Gobin Music Festival continues Wednesday with Edberg, Travers

Sunday, June 12, 2016
Eric Edberg (Courtesy photo)

Cellist Eric Edberg, praised by the Washington Post for an "excellent solo performance" and the New York Times for his "appealing tone" and emotional range, will be joined by violinist Tarn Travers in Wednesday's Greencastle Summer Music Festival concert at Gobin Church.

The festival's 7:30 p.m. concerts are free, supported by contributions by individuals, an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation, and businesses including the Inn at DePauw.

Both Edberg, the festival's founding artistic director, and Travers, making his first appearance at the festival, are professors at DePauw University School of Music. Edberg joined the faculty in 1988 and Travers in 2015.

The program features music by J. S. Bach and Maurice Ravel.

"This is my first performance of Bach's Sixth Suite for Solo Cello," Edberg said. "It is one of his most joyful and transcendentally beautiful works. Originally written for a five-string instrument, it is particularly challenging when playing on a modern four-string cello. It's a monument in the cello repertoire, and I'm both excited and, to tell the truth, at times a bit scared about playing it. But I know there's no more supportive audience for my first time playing this extraordinary music, nor any group of people I'd love to share it with more than my summer music festival friends here in my hometown."

Travers, recently appointed to Chicago's widely-acclaimed Ensemble dal Niente, will join Edberg for Ravel's "Duo for Violin and Cello."

"This is a magical piece of music," Edberg said. "Ravel had such an extraordinary musical imagination. At times it sounds as if an entire string quartet is playing. He takes us to so many musical worlds.

"Our festival is dedicated to the idea of friends making music for friends. Tarn and I have become both personal and musical friends this past year, and we really enjoy playing together. I'm very enthusiastic about introducing him to our summer audience."

Violinist Travers has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a soloist and a chamber musician. As a former member of the New World Symphony, he frequently acted as concertmaster, and appeared as a concerto soloists with the orchestra three times, once in each session spent with the ensemble. Recent performance highlights include a performance of the Sibelius Concerto in Vienna's Konzerthaus, an appearance at the Library of Congress with Chicago-based new music ensemble Dal Niente, as well as concerto and chamber music appearances in Austria, Chicago, New York, Miami, Minneapolis and throughout the United States.

Travers' recordings include Maria Newman's Triple Concerto released in 2010, and a CD of chamber music by Beethoven, Brahms and Brooke Joyce, released in 2011 as a member of the Luther College String Trio with Miko Kominami. A devoted teacher, Tarn joined faculty of DePauw in 2015 to teach violin and chamber music after teaching at Luther College for four years, and has also taught abroad in Haiti and at AlpenKammerMusik in Austria.

Edberg is a critically acclaimed classical and improvising cellist, concert organizer, workshop leader, and drum circle facilitator committed to connecting and enlivening people through music. Founder and artistic director of the Greencastle Summer Music Festival, which for 12 summers has "brought the community together with friends making music for friends," he has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.

Tarn Travers (Courtesy photo)

Dedicated to music as a healing force and to bringing classical music to nontraditional locations, Edberg has played in nursing homes, schools, hospitals, prisons and even the New York City subways. At DePauw, where he is the Cassel Grubb University Professor of Music, he coaches of one of the country's few cross-genre improvisation ensembles and teaches courses on music entrepreneurship and innovative concert presentation. Edberg attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and also studied at Juilliard, Peabody, SUNY Stony Brook and Florida State University.

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