The Mendelssohn Trio – featuring Barbara Thiem (former CSU cello professor), Erik Peterson, and CSU piano professor Bryan Wallick – recently returned from a summer tour in Europe.

Enjoy this message about the experience from Barbara Thiem, whose great grandfather, Franz von Mendelssohn, was a nephew of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, for whom the ensemble is named. Welcome back to the Trio – don't miss their concert at the University Center for the Arts on Monday, Sept. 12. Tickets.

The first concert was in Switzerland in a spectacular mountain valley above Luzerne called Engelberg. There is an old monastery, still in use by monks and as a private school. Besides the main church it has a "Baroque" Hall which is regularly used for concerts. It was very live, a bit hard to balance with a piano. As it turns out, Felix Mendelssohn visited this town and monastery also. We had a connection – and a lively audience, including some of the resident monks.

Our next event was in Austria near my place on Traunsee where we also played a house concert. Schloss Rosenegg was an old Cistercian Monastery, the lighting largely by candles. Again very appreciative audience and hosts.\

Now off to Berlin where the Mendelssohn Society had invited descendants of Moses Mendelssohn to a series of concerts, lectures and exhibits. Our first concert was in the countryside at an old estate of the East, renovated by a Western buyer, in fact the director of the Mendelssohn Gesellschaft Andre Schmitz. Impressive park and interior decorations. A full hall of many Mendelssohn family members and local friends of the owner.

The next evening was a concert in the original Mendelssohn Bank house on Jägerstrasse in the middle of Berlin. While the rest of the large building has been sold, the society has retained an area for concerts and an exhibit of family memorabilia. It is called Remise--the area where the horse carriages used to be housed! Excellent audience again, many good comments and conversations to be expected in such circumstances.

The last trio concert was a cooperative evening of readings and music in the central Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt, just across from Jägerstrasse. We played a couple of movements of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's trio, and there were readings of Moses Mendelssohn's letters. 

My colleagues left me to finish the festival with a performance of the first Bach Suite at an Award Ceremony of the Moses Mendelssohn Prize for "Encouraging tolerance of other beliefs between states and religions" to the prominent sociologist and philosopher Prof. Dr. Jan Philipp Reemtsma, the one requesting the Bach suite! It was quite a grand affair with prominent attendees like the former German president and the mayor of Berlin. A fitting end to a stimulating time before heading back to Fort Collins!