Skidmore horn trio to perform world premiere sonata at Zankel

The Skidmore Horn Trio, featuring faculty members Evan Mack, Patrice Malatestinic, and Josh Rodriguez, will present the world premier of Mack’s Sonata for Violin and Piano during an upcoming concert at Arthur Zankel Music Center.

Mack is an accomplished composer and pianist who has produced five full musicals (three of them for children’s theater), as well as numerous popular songs and classical works. His choral suite, “Langston Hughes’ Dream of Freedom,” was a selection winner of the National Association of Composers in San Francisco and the UCM New Music Festival.  Mack’s “Pinocchio,” which premiered in the Charleston Civic Center by the Charleston Ballet, has been hailed as the “Springtime Nutcracker.”

Mack’s performances have included recent appearances with the Kentucky Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Chamber Players, the Dayton Philharmonic, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; including a performance in Carnegie Hall. He holds a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and is on the faculty of the College of Saint Rose and Skidmore.

Malatestinic and Rodriguez, both lecturers at Skidmore, are the other trio members. Malatestinic is a French horn player and holds a master of music degree from the College of Saint Rose. She has been a horn instructor, brass coach, and director of the horn ensemble at Skidmore for 23 years.

Violinist Rodriguez, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, has toured internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. He was one of the first Western musicians to tour China and performed the Butterfly Lover’s Concerto in a live television broadcast from Shanghai. He won the assistant concertmaster position for the Glens Falls Symphony in 2003. Currently a private instructor, he coaches one of Skidmore’s string chamber ensembles and performs with the Skidmore Orchestra along with several area symphony orchestras.

Free and open to the public, the concert begins at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in Zankel. For advance reservations visit www.skidmore.edu/zankel or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-5321. For more information, please visit www.skidmore.edu/zankel.