The latest installment of the music department's Teatime Concert Series will commemorate the bicentennial of the death of renowned composer Franz Joseph Haydn with a performance of two of his classical piano trios.
The trio consists of Music Department Chair Mary Hunter on the violin, her husband and chair of the Bates music department James Parakilas on piano, and Steven Witkin, a local musician and principle cellist of the Colby symphony, on cello. The trio has been playing together for two years.
The featured pieces are representative of late 18th-century English domestic music and are not traditionally performed together.
Hunter said the music is "varied and wonderful," particularly because of the "inventive" way in which Haydn blends the three instruments together.
Haydn is universally regarded as one of the most prolific classical composers, yet the trios are "not standard pieces of classical repertory," said Hunter.
Haydn's work showcases a unique blend of sounds that have earned world renown. The concert offers the chance to hear distinctive classical pieces performed by musicians from around the Brunswick area.
The Teatime Concert Series is a music department program that invites local and visiting musicians to showcase their talents in Studzinski Recital Hall three or four times per semester. The concerts regularly occur on Friday afternoons and local artists, professors and applied music teachers are invited to perform.
The concerts are open to the public and bring many local Brunswick residents to campus.
"It's a nice way to end the week for the community," says Hunter.
This week's Teatime Concert will be held today at 4 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall.