March being Women’s History Month, this time of year we often see a well-intentioned but brief flurry of public events targeted to appeal to the female population. But Rackelle Roden, the distaff half of the minds behind the Trail Mix Concerts at the Olive Free Library in West Shokan, does not intend to drop the ball at the end of the month. As the first volley in a yearlong campaign to present more women performers and women composers, this Sunday, March 18, Trail Mix will spotlight Trio Cavatina.
The San Francisco Examiner has dubbed Trio Cavatina “an ensemble that put the ‘chamber’ back in chamber music,” which sounds just right for the sort of intimate gatherings organized by Trail Mix. The players are violinist Harumi Rhodes, cellist Priscilla Lee and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute. Formed in 2005 at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, Trio Cavatina went on to win the prestigious Naumberg Foundation Chamber Competition in 2009 and made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2010. The Trio’s first international tour in 2008 included performances in Jokubaviciute’s native Lithuania.
The Trail Mix concert, which gets underway at 2:30 p.m., will feature Big Sky, a piece by one of America’s greatest living female composers: Bard College’s own Joan Tower. It will be bookended by two Antonín Dvořák compositions: the Piano Trio in E minor, Opus 90 and the Piano Trio in F minor, Opus 65.
On April 15, the Trail Mix series will follow up with another all-female group: a piano trio performing a program of works by women composers. Violinist Eliza Barston, cellist Amy Sue Barston and pianist Amy Yang will play compositions by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelsohn and Jennifer Higdon.
Tickets cost $20 general admission, $5 for students and $120 for a book of eight tickets good for admission to any regular Trail Mix concert. They are available at the box office one hour before the concert at (845) 657-2482, and can be pre-ordered by calling (845) 657-6864 or e-mailing tickets@trailmixmusic.org. Find out more about this Sunday’s concert by visiting www.trailmixmusic.org/season2011-2012/03-trio-cavatina.html, and more about Trio Cavatina at www.triocavatina.com.
Join the family! 
