Joe Trio – Monday May 2, 2022

Joe Trio

Joe Trio
7:30 pm Monday May 2, 2022
at Trinity United Church, Vernon
BUY TICKETS

A new breed of classical musicians, Joe Trio is not your average piano trio. They don’t want to be neatly categorized, but instead strive for diversity, versatility, and more than a little humour and unpredictability. Their repertoire consists of the classics – from Papa Haydn to Uncle Shostakovich, new works by contemporary composers, and their own arrangements of popular, jazz and rock tunes. And they’re not afraid to mix together so many styles of music into a single piece it makes your head spin! More than virtuosi, the Trio’s members are fantastic performers who engage the audience in a way few classical musicians can. Amply witty, charming, and tremendously musical, Joe Trio leaves audiences with a new appreciation for classical music.

Since Joe Trio was formed in 1989, this classically trained violin-cello-piano threesome has presented hundreds of concerts throughout Canada and the United States – ten provinces, one territory, and thirty-six states so far. They’ve played everywhere from Whitehorse to Corpus Christi, and from Sacramento to St. John’s, and even in Ely, Nevada. Joe has been heard on many CBC Radio shows including the old Morningside show, Disc Drive, The Music Room, West Coast Performance and Quirks and Quarks.

They recorded their first CD, “A Cup of Joe” in 1997, and their second album, recorded with CBC and entitled “Set ’em up, Joe” (2001), was nominated for Best Classical Performance at the West Coast Music Awards. In recent years Joe collaborated with the late Canadian broadcaster and writer Stuart McLean when Joe fiddler Cameron Wilson set the music to McLean’s “A History of Canada”. In 2011 Joe recorded their third CD, “Cold Cuts”.

That same year, violinist Cameron Wilson premiered his film noir operetta “Supernatural Noir” co-written with librettist Kico Gonzalez Risso which included Joe Trio as the house band for the production. 2011 was also the year Joe travelled to Smithers BC to premiere another work by Cameron Wilson, “Fragile Magic” (the Salmon Symphony) which involved the trio coaching and performing in a weekend of workshops and classes with local string instrumentalists, choirs and first nations drummers. In October 2014, the trio joined forces with the late Stuart McLean again this time on a Vinyl Cafe tour of BC and Alberta.

Opening the concert is Gus Hansen. Produced organically in the heart of the Okanagan valley, Gus has been playing guitar for 15 years and is thrilled to be a part of the NOCCA experience. When he’s not touring locally with the O’Keefe Entertainers, Gus enjoys spending most of his time inside, listening to music with his cat. As he prepares to leave for music studies at Capilano, Gus is grateful to receive an opportunity to perform for such an excellent community and hopes you enjoy the show! 

Please note: this concert is being held at Trinity United Church, 3300 Alexis Park Drive, Vernon BC.

Click on the image/link below to view a video of the Joe Trio:

SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $40  22 and Under – $20
Guest of a subscription member $35

Purchase tickets at:

TICKET SELLER
Phone: (250) 549-SHOW (7469)
E-mail: boxoffice@ticketseller.ca

– or –

Visit The Performing Arts Centre Foyer
3800-34th Street, Vernon BC.

Concert Review: Joes Are Way Above Average

Cellist Charles Inkman, violinist Cameron Wilson and pianist Allen Stiles, otherwise known as Joe Trio, at the Performing Arts Centre during the North Okanagan Community Concert Association
Cellist Charles Inkman, violinist Cameron Wilson and pianist Allen Stiles, otherwise known as Joe Trio, at the Performing Arts Centre during the North Okanagan Community Concert Association’s Kaleidoscope series. — image credit: Christine Pilgrim

By Christine Pilgrim for the Vernon Morning Star.

No average Joes could captivate equally well with either their quips or the classics.

