Trio Fontenay returns to Wisconsin Union Theater

The Trio Fontenay will play music of Strauss, Dvorak and Beethoven Friday, April 5, at 8 p.m. at the Wisconsin Union Theater.

Returning to the Union Theater for the first time since their 1994 debut, the trio has been lavishly praised for their technical excellence, richness of tone and depth of interpretive imagination.

Pianist Wolf Harden, violinist Michael Mücke and cellist Jens Peter Maintz perform throughout Europe, North and South America, Australia and the Far East. Formed in 1980, the trio was named “trio in residence” at Paris’ Théâtre Chatelet.

Among their numerous recordings is the Beethoven piano trios, for which they received the 1994 Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattendritik, the German Record Critics award.

Why “Fontenay”? It is the name of the street near the Hamburg Conservatory where the ensemble first met to practice. It is also the old French translation for “source” and “fantasy.” “Certainly the latter meaning was evident in the German Trio’s concert,” says the Chicago Tribune. “Trio Fontenay made a most impressive showing.”

Tickets: $30 public; $29 Union members; $14.50 UW–Madison students. For more information, contact the Union Theater Box Office, (608) 262-2201.