going forward, Young said, the trio plans to do a lot more outreach work.
Next season, as Poulenc Trio celebrates a decade of touring and performing, it will host a series of special concerts and announce that the group will expand to include some more notable musicians.
For Young, what has stood out the most over the last decade of performing with the Poulenc Trio has been the people for whom they’ve performed. “The thing about chamber music is it’s intimate. The audience gets to connect with us but we get to connect with the audience, we’re aware of what they are doing,” he said.
One of the most special moments performing with the trio came when the group played in a small logging town in Oregon. He said the concert was performed in an old logging factory, which was already an unusual place to have a concert, and the audience had already been enjoying the drinks.
“It was the rowdiest, but the most fun concert. People were talking to us while we were playing. You know, chamber music has this stuffy kind of image: we hold our nose and nobody better breathe kind of thing, but we like it when it’s not like that,” Young said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone can be contacted at scone@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Apr 12-19, 2012.