Aureole Trio

Aureole: A halo; a light or luminous area surrounding a celestial body.Critics and audiences alike hail Aureole as “radiant,” “exquisite,” “masterful,” “performing with uncommon brilliance.”This unique blend of instruments — consolidating the entire orchestral palette into its three essential components — performs with an infinite array of colors and sounds.The variety and scope of Aureole’s repertoire appeals to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The trio’s music ranges from the late 19th Century, spans the 20th, and ventures into the 21st Century’s cutting edge.Their concerts and recordings also include a wide variety of popular and folk music from the Celtic, Latin, Indian, Baroque and Classical traditions. Inspired by the combination, some of the most imaginative and creative musicians and composers of our time — Ravi Shankar, George Tsontakis, Jacob Druckman and Roberto Sierra– have masterfully composed and arranged for Aureole.The repertoire also includes many significant and powerful works by Twentieth Century composers, including Claude Debussy, Sofia Gubaidulina, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Sir John Tavener, Toru Takemitsu, Harrison Birtwistle and Kaiji Saariaho.Aureole was formed in the fall of 1987, after playing together at Marlboro Music Festival. 
They have performed for the Saint Louis and Chicago Chamber Music Societies, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, in honor of the opening of the Barnes Exhibition, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to open the Cezanne Retrospective. In addition Aureole has participated in many artist-in-residence programs around the country.Aureole has performed on A&E Television Network’s “Holiday in New York”, on the Bravo Television Network, and has been interviewed and featured frequently on NPR’s “Performance Today”.Aureole has recorded extensively for Koch International to great critical acclaim. Their debut disc, “Aureole,” was short-listed for three Grammy awards, and their lullaby disc, “Dreamscape”, with soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, was selected by Parenting Magazine as Recording of the Month.In addition, the trio has released six other discs, with two more -– Celtic music and a collection of new programmatic compositions –- to be released in 2006-07. 

Individually the members of Aureole; Laura Gilbert, flute, Mary Hammann, viola, and Stacey Shames, harp, have active solo and chamber music careers, appearing as members and guests with such ensembles as Musicians From Marlboro, Orpheus, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Brandenburg Ensemble, The Bach Aria Group, the Brentano and Saint Lawrence quartets, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.