Zion Trio to Perform at UW March 28

The University of Wyoming Department of Music will host Utah’s Zion Trio for an evening of music for violin, cello and piano Thursday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m.

The free public concert will take place in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall.

The program will feature Piano Trio in G major by Claude Debussy; Notturno in E-flat major, Op. 148, D. 897 by Franz Schubert; and Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 76 by Joaquin Turina.

The Zion Trio is composed of Paul Abegg, violin; Christian Bohnenstengel, piano; and Ka-Wai Yu, cello. The ensemble has been bringing major works from the standard repertoire for piano trio to southern Utah for several years.

The Zion Trio’s diverse repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Piazzolla, Ravel, Shostakovich and Paul Schoenfield. The trio has performed Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” with the Orchestra of Southern Utah and has been featured at the Utah American String Teachers Association’s (ASTA) Midwinter Workshop.

Abegg is a professor of music and director of strings and orchestras at Utah Tech University. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in Brazil, England, France and Japan. He served as concertmaster of the Southwest Symphony for five years, and he has participated in numerous orchestra festivals. He has presented master classes and has served as an adjudicator and clinician at competitions and festivals throughout the U.S. Additionally, he has recorded extensively for film and television scores.

Bohnenstengel has served as director of keyboard studies at Southern Utah University (SUU) since 2011. His performances have taken him throughout the United States and to South America, Asia and Europe. Bohnenstengel is a founding member of SUU’s faculty jazz combo Kind of Blue, and he frequently performs with various jazz ensembles and combos. He also has performed on public radio and presented at state, regional, national and international conferences.

Yu is an associate professor of music at Utah Tech University, where he teaches cello and string chamber music. He has presented master classes at numerous universities and institutions in North America, Europe and Asia, and he has taught in music camps and workshops. Yu is past president of Utah ASTA; artistic director of the Cello Society of Southern Utah; and director of the annual Cello Festival of Southern Utah. He has performed in Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.S.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.