Ahn Concert Review
The Raue - 10/17/09
Review By: Nicole Nicolson
When speaking of classical music, most people travel deep into the corridors of their mind and dust off the aging compositions of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. Just as these men were and still are the faces of classical music, the Ahn Trio adds three new fresh faces to the long standing genre.
This Saturday, the Trio performed at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake and their performance was anything but ordinary. Consisting of three sisters, Angela, Maria and Lucia Ahn, the trio is a combination of violin, cello and piano mastery. Their morning performance, geared towards children and young adults, was not just a performance of airy string chords and lulling piano notes, but also a rare opportunity for the audience to get acquainted with the performers. Between each song they performed, the sisters paused and took a moment to connect and talk with their audience posing questions about their instruments and even giving a brief lesson on rhythm. It was clear to any listener that these women are intimately connected with their music and wanted to share it with their audience. “I love instrumental music. I think there are so many stories you can tell and so many emotions you can convey,” said Angela, the violinist of the group.
And convey they did.
The trio pushed the boundaries of an ordinary performance by asking their listeners to close their eyes and create a movie in their mind as they listened to the trio perform their song, Dies Irie, off their latest album, Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac. When the last note of the song had slowly lifted into the air, the trio looked towards their audience of young adults and asked them what they pictured in their minds. In no time, dozens of little hands shot up into the air from children who wanted to share their emotions or stories. “Most artists don’t really get the chance to talk directly with their audience in their performances like this. We love it, it’s a lot of fun,” said Maria as she spoke to the audience scattered throughout the seats of the Raue Theatre.
With cascading walls covered with elegant murals and a ceiling resembling a night sky with twinkling stars, the venue was the perfect space for a performance such as this. Small and warm, the theatre provided the perfect atmosphere for a personal interaction between artist and audience. After they played their last song ‘Oblivion’, a song they characterized as “beautifully sad”, the trio bid their audience adieu and walked off the stage as their last notes continued to vibrate through the theatre. “I think I’ll come back tonight for their other performance,” said an audience member. “They were really marvelous.” The trio has been playing together around the world for ten years and have no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Their next few shows are scattered throughout the United States with the next one being in Billings, Montana and then they head to Europe to tour through the Czech Republic and Germany.
Ahn Trio Biography
Born in Seoul, Korea and educated at the Juilliard in New York City, the members of the Ahn Trio, (cellist Maria, pianist Lucia, and violinist Angella), are constantly redefining the art and architecture of chamber music. Breathing new life into the standard piano-trio literature with commissioned works from visionary composers such as Michael Nyman, Maurice Jarre, Pat Metheny, Paul Schoenfield, Mark O' Connor, Kenji Bunch, Nikolai Kapustin, and Paul Chihara, the Ahn Trio brings a new energy and excitement to the chamber music world. The trio's latest CD, "Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac" (released by Sony), is a showcase of this vibrant and original music, which made No. 8 on the Billboard Charts for 26 weeks in the Classical album category.
The trio has been touring successfully for over ten years and have six albums to date. Their first album, a recording of Ravel and Villa-Lobos trios brought rave reviews, with Audio Magazine praising "this is one of Ravel's best and never better played". The next EMI recording of trios by Dvorak, Suk, and Shostakovich, won Germany's prestigious ECHO Award. An MTV appearance on Bryan Adams' "Unplugged" led to the development of the "Ahn- Plugged" and "Groovebox" albums (EMI), which embodies the excitement and energy of the Ahn Trio. Seeking complete artistic freedom, the trio formed their own production company named L.A.M.P., (Lucia Angella Maria Productions), which self-produced "Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac". Their latest project was a joint album with the Czech Grammy-winning Tata Bojs called "Smetana" (Warner).
Maria, Lucia and Angella thrive on dissolving the barriers between art forms. They have fused their work with that of dancers, pop singers, DJ's, painters, installation artists, photographers, lighting designers, ecologists, and even kite makers. The Ahns enjoyed their successful collaboration with the David Parsons Dance Company, which toured extensively to critical acclaim. More recently, they performed in the Czech Republic with rock group the Tata Bojs to sold-out shows. This year, the Trio is very excited to add to their repertoire "March of the Gypsy Fiddler", a Triple Concerto written for them by Mark O'Connor. The Ahns frequently enjoy having guest artists join them on stage, recent favorites include the Kin, a two-brother rock band from Australia, as well as electronic music artist Juno a.k.a Superdrive from Berlin. It is precisely this vitality and commitment to innovation that has Ahn Trio continually drawing new audiences to classical music.
Possessing an enviable combination of talent and style, they have long been natural subjects for the international press. They made their magazine premiere very early on, in Time's cover story, 'Asian American Whiz Kids'. Since then, they have gone on to frequent fashion pages of the likes of Vogue and GQ, photographed by such luminary photographers as Arthur Elgort, Ellen von Unwerth, and Walter Chin, and been featured in ad campaigns for GAP, Anne Klein and Bodyshop, among others. In 2003, they were named three of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
The Ahn Trio is in high demand, performing and leading master classes and workshops across the United States and around the world. Whether they are playing in Vienna's Musikverein, New York's Lincoln Center, Leipzig's Gewandhaus, Beijing's Concert Hall, Istanbul's Aya Irini in Topkapi Palace, or for 10,000 screaming fans at the World Music Festival in the Czech Republic, they share their innovative spirit and ever-evolving vision of music.
Here is what their favorite composers say about them:
PAT METHENY "Their willingness to play new music at such a high level is an inspiring and exciting quality that will continue to define the unique spot that they are carving for themselves in the music world."
MICHAEL NYMAN "My all-time favorite piano trio with a rare passion for new music."
MAURICE JARRE "Their choice and their taste make the repertoire of trio more interesting."
NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN "I became somewhat tired of 19th century music, preferable are either Sebastian Bach or Ahn Trio."
You can find out more about Ahn Trio at:
Ahn Trio Official | Ahn Trio Twitter | Ahn Trio Facebook | Ahn Trio Myspace