Violinist Bayla Keyes, cellist Rhonda Rider and pianist Lois Shapiro all had thriving solo careers. They decided to join forces and form Triple Helix, appearing at Richardson Auditorium Oct. 24.
By: Susan Van Dongen
It’s lonely at the top, as any of the three musicians from Triple Helix piano trio can attest. Violinist Bayla Keyes, cellist Rhonda Rider and pianist Lois Shapiro all had thriving solo careers. Each realized something was missing, however musical conversation.
"We all love playing chamber music, too," says Ms. Shapiro, taking a break from her teaching schedule at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass. "There’s a special kind of pleasure that comes from the synergy of playing with people who are connected. It’s an added benefit, a kind of conversation."
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| Triple Helix (clockwise, from top): Violinist Bayla Keyes, pianist Lois Shapiro and cellist Rhonda Rider.
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With harmony, however, there’s bound to be some conflicting ideas when three talented women come together. Ms. Shapiro says the trio has tried to use that friction to their advantage.
"Whenever you have an interaction, you’re bound to have opposing points of view, but it’s like adding variable ingredients to a stew," she says. "You’re not just bludgeoning each person into agreement. You find a way to analyze and integrate the points of view and solve the problems. You challenge yourself to go beyond your own assumptions and generate something new."
Ms. Shapiro, Ms. Keyes and Ms. Rider bring the sum of their individual talents to Princeton when Triple Helix performs at Richardson Auditorium Oct. 24, part of the 2002-2003 season of music presented by Princeton University Concerts. In addition, there will be a free lecture by Princeton University professor Scott Burnham in Taplin Auditorium Oct. 23.
The all-Beethoven program features the Kakadu Variations, as well as the "Ghost" and "Archduke" piano trios, familiar but lively territory for the group. As artists-in-residence at Wellesley last season, Triple Helix performed the complete cycle of Beethoven piano trios, frequently to sold-out crowds.
"We’re steeped in Beethoven," Ms. Shapiro says. "With a body of music like the trios or the piano sonatas, it’s a life-long relationship that deepens through experience. Every time you play the music, it forces you to re-engage with it. It’s not a formula or recipe, like a Betty Crocker cake mix. Beethoven doesn’t let you go on auto pilot.
"That’s the beauty of playing these works as a complete cycle. It’s like breaking a code. It’s like being in a foreign country long enough so that you understand the nuances of the language. With the piano trios, you hear things that resonate from piece to piece. That’s why we’ve put together a whole program of Beethoven the pieces come from a wide span of years and you can hear the development over time."
According to Ms. Shapiro, you can hear the evolution of Beethoven’s compositional style in the Kakadu Variations, which includes sections from distinct parts of his life.
"It’s a way of hearing the journey he took in one piece," she says. "It’s right there unfolding in 12 minutes. It starts slowly in this dark G-minor key, and you think Beethoven is setting up a serious, grand work. But then it evolves into something lighter, like a miniature opera. So instead of getting just a set of vignettes around a single melody, Beethoven gives it an organic flow. The essence of the theme becomes the substance, instead of just decorating it like a mannequin."
Triple Helix, which formed in the Boston area in 1995, takes its name from the concept of the double helix of DNA the building blocks of human life. The artists were inspired by the notion of the double helix as the dynamic intertwining of the spiraling energies that generate life. "We saw a parallel in the partnership of violin, cello and piano," Ms. Shapiro says. "Each instrument is a potent voice in its own right, entrusted by the composer with its own share of the genetic material of the piece."
With degrees from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and Yale School of Music, Ms. Shapiro has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist throughout the United States and abroad. She has recorded on several different labels and is on the faculty at Wellesley, the Longy School of Music in Cambridge and Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.
Violinist Ms. Keyes performs a wide repertoire of concertos and recitals, as well as chamber music with Boston Musica Viva and Sonos. She is the founder of the Muir Quartet with whom she won the Evian and Naumburg awards and has played more than 1,000 concerts internationally. On the faculty of Boston University, she holds degrees from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and Yale.
Ms. Rider also has a master’s from Yale with an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College in Ohio. The cellist is a founder of the Lydian Quartet, with whom she has played for more than 20 years. She is on the cello faculty of Boston Conservatory as well as being coordinator of chamber music. Ms. Rider also teaches cello at Wellesley.
The women were in the graduate program at Yale at about the same time, although they never played together there. Several years later, their teaching and performing careers converged in the Boston area.
Although Triple Helix had a previous incarnation with different personnel, Ms. Shapiro says when the trio settled into its present form, it was like Cinderella putting on the glass slipper. The three women recognized that, if not always completely compatible, they were kindred spirits.
"Our paths crossed in mysterious and wonderful ways," she says. "One of the telling things was when I suggested the name ‘Triple Helix’ to Bayla. It was the first question I asked her. Our previous other member was a very literal-minded man and said the name reminded him of pingpong balls. But Bayla said, ‘Sure, that sounds great.’ So I said, ‘OK, you’re it.’
"Bayla and I both have a streak of the wild, unpredictable Dionysian element. Rhonda tends toward a more Apollonian style of playing that is more focused on beauty, elegance and nobility. We’ve always had a great balance of energies and felt a strong sense of camaraderie, right from the start."
Triple Helix performs an all-Beethoven program at Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University, Princeton, Oct. 24, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $20-$33. Prof. Scott Burnham gives a free lecture on Haunted Beethoven in Taplin Auditorium, Oct. 23, 4 p.m. For information, call (609) 258-2800.