Kupferberg Center for the Arts Celebrates 50 Years of Classical Music

The Ahn Trio - sisters, Maria, Lucia and Angella - are redefining the art and architecture of chamber music. They will perform at the LeFrak Concert Hall at Queens College on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm as the inaugural concert in the Kupferberg Center for the Arts four-part classical concert series. The 2011-12 season is the Kupferberg Center's 50th season of classical music at LeFrak Concert Hall.

Born in Seoul, Korea and educated at the Juilliard School in New York City, the members of the Ahn Trio breath new life into the standard piano trio literature with commissioned works from visionary composers like Pat Metheny, Kenji Bunch, Maurice Jarre, Nikolai Kapustin and Michael Nyman. The Los Angeles Times called them, "One of the most glamorous and hip sister acts in classical music".

The trio has been touring successfully for over ten years and has six albums to date. Their first album, a recording of Ravel and Villa-Lobos trios brought rave reviews, with Audio Magazine praising "this is one of Ravel's best and never better played". The next EMI recording of trios by Dvorak, Suk, and Shostakovich, won Germany's prestigious ECHO Award.

An MTV appearance on Bryan Adams' "Unplugged" led to the development of the "Ahn- Plugged" and "Groovebox" albums (EMI), which embodies the excitement and energy of the Ahn Trio. Seeking complete artistic freedom, the trio formed their own Production Company named L.A.M.P., (Lucia Angella Maria Productions), which self-produced "Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac". "Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac" (released by Sony), is a showcase of this vibrant and original music, which made No. 8 on the Billboard Charts for 26 weeks in the Classical album category.

Maria, Lucia and Angella thrive on dissolving the barriers between art forms. They have fused their work with that of dancers, pop singers, DJ's, painters, installation artists, photographers, lighting designers, ecologists, and even kite makers. The Ahns enjoyed their successful collaboration with the David Parsons Dance Company, which toured extensively to critical acclaim. More recently, they performed in the Czech Republic with rock group the Tata Bojs to sold-out shows.

Possessing an enviable combination of talent and style, they have long been natural subjects for the international press. They made their magazine premiere very early on, in Time's cover story, 'Asian American Whiz Kids'. Since then, they have gone on to frequent fashion pages of the likes of Vogue and GQ, photographed by such luminary photographers as Arthur Elgort, Ellen von Unwerth, and Walter Chin, and been featured in ad campaigns for GAP, Anne Klein and Bodyshop, among others. In 2003, they were named three of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

Following Ahn Trio in the Kupferberg Center's classical concert series is Matt Haimovitz, Cello on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2:00 pm; the Harlem Quartet, String Quartet on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm; and Zeynep Ucbasaran, Piano on Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 2:00 pm. Zeynep Ucbasaran's performance is part of Queens College's Year of Turkey celebration.

Classical music was the first sound to emanate from the new Charles Colden Auditorium in 1961 when the New York Philharmonic, under Maestro Andre Kostelanetz inaugurated the hall. In every season since, classical music has played a starring role in the Kupferberg performance series and this season is no exception.

Tickets for Ahn Trio and for each classical music concert in the Kupferberg Center's series are $36. The entire series can be purchased for $128 for a greater savings. Tickets for seniors and Queens College alumni, staff and faculty are $34. Student tickets with ID are only $15. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Kupferberg Center Box Office at 718.793.8080 or online at www.KupferbergCenter.org.

Kupferberg Center for the Arts is located on the Queens College campus between exits 23 & 24 on the eastbound service road for the Long Island Expressway in Flushing. There is free parking and the performance spaces are wheelchair accessible

About Kupferberg Center for the Arts:
Kupferberg Center for the Arts is the leading non-academic arts institution at Queens College whose 77-acre campus features a beautiful grassy quad with stunning views of Manhattan surrounded by both historic Spanish-style and modern buildings with state-of-the art technology.

The arts are a central part of academic programs at Queens College, where all undergraduates are required to take at least one course in the visual or performing arts. Queens College, through the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, is a driving force in the culturally rich community of Queens.

The Kupferberg Center for the Arts houses three performance spaces including the acoustically perfect LeFrak Concert Hall, the Colden Auditorium and the Goldstein Theater. Also housed on the Queens College Campus is the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, home to the most comprehensive art collection in Queens, and the Queens College Art Center, which is a separate gallery for contemporary installations. The world-renowned Louis Armstrong House Museum, located in Corona, is also part of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. Once the private home of Louis and Lucille Armstrong, the Louis Armstrong House Museum is a National Historic and New York City Landmark celebrating the life and work of Louis Armstrong. The museum and its archives house the largest publicly held archival collection in the world devoted to a jazz musician.

The Kupferberg Center for the Arts is funded by Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Council for Cultural Affairs - Taiwan, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Music for Youth Fund of UJA Federation, the Max and Selma Kupferberg Family Foundation, New York Community Bank, The Kupferberg Foundation, The Natalie Bailey & Herbert J. Kirshner Foundation, The New York Community Trust, Turkish Airlines and Taipei Cultural Center of TEDCO in New York. Additional funding is provided, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Public funds are also provided by the Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall and New York City Council Members Elizabeth Crowley, Julissa Ferreras, Jim Gennaro, Daniel Halloran and Peter Koo.

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