“excellent…meditative…inspired”

—San Francisco Classical Music Examiner

AT THE MUSEUM Review by Stephen Smoliar

Celebrated for their innovative approach to chamber music, San Francisco piano trio, MusicAEterna, combines classical repertoire with world premieres and their signature ChamberImprov, creating an artistic dialogue between music and art. MusicAEterna’s ChamberImprov performances combine scored new music with beautifully crafted improvisations.  These works are fresh and imaginative, provoking excitement and engaged listening. Delighting classical audiences as well as new concertgoers with their imaginative programming, MusicAEterna’s performance of traditional and new music creates a lively musical dialogue between past eras and contemporary life.

MusicAEterna artists are Miles Graber, piano; Michael Graham, cello; and Aenea M. Keyes, violinist-composer. Since its creation in 1999, MusicAEterna has championed a world premiere at every concert. Their recent CD, At the Museum, showcases MusicAEterna’s World Premieres that include their signature ChamberImprov. Inspired by museum walks in Japan, USA, Spain and France, At the Museum is a series of musical dialogues with art that Keyes created for MusicAEterna. The Picasso Suite, included on the album, was first heard as a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artcast.

Deeply committed to educating the next generation of young chamber musicians, members of MusicAEterna have coached young ensembles in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), Preparatory Extension, coaching SFCM ensembles that were finalists at the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and prize winners of the prestigious 2012 Mondavi Young Artists Chamber Music Award, 2012 Bouchaine Young Artists Award (IMG Artists) and 2012 MTAC-VOCE State Competition.

New MusicAEterna Recording

MusicAEterna’s Seasons, A Musical Dialogue, was recorded at Skywalker Sound in a dream collaboration with producers Mark Willsher and Leslie Ann Jones. In this recording, MusicAEterna creates a musical dialogue between music and visual art by performing Astor Piazzolla’s fiery tango suite, Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, in alternating movements with the meditative Monet Seasons, inspired by Claude Monet’s impressionist paintings. The Monet Seasons is a WORLD PREMIERE and features MusicAEterna’s signature ChamberImprov.

MusicAEterna’s ChamberImprov
balances structure with freedom,
combining Keyes’ scores with thoughtful improvisation.

These fresh and imaginative works
provoke excitement and engaged listening.

Seasons a Musical Dialogue will be released in October 2013.

NEW CONTEMPLATIVE CONCERT
SERIES 2013-14

ENSEMBLE-IN-RESIDENCE AT SANTA SABINA CENTER
On Sunday October 13, MusicAEterna inaugurates the first Contemplative Concert Series as the first Ensemble-in-Residence at the Santa Sabina Center, with a concert entitled, A Creative Dialogue: Music and Art. The concert includes the Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, Dvorak’s Romantic Pieces, and WORLD PREMIERS that are MusicAEterna ChamberImprovs inspired by visual art of Goya, Gaudi and Dali.

MusicAEterna’s
imaginative programming and lively performance
treats listeners
to a timely musical dialogue
between past eras and contemporary life.

MUSICAETERNA IS…

AENEA MIZUSHIMA KEYES, violinist-composer and MusicAEterna founder; touring Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States; performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; collaboration with dance, theater, film and visual art. At Sarah Lawrence College (USA) she studied with Dorothy DeLay, violin, and Meyer Kupferman, composition and in Europe at the National Academy of Music (BGR) and International Musicians Seminar (UK). Recordings as a violinist-composer include, At the Museum, and Prayers of the Earth, Places of the Heart, exploring sacred sites. Ms. Keyes is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

MICHAEL GRAHAM, cello, studied at the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, and with members of the Juilliard, Amadeus, Emerson, Tokyo, and Cleveland String Quartets. He appears regularly with such ensembles as the Grammy-nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Graham is committed to exploring music within and beyond the classical genre, and has performed and recorded with artists including Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Van Morrison, and John Densmore of the Doors.

MILES GRABER, piano, received his musical training at the Juilliard School. He has performed with numerous artists, including Sarah Chang, Cho-Liang Lin and Axel Strauss; has accompanied master classes given artists such as Midori, James Galway, and Yo-Yo Ma; and is a member of various chamber ensembles, including Trio Concertino, MusicAEterna and Eos Ensemble. Mr. Graber serves on the faculties of the San Domenico Conservatory and the Preparatory Division of San Francisco Conservatory of Music.