Ensemble Music Society season set
Ahn Trio will open, and Latin American and Scandinavian acts will make their debuts.

By Whitney Smith
whitney.smith@indystar.com

The Ensemble Music Society's next season at the Indiana History Center will feature debuts by Latin American and Scandinavian groups, the return of a sister act and the chamber music presenter's first jazz concert.

The Ahn Trio will return to Indianapolis to open the season in September. The St. Petersburg String Quartet will be back as well, for an April 2006 engagement.

New to the Ensemble Music Society will be the Camerata Nordica string orchestra, set for October; the flute-cello-piano group Triangulo in February; a trio featuring violinist Ani Kavafian, pianist Andre-Michel Schub and clarinetist David Shifrin in March; and the Bill Charlap Trio in May 2006.

Ensemble Music Society concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the Indiana History Center's Basile Theater, 450 W. Ohio St. For subscriptions or more details, call (317) 254-8915.

The Ahn Trio, scheduled for Sept. 28, played its first Ensemble Music Society concert in 2003. Formed in the 1980s, the piano trio consists of violinist Angella, pianist Lucia and her twin sister, cellist Maria Ahn. Commissioning and performing music has been a key part of the Ahn Trio's career. There have been premieres of works by Eric Ewazen, Kenji Bunch and Maurice Jarre.

Camerata Nordica (Oct. 26) was known until recently as Camerata Sweden on tour. When the 15-piece string orchestra plays at home in Sweden, it goes by Camerata Roman. The local program will feature Jean Sibelius' Suite for Violin and Strings, Edvard Grieg's "Holberg Suite" and Benjamin Britten's "Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge."

Triangulo (Feb. 22) consists of Venezuelan flutist Marco Granados of the New School faculty in New York; Brazilian cellist Gustavo Tavares, who is artistic director of Rutgers University's Latin American chamber music project; and Pablo Zinger, a pianist, conductor and writer from Uruguay. This season, Triangulo toured South Africa and Slovenia.

The Kavafian-Schub-Shifrin Trio (March 15) features three artists with prominent solo careers. Shifrin is not only a clarinetist, but also the artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

The St. Petersburg String Quartet (April 5) last performed for the Ensemble Music Society in 2000. Its members -- violinists Alla Aranovskaya and David Chernyavsky, violist Boris Vayner and cellist Leonid Shukayev -- were born or studied in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, the group is based in the United States and was in residence at Ohio's Oberlin Conservatory of Music until 2003.

The Bill Charlap Trio (May 3) marks what Ensemble Music Society President Pamela Steele called "a major departure for us, having jazz in the series." The trio includes Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. Charlap is a pianist; the Washingtons are not related.

Call Star reporter Whitney Smith at (317) 444-6226.