THE ZION TRIO
The Zion Trio has been bringing major works from the standard repertoire for piano trio to southern Utah for several years. Violinist Paul Abegg is Professor of Music and Director of Strings and Orchestras at Dixie State University. Originally from Hong Kong, cellist Ka-Wai Yu is also teaching at Dixie State University and directs the chamber music program for strings. Pianist Christian Bohnenstengel is from southern Germany and serves as Director of Keyboard Studies at Southern Utah University.
The Zion Trio’s diverse repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Shostakovich, and Schoenfield. The trio will present concerts at Dixie State University, Southern Utah University and the University of Utah later this spring 2020. They have also been invited to perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday with the Orchestra of Southern Utah in November.
Violinist DR. PAUL ABEGG is Professor of Music at Dixie State University. He is the Director of String Studies and conducts the Dixie State Symphony Orchestra (DSSO). Dr. Abegg has presented master classes and served as an adjudicator throughout the United States. His students have won awards and have been accepted at prestigious music schools and festivals such as Boston Conservatory, Michigan State University, National Orchestral Institute and Brevard Music Center.
As a soloist he has performed throughout the United States as well as in Japan, Brazil, France, England, and Malaysia. His Chamber music experience includes studies at Kneisel Hall (ME), and performances with the Colson String Ensemble in France. He served as concertmaster of the Southwest Symphony for five years. Other orchestral experience includes performances with the Lansing, Jackson, Flint, Kalamazoo, Flagstaff, Utah, Ballet West, Phoenix, Spokane, and the Malaysia Philharmonic orchestras. In 2007 he performed in the Northwest Bach Festival under the direction of Gunther Schuller. His participation in orchestra festivals include the Gilmore Piano Competition Orchestra (MI), Pine Mountain Music Festival (MI), Brevard Music Center, (NC), National Orchestral Institute (MD), Great Music West Festival (UT), Bear Lake Music Festival(UT), and the Grand Teton Music Festival Seminar, (WY).
Dr. Abegg has recorded extensively for film and television scores. He has performed with Celtic Woman, Manheim Steam Roller, Donny Osmond, Peter Cetera, Natalie Cole, and Marvin Hamlisch and classical artists which include Audra McDonald, Leon Fleisher, Marilyn Horne, Peter Serkin, Ellen Zwilich, Fredricka Von Stade, Mark O’Connor, Peter Schickele, Elmar Oliveira, Cathleen Battle, and Gil Shaham.
DR. KA-WAI YU is Assistant Professor of Music at Dixie State University, where he teaches cello and string chamber music. He previously taught at Eastern Illinois University and Indiana Wesleyan University. In great demand as a clinician, Dr. Yu has given master classes in numerous universities and institutions in North America and Asia. He has taught in music camps and workshops in Illinois, Georgia and Michigan, as well as in Hong Kong, among them the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. He has served as adjudicator, held clinics, and guest-conducted regularly at various high schools, youth orchestras, and string festivals in the Southwest and Midwest, USA. He co-founded the Cello Society of Southern Utah. He is the Director of the DSU Cello Festival. Currently the Principal Cellist of Southwest Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Yu has performed at major concert halls in Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. He is vivid as a chamber musician, and has been a member of the Zion Trio, Ensemble Finesse, and the period-instrument ensemble La Réunion Musicale. He has appeared in the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Orford Arts Center, Toronto Summer Music Academy, Vancouver Early Music Festival, among others. His performances have been broadcast on RTHK and WILL-FM. His transcription of Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto for cello and string quartet has been published by A-R Editions, Inc.
Dr. Yu obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with cellist Brandon Vamos of the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet. He also holds a Master of Music in Cello Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Music with first-class honors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His other major mentors have included Helga Winold, Csaba Onczay, David Starkweather and Ming-Yuen Cheung. He has also studied chamber music with members of the American String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet and Parker Quartet.
DR. CHRISTIAN BOHNENSTENGEL feels equally at home in a wide range of musical genres. He was recently featured as soloist in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Orchestra of Southern Utah. Christian is a founding member of Southern Utah University’s Faculty Jazz Combo Kind of Blue and frequently performs with Jazz ensembles and musicians throughout southern Utah. Praised as “…a master of contrasts…” (Aalener Nachrichten) and for his ability to “…put the audience into a state of sheer awe…” (Gmünder Tagespost), Christian’s performances have taken him all over the United States, to South America and to Europe.
Christian has performed on public radio and presented at state, regional, national and international conferences. Upcoming projects include a CD recording with clarinetist Dr. Jessica Lindsey that will be released on Albany Records. Christian received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Missouri Western State University. He earned Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His primary teachers include Jerry Anderson and Mark Clinton, piano, and Quentin Faulkner, harpsichord and organ. He has been Director of Keyboard Studies at SUU since 2011.