News & Events 2002-2003

The Ahn Trio Performs at Blair Academy

The Ahn sisters sign their concert CDs for fans after the concert.

Blair Academy’s Bartow Mainstage Series presented The Ahn Trio and their program, “Ahn-Plugged,” on Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m. in the DuBois Theatre of the Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts before a full audience.

Twins Maria and Lucia Ahn and their sister Angella all played the piano as soon as they could reach the keys; eventually, Angella moved to the violin and Maria to the cello. The three Korean sisters became the Ahn Trio, making their first public ensemble appearance on Korean television in 1979. They moved to the United States in 1981, where they enrolled at The Juilliard School. They were brought to the attention of American audiences in a 1987 Time magazine story about “Asian American Whiz Kids,” and through NBC coverage of the Seoul Olympics.

The trio won top prizes at the 1992 Alliance Northeast Competition for Chamber Ensembles and at the Coleman Chamber Competition, and soon were featured in Vogue, GQ, Town and Country, The New York Times, and on PBS.

Their first recording, of Ravel and Villa-Lobos trios brought raves, and the next, an EMI recording of trios by Suk, Dvorak and Shostakovich, won Germany’s prestigious ECHO Award. A 1997 MTV appearance on Bryan Adams’ “Unplugged” program led to the development of “Ahn-Plugged,” which typifies the excitement and energy of the Ahn Trio; their vitality and musicianship are continually drawing new audiences to classical music. Several of the pieces were recorded and brought together for the new Ahn-Plugged CD.

“Our main goal is to add people to our audiences, people who normally would not go to classical concerts,” explained violinist Angella.

The Los Angeles Times noted, “The string players produce a gorgeous tone; Lucia has a solid grasp of the piano and together they coax a collective, dynamically flexible sound that gets us thinking about the bonding power of family.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote, “To hear them play Piazzolla, you’d think these sisters had grown up on the streets of Buenos Aires. The rhythms and accents were so full of meaning... Playing such as this would make stars of the Ahns if they were three ugly men.”

The Bartow Series, funded from an endowment, was set up in memory of Nevett Bartow. Nevett was a student and later a music instructor and choral director at Blair in the 1960s and early 70s. He died in 1973 from leukemia at the age of 39, leaving a remarkable legacy, both in his music and in the memories and affections of his students and friends. The goal of the Bartow Series is to bring a broad range of performing arts to the Blair community at large, thereby heightening its appreciation for all forms of art.

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