Eroica Duo: Sara Sant'Ambrogio and Erika Nickrenz

[Lance]

Today, Sunday, I had the pleasure of preparing a piano for cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio—my third or fourth time preparing her piano for concert. It had been a few years since I last saw her. Her pianist was an equally gifted Erika Nickrenz; the pair are called the Eroica Duo, like the Eroica Trio but without the violinist this time. Such artists ... so warm, personally interesting and appreciative people not to mention superb artistry. And so we heard the music of Gershwin, Granados, Piazzolla, Cassadó. Then a brief intermission was followed by Brahms' Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38. After such a massive, introspective piece by the composer, we were given the dessert of a lovely rendition of one of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words.

After the concert, Sara and Erika were embraced by pianist/conductor John Covelli who knew Sara as a child, has performed with her, and Erika, who played a concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns years ago. It was a happy reunion. The audience, of course, was elated. How wonderful to bring back to Johnson City, New York's Firehouse Stage live music to a hungry audience.

For artists such as Sara and Erika who knew each other since the age of twelve, their playing was melded in a way that illustrates the value of having worked and performed together for so long, breathing phrases together, knowing what each other was thinking and doing. Perfection personified! ♫