Of heroes ... and heroines.

Heroic ... Passionate ... Noble ...

These three words describe some of history's most wonderful music; they also describe the manner in which this spectacular trio performs--electric, exciting, powerful. The Eroica Trio more than lives up to its name and is quickly becoming one of the most celebrated and well-respected chamber groups in America. To MTNA audiences, composed of those who dedicate their lives to nurturing developing musicians, this group represents an ultimate success of the American system of music education. Born out of shared childhood music experiences, taught and encouraged by family, teachers and coaches, the group now combines an intensive performing and recording career with teaching and nurturing a new generation of musicians. It will be MTNA's pleasure to feature the Eroica Trio at the 2002 MTNA National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

History

At age 9, pianist Erika Nickrenz and violinist Adela Pena played sonatas together at the Greenwich House Music School in New York, probably having little idea of the exciting musical future in store for them. Two years later, Erika met a young cellist named Sara Sant'Ambrogio, the granddaughter of Erika's teacher at Red Fox Music Camp, and a connection between three extraordinary musicians was made--a lifetime connection resulting in a glorious and exciting collaboration to this day.

The childhood collaborations of these musicians became a connection of musical and artistic families as well--the relationships are myriad; teenager Adela coached with Sara's father, and both Sara's and Erika's fathers served as chamber music coaches for the developing group. Also, Erika's mother has been the producer of the Trio's CDs with Angel/EMI Classics Records.

The young musicians had the incredible fortune to be a part of a collective web of world-accomplished artists that included John Sant'Ambrogio, principal cellist of the St. Louis Symphony; Scott Nickrenz, noted violist; and Joanna Nickrenz, three-time GRAMMY Award winner. These artists served as teachers, mentors, supporters and facilitators throughout the Trio's early years and still provide a high level of involvement and support.

Today, the women who make up the Eroica Trio are each top-ranked, award-winning soloists who have performed on many of the world's great stages. Their current activities include performances as soloists as well as Trio activities. The Trio took its name from Beethoven's passionate Third Symphony ("Eroica"). Italian for "heroic," it is a word that aptly reflects the ensemble's approach to their art. This ensemble electrifies the concert stage with their combination of technical virtuosity, vivid artistic interpretation and contagious exuberance in performance.

Performance Activities

During the 2001-2002 season, the Eroica Trio will perform more than eighty concerts throughout the United States and abroad, including engagements in Ravinia, Los Angeles, Portland, Honolulu, Cincinnati, Houston and Seattle. Their international tours will include Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Korea, Taiwan and Europe. The Carnegie Hall "Neighborhood Concerts" series features the Eroica Trio as well.

The quote at the beginning of this article implied that the Eroica Trio looks differently from our preconceived idea of a piano trio--they also sound different. Yes, they play the standard trio repertoire; in fact, the Beethoven Triple Concerto has become a signature piece for the Trio. They have performed it with many of the world's finest orchestras, including symphonies in Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Utah and the New World Symphony and Mostly Mozart Orchestra.

However, the repertoire chosen by Nickerenz, Sant'Ambrogio and Pena is expansive, innovative and extremely exciting. At many of their concerts, they mix the masterpieces of the literature with works such as Piazzolla's Tangos and Paul Schoenfield's Cafe Music, works offering the opportunity for varying styles, including jazz, spirituals and theater music.

Accolades

The awards and accolades given the Eroica Trio are numerous and enthusiastic; many of them, including their Bronze Medal at the famed Tchaikovsky Competition, are listed below. They also have received an unprecedented level of attention by the print media, in some cases in publications that have previously shown little or no interest in classical chamber music performance. These include Elle, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Detour, Marie Claire, Bon Appetit, Time Out New York, Strings, Piano, Gramophone and Chamber Music. The same level of fascination has been shown in the television world, where the trio has been featured on ABC's The View, CNN's Showbiz Today and Worldbeat, the CBS and ABC News, CBS Saturday Morning, A&E's Breakfast with the Arts, the Oxygen Network, Bloomberg TV and Fox's The Crier Report.

Educational Activities

The Eroica Trio are active educators through their residencies and many appearances. During the current season they will complete teaching and performing residencies at Portland State University, University of Washington and Columbus State University. They also give numerous concerts, master classes and shows to elementary and high schools throughout the country.

Each summer, the Trio performs at music festivals throughout the world, including the Hollywood Bowl, Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia and Spoleto, Italy.

