Trio Nota to Perform at MSU’s Reynolds Music Hall
Trio Nota will perform in Montana State University’s Reynolds Recital Hall on Saturday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. This concert will feature Gregory Young on the clarinet, Kris Williams on the cello and Chris Biehl on the piano. Tickets to the performance are $10 per person for the public and $5 per person for students and will be available at the door. The Reynolds Recital Hall is located on South 11 Avenue, across from the MSU Duck Pond.
Although the name Trio Nota is new, the trio have played together in the Bozeman area for years. This year’s program includes: Poulenc’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, 3 individual short solos for each instrument (not named), Piazzolla’s Winter and Spring from the Four Seasons for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, and Kahn’s Clarinet Trio (Montana premier of this piece).
Gregory Young joined the music faculty at Montana State University in 1988 and was the founding director of the Undergraduate Scholars Program and University College. He has served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, and Director of the School of Music. Currently clarinetist with the Intermountain Opera and Bozeman Symphony Orchestra. He received a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Michigan. Young has taught at the University of Prince Edward Island, Memorial University of Newfoundland, the University of Western Ontario, and has lectured or performed on five continents. The United States Information Agency sponsored his concert tour of Brazil with the Kreutzer Trio and soprano Elisabeth Croy, and he has toured as soloist and conductor of the MSU Cello Ensemble throughout Europe and China. As clarinet soloist and composer, he toured Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand with the MSU Symphony in 2009. His book, “Creative Inquiry in the Arts & Humanities: Models of Undergraduate Research”, with co-editors Shanahan and Yavneh, was published in 2011 by the Council on Undergraduate Research. He is currently composing a symphonic work for the Bozeman Symphony.
Kris Williams attended the University of Washington, studying with Eva Heinitz. She was twice awarded the prestigious Brechemin Scholarship for excellence in performance. She became a member of the U of W String Quartet studying for two years with the Philadelphia String Quartet, and also performing in concert with them. She began studying with Gabor Rejto at the Music Academy of the West and by his invitation at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She also attended the Claremont Music Festival studying with Joel Krosnick of the Julliard String Quartet and chamber music with Charles Libove and Koen Van Slogteren. Winning a national audition for a string quartet residency in New York she became a member of the Acadia St. Quartet as artists-in-residence at Elmira University. She studied chamber music with the Lenox Quartet and cello with Donald McCall. While in New York she was principal cellist with the Tri-Cities Opera Co. and gave a world premiere for solo cello by Michael Convertino. Shortly after this Kris suffered a broken back, which brought her career to an end. At this same time, she had received an offer to audition for the Kronos St. Quartet and an invitation to audition for Rostropovich in Washington D.C. but her injury was too severe. Now, 34 years later, she has returned to the cello. She is currently teaching, performing and is a member of the Billings Symphony.
Chris Biehl began playing the piano at age 5 and received his first formation from Dorothy Dahlstrom, a pupil of Rudolph Wendt, who was himself a graduate form the Eastman School of Music, a pupil of a pupil of Franz List, and Professor of piano at the University of Montana in Missoula. After many successes in grade and high school, including top scores at all the district and state music festivals, Chris went on to study with Rudolph Wendt at the University of Montana. He played many recitals around the state, both solo and chamber music. He won first prize in the Beethoven competition at the Northwest Music Festival in Spokane Washington his Sophomore year He graduated with honors in applied piano, and shortly thereafter moved to Paris, France. Chris was fortunate to become one of the few private piano students of Nadia Boulanger, legendary teacher of many greast pianists and composers. At the same time he was accompanist in the studios of Patrcia Brinton, student of Jennie Tourel and Eleanor Steber and Germaine Lubin, famed interpreter of Strauss and Wagner. Chris moved back to Montana in 2013 to be closer to family, and was embraced by the Montana State University Faculty of Music as an accompanist at large, and has been accompanying students and Faculty members ever since, both vocal and instrumental. Chris has his own private studio at the Emerson Center for the Arts in downtown Bozeman, where he teaches piano and voice, and continues composing.
