OberlinEnsemble Wins Top Chamber Music Prize   by Charity Johnson '99
			Trio Casalmaggiore Left to right: Debbie Mun, Hristo Popov, Yoonie Choi It started as a chamber music assignment. In 1998, pianist Debbie Mun AD’01, violinist Hristo Popov AD ’02, and cellist Yoonie Choi ’01 were assigned to perform Beethoven’s "Archduke" Trio, Op. 97, at the Oberlin-at-Casalmaggiore festival, at the suggestion of Popov’s teacher, Professor of Violin Taras Gabora. By the end of the festival, the trio’s love of chamber music -- and a series of successful performances in Casalmaggiore -- inspired them to create their own ensemble, taking their name from the city in Italy where it all began. Trio Casalmaggiore recently took first prize in the Ohio Orchestra and String Teachers Association’s Third Biennial Chamber Music Competition, which was held February 18 at Bowling Green State University. The competition included chamber music groups from Ohio and surrounding states. "Playing together in this trio is amazing," says Choi, who studies with Professor of Violoncello Peter Rejto. "It’s not like a string quartet, or solo playing - it falls somewhere between solo and ensemble. Playing in a piano trio takes a special technique, an approach combining strong solo playing and balanced ensemble. It’s really incredible." When the group met in Casalmaggiore, Mun was an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas in Denton. After the festival, the trio traveled between Ohio and Texas, performing a recital in Oberlin, and two Steinway Hall concerts in Dallas. After completing her Bachelor’s degree, Mun enrolled as an Artist Diploma student at Oberlin. She studies with Professor of Pianoforte Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, one of her teachers at the Casalmaggiore festival. The group has since performed numerous concerts in the United States and Europe, including Popov’s native Bulgaria, and plan to continue performing together after Mun and Choi, both natives of Korea, graduate. Their playing was described by the Bulgarian magazine Musical Horizons as "a full-blooded mixture of sounds with perfectly synchronized ensemble… Trio Casalmaggiore played with a great deal of youthful energy and temperament." The trio will perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Op. 56 with the Parma Symphony in Cleveland Saturday, April 28th, and they will be the trio-in-residence at the Park City International Music Festival in Utah this summer. Their debut CD, featuring works by Haydn, Dvorak and Shostakovich, will be released in 2001. The group also plans to perform in Casalmaggiore again; "The festival was great, and Casalmaggiore is such a beautiful city," says Popov. "We are definitely planning to play concerts there again."
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