Essex Piano Trio

Conservatory Colleagues and Friends – A Look at the Russian Romantics

During its 2025-26 season, the Essex Piano Trio will feature music of Russian Romantic composers Anton Rubinstein, Peter Tchaikovsky, Anton Arensky, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  The concert, in the trio’s usual “conversation among friends” manner, will share stories about relationships between these colleagues, teachers, mentors, and friends in 19th century Russia, all of whom had some connection with the St. Petersburg Conservatory founded in 1862 by Anton Rubinstein or the Moscow Conservatory founded in 1866 by his brother Nicolai. The music is undeniably romantic but has some of the flavor of the nationalistic trends of the time which were at odds with the scholarly approach of traditional musicians.  This compositional unsettledness and the friendships and connections among the composers make for interesting musical works and colorful personal exchanges that EPT is excited to share with you.Conservatory Colleagues and Friends – A Look at the Russian Romantics
Piano Trio No. 1 in F Major, Op. 15, No. 1 (1855) Anton Rubinstein
Piano Trio in A minor, op. 50 (1882) “Tema con variazioni” Peter Tchaikovsky
Piano Trio in D minor, op. 32 (1894) Anton Arensky
Trio in C minor (1897) Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov

‍

A versatile musician, David Cabral attended the Boston Conservatory of Music as a viola major, but also performs frequently on cello.

In demand throughout New England as a chamber and orchestral musician, Dave is also cellist and harpist for the Boston based Celtic music ensemble Fellswater. He has performed on fife with the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes and Drums, Boston Camerata, the Boston Pops, the National Guard Gala as well as many other large and prestigious events and parades. In 2018 Dave performed at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland as a fifer with the Middlesex County Volunteers and as cellist with Fellswater and more recently as a fiddle player with Hjaltibonhoga (Shetland Fiddlers).

In addition to his work as a free-lance musician, he is chief echocardiographer (ultrasound of the heart) at Boston Medical Center’s department of Pediatric Cardiology.

A native New Englander, violinist Ashley Offret is a full-time freelance musician in the greater Boston area. She completed undergraduate studies at the University of Maine in violin performance followed by a masters degree in music history from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and has performed throughout much of the US and Italy.

In addition to her work with the Essex Piano Trio, some of Ashley’s recent career highlights include engagements with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Symphony NH and Boston’s Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society, as well as guest concertmaster appearances with Opera51 and Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra.

More recently, with the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, she was involved in a recording project of the complete Milhaud chamber symphonies and newly commissioned companion works. The collection of works will be released next year by PARMA Recordings. Ashley was also proud to be part of  the March 2022 premiere of Essex Piano Trio’s commissioned work When Blessings Brighten by Ian Weise at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum.

In addition to her performance obligations, she maintains a violin, viola, and piano studio in Salem, Massachusetts for students of all ages, nurturing appreciation for live performances of music.

Beverly Soll holds degrees in piano from the University of Illinois and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland.  She has been a faculty member at the State University of New York-Geneseo, George Mason University, and Wayne State College in Nebraska.  Performing as both soloist and collaborator throughout the U.S. and in Germany, her work has been described by the Washington Post as “beautifully atmospheric” and “very dramatic.”  Scholarly publications include articles on Aaron Copland and Max Reger, a collection of arias from the operas of African American composer William Grant Still, and a 2005 book on Still’s operas, I Dream a World.  Actively involved as a member and officer of the College Music Society, she has presented papers and performances on topics ranging from art song, contemporary solo piano music, and African American studies at many regional, national, and international CMS conferences.  Dr. Soll is a member of the music faculty at Salem State University, where her very popular “History of Women in Music” course explores the history of and celebrates the breaking down of ethnic and gender barriers in music.

Soll also works throughout coastal Massachusetts as a freelance pianist, coach, and teacher.  Presentation of purposeful, thematic programs with one or more singers and with instrumentalists continues to be a hallmark of her work as a collaborative pianist, including five seasons as the founding director of the Boston Singers Resource Recital Series.

As pianist and curator of programming for the Essex Piano Trio (established in 2017), she and colleagues Ashley Offret, violin, and Dave Cabral, cello, have adapted a signature “Conversation among Friends” concert format to encourage audience-friendly accessibility to excellent chamber music and to explore the full gamut of works by well-known and less well-known composers, male and female, of this beautiful genre.

The Essex Piano Trio FaceBook Page

‍