For immediate release: New World Trio “Folk and Fantasy Masterworks”, Sunday, October 5 at 2pm, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 679 Farmington Ave., West Hartford, CT. Works by Schumann, Schoenfield, and Smetana with Anhared Stowe, violin, Peter Zay, cello, and David Ballena, piano. Celebrate our 40th season with a reception afterwards to meet the artists. Info 860 586-8579. www.newworldtrio.org

The history of classical music is one of constant evolution. This program illuminates how classical musical genius combines its values with non-traditional motifs, which then become part of the established repertoire. Robert Schumann’s boundless inventiveness is given free reign in “4 Phantasiestucke”. Schumann resolved the challenge of merging his expressionism with the trio form by retaining a strong, classical framework, creating a masterful synthesis of form and content. “…a brilliant, albeit tongue-in-cheek virtuoso piece” –Paul Schoenfield’s Café Music quickly became an audience favorite with its lively, diverse elements. Classical, klezmer, jazz, and other styles are expertly combined into an organic whole. As with Schumann, it is Shoenfield’s underlying technical proficiency that binds the work together in a seemingly effortless manner. Bedrich Smetana wrote his only piano trio in 1855, and its elegiac character is as unmistakable as its brilliance. One of the most powerful works in the literature, it predates and presages music that would soon come from the likes of Brahms and Dvořák. With its Eastern-European folk music idioms, Smetana's piano trio is a significant milestone in the history of romanticism.