School Music Program Nourished Violinist's Talent

Wayne Lee always loved music, though the violinist can’t remember the moment he realized that music would be his life.

Now part of the Manhattan Piano Trio, Lee — a product of Piedmont schools — will return to his home town to perform in a benefit concert for the school music program, which he said influenced him profoundly from the time his family moved him here as a fourth grader. In a time of diminishing resources, he wants others to enjoy the same opportunity.

“I loved the music program there,” he said in a long-distance interview with Patch. “We are in a climate of strong emphasis on standardized testing. But music affords a way of using your mind in a very different way."

Getting to a place of joy requires plenty of rigorous practice — even discomfort, he said.

“The violin is very, very difficult,” he said. “It requires a lot of perseverance, a lot of patience and sometimes just luck. It doesn’t make sense to push kids if it’s not something they’re interested in.”

His longtime music instructor Leonora Gillard and Mary Ann Benson helped Lee arrange the concert. When he learned his group was scheduled to perform in coastal Gualala on April 17, “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to do something for my home town?’”

"Leonore Gillard was my teacher all through school," he said. "She's been really important to a lot of people — certainly to me."

Lee, cellist Dmitry Kouzov and pianist Milana Strezeva take an almost palpable joy in their music. Reviewers have praised their energy, rapport with audiences and “red-blooded virtuosity” (Classical Voice of North Carolina). The Chicago Sun-Times called the trio’s performance “a life-changing experience.”

They have played in cities throughout the U.S. and increasingly in Europe, including two recent concerts in Italy. They’ve just released their third album, Schumann and Chopin trios in honor of the composers’ bicentennials.

Reluctant to generalize, Lee allows that Italian audiences are particularly knowledgeable (“I noticed they were listening very intently”). Yet a small town American concert hall will yield a surprising focus.

“We feel the energy of the audience,” he said. “We feel how they respond to things we’re doing. You feel it strongly between movements or pieces."

Lee always knew he had a shot at Julliard. He earned a bachelor's, then a master's degree. But moving from Piedmont to New York took some adjusting — a couple years' worth.

"Now it’s my home," he said. “It’s great to have access to all that culture."

The Manhattan Piano Trio formed in 2004 with violinist Dmitri Lukin. When Lukin left in 2008, cellist Dmitri Kouzov contacted Lee and asked if he would be interested in joining.

“The classical music world is a very small place," Lee said.

They rehearsed together over a few days' time. They talked. The collaboration felt right.

The three settle on what to play the same way they come to other decisions: lots of discussion.

In Piedmont, the trio will play Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 1 – originally written for a small orchestra, transcribed for the trio — Arvo PŠrt’s Mozart-Adagio, and Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C major.

Now 27, Lee finds his tastes becoming more nuanced. A fan of other genres, he feels no temptation to move away from classical music.

“I love bluegrass, I love jazz. I really admire jazz violinists,” he said. “But that’s not me.”

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 18 in the Alan Harvey Theater, 800 Magnolia Ave. Tickets are $22 for adults, $10 for students and $45 for reserved seats. They may be obtained on line at Eventbrite.com (Manhattan Piano Trio), or by calling 510-595-4015.

CHIME: Bringing Performing Arts Into Education 

The Manhattan Piano Trio is donating a portion of the proceeds from the Piedmont concert to Citizens Highly Interested in Music Education (CHIME), an organization that supports music and the performing arts in the Piedmont schools.

Without CHIME, school music offerings would be ”much skimpier,” said President Andrea Swenson. The group raises some $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Last year, that paid for costumes for a production of Les Miserables, musical instruments and instructor time.

“In this kind of financial climate, we’re lucky to have what we have,” Swenson said. “It’s a terrible time for schools."

With a budget deadlock in Sacramento and a special election in June off the table, more cutbacks loom for the state's schools.

“Now they’re talking about cuts to the elementary instrumental music program, and I think that’s very shortsighted of them, because that forms the roots of the program,” said Mary Ann Benson, longtime vocal instructor in the Piedmont elementary schools. Benson helped organize the Manhattan Piano Trio benefit concert with Gillard.