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FARMINGTON — ArtsFarmington is pleased to present a Benefit Concert by the newly formed Buttonwood Trio playing works by Fauré and Babajanian.  Admission is by donation, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian humanitarian relief. The concert will be August 7 at 3:00 pm in the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington.

This will be the debut concert for the Buttonwood Trio. It consists of three old friends and former Maine college music professors who joined together in retirement to launch this new ensemble. The players are violinist Mary Hunter, who served as music department chair at Bowdoin College, her pianist husband James Parakilas, who held a similar position at Bates College, and cellist Philip Carlsen, who taught music and conducted the orchestra at UMF.

Their program will last less than an hour, and features two works: the 1923 Trio in D minor by Gabriel Fauré, and the 1952 Piano Trio in F-sharp minor by Arno Babajanian. Although written against the backdrop of atonal modernism that was so important in twentieth-century concert music, these two trios are grounded in the rich harmonies and soaring melodies of the Romantic tradition. Babajanian also deploys vivid folk elements, drawing on the ornamented lines, exotic scales, and dance rhythms of his Armenian heritage.

For further information and reservations, please visit our website: artsfarmington.org.  Questions should be directed to: president@artsfarmington.org or by calling 779-6455.