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Lancaster New Era/Intelligencer Journal/Sunday News

The San Juan Piano Trio To Perform In County

July 23, 2003
Copyright © 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. 

The San Juan Piano Trio will present two concerts on Aug. 1 and 2 in Akron and Lancaster.

The trio is composed of Jesus Morales on cello; his wife, Dara Burkholder Morales, on violin; and David Riley on piano.

The trio's 2002 concert in Lancaster was so well received that the group was asked to provide two concerts this year, and each program will feature different repertoire.

The trio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at Akron Mennonite Church, 1311 Diamond St., Akron. The program will offer solo selections by each performer and the Beethoven Trio No. 3 in C minor.

On Aug. 2, the trio will perform at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 10 Delp Road, at 7:30 p.m.

The San Juan Piano Trio, founded by the Moraleses and Riley, are well-known to Puerto Rican audiences for their intense performances and passionate virtuosity.

They have appeared in concert at the Sala Casals, Rio Piedras, Sala Festivales, Centro de (Ecocultura), the Tapia Theater and in the United States.

Mrs. Morales currently serves as principal second violin of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico and professor of violin at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, where she teaches in both the bachelor's degree program and the Children's String Program. She also is first violinist of the San Juan String Quartet and performs frequently as part of the Quartet Concerto.

Mrs. Morales earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she acted as graduate teaching assistant and concertmaster of the orchestra and taught in the prestigious Starling Preparatory Program.

Her musical activities have included performances in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Portugal, St. Thomas, France and Belgium. As soloist, she has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the Bangor Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra, among others.

She was the concertmaster of the Northern Kentucky Symphony and has appeared on various occasions as concertmaster of the Puerto Rico Symphony, having served as assistant concertmaster during the 1998-99 season.

During the summers, Mrs. Morales has been a fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She also has participated in the Festival Casals in Prades, France, and the Alfred Summer Chamber Music Institute. Her principal teachers include Kurt Sassmannshaus, Helen Kwalwasser and Dorothy DeLay, and chamber music studies with Peter Oundjian, Henry Meyer and the Tokyo Quartet.

A native of Ephrata, she currently resides in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, with her husband.

Jesus Morales holds the positions of principal cellist of the Orquestra Sinfonica de Puerto Rico and professor of cello at the Concervatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. A favorite of local audiences, he also is an active chamber musician, as cellist of the San Juan String Quartet and the chamber group Concerto.

Mr. Morales has been a prize winner of several competitions, including the Camerata Solo Competition for Cello, the Eastern Connecticut Young Artist Competition and the Grace Vamos Cello Competition. He has appeared as soloist with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, the Cammerata Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Starling Chamber Orchestra and the Festival de Orquestas Sinfonica Juvenil de las Americas. During the summers he has participated in festivals, including the Banff Center for the Arts, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoing Music Festival and Easterm Music Festival. Morales has participated in recitals and chamber music concerts in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.

Mr. Morales holds a bachelor's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has done postgraduate work at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His major teachers include Dr. Ronald Crutcher, Alan Harris, Helga Winold, Yehuda Hanani and chamber music with Peter Oundjian.

Riley has extensive experience as a solo and collaborative pianist, having performed at the Dame Hyra Hess Series in Chicago, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and Pollack in Montreal, among others. Other performances include the Calgary Celebrity Series, Miller Theater at Columbia University, Premier Performances in St. Louis, the Civic Music Association in Oklahoma City and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.

He has performed for dozens of radio broadcasts throughout North America including CBS National Radio, NPR Performance Today and WQXR and WNYC in New York City.

This concert season Riley is performing more than 50 concerts, most notably at the National Art Gallery in Washington, D.C., on two occasions; Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall on two occasions; the Sonoklect Contemporary Music Festival in Virginia; and Vanguard Concerts in Dayton, Ohio.

In March he appeared in Alabama, Washington, the British Virgin Islands, Cincinnati, San Juan, Long Island and Pensacola, Fla.

He holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Anne Epperson and Jean Barr respectively. A native of Boston, Riley currently lives in New York City.

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