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Cleveland Chamber Music Society:

A conversation with Rebecca Albers

By Mike Telin

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society continues its 2011-12 season on Tuesday, January 31 beginning at 7:30 pm with a performance by The Albers Trio and pianist Yeol Eum Son at the Fairmount Temple Auditorium in Beachwood. The program includes Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493, Dohnanyi’s Serenade for String Trio in C major, Op. 10, & Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25.

The Albers sisters, violinist Laura, violist Rebecca, and cellist Julie began performing together while growing up in Boulder, Colorado. Since that time, they have gone on to distinguish themselves as individual artists as well as collectively. As the Albers Trio, they have performed in venues that include Alice Tully Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall.

Pianist Yeol eum Son (pronounced Yadum Son) was awarded the Silver Medal and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009.

There has been a personnel change for the performance in Cleveland: violinist Laura Albers is expecting and her doctors have forbid her to fly. Violinist Arnaud Sussmann will be filling in for the concert.

We were able to speak to Rebecca by telephone in Saint Paul, where she serves as assistant principal viola of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Mike Telin: I’m sure you get this a lot but, what is it like to work with your sisters?

Rebecca Albers: Overall it is a lot of fun. We have all learned so much just by spending time together, and even though we were all raised in the same house and had that same training, it has been interesting to see how we have all developed differently. For all of us it has been an exciting and educational experience.

Of course, as sisters there are little issues, but as we spent more time together and worked through some little battles, we have also gotten closer as friends as well which has been very nice.

MT: I’m always curious about this because I am not sure I could work with my siblings.

RA: The thing is that the trio actually started as a way for us to get to see each other more. Julie and I were living together in New York when the trio started and Laura was already in San Francisco, so we did not get to see each other very often. And once when Laura was visiting we decided to take out some music and read it together and we really enjoyed it. I think there is an unspoken language that is naturally there with siblings and I think it has helped a lot.

MT: We always think of piano trio’s and string quartets but this combination of violin, viola and cello is a little less common.

RA: You're right, and while the repertoire is limited there is more music being written for this combination.

MT: How did you first come to work with Yeol Eum Son?

RA: We have been playing with her for the past couple of years. It was a partnership that came from the Van Cliburn Foundation, and it has been a lot of fun to work with her. In a way it is refreshing just to have that extra voice, and to have a completely different perspective. I think that, as a group of sisters, we sometimes end up looking at things in a similar way, and so it’s nice to have a fresh voice. I also think it’s good to work with outside people because it keeps us on good behavior.

MT: I understand that Laura, is expecting and will not be playing this concert and Arnaud Sussmann will be filling in.

RA: Yes, her doctor has told her not to fly, which is too bad. But Arnaud Sussmann is a fantastic violinist. Julie and I have known him for years, which is why we asked him to join us for this concert. And besides Laura, he certainly is the violinist the Julie has played with the most during her career.

MT: Will the program remain the same?

RA: Oh yes, the program is the same. I think Julie and I have both played the Dohnányi with Arnaud in the past, as well as the Mozart and the Brahms. I am looking forward to playing this program with him. It will be inspiring to all of us, because he is fantastic.

MT: I like everything on the program.

RA: They are great pieces, and I don’t think you could ask for a more perfect work then the Mozart, in all honesty. I love that quartet. And we are all excited to be coming to Cleveland. Laura and Julie both went to school there and although I did not go to school there, the Cavani Quartet was huge influence on me, even down to choosing the viola.

MT: How did the Cavanis help you choose the viola?

RA: I met them when I was eleven, and they were teaching at a chamber music workshop that I was attending. At that point I was a violinist and a harpist, but I went to another festival where they were teaching later the same summer. That was the first time I had played viola in a quartet and I played it only because we needed a viola. But I completely fell in love with it. And their enthusiasm and the fact that they are such incredible teachers, they gave me such a love for the instrument and its role in chamber music. They really helped me to find my voice, otherwise I might still be a harpist or violinist.

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Published on ClevelandClassical.com January 24, 2012

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