World-renowned trio to perform on island
BY LAURA RASKIN  INDEPENDENT ARTS WRITER

The Peabody Trio is, from left, Seth Knopp, piano, Natasha Brofsky, cello, and Violaine Melançon, violin.

There were two pianos in Judy and Leonard Shure’s house on Nantucket, one in the studio and an upright in the living

room. When Seth Knopp, pianist with the renowned Peabody Trio, was in college and spent his summers on the island studying with Leonard and living in the Shure’s house, he would play one and Leonard would play the other.

They could not hear each other, but Judy could hear both.

Leonard Shure, who died a decade ago, was a pianist from childhood and at 15 he went to Berlin to study with Polish classical pianist Artur Schnabel. At 17 he became Schnabel’s assistant. Leonard went on to become a teacher and performer for the rest of his life. He taught private piano lessons and a chamber music school here in the summer. Knopp was an unusual student in that he lived in the Shure’s house for two summers while he took lessons and played, instead of in then affordable summer housing.

Judy recalled that Leonard finally asked Knopp to stop calling him “Mr. Shure.”

“My husband finally said to him, ‘Call me Leo,’” she said. “And my husband was of the old school where you didn’t do that. [Knopp] couldn’t do it. And one of the lovely things about Seth was that he finally settled on ‘Poppa Shure.’”

After a long hiatus from the island and Poppa Shure’s house, Knopp returns with the rest of the 15-year-old Peabody Trio, which includes his wife and violinist Violaine Melançon and cellist Natasha Brofsky. The trio performs at the Coffin School on Sunday, Nov. 6.

The trio has been in existence since 1986 and is affiliated with the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where they initially had a residency and have been the faculty ensemble since 1989. They won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1989, establishing themselves as one of the leading trios in the world. Brofsky joined the trio in 2000 and is not affiliated with the Peabody Institute. She teaches at the New England Conservatory.

Speaking from an airport after the trio spent a three-day residency at the San Francisco Conservatory, Brofsky said the trio found her through another cellist’s recommendation.

“The chamber music world is small. Everybody knows everybody else,” she said. The match has been a good one. Brofsky began playing the cello at age six. Her father was a musicologist and a jazz trumpet player and her brother is a musician. “I really loved it always I can contrast that with my daughter who plays the violin and who doesn’t like it,” said Brofsky, laughing. “I think by the time I was 12 I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

The residency in San Francisco is not an uncommon trip for the trio. They travel the country and the world to play, teach and go into schools. Brofsky recalled a recent trip to a school in Denver where she saw kids come alive.

“Then it seems very worthwhile,” she said. She is also gratified to meet committed music teachers in a time when music is disappearing from schools.

Besides a traditional repertoire, the trio has commissioned new music from composers.

“We look for a composer who really understands the ensemble and writes interesting things for individuals and groups as a whole, composers who have something to express, a voice, a real emotional commitment to the music,” she said.

At the same time, playing music of the old guards gives them a sense of the intricacies of notation and how hard it is for a composer to put down in notes what they hear in their heads, Brofsky said.

Knopp, also speaking from the airport, said being married to one of the trio members is an asset. “Love is more important than everything. We get to travel together. The only downside is leaving the kids at home.” After 15 years, the music keeps their work fresh.

The program on Nov. 6 will include a Beethoven Trio, Opus 1, #1, a Charles Ives piano trio from 1911, and a Schubert B-flat major trio. It is a more traditional program, with no particular theme. Ives was an American composer who died in 1954. His talent was largely ignored during his lifetime, but he is now considered one the “American Originals.”

“The Ives, although not at all traditional, will be beautiful. Most people haven’t heard it before,” said Knopp.

The Nantucket Arts Council presents the Peabody Trio on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m. at the Coffin School, 4 Winter St. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. Adults, $15, NAC members and students, $10, children and under 13, free. Call 325-8588 for more information.

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