Silent Voices Remembered

On Thursday, May 2^nd at 7:30pm the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation and Temple Ahavat Achim will jointly host the Essex Piano Trio in a concert called ‘Silent Voices Remembered’ in the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church. This is the third in a semi-annual series for the worldwide day of commemoration of the Holocaust, Yom Hashoah.

About the Essex Piano Trio

After playing together for several years throughout coastal Massachusetts, the musical friends known as the Essex Piano Trio (EPT) formalized their working relationship in 2017 and adopted the signature “Conversation among Friends” concert format, a descriptive title borrowed from American biographer Catherine Bowen. The trio’s primary goal has been to grow as musicians while making the best music possible to share with its audiences.

All from Essex County communities along the North Shore, violinist Ashley Offret of Salem, cellist David Cabral of Lynn, and pianist Beverly Soll of Rockport believe that their “Conversation among Friends” approach reflects their relationship to the music and to each other. As David has observed, “Making serious chamber music can be very difficult, and it is a challenge to find partners who mesh well personally and artistically. When people see us perform, they see not only our ability but also our passion for music and our great affection for each other, all of which enhance our performances.”

EPT members bring many perspectives from their academic backgrounds and professional lives as educators and performers to their collective as a trio. Pianist Beverly Soll (University of Illinois and University of Maryland) holds a DMA in chamber music/piano. Ashley Offret is a violinist (University of Maine) and music historian (MM, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music). Cellist David Cabral studied at the Boston Conservatory but works as chief echocardiographer at Boston Medical Center’s Department of Pediatric Cardiology.

Although the subject is dark, the music is gorgeous, representing the work of five composers. The concert is offered as an inspirational musical remembrance, which portrays and mourns the atrocities of the Holocaust, celebrates the courage and resilience of those who survived, and recognizes the tragic loss of all people targeted by senseless hatred and violence.

The Program

• Poem, a poignant movement from Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Piano Trio, op. 24, of 1945
• Piano Trio No. 2, by 1944 by Dmitri Shostakovich, a close friend and colleague of Weinberg
• Suite in Memory of Polish Victims of the Holocaust, by Yitzhak Edel, of prayers and dances
• Silent Voices, by Benjamin Lees, premiered at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Yiddish Dances, by David Ludwig, Klezmer-like, joyful dance music