Merz Trio, winner of multiple music awards including the 2019 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

 

This is the fourth concert of the 2021-2022 Friends of Good Music performance season.  

 

Hailed by CutCommon magazine as “artists in the deepest sense of the word,” Merz Trio has been lauded by the Reading (Pa.) Eagle for its “stunning virtuosity … fresh and surprising interpretations,” and by The Hudson Review for “perfection of intonation and ensemble.” 

 

In addition to winning the Concert Artists Guild international event, the trio took top prizes at the 2021 Naumburg, 2019 Fischoff, and 2018 Chesapeake competitions.

 

Merz Trio is composed of violinist Brigid Coleridge, cellist Julia Yang, and pianist Lee Dionne, musicians described as being passionately committed to reshaping the narrative of classical music through vibrantly dynamic programming and wide-ranging interdisciplinary collaboration. Their narrative programming style juxtaposes classical standards, new music, and their own arrangements of familiar and forgotten works, fluidly interwoven and guided with speaking from the trio's members.

 

Their interdisciplinary collaborations include ongoing projects with dancer Caroline Copeland, Sandglass Puppet Theater, chef David Bouley, and videographer Chris Kitchen.

 

In the coming few seasons, Merz Trio looks forward to debuts at Merkin Hall in New York, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, among other notable performances.

 

Merz Trio has been encouraged in its explorations by numerous institutional homes around the world: New England Conservatory in Boston; Yellow Barn in Vermont; England’s Snape Maltings; Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire; the Naumburg Foundation in New York; the Lake Champlain, Olympic, and Chesapeake music festivals; the Fischoff Competition at the University of Notre Dame; as well as many other venues and hosts around the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom. The trio’s current home is in Boston.

 

Given the fluid nature of COVID-19 protocols, please check SBU’s COVID-19 website for the university’s latest policy for campus visitors, including ticketholders for Quick Center performances, or call the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

Single ticket prices for this concert are $20 at full price, $16 for senior citizens and St. Bonaventure employees, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

For each Friends of Good Music performance, the Quick Center opens its galleries one hour before the performance and keeps them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.  

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.