The musically expert, highly entertaining Joe Trio comprises Cameron Wilson, chief musical arranger and wizard on violin; Allen Stiles, masterful storyteller and maestro on piano; and Charles Inkman, coaxer of music sweet enough to soothe the most savage of beasts, when he’s not creating the roars of said savage beasts or the chirrups of crickets, on cello.

The trio not only carried out its mandate to “unstuff” the classics; it kicked the stuffing clean out of them, describing titles such as Joseph (Joe) Haydn’s Trio in G Major, Hob XV, No 25 as “unimaginative.” Yet their evocative rendition of its second movement, Poco Adagio (a little slowly), moved the audience to a spellbound, reverent silence.

By contrast, the trio irreverently opened their show by saying, “Please remain seated for the national anthem!” They then played their version of O Canada, renamed Joe Canada, inserting cheeky, witty musical references at every opportunity.

These three clowning musicians contorted their generally friendly features into ferocious scowls as they played The Pink Panther theme, Beethoven-style, complete with the wild composer’s “Da da da daaa” opening to his 5th Symphony.

It was the second of the trio’s nine variations on the theme, dubbed “the greatest piece of music ever written.” Others included Pink Panther à la Mozart, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Presley.

One variation particularly favoured by the audience focused on an intense, existential search for the meaning of life, the universe and everything. It was a gem. So was the Romantic Pukedom variation which overflowed with the flowery gestures its nickname implies.

Speaking of gems, it would be remiss not to mention the first movement of Johannes (Joe) Brahms’s Trio in B Major, Opus 8, accurately described as “long, but good,” as well as Tom Anderson’s profound tribute to his wife, entitled Da Slockit Light (Extinguishing Light).

The varied program culminated in an audience participation version of Dizzy Gillespie’s Salt Peanuts, which drew cries for an encore. The trio obliged and launched, at breakneck speed, into their arrangement of Orange Blossom Special, decorated with segments from Fiddler on the Roof. It earned them a second standing ovation.

The evening’s enjoyment was augmented by the presence onstage of three teenaged guitar students coached by Neil Fraser of the Lent, Fraser, Wall Trio.

Shane Ranger, Emily Ross and Will Friesen entertained and delighted with pieces written by Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt, and “modern day Reinhardt” Stochelo Rosenberg.  Each guitarist improvised solos, played bass line and harmonies and deserved the enthusiastic applause afforded them.

NOCCA continues its forward-thinking approach to music-sharing by inviting other young musicians to perform curtain raisers onstage throughout the rest of this Kaleidoscope season.  And in 2016, it is investing in a new piano to replace the one that has done such sterling service over so many years.

The next concert in NOCCA’s Kaleidoscope series features the Bergmann Piano Duo at the Performing Arts Centre on Friday, April 24 at 7.30pm.

– Reproduced by kind permission of Christine Pilgrim, a freelance writer who reviews the North Okanagan Community Concert Association season for The Morning Star.

Joe Trio

JOE TRIO – Saturday March 21, 2015 7:30 pm

JOE TRIO – piano, violin and cello
Saturday March 21, 2015 7:30 pm
BUY TICKETS

Joe Trio
Joe Trio

These classically-trained musicians fit perfectly into the Kaleidoscope theme. They won’t to be neatly categorized! Instead, JOE TRIO strives for diversity, versatility, more than a little humour and unpredictability.

Their repertoire consists of the classics – from Papa Haydn to Uncle Shostakovich – new works by contemporary composers, and their own arrangements of popular, jazz and rock tunes. More than virtuosi, the Trio’s members are fantastic performers who engage the audience in a way few classical musicians can. Witty, charming, and tremendously musical, Joe Trio leaves audiences with a new appreciation for classical music. www.joetrio.com

SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $35, under 18 – $17.50
Students on the eyeGo program – $5

Purchase tickets at: TICKET SELLER
Phone: (250) 549-SHOW (7469)

E-mail: boxoffice@ticketseller.ca

– or –

Visit The Performing Arts Centre Foyer
3800-34th Street, Vernon.
All concerts are held in the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre.