NAVO Trio with soprano Stella Markou

On April 13, 2024 at 7:30pm, NAVO Trio will be joined by soprano Stella Markou in a program of works written by women composers. Hailed as ‘exquisite’ by Gramophone, Greek-American soprano Stella Markou has performed internationally as a soloist in oratorio, opera, and on the concert stage. Friends and collaborators since 2013, oboist Margaret Marco, violinist Véronique Mathieu and pianist Ellen Sommer formed NAVO Trio to research and promote music by female and nonbinary composers.

‘To One Beyond Seas’ is a song cycle commissioned and composed in 2018 by Ingrid Stölzel – NAVO’s composer in residence. The work features the evocative poetry of Mohawk Canadian writer Emilie Pauline Johnson, and is scored for soprano, violin, and piano. ‘Throughout the poem, Johnson uses vivid visual and auditory imagery as well as symbolism, which inspired my own musical imagination and became a driving force behind my setting,’ explains Stölzel. Also on the program is a newly composed work by Chinese Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho who is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after composers of her generation, recognized for her unique fusion of Western and Chinese cultures. The work, ‘A Wind of Dust’, was written in 2023 for NAVO Trio as a commission from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. NAVO will introduce Nigerian-born British composer Althea Talbot-Howard with her new work ‘Trans-Atlantic Triptych’, in three parts – for oboe, violin, and piano – also commissioned by NAVO this season.