The Mendelssohn Trio performed several concerts this summer in Europe. The trio, formed in 1988, is named after CSU faculty member Barbara Thiem’s great grandfather, Franz von Mendelssohn, nephew of the German composer Felix Mendelssohn of the early Romantic period. The group also features Erik Peterson on violin, and Theodor Lichmann on piano
The trio started on May 26 in Salzburg at the Maria-Anna-Mozart-Gesellschaft, an organization devoted to women composers through the centuries. The concert was downtown, behind the big cathedral in the hall of the cathedral choir, and the program included works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Ellen Taaffe Zwillich, Clara Schumann, and Frank Martin. On May 28, the group performed in a small city of Upper Austria as part of a chamber music series in the local music school where the group also played the first trio by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Both concerts were well attended and enthusiastically received.
From there, the group travelled to Berlin where they performed Mendelssohn-specific events, including a matinee in the original bank building of the Mendelssohn private bank, which, since the war, has become a museum for the family. The next evening, there was a house concert in the home of a Mendelssohn Society patron.
The final concert was in Geneva, Switzerland, in the Salle des Abeilles on June 4. "As usual in Europe, the response of the audience was very indicative of their approval, and at receptions after the concerts, many gave us a lot of feedback and wishes to come back," said Thiem.