THE SECRET TRIO Performs Concert, 12/3

The Secret Trio is composed of three extraordinary musicians rooted in Turkish, Balkan Roma (Gypsy) and Armenian music who came together to create a new type of chamber music. Not bound by a single tradition, they perform original pieces and traditional melodies that incorporate the microtonal modes and improvisation of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, and elements of jazz, rock, and classical music. The trio features Ismail Lumanovski, a master clarinetist and member of the New York Gypsy All-Stars, who was lauded in the New York Times as a "brilliant, fearless young clarinetist" and has launched a major career as a soloist and a chamber musician in both the classical and cross-over repertoires; Tamer Pinarbasi, a leading kanun (zither) player and a member of the New York Gypsy All-Stars; and Ara Dinkjian, one of the world's top oud (fretless lute) players, who is best known as the founder of the highly influential and groundbreaking instrumental group Night Ark.

While the music of The Secret Trio is mostly rooted in the Middle East, the Western concepts of harmony and counterpoint, as well as jazz-like improvisation play a crucial role. The intentional exclusion of any percussion has allowed the trio members to create the illusion of a driving rhythm section, by inventing ways to play percussively on musical instruments, which are fundamentally melodic. Thus the "secret" trio may be an allusion to the fact that their arrangements, full of rhythm and drive, harmony and counterpoint, never sound like only three instruments. The use of the oud and kanun, whose origins date back to the Arab and Persian Empires of the 10th century, with the clarinet, creates a texture which is vital to the trio's musical aesthetic, and one that creates a sound different from the known chamber ensembles of the West. The Secret Trio, which was formed in 2010, made two recordings on the Traditional Crossroads label: Soundscapes (2012) and Three of Us (2015).

Ismail Lumanovski, renowned for his dynamic virtuosity, was born in Bitola, Macedonia and started playing the clarinet at age eight. He has performed throughout the US, Europe, the Middle East, and China to critical acclaim, and is proud to have participated in the New York début of the Carter Clarinet Concerto with musicians from the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Lucerne Festival Academy with Maestro Pierre Boulez. He had the privilege of performing with many prestigious musicians and orchestras, including Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Berklee Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Palestine Youth Orchestra, the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, Marcel Khalife, Al Di Meola, and Husnu Senlendirici. A master improviser and performer of Macedonian, Turkish and Gypsy music, he is presently touring with the New York Gypsy All-Stars, a jazz-influenced fusion and folk music group that blends Balkan folk music and Western classical music with breathtaking dexterity. He is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 23rd, 24th and 25th Clarinet Competition of Macedonia, the Juilliard Clarinet Concerto Competition, the International Young Artist Competition in Bulgaria, the National Folk Music Competition in Macedonia and the Andreas Makris Clarinet Competition in Colorado. Additionally, he received the "Fine Arts Award" twice at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and most recently took 1st prize at the Arriaga Chamber Music Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School of Music. He studied with Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima.

Tamer Pinarbasi has had much influence on the evolution of kanun playing. Born in Karaman, Turkey in 1970, he began his kanun lessons at the age of 10, appeared in the film Haci Arif Bey at 11, performed with Necdet Ya?ar at 12, and made his first of hundreds of recordings at 13, with artists such as Orhan Gencebay, ?brahim Tatl?ses, and Sibel Can. He went on to attend the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory of Turkish Music where he developed his unique approach of playing with all ten fingers instead of the traditional method of using plectrums (m?zrap) on the two pointer fingers. He created a new kanun design, made to suit his unorthodox playing technique. With 75 pairs of strings, rather than traditional triple-stringed courses, like a piano, he achieves faster, machine-gun-like precision. By simultaneously muting certain strings and strumming neighboring strings, he is able to transform the sound of his instrument to simulate other Turkish folk instruments. This technique, as well as his knowledge of both the Eastern modal (makam) system and Western harmony, paved the way for him becoming one of the world's great kanun virtuosos. He gave many solo concerts throughout Europe, and in 1994 moved to America, where he has continued to develop his compositional and performance styles in many diverse musical environments, including the New York Gypsy All-Stars and The Secret Trio.

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Ara Dinkjian, an Armenian born in America in 1958, began his musical career by accompanying his father Onnik Dinkjian, a celebrated Armenian folk and liturgical singer. Ara learned several Western and Eastern instruments (piano, guitar,darbuka, clarinet, cümbü?) and in 1980 graduated from the Hartt College of Music, earning the country's first and only special degree in the instrument for which he has become most well-known, the oud. For 43 years, he served his Armenian Apostolic Church as organist. Throughout his musical life, he has continued to develop his highly personal compositional style that blends his Eastern and Western roots. In 1985, to help realize these compositions and musical concepts, he formed his Night Ark quartet, which recorded four CDs for the international RCA/BMG and Universal/PolyGram labels. His songs have been recorded by world-famous instrumentalists and singers in 14 different languages. His hit song "Dinata, Dinata" was performed by Eleftheria Arvanitaki at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Many of his compositions have appeared in movie and television soundtracks. He has appeared in 22 countries, performing at prestigious concert venues and oud festivals, and teaching master classes. Recent CD releases include Diyarbakiri Hokin (The Soul of Dikranagerd), a collaboration with his father Onnik, as well as 1915 - 2015 Truth & Hope, commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The documentary film Garod tells the story of how Onnik Dinkjian kept Armenian folk music alive in the diaspora, and handed it down to his son Ara.

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