David Aibel, violin

Bonnie Hampton, cello

Nathan Schwartz, piano

‍The Francesco Trio was named a winner of the 1874 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, which put them on the international map with management and tours. In addition, they procured a part-time residency at Stanford University eventually leaving for a full-time residency at Grinnell College in Iowa. They later were a resident trio at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The trio formed in 1964, and in the early years, played concerts in the Bay area and tours in Alaska and British Columbia.

The Francesco Trio were champions of American contemporary music, and recorded widely, including two "Contemporary American Piano Trios" albums featuring works by Anderew Imbrie, Seymour Shifrin, John Harbison, Mel Powell and others.

In later seasons, violinist Miwako Watanabe joined Bonnie Hampton and Nathan Schwartz, replacing David Aibel.

As part of their Naumburg prize, the Francesco Trio was awarded a commission by Earl Kim, Monologues which received its world premiere performed the Francesca Trio at the Library of Congress.

Critical acclaim:

"They played superbly, with that combination of passion and intelligence which marks the best kind of musicmaking." - Los Angeles Times

"...Nathan Schwartz' crisp, luminous piano, David Aibel's ardent violin and Bonnie Hampton's rich, dusky cello." - Arthur Bloomfield, San Francisco Examiner

"Everything they played as of superior quality, both in terms of their performances and the music." - Jack Benson, San Jose News

"That Francesco Trio is not going to quit until it makes history. Maybe it already has." - Robert Commandy, San Francisco Chronicle

"Their good taste, elegance impeccable technique, admirable artistry, and sensitivity to one another produced ideal chamber music." - Arizona Daily Star

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Naumburg Concert, 50th Anniversary Year, April 24, 1975, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

The Francesco Trio, 1974 Chamber Music Award

David Aibel, violin; Bonnie Hampton, cello; Nathan Schwartz, piano

‍Program

Ives: Trio

Brahms: Trio in C Major

Seymour Shifrin: Trio (1974), New York premiere

Beethoven: Trio in E-flat Major

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Review Excerpt, The New York Times, April 25, 1975

Music: Francesco Trio, Seymour Shifrin's Work Has Local Premiere

"The Francesco Trio, which takes its name from San Francisco, made its debut in 1965...Miss Hampton, cello and Mr. Schwartz, piano come out of the Serkin-Casals ambiance, and Mr. Aibel was a touring virtuoso... devote themselves to chamber music, the purest - dare one say holiest - form of musical expression...they are more oriented to contemporary music than to the classics, though they play everything well.

The Shifrin, a one-movement work is one of those densely compacted, post-Webern pieces of writing that was all the rage some 10 years ago...it moves with surety and is the product of a sound academician... the three players presented the score with coherence, expert instrumentation and flawless intonation.. music and musicians were one." - Harold C. Schonberg

Review Excerpt (NY premiere of Earl Kim's Monologues, 92nd Street Y, New York) The New York Times, November 24, 1977

Music: Trio From Coast Subtly Lovely

"[Earl] Kim's 10-minute piece, a New York premiere, seats the separately lighted players some distance apart, in a triangle. The music, predominantly tonal and in the minor, essentially consists of a series of solo utterances. with the effect of isolated verbal spasms in an empty, eerie setting...the mood Mr. Kim establishes is hauntingly beautiful." - Joseph Horowitz