Sat

3/6/2010

8:00pm

Classical

Trio La Vita

• $10 General Admission
• $5 Student

• Maria Bessmeltseva, violin
• Carrie Pierce, cello
• Misuzu Tanaka, piano

Event Details

Trio La Vita was formed in August 2009 and is composed of Maria Bessmeltseva, Carrie Pierce and Misuzu Tanaka, all DMA students at the University of Michigan. The trio recently took several awards at the Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition and Festival, held in November 2009 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

Program

Franz Joseph Haydn - Piano Trio in A major, Hob XV: 18
John Ireland - Phantasie for piano trio in A minor
Anton Arensky - Piano Trio No.1 in D minor, op. 32

Maria Bessmeltseva

Maria Bessmeltseva was born in 1983 in St. Petersburg, Russia. She began her violin studies at the age of six and entered the Special Music School of Rimsky-Korsakov by St. Petersburg State Conservatory at age seven. When she was 11 years old she began to study with Alla Aranovskaya, the first violinist of the award-winning "St. Petersburg String Quartet" until Maria graduated in 2001. After graduating the Special Music School of Rimsky-Korsakov by St. Petersburg State Conservatory she was invited to study at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio with Gregory Fulkerson and Alla Aranovskaya. She participated in masterclasses and chamber music coaching with many recognizable artists such as Milan Vitek, Roger Chase, Taras Gabora, Jennifer Koh, and Richard Goode. In May 2005 Maria graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and entered Bowling Green State University with an assistantship to play in the Graduate String Quartet and the 2006-2007 concert season as concertmaster of the BGSU Philharmonia Orchestra. She studied with Vasilie Beluska and participated masterclasses with Pacifica String Quartet and had chamber music coaching with Csaba Erdely. Maria graduated Bowling Green State University in May 2007 and entered the University of Michigan for her DMA in violin performance studying with Yehonatan Berick. In 2008 Maria was chosen to represent the University of Michigan in "The Conservatory Project" in Washington DC and performed at the Kennedy Center on Millennium Stage. In the same year, Maria also performed in New York's, Carnegie Hall as an orchestra member of the University of Michigan. In 2009 Maria had an opportunity to participate in a masterclass with Menahem Pressler, the founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio.

Carrie Pierce

A Michigan-born cellist, Carrie Pierce started her studies at the age of four in Michigan. She received her Bachelor’s degree in music education and went on to pursue her Master’s degree at Michigan State University in cello performance, receiving a teaching assistantship and studying with Suren Bagratuni. During this time Carrie participated in the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy for a summer project, performing with Aaron Berofsky in concerts around central and southern Italy. She also traveled to South Korea with her string trio to perform a series of chamber concerts in Seoul. Carrie is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Anthony Elliott. In 2009, Carrie traveled with a small chamber ensemble to Washington D.C. to perform at the Kennedy Center as part of the Millenium Stage Conservatory Project. An avid lover of chamber music, Carrie plays numerous chamber concerts throughout Michigan each year with both Trio La Vita and her string quartet (Andiamo String Quartet.) The Andiamo String Quartet was the quartet-in-residence at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp from 2006-2008, and performs for the Ann Arbor Symphony Chamber series and the Lansing Symphony Chamber series each year. Trio La Vita has recently won several prizes at the Joan and Daniel Rutenburg competition in Tampa, Florida. Carrie is currently the principal cellist of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the assistant principal of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.

Misuzu Tanaka

As an avid performer of the music of J. S. Bach and Leos Janácek, Misuzu Tanaka is establishing herself as a pianist in the United States and the Czech Republic. Ms. Tanaka studied the piano at the Juilliard School as well as the Juilliard School Pre-College Division in New York under the tutelage of Martin Canin. During those years she also studied chamber music with Jacob Lateiner and Seymour Lipkin. Her postgraduate studies took place at the University of Michigan with a full scholarship where she studied piano with Logan Skelton. At the university, she was chosen to perform in the Sally Fleming Masterclass Series given by John O'Conor as well as masterclasses given by Malcolm Bilson, Radoslav Kvapil, and Li Ming Qiang.
In the course of her studies, Ms. Tanaka has won a number of awards. She has received first prize in the Poland Music Festival Competition. She has also been a finalist in the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition and semi-finalist in the J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany as well as the Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Most recently she was awarded honorable mention at the International Janácek Competition. Recently she was nominated unanimously for the Presser Music Award.

Over the past few years, Ms. Tanaka has attended summer music festivals in the Czech Republic such as the Prague International Piano Masterclasses and the International Music Academy in Plzen. In Plzen, she has been studying with Miroslav Brejcha and Ivan Moravec. She has also given concerts in Villa Bertramka in Prague and Masné Krámy Gallery in Plzen. In February 2009, she was invited to perform in the Mest'anská Beseda Velký Sal in Plzen, Czech Republic as well as in Gdansk, Poland.

Ms. Tanaka has also been featured in concerts representing various genres of music such as the Music Bridge event in Detroit, U.S.A. and Wroclaw, Poland. She is also an avid performer of chamber music and is currently a member of Trio La Vita. Trio La Vita most recently participated in the Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition and received second prize as well as prizes for the best interpretation of a Classical period work and a work by John Ireland.