The Fondation des États-Unis is delighted to welcome the Weis Trio for a unique performance combining standard repertoire and new music, on April 27 at 7.30pm. Lisa Caravan (cello), Colleen Hartung (clarinet), and Sezi Seskir (piano) created the Weis Trio after discovering a mutual interest in chamber music while working together at Bucknell University. Their experience as educators includes workshops and master classes in both the United States and abroad; mentorship of young musicians is central to their mission.
Weis Trio embarks on their 2016-2017 season with several concerts in Pennsylvania and France. The members of the Trio would like to thank the Weis family for their generous contributions to the arts at Bucknell University and for the use of their name.
The Program
Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, op. 83
Max Bruch (1838-1920)
Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
Nino Rota (1911-1979)
Trio-Miniaturen
Paul Juon (1872-1940)
Fantasy Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano, op. 26
Robert Muczynski (1929-2010)
The Musicians
Colleen Hartung, clarinet, received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University and earned Master’s of Music and Bachelor’s of Music degrees at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. An active freelance musician, Hartung has performed with the Allentown Symphony, the Williamsport Symphony, the Winston- Salem Symphony, Opera Roanoke, the Roanoke Symphony, and the Ashlawn Opera Festival. She has also been a participant at the Banff Centre for the Arts. While teaching at the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, Hartung was a founding member of the Sunderman Woodwind Quintet, which regularly performed on the East Coast. In 2014 she along with violinist, Marcus Smolensky, premiered Ryan Woodward’s Suite for Clarinet and Violin at the International Clarinet Association’s Mid-America Clarinet Festival. Hartung is currently an Artist Affiliate at Bucknell University.
Lisa Caravan, cello, is Assistant Professor of Music at Bucknell University. Dr. Caravan is an experienced performer in solo and chamber recitals and orchestral concerts. As soloist, she has appeared with the Bucknell Orchestra, Greater Rochester Women’s Orchestra, and the Credo Summer Orchestra at Oberlin Conservatory. She has collaborated with notable performers including pianists Kevin Moore and Sar Shalom Strong, clarinetist/saxophonist Ronald L. Caravan and Todd Wilson, Head of the Organ Department at The Cleveland Institute of Music; violinist Jo Nardolillo in the premiere performance of Cutting Contest by Mark Olivieri; and performed Kamran Ince’s MKG Variations for solo cello and other works at Heidelberg College’s New Music Festival. She served as the assistant principal cellist in the Binghamton Philharmonic and performed with numerous orchestras including Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Columbus Symphony (GA), Charleston Symphony, Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, and Mercury Opera Orchestra. Recent engagements include performances in Savannah with her piano quartet La Bonne Chanson, Charleston Symphony, and Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. She holds degrees from Temple University and Eastman School of Music.
Sezi Seskir received her first degree in piano in her native, Ankara, Turkey. She went on with her studies in Lübeck Musikhochschule, in Germany with Prof. Konstanze Eickhorst, where in 2005 she completed degrees both in artistic and pedagogical piano. Along with many solo recitals she gave in Europe, USA and Turkey, she also performed with various orchestras as a soloist, performing Schumann’s A-minor piano concerto Op.54, Ravel’s Concerto in G major and W.A. Mozart’s K.414 A-major piano concerto. Seskir completed her D.M.A. degree with Malcolm Bilson in Cornell University. Her research focuses on the use of tempo rubato in Robert Schumann’s keyboard music, as well as historical keyboards and performance practices of the 18th and the 19th centuries. She has given several guest lectures at schools such as UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Trinity College of London. She presented her work on Schumann at the King’s College of London, at American Musicological Society’s (AMS) 2010 and 2012 meetings and at the Basel Musikhochschule in Switzerland at a Schumann conference. Her article based on this last presentation recently appeared in a collected edition named “Schumann Interpretieren” by Studio Verlag. Seskir is currently a visiting assistant professor of music at Bucknell University and is the editor of Schumann’s keyboard works for the Schumann complete edition and Bärenreiter publishing house.