Celebrated British violinist Anthony Marwood returns to UKARIA for an exploration of the piano trio with two friends and master musicians: Australian Chamber Orchestra Principal Cellist Timo-Veikko Valve, and concert pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos. They present two landmarks of the piano trio repertoire that place friendship at their core.

Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, completed in 1944 as the Second World War raged towards its end, is dedicated to the memory of the composer’s great friend Ivan Sollertinsky. ‘He was my closest friend,’ Shostakovich wrote, ‘It will be unbelievably hard for me to live without him.’ The Trio explores both personal and national grief, juxtaposing unique textures with older musical forms to create a searing account of life lived and lost.

The program’s second half introduces another account of friendship in Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, named for  the composer’s student, friend and most devoted patron, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria. The work marks the end of a fruitful decade of composition, and speaks to a humorous, affectionate friendship of mutual regard, one that would endure until the end of Beethoven’s life.