10 Questions with Lee Dionne
Where did you grow up?
Ridgefield, CT.
What made you realize that music was your path?
A summer in college spent playing chamber music at the Norfolk Festival, but I've always loved it.
How would you describe the music that you typically create/perform?
Generally speaking, "art music." Within the Trio, we perform a wide range of pieces with the traditional piano trio repertoire as its core, but also new music for trio as well as our own arrangements of art song, piano pieces, orchestral works, popular songs, Medieval chants, Renaissance madrigals, pretty much whatever we can get our hands on. As a soloist, I'm similarly greedy and generally play whatever I can get my hands on: I've dabbled in jazz and play harpsichord as well.
Impossible Burger, beyond burger, regular burger, or turkey burger?
Beyond Burger. Save the planet. But also I've been making a mean gochujang aioli portobello tofu burger this summer.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
This changes a lot. Currently probably Carla Kihlstedt (of Rabbit Rabbit Radio and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Radu Lupu, and Bill Evans.
What ‘s your favorite part of your new album INK?
Honestly, my hope is that as many listeners as possible will try to experience it as a whole. For me, this is what's most interesting about it. I'm pretty happy about our Nadia Boulanger and Debussy arrangements, though, and at the risk of tooting my own horn, I'm very happy with how the track I composed turned out: "Zortziko-Fandango." Brigid and Julia sound great on it.
Has there been one particular moment in your musical career that you're most proud of?
Winning Concert Artists Guild competition when we performed some of our first arrangements for trio that we'd literally put together a few weeks before the competition.
What made you want to record this album/ Where did you get the idea for this album?
We've always been interested in interdisciplinary work, but we recorded this album in October, 2020, a time when so many of us felt helpless to impact so much of what was going on in the world. With this album, we really wanted to see if we tell a new story of classical music; to challenge the accepted narrative of what makes something "great" and who deserves a voice; to tell a kind of "people's story" around Ravel Trio, if you will.
What’s the next thing for you & Merz?
Getting back on the road in a few weeks, Naumburg competition in September, and some new, exciting collaborations with director Jon Levin and director / mover Emma Jaster this fall!
If you could have dinner with any 3 musicians living or dead who would they be ( why? )
Carla Kihlstedt -- second mention, but seriously if you don't know her stuff, go listen. So ridiculously talented and inspiring.
Franz Liszt -- music be damned: who wouldn't want to discuss some Romantic poetry with this highly literate, consummate charmer?
Mozart -- need I say more? Just listen to his music and try to imagine what this guy would be like...