Allegheny Trio Performs 'Spice of Life' Concert September 29

SALISBURY, MD---The Allegheny Trio performs its fall concert “Spice of Life” 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 29, at Asbury United Methodist Church, 1401 Camden Ave.

The trio is joined by guest soprano Jennifer Hope Wills and SU student showcase performers Christopher Sajadi and Geneque Garrison.

The program features works by a rich mélange of composers from 19th century to the present including the Piano Trio in d minor by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Élégie by Jules Massenet and Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel.

Wills, a professor of the practice in the Music, Theatre and Dance Department, spent almost four years starring as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, performing the role nearly 1,000 times. Other Broadway credits include her critically acclaimed portrayal of Eileen in Wonderful Town, opposite Brooke Shields; The Woman in White; and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Comprised of cellist Jeffrey Schoyen, violinist Sachiho Murasugi and pianist Ernest Barretta, the trio is named for the Allegheny River, which flows through the Pittsburgh area where the musicians originally played together. They reunited as a trio upon moving to the Eastern Shore.

Conductor and music director of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and the Salisbury Youth Orchestra, Schoyen teaches cello and bass at SU. He has given concerts throughout the United States, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Ecuador, and received a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant to study in London with William Pleeth. He is also a Tanglewood Gustav Golden Award recipient. Schoyen honed his cello skills at the New England Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Mellon University, before earning his D.M.A. at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Murasugi has performed extensively as a professional orchestral and chamber musician. She has been concertmaster of the Filarmonica del Bajio in Mexico, and a member of the West Virginia Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic and Springfield Symphony. She received the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant in chamber music and has performed in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Museo del Prado, and the Music Center at Strathmore. She is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music and holds a D.M.A. from Ohio State University. Currently she is currently concertmaster for the SSO.

A successful soloist and chamber musician, Barretta has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. A member of the piano faculty at Juilliard School of Music, he has appeared at the Seoul Music Festival and Academy in South Korea. A collaborative artist, he has played with such internationally recognized musicians as baritone Christopher Robertson and trumpeter Terry Everson. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory and earned a D.M.A. from Peabody Conservatory.

Sponsored by the Music, Theater and Dance Department, admission is free with advance registration at the online box office, www.salisbury.edu/performingarts.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website.