The Department of Dance, Music, and Theatre at Cal Poly Humboldt presents “The Cal Poly Humboldt Recital Series: The Vipisa Trio”. The Vipisa Trio, formed in 2009, features department chair Cindy Moyer (Violin), Staff Accompanist John Chernoff (Piano), and faculty member Virginia Ryder (Saxaphone). The program features works by Richard Wienhorst, Marc Eychenne, David Morgan, Cal Poly Humboldt Alum Dante De Silva, and an original composition by John Chernoff. Join us for this talented musical trio Sunday, March 10th at 2:00 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt. Concert tickets are $15 General, $5 Children, and $5 for Cal Poly Humboldt students with ID. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at centerarts.humboldt.edu (From the "All Events" drop down menu select "Department of Dance, Music, and Theatre" and select your event.)

The first half of the program begins with a performance of Cantilène et Danse by Marc Eychenne. Also known as The Eychenne, it is the most famous piece written for this combination of instruments.  According to Cindy Moyer the piece is “…Similar in style to the music of Ravel. The dance is very exciting and virtuosic—and fun to play.”

Despite being one of the older pieces on the program, Trio for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano by Richard Wienhorst, is quite dissonant and modern-sounding. Composed in 1963 and written for Cecil Leeson and Francois d'Albert, the Trio is in three movements: I – Agitated  II – Moderately  III – Fast. Francois D'Albert was a Hungarian-born violinist who was also president of the Chicago Conservatory College. Cecil Leeson was a musician and teacher, and was widely credited with establishing the saxophone as a legitimate concert instrument in the U.S. A writer in the Hollywood News said that "in Leeson's capable hands, the saxophone [is] no longer the blatant jazz instrument of popular conception, but an instrument of really beautiful tone color [...]. If there were other saxophonists who could play as Leeson does, the saxophone would speedily make its appearance in the symphony orchestra."

Next, the trio will perform the world premiere of Ashes for Trees, a piece composed by Cal Poly Humboldt Alum Dante De Silva. Currently teaching Music Theory and Composition at UCLA, Dante says of the piece “I may have been ‘heavily inspired’ by the end of Stravinsky's Firebird. Although the title comes from a lyric from Pink Floyd's song Wish You Were Here, the piece is more about the recent California wildfires.”

The first half of the program ends with the world premiere of Pandemic Rag, a composition written for the Vipisa Trio by trio member John Chernoff. In Pandemic Rag, the exchanges between piano, violin, and sax are moody and playful—Chernoff has described the piece dryly as “Vaguely Raggish.”

After Intermission, the trio will revisit the piece that started it all—Travelogue by David Morgan. “The trio formed in 2009 after Virginia found a YouTube recording of the David Morgan Tango and suggested we try it out.  We are excited to be returning to this very fun piece,” says Moyer. Travelogue consists of 5 parts; Tango:  Allegro,  “First Light”, The Secret of the Golden Flower, Towers, Consolation, Belo Horizonte. Rob Barnett at music web speaks to some of the pieces in travelogue, “David Morgan writes for both the jazz and classical worlds…The Secret of the Golden Flower…moves without effort between Vaughan Williams and an Oriental sway: fast, punchy, and meditative. First Light makes play with Latin-American dance. Elements of rumba and tango are married to 1950s-style commercial sophisticated light music. Morgan's writing is delicate and luminously orchestrated.” 

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