UALR’s Artspree series kicks off the 2013 calendar year with the Ridge Piano Trio.  They will play at UALR’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall this afternoon at 3pm.

The group consists of pianist Chiharu Iinuma, violinist David Gillham and cellist Tom Landschoot. They play the works of Mozart, Piazzolla and Brahms.

Much in demand as a chamber musician, Chiharu Iinuma has regularly performed across three continents. A founding member of the Ridge Trio, the Chamber Ensemble Bloomington and the Gillham-Iinuma Duo, for many years she was the studio pianist for Joseph Gingold, Janos Starker, Franco Gulli, Neli Shkolnikova, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Miriam Fried, Yuval Yaron at Indiana University’s Jacobs School. In 1993, she was invited to participate in the inaugural Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall in New York.From 2001 to 2004, Ms. Iinuma was the Director of Accompanying at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas.

Canadian violinist David Gillham has been described as a “violinist with a lean tone, a supple technique, and an amazing talent for sustaining a long line” (All Music Guide Magazine). Formerly on the faculties of Memorial University and the University of Central Arkansas, David was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia in July 2011 and is a member of the Arianna String Quartet, in residence at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He is on the faculty of the FEMUSC Festival in Brazil, the Madeline Island Music Festival, the Illinois Chamber Music Festival and the Britt Festival String Quartet Academy.

Praised for his expressive and poetic music making, cellist Tom Landschoot enjoys an international career as a concert and recording artist and pedagogue. He has toured North America, Europe and Asia and has appeared on National Radio and Television worldwide. His solo career started after taking a top prize at the International Cello Competition ‘Jeunesse Musicales’ in 1995 in Bucharest, Romania. He recently performed with the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Frankfurt Chamber Orchestra, Prima la Musica (Belgium), Shieh Chien Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Tempe Symphony and the Orchestra of the United States Army Band and has appeared at the Park City, Santa Barbara, Mammoth Lakes, Utah, Red Rock, Waterloo, Killington and Texas Music Festivals.