The Toiyabe Trio features harpist Emily Montoya Barnes, oboist Aaron Hill, and violist Dustin Budish. Emily Montoya Barnes has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the U.S., Panama, and Germany. Aaron Hill is assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, specializing in oboe and classical saxophone. Dustin Budish is the principal viola of the Reno Philharmonic and Reno Chamber Orchestra, and the conductor of the Reno Youth Concert Orchestra.
The Trio's concert, which starts at 11:00 a.m. at UNR's Hall Recital Hall, is a collaboration of KNCJ and the Toiyabe Chamber Music Society. Sylvia Harrison, president of the society, says that it was 'founded about fifty years ago. I think it was established in 1974, and then eventually morphed into the Tahoe Chamber Music Society, probably about thirty years ago.' After COVID, the organization decided to broaden the scope and geographical range of its concerts, 'and hit upon the Toiyabe name as being an appropriate description of the area that we wanted to serve.'
'The Toiyabe Trio,' says Harrison, 'was established when we decided to do our first major rural tour, and Dustin and Emily and Aaron enjoyed playing with each other so much that they decided to more or less establish themselves as the Toiyabe Trio.'
One of the pieces that the Toiyabe Trio will be performing in the KNCJ Biggest Little Concert series was written specially for them, the Trio Toiyabe by Monica Houghton. 'I was commissioned,' says Houghton, 'by the Toiyabe Chamber Music Society to compose a piece for their inaugural concert. I was pretty much given free reign about the instrumentation that I would choose for that piece, and I decided that if I was going to write a Toiyabe piece, that I would like to write it for the rather unusual combination of oboe, viola, and harp. It came to me because I was trying to find a way to express the soul of the desert, of the high desert, of the mountains that comprise the Toiyabe National Forest.'
The September 27 concert also features music by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and more.
Later in the season, the KNCJ Biggest Little Concert series will also feature Frog and Toad (guitarists Brad Jones and Ben Wilborn) on November 1, and in 2027, the Sierra Nevada Baroque Ensemble on February 7, and clarinetist Joshua Anderson on April 11.
For tickets and more information, kunr.org concert.
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Support for Arts on the Airwaves comes from the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency that provides public funding and support to artists and organizations, that benefit Nevadans in cities and rural communities statewide. More at NVArtsCouncil.org.
