The collaborative spirit … Zephyr … in action - 2004 MTNA National Conference Artists

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2004 by Sylvia Coats

Zephyr, a New York City-based trio, is a unique collaboration that is described as "an ensemble of three highly talented and personable musicians with an attractively varied repertoire." Zephyr members are Lady Jeanne Galway, flute, Darrett Adkins, cello, and Jonathan Feldman, piano. Zephyr will be featured in concert at the MTNA National Conference in Kansas City, March 28, 2004.

MTNA has a renewed focus on collaborative performance with the return of the Collaborative Performance Forum. As chair of the Forum, I was asked to interview Zephyr members about their collaboration.

How did the three of you begin the trio and choose the name Zephyr?

Lady Galway: "The trio was formed in 1997 as a result of a collaboration between me and the world-renowned collaborative pianist Samuel Sanders, after we performed together in the Cape & Islands Summer Festival. The idea of a flute, cello and piano trio came up between us after a concert one day, as we were both avid chamber musicians. We wanted to play with other musicians.

"The idea of Zephyr is that the base group is a trio and invites other musicians to join in on various concerts to give a more varied performance--thus, the name is not Zephyr Trio, but just Zephyr. The word zephyr means 'warm wind.' We found this a perfect name for the group we wanted to create.

"In 1999, due to a long illness, Mr. Sanders was succeeded by his good friend and colleague Jonathan Feldman, chairman of the collaborative piano department at Juilliard. Then in 2000, Darrett Adkins, also a member of the Juilliard faculty and currently professor at Oberlin, joined the group. Since then, the group has been solid and enjoys traveling together, as well as performing, discovering new repertoire, commissions and a varied series of concerts."

What is your program for the MTNA concert?

Lady Galway: "Our programs generally have two components. One is pieces that we have performed in the past and that feel comfortable and mature and have been successful with our audiences. Then, we are always looking to add to our repertoire, and we are constantly reading new pieces and hoping that one or more will interest us enough to join programming plans. Sometimes we try a piece out and decide it doesn't yet fit, but we keep it in mind for future concerts. A third element is commissioning new works. We all recognize that if performers working today fail to encourage and help generate new pieces, then music history stops with us. We are very excited to be offering a new work by Lowell Liebermann."

Zephyr uses its diverse solo and chamber music background to create interesting duo and trio programs. The trio's sensitive collaboration as chamber musicians is evident in repertoire that ranges from trios of Haydn to the Martinu Trio in F. They also team for duo performances with Feldman, having programmed the Debussy cello sonata, the Donizetti flute sonata and the Saint-Saens "Romance." Feldman often has programmed works by Chopin.

The MTNA concert will feature a world premiere of Liebermann's Doppler, Souvenir du Rigi. Liebermann, a widely performed and commissioned composer, is composer-in-residence to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In 2001 Liebermann was awarded the first American Composers' Invitational Award by the eleventh Van Cliburn Competition after the majority of finalists chose to perform his Three Impromtus, which were selected from works submitted by forty-two contemporary composers. Liebermann also was the winner of the 1978 MTNA High School Composition Competition.

Although the program is subject to change, other works will be the Martinu Trio, the Weber Trio in G Minor and Villa-Lobos's The Jet Whistle for flute and cello.

Each member of Zephyr has enjoyed a long and varied musical life, collecting an impressive list of personal achievements along the way.

Lady Galway lives with her husband, renowned flutist Sir James Galway, in Meggen, Switzerland. She records and performs regularly with her husband including a fundraising concert with Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder and a successful recital tour of Japan that included a private performance in the presence of the Empress of Japan.

Lady Galway has performed extensively throughout Europe and the United States as both soloist and chamber musician. She has been soloist with the Chicago, Seattle, Detroit and London Symphony Orchestras, the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and many chamber orchestras. In addition to performing with Zephyr, she performs with the Lucerne Chamber Players.

Lady Galway is renowned for her dedication to the development of young flutists and is vice president of Flutewise, an educational organization for young flute players. She has recorded two flute tutor methods and released with Phillip Moll a CD for Flutewise.

She is a native New Yorker and graduated from Mannes School of Music in Manhattan. She plays a flute made especially for her by the Japanese-owned Muramatsu Flutes, based in Ferndale, Michigan. It is fashioned of gleaming platinum with diamond-encrusted caps and crown.