Jade Piano Trio

Artists
Program
Preview
Performances
Bios

Artists

Jade Piano Trio

Ellen Fast, piano
Dawn Posey, violin
Katya Janpoladyan, cello

Program

Craftsbury Trio (1990)
Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947)

I. Lively
II. The Lark in the Morning
III. You Can Buy It at the General Store
IV. Craftsbury Common 

Three Nocturnes
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

I. Andante
II. Andante quieto 
III. Tempestoso

Amazing Grace
Lee Dengler (b. 1949)

Piano Trio in C Major HB XV:27
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Presto

Preview

Performances

Musicivic Everywhere
3:00 PM ET Sun June 6, 2021 (3VCP)
TBD
Free Tickets

Oakmont Musicivic 
3:00 PM ET Sun May 23, 2021
7:30 PM ET Fri May 28, 2021
Free Tickets

Three Village Chamber Players  
3:00 PM ET Sun June 6, 2021
7:30 PM ET Fri June 11, 2021
Free Tickets

Ambler Musicivic 
3:00 PM ET Sun June 20, 2021
7:30 PM ET Fri July 2, 2021
Free Tickets

Big Sky Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets

Twin Forks Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets

Bios

Pianist Ellen Fast is an active contributor to Pittsburgh’s music scene. She founded the Jade Piano Trio, which gave its debut performance in October 2018 as part of the Music in a Great Space series at Shadyside Presbyterian Church. She collaborates often with area vocalists and instrumentalists and has appeared with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, the Incidental Chamber Players, and OvreArts, which premieres new works by local composers. She plays regularly for the Mt. Lebanon High School choirs and has served as rehearsal accompanist for Resonance Works | Pittsburgh.

Ellen also loves choral singing and is a member of several area choirs: the chamber choirs Pittsburgh Camerata and Voces Solis (which performed at the 2018 Eastern Division ACDA conference and has collaborated with the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh); and the Chancel Choir at Shadyside Presbyterian Church. She has previously been a member of the twelve-voice professional women’s ensemble Seraphic Singers and was a Core member and occasional accompanist for the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.

Ellen received a master’s degree in collaborative piano performance from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was a student of Martha Fischer and a recipient of several scholarships. Her undergraduate degree is from Goshen College in northern Indiana, where she studied with Marvin Blickenstaff and was a winner of the school’s annual Concerto-Aria Competition.

Ellen recently completed a diploma in Horticulture Technology at Bidwell Training Center and is looking forward to starting work with an area nursery. She also proofreads books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and music scores for A-R Editions. In her free time, she enjoys baking, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, and taking floral design classes.


Dawn Posey is an active chamber musician, teacher and performer both in Pittsburgh and beyond. She has performed with the Boston Conservatory Honors Quartet, Festival A Tempo in Caracas, Venezuela, the Chamber Music Festival of Amman, Jordan, Blossom Music
Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center. Additionally, she has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Missouri, Indiana, and England.

She is a founding member of Kassia Ensemble, a chamber music ensemble in Pittsburgh made up entirely of female performers. Kassia Ensemble seeks to empower women through performance, collaboration, and outreach.

Dawn is a devotee of baroque performance practice, and a frequent guest artist with Chatham Baroque. She has toured with the ensemble to Ecuador and Los Angeles. Dawn was also a participant in the 2015 Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.

Dawn received the Starling Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where her primary teacher was Dr. Won-Bin Yim. She has also studied with the late renowned string pedagogue, Miss Dorothy Delay, at Aspen Music Festival, Lynn Chang at the Boston
Conservatory, Mrs. Almita Vamos in Chicago, and with concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine.

Dawn has been a member of the violin faculty at the Sherwood Conservatory, Merit School of Music, University of Evansville, and St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She continues to teach in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Music Academy.

In Evansville, Dawn was the second violinist with the Eykamp String Quartet and Associate Concertmaster with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also served as assistant concertmaster with both the Youngstown Symphony and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Dawn is currently associate principal second violin with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and Principal Second violin of the both the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra and Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra.


Cellist Katya Janpoladyan is a performer whose talents and musical passion extend beyond the stage. Audiences throughout the world have enjoyed her numerous studio albums, countless national and international performances and live radio appearances. Ms. Janpoladyan is equally driven as an entrepreneur and pedagogue, spearheading several successful chamber music programs and preparing award-winning cello students for their lives in music.

Ms. Janpoladyan is currently the founder, Executive Director and cellist of Kassia Ensemble, a non-profit organization. Kassia Ensemble is a chamber music group comprised exclusively of women which promotes women’s contribution to classical music. Kassia Ensemble strives to
highlight the richness of women’s roles in music by programming works by female composers performed by female musicians. They are based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and can often be heard broadcasting live on WQED, Pittsburgh’s classical music station. The talents and mission of the Kassia Ensemble have also been in demand in the recording studio. They are featured on the album, “Songs of Lake Volta” with composer and pianist Joseph Sheehan, who is an assistant professor at Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music. Additionally, the Kassia Ensemble is featured on the soon-to-be released album, “Rêverie” with renown Trumpet player, Mary Bowden.

Music has played a pivotal role in shaping Ms. Janpoladyan’s life. She endeavours to share her love of music and its transformative reach with others. She teaches several award-winning cello students and has studios throughout the Pittsburgh area, including the Carnegie Mellon
Preparatory Department. Ms. Janpoladyan has cultivated several concerto competition winners for the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Philharmonic concerto competitions. A number of her students continued to study music in some of the
most prestigious music schools in the world including Julliard School of Music, Rice University, Indiana University Bloomington, Northwestern University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Mellon University. Her teaching prowess has garnered international
demand and she has taught masterclasses in the U.S., China and Chile.

MC21-0015

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