Trio Concert Opens UW Faculty Recital Series Oct. 14

The University of Wyoming Department of Music’s Faculty Recital Series opens the fall season with “Trio Concert” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

The concert is free and open to the public. The performance also will livestream at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqhcdmYll_g.

The Formosa Duo is composed of Chi-Chen Wu, a UW Department of Music associate professor, on piano, and Sam Ou, a New England Conservatory (NEC) and School of Continuing Education faculty member, on cello. Clarinetist Blake McGee, a UW associate professor of music, will join the duo in the concert. Music will feature Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11 by Ludwig van Beethoven; “Fantasy Trio” by Robert Muczynski; and Trio in A minor, Op. 114 by Johannes Brahms.

During the 2019-2020 season, the group presented trio concerts at NEC in Boston, Mass., and Killian Hall in Cambridge, Mass.

Since earning their respective Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from NEC, Wu and Ou have collaborated as the Formosa Duo for more than a decade. While maintaining music faculty positions at their respective schools, the duo have individually appeared as recitalists, chamber musicians and concerto soloists around the world.

As a duo, Wu and Ou studied with Irma Vallecillo and Laurence Lesser at NEC. The diverse repertoire they have performed encompasses a wide stylistic span, from the Classical and Romantic periods, through the 20th century and into the present. Particularly, contemporary music is a passion for both musicians. 

A native of the West Coast, McGee has performed as a member of the Portland Opera, Vancouver Symphony and the Oregon Mozart Players chamber orchestra. He currently is principal clarinet of the Wyoming Symphony and second clarinet with the Cheyenne Symphony.

For more information, email Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at kirisk@uwyo.edu.