The Poulenc Trio is the most active touring piano-wind chamber music ensemble in the world. Since its founding in 2003, the Trio has performed in more than 30 U.S. states and at music festivals around the world, including the Ravello Festival in Italy, the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico, and the White Nights Festival in Russia, where the group toured with and premiered two new works with violinist Hilary Hahn.
In a recent review, the New York Times praised the Trio for its “elegant rendition” of Piazolla’s Tangos. The Washington Post said the trio “does its namesake proud” in “an intriguing and beautifully played program” with “convincing elegance, near effortless lightness and grace.” A recent performance in Florida – for which the Palm Beach Post praised the group’s “polished loveliness” and the Palm Beach Daily News said the “potent combination” of oboe bassoon and piano had “captured the magic of chamber music”-is regularly rebroadcast on American Public Media’sPerformance Today nationally syndicated radio program. The Trio has garnered positive attention in recent full-length profiles by Chamber Music magazine, and by the Double Reed Journal. The group has been called “virtuosos of classical and contemporary chamber music” in one profile for Russian television.
The Poulenc Trio has a strong commitment to commissioning, performing and recording new works from living composers. Since its founding, the Trio has greatly expanded the repertoire available for the oboe, bassoon and piano , with 20 new works written for and premiered by the group, including three triple concertos for Trio and full orchestra.
The Trio has also made a commitment to explore and promote musics that reflect its members’ African, Pan-American, Eastern European and Jewish roots. Recent concerts have featured works by Afro-Cuban jazz great Paquito D’Rivera, Mexican-American composer Carlos Medina, Russian-American composer Natalyia Medvedovskaya and Yiddish Lexicon, an exploration of Hebrew culture by composer Jakov Jakoulov.
Starting in 2004, the Trio started a pioneering concert series called Music at the Museum, in which musical performances are paired with museum exhibitions, with special appearances from guest artists and curators. As part of the series, the Trio has collaborated with the National Gallery in Washington DC, the Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art and the Hermitage State Museum in Russia. Guest artist collaborators have included violinist Hilary Hahn, the Thibaud Trio of Berlin, soprano Hyunah Yu, and clarinetists Alexander Fiterstein and Anthony McGill.
The Trio is deeply engaged in musical and educational outreach programs, including Pizza and Poulenc, an informal performance and residency series for younger audiences around the United States. The Trio regularly conducts masterclasses, with recent engagements at the University of Ohio, San Francisco State University, Florida State University and the University of Colima in Mexico.
–Updated Fall 2011.
Individual Bios
Irina Kaplan, piano
Irina Kaplan, now in her 20th year on the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory’s Preparatory Division, was trained in the famous tradition of piano playing at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia.
As an educator, Kaplan has performed and conducted masterclasses and workshops at Ohio State University, Florida State University, the University of Kansas, University of Georgia, Brigham Young University, the University of Miami, San Francisco State University, the University of Milan in Italy, and the University of Colima in Mexico, among others. Her students have participated in numerous competitions and have acheived successful placements at prestigious music schools and universities across the country.
In recent years, Kaplan has collaborated with such notable artists as Hilary Hahn and Anthony McGill, and has performed at festivals including the White Nights Festival in Russia, the Ravello, Amalfi Coast and Alba festivals in Italy, and the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico.
Over the course of her career, Kaplan has championed the performance and promotion of new music, and with the Poulenc Trio has commissioned over twenty new compositions. Kaplan has been featured numerous times in live performance on the nationally-syndicated radio program Performance Today.
Vladimir Lande, oboe
Vladimir Lande is the Principal Guest Conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (Russia). He is a guest conductor of the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington D.C.; Music Director of the COSMIC Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Washington D.C., and Johns Hopkins University Chamber Orchestra. He regularly appears as Conductor with the Donetsk Ballet Company in Europe and the United States. In the U.S., Vladimir has appeared as guest conductor with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Vladimir’s recent tours have taken him to New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom (including a performance in Cathedral St. Martin’s in the Field, London), Italy, Russia, and most of the United States. During the 2011-2012 Season, Vladimir will lead the St. Petersburg Symphony on their tour of the United States (including a performance at Alice Tully Hall), Mexico (including Servantino Festivale ), and South America (including Teatro Colon Buenos Aires).
As conductor with the St. Petersburg Symphony, Vladimir has released recent recordings on the Naxos, Arabesque and Marquis labels.
Bryan Young, bassoon
A winner of the Gillet International Bassoon Competition, Bryan has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra. The Washington Post writes that his playing ‘dances with a lightness and grace uncommon for his instrument,’ and the Baltimore Sun has praised his ‘particularly beautiful playing, technical agility and understated elegance.’ Bryan serves as the principal bassoonist of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and is a member of the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis. Bryan studied at the Peabody Conservatory with Linda Harwell and at Yale with Frank Morelli.
In addition to his musical activities, Bryan is the leader of Intertwine Systems, a software company that he founded in 1999. Bryan was recently featured on the front page of the Baltimore Business Journal as a mobile software entrepreneur to watch. Intertwine was recently awarded a large grant by the State of Maryland to develop iPad-based medical software for cardiologists, in collaboration with the University of Maryland and futurist Alvin Toffler. An avid sailor, Bryan is a co-owner and chief technology advisor to SailTime, the world’s largest fractional sailing company.