Trio Cavatina

Website - Photos - Contact

"Each player, in her way, made a compelling argument - Lee with her probing phrasing, violinist Rhodes in some charismatic moments of triumph, and Jokubaviciute with a big personality communicated through a sound of great refinement and presence"
Philadelphia Inquirer

In 2005, at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ieva Jokubavicute, piano; Harumi Rhodes, violin; and Priscilla Lee, cello, formed Trio Cavatina out of their strong mutual sense of musical values. "Potent, intense interpretations" described Harris Goldsmith of this American trio in his article of the 2008 Edition of the Musical America Directory.

As the winner of the 2009 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition, Trio Cavatina gave a striking debut at Carnegie Hall in 2010. In the program, the world premiere "Faces of Guernica", written for the trio by Richard Danielpour, was flanked by two Beethoven trios. Other acclaimed debuts followed at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco and at the Chamber Music Society Philadelphia, where the trio was the youngest ensembles ever to perform on this prestigious series. During the summer in 2010, Trio Cavatina appeared at numerous music festivals including the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, and Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley.

After only two years of its formation, Trio Cavatina was chosen among a competitive number of ensembles to perform at the closing concert of the Chamber Music America Conference in New York City. Other eminent debuts included the New School's Schneider Concert Series and Merkin Hall in New York City, Boston's Jordan Hall, the "Emerging Artists" Series at Kneisel Hall, Union College in Schenectady, Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, Caramoor, the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival, and the Brattleboro Music Center.

Having acquired critical acclaim from enthusiastic presenters and audiences alike, Trio Cavatina has received immediate re-engagements including the Union College's prestigious concert series: in the fall of 2008 for the performance of Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time", and during the 2009-2010 season, with two appearances to celebrate the anniversaries of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin.

Trio Cavatina embarked on its first international tour in 2008 to Lithuania, with performances including the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas.

What sets Trio Cavatina apart is its commanding interpretations of works by living American composers and the passion for mixing 20th century, classical and romantic repertoire into the programs. The trio has worked with Leon Kirchner and Richard Danielpour, and will premiere a work written for the trio by David Ludwig in Chicago in the fall of 2010.

Trio Cavatina completed the New England Conservatory's Professional Piano Trio Training Program in 2006-2007.

Harumi Rhodes, violin
A leading young artist of today, violinist Harumi Rhodes has been performing extensively with some of the most prestigious musicians worldwide. Having just completed her residency at Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II, she has also joined the Boston, Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Seattle Chamber Music Societies. Some of her recent solo engagements include performances in the 2007 Vermont Mozart Festival featuring Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Harumi has also participated in several Musicians from Marlboro tours. As an avid supporter of contemporary music, Harumi had a solo violin piece dedicated to her by composer Benjamin Lees. She has also recorded Milton Babbitt's Sixth String Quartet and most recently performed at Zankel Hall in a tribute to George Perle. Harumi received degrees from the Juilliard School studying with Ronald Copes and Earl Carylss, and the New England Conservatory studying with Donald Weilerstein, where she received the Gunther Schuller Award.

Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
A 2006 Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellowship recipient, Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute recently made her Chicago Symphony debut at the Ravinia Festival under the baton of James Conlon, and her Brazilian orchestral debut in Rio de Janeiro. Over the last several seasons, Ieva gave recitals at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC, on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, at Caspary Hall in New York City, and in Vilnius, Lithuania. She has recently appeared in chamber music concerts in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, as a guest artist on National Public Radio's Performance Today, in Panama City, Panama, and on tour with Musicians from Marlboro. Ieva regularly appears at the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Bard Festivals, at Prussia Cove in England, and at La Lointaine in France. Earning degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and from Mannes College of Music, her principal teachers have been Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode.

Priscilla Lee, cello
Cellist Priscilla Lee, a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, has been awarded a Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Scholarship, the John Williams Scholarship from the Young Musicians Foundation, and the Barnett Family Foundation Chamber Music Competition. At age 17 she appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which honored her with its Bronislaw-Kaper Award. Upon moving to New York in 2003, Priscilla participated in the Opening Concert at Zankel Hall with John Adams, and premiered Osvaldo Golijov's "Ayre" with Dawn Upshaw in New York, Boston, London and Paris. She has participated in Musicians from Marlboro tours, in the Marlboro Music Festival, Bargemusic, Caramoor's Rising Stars series, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival concerts in New York, the Dawn Upshaw/John Harbison and Emerson String Quartet workshops at Carnegie Hall, and Music from Angel Fire. She debuted at the New School and Merkin Hall's Rising Star Series along with Boston's famed Jordan Hall. She received her bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with David Soyer, and her master's degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with CMS Artist Timothy Eddy. Ms. Lee is a member of Chamber Music Society Two.

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes or additions. Previous versions need to be discarded. Updated September 2010.