THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
Guest Artist Recital of Galan Trio
Babis Karasavvidis, Violin
Marina Kolovou, Cello
Petros Bouras, Piano
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
7:30 p.m. | Longmire Recital Hall
PROGRAM
“Kinesis”
Chrómometavolí Eren Gümrükçüoğlu
Fantasy for Violin, Cello, and Piano Jianjun He
Tetrachoric Variations Bradford Blackburn
INTERMISSION
Ictus Martín Gendelman
Laughter Never Shared Kevin Wilt
Hairpin Turn Paul Richards
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Chrómometavolí is a portmanteau of the Greek words χρώμα (chróma, meaning “color”) and μεταβολή (metavolí, meaning “change” or “shift”). The title encapsulates the piece’s concept of ever-shifting hues, where rapid key changes and radically extended tonality produce an opalescent harmonic palette. With the piano lightly prepared—its strings altered to mute or enhance specific partials—it reveals aspects of the harmonic series, highlighting subtle details of the instrument’s voice. The violin and cello, employing both traditional and extended techniques, create an evolving timbral landscape. In some moments, their sounds merge with the piano into a unified tone; in others, they assert their unique characters, yielding an interplay of blended and distinct voices. Composed for the Galan Trio’s US tour in Spring 2025,χρωμομεταβολή unfolds through rapid harmonic shifts, revealing a multifaceted display of musical colors.
Written for the Galan Trio, Fantasy for Violin, Cello, and Piano (2025) describes the composer’s trials and tribulations, as well as his search for spiritual clarity. It is structured with two contrasting sections. The first section consists of a strict fugue exposition and its development. The second section introduces a lyrical theme and then gradually builds towards the climax. “Amazing Grace” and “America the Beautiful” are quoted to end the piece.
As an instrumentalist and composer, I have often been intrigued by pieces in theme and variations form, and have periodically returned to this formal structure for its versatility as a medium for experimentation. In writing Tetrachoric Variations, I sought to compose a piece with a recurring melodic skeleton and bass line that is developed primarily through mode mutation and whimsical parodies of compositional styles. The theme itself modulates up by half-steps, resulting in a chromatically ascending series of variations that eventually circles back to its origin point. The variations in sequential order include: I. “Theme” in C Ionian; II. “Tango” in C-sharp Phrygian; III. “Waltz”
in D Mixolydian; IV. “Cascades” in E-flat Dorian; V. “Balkan Dance” in A Octatonic; VI. “Equilibrium” in B-flat Ionian; VII. “Canon” in B Harmonic Minor; VIII. “Soaring” in C Major Pentatonic; IX. “Cadenza” in C-sharp Harmonic Minor (Mode 5); and X. “Finale.”
In musical conducting, Ictus (derived from Latin: to blow) refers to the very instant when a beat occurs. At a higher level in the rhythmic structure of a composition, the term may as well be interpreted as “the recurring stress in... a metrical series of sounds” (Merrian-Webster). At the same time, the term is also used in medicine to describe a sudden attack or seizure. As sudden attacks appear repeatedly and as accents and metric patterns shape this composition from the first moment to the last, both interpretations of the word become relevant.
Laughter Never Shared is a prayer-like work. Marking an important loss in my family. I have two children, Liliana and Oliver, who are two-and-a-half years and ten weeks old as of the completion of this work. Before Liliana was born, we were expecting a baby girl named Olivia, who we lost sixteen weeks into the pregnancy.
Olivia’s theme is always in the piano, in angelic, bell-like notes, first alone, then with highlights in the strings. The second statement of her theme is joined be Liliana’s theme in the violin. The third statement adds Oliver’s theme in the cello, allowing all three children to play together in a way never possible in life. As the piece reaches the climax, the tension and sadness of reality enter to disrupt the fantasy, as the strings drop away, letting the piano bells finish their phrase. In one last statement of Olivia’s theme, there remains only the highlights from the strings found in the opening of the piece, with the missing piano marking her memory and her absence.
Hairpin Turn is assembled like a collage of interlocking and related pieces. Though all the material shares a common motive, the work contains numerous sudden and drastic changes. While there is unpredictability on the surface, there is also a thread of connection – a hope that in turbulent times an anchor may still be found.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Known for the passionate and energetic spirit of their performances, the Athens-based Galan Trio is active both in Greece and internationally. Focused primarily on presenting new compositions, the trio creates original programs, the most recent being Kinesis. For this project, Galan Trio commissioned five distinguished composers from the United States to write works on this theme, leading to their first tour in October 2021. Since then, they have presented Kinesis at more than 30 U.S. universities, with additional performances scheduled through fall 2025.
Galan Trio’s discography now includes seven albums: Switch (Akanthos Int. LTD), Sonnets of Midwinter, Ararat (Melism Records), Kinesis and Kinesis Vol. 2 (Neuma Records), De Chirico (Phasma Music), and Embrace (Neuma Records).
Their debut album, Switch—a musical blend of cultures featuring works composed for and dedicated to the trio by Thomas Bramel (USA), David Haladjian (Armenia), Vincent Kennedy (Ireland), Vasco Pereira (Portugal), Harald
Weiss (Germany), and Nikos Xanthoulis (Greece)—received critical acclaim and was broadcast on radio stations in Greece, Switzerland, the United States, Portugal, Germany, and Armenia.
In July 2016, the ensemble traveled to Gulangyu, China, known as “Piano Island” for Greek Inspirations in China, the first festival in the country dedicated to Greek music. Galan Trio has collaborated with accomplished composers and musicians, including mezzo-soprano Alexandra Gravas, flutist Jessica Quinones, and composers Dirk Brosse, Igor Vorobyov, Yorgos Vassilandonakis, Paul Richards, Arthur Aharonian, Martin Gendelman, Philip Blackburn, Patricia Alessandrini, and Richard Lavenda, among others.
In 2019, the trio composed and recorded the original soundtrack for the documentary Y1: Silence of the Deep, directed by Philippos Vardakas. Schott Editions published Secret Dancing by Harald Weiss, dedicated to the trio. Galan Trio has performed in the USA, Spain, Italy, Armenia, the Netherlands, and Greece, appearing at prestigious events such as the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, the Komitas Festival, the 4th online festival of the Greek National Opera, the Onassis Foundation “Open Day”, and the Athens Megaron “Music Portraits” series. In December 2021, they premiered their project “Ararat” at the Archaeological Museum of Athens.
Future plans for Galan Trio include a concert for the 10th anniversary of the Contemporary Music Festival “Music Connects the Onassis Stegi and the Panteion University”at Onassis Stegi, as well as the 7th and 8th editions of the “Kinesis” concert series in Florida and North Carolina.
The Galan Trio would like to thank Voss Violins, Inc., for providing the cello used in this evening’s performance.
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.