Connection to the Chiaras brings Elevator Music to CMI

calendar icon10 Jun 2017    user iconBy Brian G. Reetz

Somehow Idaho brought Washington and Nebraska together.

That might sound like a riddle but it’s really not. When the chamber group, Elevator Music, was taking a chamber music workshop at the University of Idaho in January, the Chiara String Quartet was the guest ensemble. The group from Washington State University had a master class with Greg Beaver, the Chiara's cellist, and afterwards he invited them to apply to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chamber Music Institute.

“We were psyched, and sent in a recording of our recital from a few weeks later as our audition,” Elevator Music member Keadrin Dick said, who is also joined in the group by Jason McDougall and Kirill Polyanskiy. They have been coached this week by the Chiara’s Rebecca Fischer.

So after arriving in Nebraska about a week ago, the Glenn Korff School of Music’s Chamber Music Institute culminates with the final recital Sunday, June 11 for Elevator Music and the other groups in Kimball Recital Hall at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and will also be live webcast at music.unl.edu.

“We've been playing together since January of 2016,” Keadrin said. “Kirill and I had been in a quartet through Washington State University's chamber music program for a year and a half when our second violinist went to study abroad. When we enrolled in chamber studies for the spring semester of 2016, we were matched with Jason to form a piano trio.”

Keadrin is a cello performance major with a completed minor in mathematics. She came to WSU after attending the Cougar Strings Camp and working with Dr. Boden. Keadrin is entering her senior year and will begin applying to masters programs this fall. She intends to pursue performance as her career. In her spare time, she keeps up with Doctor Who and Sherlock, sings incessantly, and spends quality time with her family and the love of her life. 

Kirill is a violin performance and music composition double major. He is finishing up his degrees at WSU while arranging and recording covers with WSU musicians as well as musicians across the country with the Materia Collective. In his free time, he likes to play popular video games and play the piano as well as find irony and humor in life and in social norms. 

An active performer and teacher in eastern Washington, Jason recently graduated from Washington State University with an MA in piano performance. He dreams of one day returning to the west to kayak and hike.

But where did the group name, Elevator Music, derive from?

“We didn't have a name for the first few months,” Keadrin said. “Our coach, WSU's cello and bass professor Dr. Ruth Boden, generally referred to us as the WSU trio until April Fool's Day, when she was unexpectedly absent. Acknowledging the significance of the day, we decided to rehearse in the elevator during our coaching time. We borrowed an upright piano from the basement, grabbed a couple of chairs and stands, and pressed the buttons to all six floors. We played the first movement of the Mendelssohn up and down the building for about half an hour. Since then, we have been known as Elevator Music.”

They each had a few goals in coming to CMI.

Keadrin said, “I hope to solidify my ‘why.’ I know it has to do with connecting to people and sharing an emotional experience together. Family is my highest priority in life, and I like to strengthen my bonds with the people around me, especially through music. I also hope to learn more efficient rehearsal strategies for our ensemble, and how to manage a professional ensemble as well as a solo career as a new music collaborator.”

Kirill said, “I'm here in order to meet other fantastic musicians as well as to become closer with our trio in how we feel music.”

Jason said, “I would like to improve as a chamber musician and discover more ways to make chamber music a focus of my musical career.”

The group tends to tackle more contemporary music; during their masterclass with Greg Beaver, they refined Lowell Liebermann's first piano trio, and on Sunday they will perform Chick Corea's "Addendum" at the CMI final concert.