The University of the Ozarks Music Department will present a concert featuring the Triptych Trio, an instrumental ensemble made up of West Texas A&M University faculty musicians, at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The concert will be held in the Rowntree Recital Hall, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited to attend.
Formed in the spring of 2022, the trio is made up of James Barger on saxophone, Evgeny Zvonnikov on violin, and Dr. Sarah Rushing on piano. According to their website, the trio “enjoys exploring and performing innovative repertoire for saxophone, violin, and piano.”
Barger, an associate professor of saxophone, is an active performer of solo and chamber music throughout the United States and is in demand as a classical and jazz saxophonist and educator. In 2016, he joined the faculty of WTAMU where he teaches courses in applied saxophone and jazz improvisation and directing jazz ensembles. Additionally, he teaches during the summer on the faculties of the WTAMU Band Camp, WTAMU Chamber Music Strings Camp, the Young Saxophonist’s Institute, and the Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy in Bangkok, Thailand.
Zvonnikov is the Harrington Lecturer in Violin at WTAMU. The Russian violinist joined the music faculty and Harrington String Quartet in Canyon, Texas, in 2017. He previously taught violin at Wichita State University. He served for several years as associate concertmaster of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and as Concertmaster of the Wichita Grand Opera Orchestra. He also appeared as Acting Concertmaster at Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. He has extensive experience performing as a soloist and as a chamber musician, enjoying both classical and contemporary repertoire. Frequently invited as a solo and ensemble performer, Zvonnikov has taken part in many concerts in the main concert halls in the U.S. and around the world.
Rushing is an assistant professor of piano at WTAMU where she teaches applied piano, class piano, and piano pedagogy. Her commitment to teaching is evidenced through her years of experience teaching private and group piano classes in the community and university settings in Louisiana, New York, Colorado, Virginia, and Texas. She has been an active member of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) since 2009, serving as a faculty advisor, local competitions coordinator, adjudicator, and presenter for state and national conferences. As a performer, Rushing enjoys playing music off the beaten path and has appeared in competitions and recitals throughout the US. In 2013, she was featured on American Public Media’s “Performance Today.”
Topics: Music Performance