Chamber music to sweeten Valentine's Day celebration

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Feb 13, 2004 by Bill Blankenship Capital-Journal

Topeka classical musicians to present inaugural program of a new chamber music series

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The Elaris Duo (Larisa and Steven Elisha) kick off a new chamber music series when they present "Elaris Duo & Friends" on Saturday night at White Concert Hall.

'ELARIS DUO & FRIENDS'

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14

Where: White Concert Hall, Washburn University

How much: $14 general admission with tickets sold at the door

By Bill Blankenship

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

The thousands who each summer crowd into White Concert Hall to hear world-class chamber music at the Sunflower Music Festival will get a mid-winter treat Saturday.

Violinist Larisa Elisha and cellist Steven Elisha, who are both internationally acclaimed classical musicians, have invited some of their friends to join them at the Washburn University performance hall for the inaugural program in a new chamber music concert series titled "Elaris Duo & Friends."

Elaris Duo is the stage name for the Elishas when they perform in that format.

"We were approached by a lot of people asking if we would be doing any chamber music, and we decided to give Topeka a gift and we would start a world-class chamber music series here," said Steven Elisha, principal cellist for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and a Sunflower Music Festival musician.

He, as well as Larisa Elisha, teach music at Washburn.

She, too, is a member of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra; in fact, she is the groupls concertmaster. Last year, the Kansas Federation of Music Clubs voted them "Musicians of the Year."

For the first of the new concert series --- another is schedule for May 1 with a third planned for the fall --- the Elishas will perform what Steven Elisha described as the Elaris Duo's "signature piece," which is Zoltan Kodaly's Duo for Violin and Cello.

James Rivers, Washburn's pianist in residence, will join the Elishas' to play Johannes Brahms' Piano Trio in B Major.

For the program's largest chamber music piece, Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Winds and Harp, the Elishas will be joined by Philip Pan, violin; Jutta Puchhammer, viola; Lynn Aspnes, harp; Susan Murphy, flute; and Kirt Saville, clarinet.

Steven Elisha said Aspnes "is probably one of the top harpists in the world."

Pan, concertmaster of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, grew up with Steven Elisha in upstate New York where they were in a piano trio together in high school.

Puchhammer serves as professor of viola at the University of Montreal, where she heads the string department, while Murphy is an in-demand flutist from Kansas City, Mo., and Saville serves on the Washburn music faculty.

The string players also will perform Ravel's String Quartet at the concert, which will be followed by a champagne reception.

In addition to the concert, the players have done master classes and other educational programs while in Topeka.

Although admission is free to the Sunflower Music Festival, there will be an admission charged to the Elaris Duo & Friends concert, but Steven Elisha said the $14 price "is pretty cheap."

"Where else can you get great chamber music with great players and champagne for 14 dollars?" he asked.

Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.

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