Price Band: B

The Castillon Piano Trio:
Andrew Smith	- violin
Andrea E. Mills	- 'cello
Joseph A. Bognar	- Piano

The Castillon Piano Trio was formed in 2001 when Andrew Smith and Joseph Bognar, faculty at Valparaiso University, invited cellist Andrea Mills to join them for a performance of Messiaen’s profound masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time commemorating at the 2002 Liturgical Institute. After a memorable candlelight performance the trio formed a bond that has been spotted in their subsequent concerts for Public Radio’s WAUS-FM. Since their formation they have presented concerts throughout the mid-west and their dynamic interpretations have been praised for the unity of their ensemble. In 2004 they will become artists in residence at the 2004 Stamford International Music Festival.

The trio takes its name from the French composer, Alexis de Castillon, who died tragically in the early years of his career. His memory was held dear by a generation of young French composers, from Saint-Saëns and Fauré to Debussy and Ravel, who remembered him as a founding member of the new French school and the first composer of his generation to devote himself almost exclusively to writing chamber music.

Like the music of Castillon, the trio’s repertoire combines the classic masters of the form with contemporary and lesser-known composers: from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Piston, Shostakovich and Nyman.

Individual Biographies

Andrew Smith - Violin

Andrew Smith studied at the Royal Academy of Music, UK where his teachers included Erich Gruenberg and Emanuel Hurwitz. Upon graduating with honors he was awarded the Farjeon Prize and granted a position on the Advanced Solo Studies course. Leaving college in 1992, he was appointed as Concertmaster of the Orquestra da Norte, Portugal and in the same year he made his London debut at the South Bank Centre. He moved to the US in 1996 as Assistant to the Emerson String Quartet, winners of five Grammy awards, and continued his solo studies with Ida Kavafian, getting his Doctorate in Performance from the Hartt School.

As a soloist Andrew has performed with orchestras throughout Europe, China and the United States. He has appeared at such venues as the British Embassy in Paris, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, the Edinburgh International Festival, the British Music Information Centre and Chicago’s Symphony Hall, and his concerts have been broadcast on public television and radio in England, Italy, Portugal, and America. As a guest artist he has appeared in concert for the American Liszt Society, the US Coast Guard, “World Hunger” and “Artists Against Aids”. His recording of the Glazunow Concerto appears on the VUCA label. He has held positions as Concertmaster of the European Chamber Opera, the Heart of England Opera, and as Associate Concertmaster of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and worked with such orchestras as the London Pops, the English Festival Orchestra, Moscow City Ballet and the National Symphony Orchestra, UK.

Andrew was a founding member of the new music group “The Rubicon Ensemble” and served as its Artistic Director between 1990 and 1995. In 1999 he was invited to become director of "The Copland Century", a Connecticut based Arts festival celebrating the birth of Aaron Copland. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Music at Valparaiso University in 2000, where he currently teaches violin, viola and runs the chamber music program. He has also taught at St. Joseph’s College, Connecticut. As a clinician he has given masterclasses at the Hartt School, the Shanghai Conservatory and Andrew’s University. In 2002 his study of fin-de-siècle art and music won him two awards for research at the Conservatoire Royale de Musique and the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He currently plays as violinist of the Castillon Piano Trio and in 2004 they will lead the Stamford International Music Festival, UK as Artists in Residence.

Andrea E. Mills - Cello

Andrea E. Mills started her studies as part of the Hartt School Community Division. She went on to receive her Bachelor of Music Degree at the Hartt School and her Master’s Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Alan Harris, David Wells and Peter Stumpf. As a chamber musician her teachers have included the Cleveland Quartet, the Emerson Quartet, and the American Quartet. She has participated in masterclasses with Orlando Cole, Irene Sharp and Yehudi Hanani and attended the Aspen Music School in Colorado, the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Vermont and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Andrea has held principal cello positions with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra, with whom she performed as soloist. As an active freelancer throughout the US, she has played with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Youngstown Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and the South Bend Symphony. Most recently, she became a member of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. She also travels regularly to Europe where she has performed with orchestras in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom. Andrea has a wide variety of musical interests from classical to jazz. In 1998 she studied jazz cello at the Henry Mancini Institute, CA., where she performed at the Hollywood Bowl. She has played with such familiar names as Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Johnny Mathias, Yes, Diana Krall, Dave Gruisin and the Turtle Island String Quartet. As a dedicated teacher of young musicians Andrea has taught both traditional and Suzuki cello for over 10 years, completing specialist training in San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Ithaca, and West Hartford. She has been on the faculty of the Ethel Walker School, Choate-Rosemary Hall and the Hartt School Community Division and currently leads the cello faculty at the Western Springs Suzuki School. In 2003 she assisted Daniel Morganstern, principal cellist of the Lyric Opera, on a book on cello technique to be published by International Edition. She is a guest lecturer as orchestral and chamber music coach at Valparaiso University and performs as cellist with the Castillon Piano Trio. Andrea is the founding Director of Musici Entertainment.

Joseph A. Bognar – Piano

Joseph A. Bognar completed undergraduate studies in piano and organ at Valparaiso University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Awarded two university fellowships, Joseph studied piano with internationally renowned accompanist John Wustman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has performed in masterclasses led by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Dennis Helmrich. In 1996 he made his professional debut with violinist Irena Muresanu in a radio broadcast recital from the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. His playing was described as “excellent...always satisfying the composers’ intentions.” (Champaign News Gazette) Joseph performs in dozens of recitals each year on piano, harpsichord and organ. He has been a pianist and vocal coach for the Dorian Opera Theatre and has appeared as an accompanist for the International Trombone Festival. He has performed in recitals and chamber programs at Ancilla College, the University of Nevada at Reno, North Park University in Chicago, Kalamazoo College and Luther College. As a proponent of contemporary music, Joseph has premiered piano solo works of composer Stephen Wilcox in new music programs at the University of Illinois, Indiana University, Indiana State University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. In 1999 and 2000, Dr. Bognar served on the faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Program. In 2002, he joined the artist faculty of the Maud Powell Music Festival, where he performed in recital with violinist Cheryl Norman. As a performer-scholar, Joseph has presented lecture-recitals on the works of Fauré and Schubert. His article, “J.C. Bach’s Temistocle: Detecting the Reform Spirit in Eighteenth Century Opera Seria,” appears in volume XIV of the Music Research Forum. Currently, Dr. Bognar is Assistant Professor of Music at Valparaiso University where he teaches piano, harpsichord, music theory and history, and freshman humanities.

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