Kaufman Music Center – Tuesday Matinees: Merz Trio – Ink Spills at Merkin Hall

Inspired by Merz Trios 2021 debut album INK, Ink Spills offers a unique and personal account of Ravels Piano Trio, a work he finished penning in 1914 at a time of immense catastrophe and change for Europe and the world. Ranging from the court of Louis XV to the 21st century, the program places Ravel not only within an immensely rich, multinational tradition (French and Basque), but also includes a number of works from the immediate decades around the Trios composition, interweaving the work with pieces Ravel himself would have known and heard. Throughout the concert, Merz Trios members will contribute readings of poetry and prose that further illuminate the music and speak to the era.VINCENT SCOTTO & JOSEPHINE BAKER (arr. Merz Trio): Sous les ponts de Paris (Under the bridges of Paris, 1913)JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (arr. Merz Trio): Pieces for Harpsichord in Concert (1741) Fifth Concert in D Minor, RCT 11LILI BOULANGER: Three Pieces (1914) Dun vieux jardin (arr. Merz Trio)GABRIEL FAUR: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120 (1923)MAURICE RAVEL:Piano Trio in A minor (1914) 1. ModrLEE DIONNE: Zortziko Fandango (2020)MAURICE RAVEL: Piano Trio in A minorMLANIE BONIS: Two Pieces (1907)NADIA BOULANGER (arr. Merz Trio): Heures ternes (Stagnant hours, 1910)MAURICE RAVEL: Piano Trio in A minorMerz Trio are First Prize winners at the 2021 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition. Composed of players hailed as impressive (New York Times), impeccable (Fanfare Magazine), and praised for a sense of joyful virtuosity (South Florida Classical Review), Merz Trio has quickly emerged as a unique and award-winning ensemble, garnering the First Prize at the 2019 Fischoff Competition and the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the First Prize and Audience Prize at the 2018 Chesapeake Competition. Seamlessly tacking between traditional repertoire, the music of our time and their own arrangements, the Trio are committed to vibrantly dynamic programming that takes them beyond the concert hall into theaters, galleries and community spaces. The Trio are known for their wide-ranging collaborations and interdisciplinary work, bringing music into conversation with other art forms ranging from dance to the culinary arts.