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Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Bonham and friends to perform program of romantic music

Feb. 16, 2023

Poster of March 4 concert by Trillium piano trio

Maryville College will present the piano trio Trillium in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus. Admission is free, and the performance is open to the public.

This program features romantic music from a single decade composed by four individuals who were friends and represented two families, according to trio leader and Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Bonham. 

“Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn were brother and sister, and Clara and Robert Schumann were married,” Bonham said. “Both Fanny and Clara were acknowledged as great musicians, but both had challenges in getting their music published. Written during the mid-19th century, this music is representative of the Romantic era, emphasizing emotion and passion, tenderness and drama.” 

The program consists of Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Trio in D Minor, Op. 11”; “A Song Without Words, Op. 109” for cello and piano by Felix Mendelssohn; “3 Romances” by Clara Schumann; and “Trio in G Minor, Op. 110,” by Robert Schumann.

Trillium, now in its ninth year, has played for enthusiastic audiences from Maryland to North Dakota, Virginia, and North Carolina, in addition to numerous performances in Blount, Knox and Anderson counties.

Sara Lee-Cho, violinist, has performed professionally with chamber and symphony orchestras in three countries, including the Vancouver, Charleston and Birmingham symphonies, the UNISINOS Chamber Orchestra in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, and the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, with whom she performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall.

Alicia Randisi-Hooker, cellist, holds a Master of Music degree in cello performance from Temple University in Philadelphia and a Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She has performed extensively as an orchestral and chamber musician in both the United States and Europe, and in addition to her work with Trillium, she has served as a member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Oak Ridge Symphony, the Shreveport Symphony and the Philly Pops. Her students have been the recipients of numerous music prizes, scholarships and competition titles.

Bonham, the trio’s pianist, is a recipient of the Maryville College Outstanding Teacher Award and retired in 2006 after more than four decades as a music instructor at the institution. In retirement, he presents a variety of workshops nationally to enhance wellness and performance and enjoys leading groups to explore India or sail the Greek seas.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”