Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Bonham presents Trillium recital

Dr. Robert Bonham, pianist and professor emeritus of Maryville College, returned on Sept. 21 with Trillium – a trio consisting of violin, cello and piano. The trio performed Beethoven’s “Archduke Trio” and Dvorak’s “Piano Quintet in A”, as well as an original medley of Korean folk song and national anthem, arranged by violinist Soyeon Rachel Seo.

“These works are both classics in the highest sense,” Bonham said. “It became my sense that if we were to spend half a year learning something, it should be selected from the best.

“The Korean folk song set was included to honor Rachel – she is Korean and arranged the score – and to add variety to the show.”

This group has been performing together for 12 years – it was initially an established woodwind quintet that needed the addition of piano to play a sextet. 

“I was fortunate, with time on my hands after retirement from MC, that they invited me to join them,” said Bonham.

The group performed concerts in Knoxville, Blount County and Oak Ridge for several years, until a random meeting at a restaurant brought Bonham and cellist Alicia Randisi-Hooker together.

“I suggested we get together to play chamber music, and the rest is history,” Bonham said. Through life events, the members have changed, each contributing something new.

Chamber music is a style of classical music that highlights each instrument and participant, without a conductor. It offers the musicians the opportunity to determine their own interpretation of pieces without a conductor making those decisions. This includes balance of parts, tempo and dynamics, leading to intense debates and constructive disagreements, Bonham said.

“Chamber music blends the best of both worlds: you play like a soloist, but you do it with like-minded companions,” said Bonham. He believes that chamber music is good – for both the performers and the audience.

Ella Morse (‘27), who has attended Trillium recitals the last three years, shared what the experience means to her.

“I worked the event one time as a fine arts assistant, but this year I requested to watch the event [from the recital hall],” Morse said. “It’s really a lot of fun; they make beautiful music and it’s an experience being out in the audience instead of being backstage.

“I went to it my first year at MC and I cried. It was very moving and there’s not many chances to see classical music being done by small groups like that,” Morse added.

Trilliums’ Maryville College affiliation stems from Bonham’s 41 year tenure at the College from 1965-2006. He taught piano, music history, senior seminar, general education fine arts courses, interim courses and more. 

About this experience, Bonham said: “It was a wonderful opportunity to explore and be a lifelong learner. 

He helped plan and teach freshman seminar courses, and one of his favorite courses to teach was world music, influenced by his own experience abroad.

“My parents were medical missionaries to India, so that was home until college in America,” Bonham said. “My brothers and I attended a boarding school in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, where I began piano at about age eight or nine.”

Before the recital, Bonham shared some miracles with the audience, including the miracle of music as a universal language. The quintet, which added a viola and another violin, included members from Canada, Puerto Rico, Korea, America and India.

“Maybe the most important factor is that we enjoyed each other and the differences,” Bonham said.

Bonham also mentioned the miracles of music in healing and in nature.

“I mentioned the story of 2,000 beluga whales that were saved,” Bonham said. “They had become trapped by ice. An icebreaker cut an escape path, but they would not use it. It was only when the ship broadcasted classical music that the whales would follow that ship to safe waters.”

The classical music at this recital was impressive to say the least – in Trillium’s performance of it and the history of the pieces. The intricate work by Beethoven was completed at a time in his life when he was nearly deaf.

“I am in awe of Beethoven’s accomplishment with the Archduke Trio: he was essentially deaf but created and notated a vast panorama of significant sound,” Bonham said. “Hundreds of years later, we can take his notation and recreate the sounds he heard only in his head. That is miraculous.”

“Our challenge was to capture as closely as possible the spirit of the original sources,” he added, explaining that the Dumka movement in Dvorak’s “Piano Quintet in A” draws from Ukrainian folk music. 

“Any time you are performing for a live audience, there is extra adrenalin and energy,” said Bonham. “Performing at Maryville College connects with many friends, former students, years of history, and, hopefully, creates new bridges and friends.

“Plus, it is always a special treat to play the Steinway [piano] in Lambert,” Bonham said, adding that he helped select it at the Steinway factory in New York City, enthusiastically saying: “we made a good choice!”

“Trillium is a really fun event to go and watch, or help make possible”, Morse said, encouraging students to attend their next recital. 

Trillium and Friends hosts a recital in the Lambert recital hall every fall and spring. It is free to the public.

The piano trio Trillium — consisting of (from left) Soyeon Rachel Soe, Dr. Robert Bonham and Alicia Randisi-Hooker — pose at Lake Junasaluska, NC. Photo Courtesy of Trillium