Performers

Erika Nickrenz, pianist

Pianist Erika Nickrenz is an artist of great versatility and breadth. She is the child of professional musicians Joanna Nickrenz, a concert pianist, and Scott Nickrenz, violist and artistic director of the Gardner Museum Series (Boston). Erika's piano study began at age 6, with German Diez at the Claudio Arrau School (New York). Later, she received both bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Abbey Simon and Felix Galimir.

After making her concerto debut at age 11 in New York's Town Hall, she has enjoyed an international solo and chamber career. Nickrenz has toured with "Music from Marlboro," toured Australia with Chamber Soloists USA and recorded for Musical Heritage/Music Masters and ASV London labels. The opening night of PBS's Live from Lincoln Center series featured a performance of selections from Mussourgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, performed by Nickrenz. She has played as a soloist and chamber musician at the Marlboro, Tanglewood and Spoleto Festivals.

Chamber music was an interest of hers from a young age through her Juilliard years, and today. She has collaborated with many artists, including violinists Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, Joseph Swenson and Ani Kavafian, and cellists Carter Brey and Colin Carr.

Erika's interest in chamber music extends beyond the performance hall into her own teaching activities. As chair of the Music Department at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights (1991-1997), she created an outstanding precollege program in chamber music.

Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cellist

Sara Sant'Ambrogio's last name links her to Italy's Saint Ambrose, patron saint of the arts. In her case, Saint Ambrose has heaped rich musical blessings upon this young cellist. After studying with her father, John Sant'Ambrogio (principal cellist for the St. Louis Symphony) until age 16, Sara moved to Philadelphia to attend the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with cellist David Soyer of the Guarneri String Quartet. After three years at Curtis, Leonard Rose invited her to enroll at the Juilliard School, where Sara studied with the renowned violin teacher Felix Galimir. Within weeks of her arrival at Juilliard, she won the Juilliard Schumann Competition, prompting her first performance at Lincoln Center.

Sant'Ambrogio's accomplishments are numerous and wide-ranging, including a 1986 International Tchaikovsky Competition Bronze Medal, which resulted in concert tours across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Canada. Her recital at the "Festival of Concerts," held to celebrate the renovation of Carnegie Hall, was broadcast nationally on CBS News. And, in 1991, She performed on a recording of Bernstein's Arias and Barcaroles, which won a coveted GRAMMY award.

Active as both a soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in St. Louis, Dallas, Moscow and Boston.

Multifaceted as an individual, as well as a musician, Sara played a role in the feature film Winning Colors (Miramax Films) and performed on the Electra rock CD Vast in 1998.

Adela Pena, violinist

Born in New York, Adela Pena listened to the recordings of Jascha Heifetz as an infant; her parents recount that she cried when they would switch off the recording. And at age 4, she asked for a violin. Her parents took her to the famed Henry Street Music School to study with Rochelle Walton. She also studied chamber music at Greenwich House, which was where she met the young pianist Erika Nickrenz.

While later enrolled in the precollege program at the Juilliard School of Music, Adela studied with Margaret Pardee, a disciple of violinist and teacher Ivan Galamian. Her first international performing experience came after winning Juilliard's Mendelssohn Violin Competition and being chosen to represent the United States in an international festival of young violinists.

Active as both a member of the Eroica Trio and as a soloist, Pena has a wide list of competition and performance credits, including a first prize at the Washington International competition, and solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and concerts throughout United States, Europe, and South America, as well as live broadcasts on European television. She has appeared as a soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Caracas Symphony and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta.

Adela plays a violin made by Jean-Baptists Vuillaume in Paris, 1846, and is a member of the New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble and concertmaster of the Orphus Chamber Ensemble.

Awards and Accomplishments

* 1991 Naumberg Award
* Lincoln Center debut
* Multiple GRAMMY nominations
* Five-record contract with Angel/EMI Classics Records
* "Debut Recording of the Year" (NPR's "Performance
  Today")
* "Top Ten Recordings of 1997" (Time Out New York)
* Nine months on Billboard's Top Twenty Chart
  ("Baroque")

The Eroica Trio will perform Sunday, March 17, 8:00 P.M., in the Cincinnati Convention Center Ballroom during the 2002 MTNA National Conference.

Editor's note: You may read more about the Eroica Trio on their web site, www.eroicatrio.com, where much of the material for this article was obtained.

Kathleen Rountree is dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Northern Colorado. She has written numerous articles on piano literature and edited two anthologies for Warner Publications. She is chair of the American Music Teacher editorial committee.